Lately, the fishing has been so good, it’s difficult to stay home. Last night was no different. This time of the year, the fish strap on the feed bag and school up making it easy pickings when you find them. That in itself can be the real trick. We are targeting wingdams and rock/shale bars. The depth of the water varies and honestly hasn’t come into play. Some of the fish we caught came off dams with less than a foot of water and others were in 6ft+ deep water. The first pic here is of a nice Smallie hooked on a Storm Thunder Dog.
The distinct key for us to catch these fish is to anchor up on the top sides of the dams and make long fan casts. Anchoring above the dam allows us to utilize the current flow keeping the bait right on the rocks or wherever the fish seem to be holding. Not every dam has the same characteristics and the Smallies don’t always hold in the same place. A few of the places we caught fish last night required different presentations. The Smallie pictured was caught pulling the lure through the current swells on the bottom side of the dam. Fish like this one when in those current swells pull very hard and make it a treat to catch.
As I stated in the previous paragraph, getting the boat placement correct and locating the fish can pay big dividends. This fish is the second one my Dad caught off this wingdam and was on the very next cast. Back-to-back fish with back-to-back pics. We pulled over a dozen fish off this one dam, many came off the bottom edge just below the rocks.
The last fish pictured here was probably the most fun I’ve had catching a fish in quite a while. This bruiser drug me all over and even made a couple aerobatic leaps. If you look close, her mouth has been deformed from what could have been a previous battle. Her lower jaw actually formed a hook similar to a big Trout. I’ll let you guess the length of this big girls length. we didn’t have a scale, so no weight was taken.
Here’s one for all you biologists out there. What causes this to happen? I don’t think I’ve seen a Smallie with this kind of distinct markings ever.
Up close.
Up close..
Nice batch of fish Blue!
With this weather coming on, how long would you guess your bite to continue?
Probaly until the end of the month. Weather permitting……They traditionally don’t go too far. Unless someone takes them for a boat ride.
The fish we caught last night came off dams that in the past have been very productive late into the season. The later the season, the more and more the bite turns to hairs jigs or plastics. That’s not to say they won’t eat plastics now, but it so much fun getting them on topwater.