Spankey

Mo, a lot of the Mepps Inline spinners have worked well for me over the years fishing river Smallies. The Mepps spinners with some Panther Martins are probably my first lures for bass that I’ve started with. In all honesty the Comet Minnow never really worked out that well for me. Not even the small version for trout. But it’s not the lure, it’s me. I just never connected with it. I’m not trying to sell you on anything. You may have already tried these and maybe they didn’t work for you. But on that inline type of spinner minnows, what has worked real well over the years (old school lure) is the Fox Spin Minnow. Sort of reminds you of a Rapala minnow with an inline spinner blade on it. Only has a single rear treble on it. 3/16 and 1/4 oz. versions. I don’t throw it a lot these days but it is a confidence lure of mine. Not trying to see you on anything. I don’t work for Fox. Good fishing.

Pulled off a couple of back to back mornings at the lake. Decided to get off the river for a few days and take advantage of the no wind and water like glass on there. Started at sun up. Lack of wind has been nice. Water temps (surface temps) have not dropped off much in a week. 5 degrees at most, approx. 67 deg., this weekend I think I’m going to buy a pool thermometer and try to get an idea what true water temps are at 13-21 foot depths. These depths is where I’m getting my bass hits and bites. Bluegill and sunfish are there also. Bass have not been real shallow or have been moving shallow (what I am seeing). I think this movement to shallower water will happen when the bluegills start to move. Caught both smallmouths and largemouths. 12-15” fish and a few smaller bass closer to grass and pad edges 8 feet or shallower. Slow worm fishing various ways has been productive. My plan was to be back in there again in the morning. Suppose to have super thick fog in the morning and I thought that might make things interesting. But have a nail in my trailer tire. Didn’t go down on me but I noticed it when I got home. I’ll pull it and fix it in the morning. Finally have sun breaking through here late day. Have not seen the sun in over a week. I believe considerable temp drops are in line starting next week. Might be the true taste of fall. Night temps are suppose to be about 20 deg. lower. Hope water temps don’t drop off too fast. Gradually declining would be nice.

I’m seeing a couple of rivers here trying to make a come back/somewhat of a come back after years of major floods. I hope before my last days on god’s green earth it picks up even better. I’m no biologist by a long shot. And Mother Nature works in some unbelievable ways. Why? It killed me to see what had happen around here. Silting is the devil for the smallies. Some how Mother Nature will pull it together. Hope your and my grandkids see it.

I hope you and your family are ok. I can only hope it didn’t turn your part of the world upside down. I thought I’ve seen some bad crap in my lifetime up here with these inland hurricane effect, devistating damage but not to that extent. Things will heal, some things will be better after all the pieces get picked up. Just takes time. My thoughts are, people have to have a place to go. And need a good outreach by local communities not hit as hard. Sorry to see what has happened down there.

Might be fall by the calendar but these parts of the Northeast temps are not in any quick temp dip. Lows are gonna be at sunrise in and around 55 deg. with day and evenings in the 70’s. I’m glad it didn’t turn like it was done with a light switch. I’ll take the gradual change. Hope you guys in the south are ok. Hope you didn’t have to suffer property damage or personal injury. Our effects further north have only been slight amounts of rain not enough to get out of any drought. Hurricanes have more of an affect on us if it comes up the coast. From what I’ve seen hope the recovery is quick. Crazy how Mother Nature works. Recent hurricanes up here have ruined some rivers of the fishing it once was. But they are trying to rebound. Silting is the biggest issue. Hope you guys are back on the water soon.

I wish I could talk a good game on spinnerbaits but can’t. I’ve always had a phobia to throw larger swimbaits. Can’t say that I’ve given them a fair shot at fishing for lake largemouths. My confidence level has alway been 1/4 oz. and 3/16 oz. on the river for Smallies. I find them productive in heavy stained and off colored water. Black with gold blades is all that has produced for me.

You are far from the truth. You recently said you had notes and memoirs of a lot of your back woods trips. Areas with less human activity. Areas where a canoe much less than any boat has ever been. I think stories and adventures you’ve had are probably more interesting. If a write like that is a passion of yours, I’d say go for it.

