Spankey

Stain or heavy stain I believe makes it warm faster with the sun rays. We are in a bit of a heat wave this week again. Crankbaits I'm out catching those Smallies about 3 to 1 over the tubes and grubs. They seem to be willing to expel the energy to run them down to make a bite. Not sure how long it will last. I’m on and off the water early. Truly fishing well before 6:00 and can be finished and loading up by 9:00

We could use a cool down and some nice moderate rain here.

Tn, what has your river temperature been town there? Yesterday in the spots I was fishing it was 81-82. I probably or could have fished some a bit cooler but chose not to. Wanted to fish a particular stretch.

Real neat. Very cool looking. That critter may be out around Pittsburg area but over East I have never seen one. I’ve been on the river a lot more this year trying to figure it back out. Trying to re-become the river rat I use to be. No Musky yet. Not really seeing any or any following my baits. They seem to like FireTiger and chartreuse shiner as much as a Smallie do. Have fun catch another.

The Bionic blade is a good rod also. I’m fishing a bit different these days but I got hung up in buying some higher end stuff. No regrets but some of the more moderate priced rods out there are great rods. That’s why I hate to be opinionated when guys ask about what should they buy. When my girls were growing up I couldn’t be thinking about having a bunch of St. Croix or Loomis Rods only to be a weekend warrior. Things are different now and I still don’t.

Both are spinning. One a 6 ft. Med. Finesse/Tube, one 6’8” ML Finesse. Both seen a lot of tube fishing and really light Trigging. Should have never gravitated away from the way and things I’ve used. Actually may have been happier with my results back then. But no whoop, I have two grandsons I have fishing with some pretty decent stuff to help them get past the learning curve easier.

Actually tore down a pair of Bionic Blade set up with Shimano Saharas and a pair of Woo Daves Extremes set ups with old Symetres on them this morning for the grandsons next week to use. Will fish them tomorrow to check out the line lay and keep them from any possible frustration. Why I ever got away from fishing these I'll truly never reason with. To switch to St. Croix's actually I guess. These are great combos that caught a lot of fish. Very little rash if any on them. Have only been used in a boat. My grandsons are acquiring some decent setups the last few seasons. Hope to pull in a few with them tomorrow. They are close to being vintage I suppose.

My river fishing today in not what it was 40 + years ago. The river is struggling today. At that time numbers of Smallies were high but size wise they were a lot of dinks and runts. At that time I was making or had made the transition to artificial lures for bass. I’ve had countless outings during those years of putting on a drift and really throwing nothing more than Rebel Wee Craws in a few different patterns and having days of catching 30-50 Smallies. Was not every outing but numerous. I don’t believe drowning a worm or swimming a minnow would have touched that. If days like that don’t hook you on artificials for life nothing will. Don’t know why I don’t throw that anymore, or very much.

Buy some good tools and learn how to use them. I know about putting that stress on myself because I’m anal and want everything to work out perfectly. A good pair of side cutter and an extra long needle nose pliers works great for me. I don’t have it happen to me very often but have completed some good doctoring. And felt good about it.

That is cool. I’ve never seen anything like that before. Have fun.

^^^^^^^^ I agree 100% ^^^^^^^^^ Lures will give you the reaction strike when fish are not in a feeding mode. Lures will give you the hits when they are in a feeding mode.

There is no rhyme or reason to where they are. I threw that out the window years ago. You would think a rock wing dam or rip rap moving water scenario would be the hot spot. Maybe not. I’m taking my chance in a deeper water, lower flow stretch this Sunday. I’ll Topwater fish some on a few points first. Crankbait fishing that deeper water is my plan. Naturals like gizzard Shad, Tennessee Shad, and bluegills. I’ve leaned toward these more and more often over the last handful of years.

I fished with them years ago also. They do their job. Don’t get all hung up in the real high dollar stuff. It really is not necessary. A good rod and good line may be more important. Along with a good line roller.

Catt this is all I’ve really ever used during the same length of time. I have it, I use it, but can not truly say that it is a game changer. But I can not say that it hurts anything either. I don’t use it on my Berkley stuff at all. And might go out on a limb slightly that river Smallies like Garlic more than their lake cousins. Use it more to mask my scent, but I don’t think I stink.

I can be pretty dense. Correct me on this if I am wrong. You are tying in Bass mortality to live bait and it’s use. How they are handled and hooked presenting this mortality rate. If so I’m with you 100+%. “Live Bait” The reason I’m not into it for bass fishing. I pride myself in releasing bass and handling them with kid gloves. I don’t want to kill any or see any killed. I’m human and can make a mistake. Not looking to make any though. “Bass Lives Matter” to me. But if a guy fishes live baits and is supposedly into catch and release or it is implied that’s their way of fishing, that person should possess a half decent set of skill to remove and cut hooks as necessary. Better own some decent tools and treat the fish carefully. If you don’t want to do that take him home and eat him or give him to the neighbor.

I sort of get your drift now. But your condition will change. Mother Nature casted a bad shadow on you. Your water conditions will change. Maybe this will be a once in a 25 year condition. I take it you are out west.

The coffee grounds was easy and mess free. Grinds and a zip lock bag. To me it did not impregnate the plastic/rubber. Was not strong. Maybe I should have brewed up some of the U Tails. Sounds like fun and an interesting experiment. Good luck.

