Small ones and Smallies

Want a few smiling kids, big fish and a great time? Take the small ones out for some smallies!

As a commercial bait dealer and guide the month of May and first part of June is a nasty grind, often times barely allowing time for sleep let alone a little rest and relaxation. Last week as the schedule slowed to normalcy I put my foot down and demanded to take a few days off and go camping…ok maybe it was the girlfriends foot that was put down but I’ll still take the credit for one of the best camping trips I have ever had. After a short look at the map and a few lake surveys from the DNR Lakefinder site we were loaded up like the Beverly Hillbillies on our way to one of many smallmouth lakes in the Deer River area.

Conditions could not have been better; gin clear water in the mid sixties, good weather, a campsite all to our own and no phone reception. Going off of a tip from River Rat Bait in Cohasset we purchased a few leeches for the kids to try and pick up a smallmouth or whatever may swim by and what a great tip it was! After getting camp set up we made way for a few six foot deep rock ledges shearing off into deeper water marked on the Lakemaster map. I figured I would roll a tube jig down the rocks just to check things out before we head off to look for the coveted Bluegill that any five year old dreams of and was impatiently waiting for. After a few short hops I was tied into underwater tornado that proceed to show up in the net with a mouth full of leeches. The Bluegills would be forgotten for the remainder of the trip.

After some frantic line tying and bobber installation we turned that boat into a smallmouth catching machine. Ollie and Spiderman working the bobber/leech combo and eleven year old Chloe busting out the big guns and slow rolling BaightCraw SuperDoos on 3/16oz. jigs like a seasoned pro. I was deemed net man and it was all I had time to do. We had smallies hitting the SuperDoos and we had smallies chomping on leeches and we even had smallies taking pot shots at the bobber.

We found aggressive smallmouth holding off the edges high rock humps over deeper water. We also had seen several smallmouth on beds as we crossed a reef that allowed for a great discussion about spawning fish and respecting the resource as we passed over them with the rods stowed; a great bonus to an already enlightening experience. The smallmouth action is so hot in the Deer River area it is almost on fire. Load up the kids and a few leeches, a hand full of SuperDoos and sit back and watch as a five year old shows you just what it is like to simply catch fish.