I see it like this also. You are a die hard for these Smallies. You have asked countless questions in regards to live bait. Probably have mastered it. You have caught plenty of Smallies and can do it on any given day in the right conditions. You have clearly established yourself in your home waters. This is a given. Your fish are there. They are not going anywhere. They are there today, next month and for you next year and the year after that. Knowing that the fish are there is half the battle. If you sacrificed the numbers game for a season. Put the live bait to the side for that season. And looked at it as heck I’d rather catch one Smallie on a (ex. Shad Rap) than 6 on a minnow or use a pop-r type to pick off a couple before sun up. A 10” Smallie will hit that Pop-R as well as a 17” fish. Take what you get and build off of that. Throw some tubes, see how that goes. No good? Throw a light Trig, bam you pick on off. Build off of that. Swim and hop some Mr. Twister grubs. Crank a few WeeCraws. You know the fish at there. Fishing that live bait may be the best thing you ever got started doing. It found fish locations for you. Those locations will alway be good. Half the battle is won, took away half the guess work. This time will come. When you are ready. Keep enjoying it the way you are going about it. It has to remain fun to keep you going. Good luck. Man I don’t know if you are happy or sad about your current situation. Maybe a little of both. Raw Sewage. Bottom contact baits better or Topwater bite?

There is nothing wrong with your approach. That transition is not easy. I take it the bite (hookups) fell off drastically during this attempt and learning curve. It’s understandable that you want to catch fish and not go home dejected for your efforts. Fishing is suppose to be fun. Switching to lures is going to be a whole change in mindset and struggles will come with that. And during that transition something will have to give. The rewards will be there. Try to revisit the use of them at a later date. But let’s say minnows are your bait of choice. Your plan is to go out for a few hours and you are bringing a dozen and a half with you and a few Shad raps a few Zman Neds and a some Booyah mini spinnerbaits. These might get throw but the mindset is not there. Why? The crutch (the minnows) are in your possession. Your fall back to them is there. The day you leave them at home will come. Probably part of the transition and learning curve. Stick with what is working for you. Keep at it with a few basic lures in between casts. It will come together. You are addicted to the Smallies. That’s the most important thing.

The Zoom U Tail worm is one of my favorite worms. I had a post last season where is was letting them set in coffee grinds. Thought it would work out well. I don’t think it helped, certainly did not draw more strikes. In my case right out of the bag, whatever the factory has on them seem to work better. I was going to buy the KVD coffee spray and thought I’d experiment first. I never did buy it.

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall are relative to what part of the country you live in. Not sure if your question is leading to chance of catching your bigger fish or not. But for me it seems to be late September thru mid October. I feel if I’m gonna catch an outstanding fish it will come at this time. Outstanding being relative to where I am. Doesn’t not always happen. But it has. And I’m not fishing in the bass meca of the country either. What is outstanding to me is nothing to Southern guys.

You can blame this or that 7 ways to Sunday but most likely it was not your fault or the terminal tackle. It happens. Doesn’t take much of a let off in pressure, slight twitch, break of the wrist and gone. If it were a small fish it would be like who cares. But I feel for you, I’ve experienced it. It hurts when it beats your personal best. Go back for it. Get her.

I hope I don’t get effected by the storm hitting the south. If we don’t get hit with flash floods I might be alright on the river Sunday. Not that I have any big plan that I’m putting together but gonna fish some of the deeper water down there on the backside of the island, drops off to 9, 10, 13 foot real quick, a lot of brush and logs there on the banks. But does drop off real quick. Low flow, nothing real fast, good for a drift and just troll to keep the line I want. I’ll just rig myself up with some deeper running crankbaits to cover those depths and hope for some reaction strikes. Maybe mix in some soft plastics. Or go back through the area with all soft plastics. There has always been some green fellows back there. Been many of times on a cast you’d pick off a greenie and on the next cast Smallie would hit. I lived with a bitter taste in my mouth over the river situation for too long. Clearly not gonna run into Mother Nature herself to question her as to why she let that happen. I’m just going to try to be optimistic and try to feel it back out. Not let frustration get to me. But being out on it some this season so far, I know this is my home. Doing it knowing that I could be fishing better lake spots. So far my head is in it, no head games kicked in yet. My plan is to just break it down into sections. Fish them pretty thoroughly find holding spots and find spots they don’t want to be on anymore. There is a nice section/stretch of nice homes along there where some “real poor people” must be livinging. Some have pretty decent stone “sea walls” fronts. They were always good for a few fish, floating docks and some boat lifts. Real “poor people type stuff”. But over the years I’ve never had to take an ear full of crap for fishing tight against it. They’ve always asked me how I was making out and even offered up a cup of coffee while they were out there reading the news paper in their underwear. I’ll hit that stretch after the island. Sorry for being so long winded.

You can’t fish that torpedo wrong. Steady slow retrieve, burn retrieve, or put a pause to it. Just get creative and use your imagination while using it. The pop-r is what it is. Slash it. Experiment with a cadence. Though I don’t swim them. I guess you can. Both are time proven baits that work for sure.

? Sounds good. No complaints on my fishing Sunday and Monday mornings. Boated 20+ dinks and runts but caught 3 respectable Smallies 15-17”. I’m fishing my old home waters. Trying to see if Mother Nature is trying to bring it back around some. Been a laker for a few years now. Caught some nice ones there. I pull myself apart at times because I can’t be at both places at one time. The river rat in me is pushing me to the river lately. Keep doing what you are doing. Seems to be working. The old Cottons are in my trick bag also. Good fishing.