Swamp, I don’t think anything or the way you do things is abnormal or weird. It’s just your style. It works, why put yourself in positions you are uncomfortable with. I’m willing to bet some of my tackle is as old as yours, maybe older. I still throw some older Rebel, Rapala, Storm and Bombers baits. Some of my stuff has become wall hangers. I baitcast fish, spin fish, finesse fish, the so called NED fishing, NED ? I’ve been fishing like that since the 70’s. Was taught that by old river rats back in the 70’s. But I have to give credit to old Ned for putting his work out there and to manufacturers for adopting ideas for the NED Baits out there we use. I don’t think there is anything weird about how I fish, or what I’m using. The lures I buy I use, admittedly I have more than I need. Same for my rods but I use them. I may not be normal because I’ve heard that way more than once in my lifetime. I’m more anal as to some things related to fishing. I probably change my line more than anyone on here, when out on the water I don’t have my stuff out of place has to be right where I want it, I realize when boating a fish the do come off and dance on the carpet. It happens but generally I don’t want to see any bass touching my carpet. Their slime layer is what helps them fight disease. Has nothing to do with staining my carpet. I prefer people (a newbie or the curious, these are mainly adults) to use my stuff and don’t bring anything along. I’m not dealing with problems of gramps stuff he let he/her use. Mortality is a normal condition. It can and will happen. I just don’t want it to happen on my time. We are going to do everything on god’s green earth to keep them alive. No live bait for bass, it’s not needed. I realize these are some quirks but I can’t help it.

I shuffle my time between the river and the lake (river rat at heart). I don’t have a favorite season or time slot but I do like the fall because I feel a new PB will come than. This is if history repeats itself. But I fish for that new PB every time I’m out.

Is that something that is meant for backpacking and for getting into remote areas?

I’ve been a long time fan of Shimano and the old Stradic’s and Symetre’s. But reels were eliminated and Shimano has made big steps to put out better and newer versions of reels. Owning Sahara’s to Vanford reels, if you want a good/great all around not a bank breaker with great quality, I strongly suggest the NASCI or Marvel. I have another Marvel in my next purchase. But you could buy a Sahara and not go wrong. I’ve alway thought Shimano put out a good product. Their product has gotten better in my opinion over 30 years. The only thing I miss with Shimano is at one time you got a spare aluminum spool with their reels. That worked out well. I use to like having on a clear blue Fluoro and a spool of low viz green ready to go on if I wanted to.

Silver with a black back. Buzz would have to be black also.

I’m a bit older than you, I’m 65. Fishing alone is pretty common for me. But over the years I enjoyed having my father and father-in-law come out with me. But they were not regular about it. They have both passed for quite some time now. But I have grandsons that get out with me. I love getting them out and don’t care if I fish at all when they are with me. I have two other grandsons that are quite younger. 1 1/2 yo and a 3+ yo. I’ve had the 3 yo out but his train of thought is not that long yet. I want to live long enough to get them hooked. Got to have grandsons to take my stuff when I’m gone. Heck one grandson sort of claimed the boat. He doesn’t have a drivers license yet to even pull it. As a kid (9-10) I started taking to fishing for trout pretty seriously (seriously might not be the right word). Sometime other guys would go but I was into it and didn’t care if they went or not. But I was lucky that I was safe from a mishap. I would get heck from mom for it as a kid. I lied about going many of times but she said she could smell the creek on me. I would not recommend it for kids. But in your case you might be able to find a kayak club or kayak group that meets up to go. Might be something that’s was a long time coming. Might open up better opportunities. A change that’s been needed.

I can’t say whether these fish formulas work or not. Maybe I have them in a can’t hurt category. I don’t put gas in my truck or boat on my way to the lake or river. I don’t mess with bug sprays very often or on a regular basis while out. Don’t want to take the chance of these offensive chemicals interfering with my baits. There is unscented hand soap in the boat that I do/will use and is there if someone else needs it. If I’m using Berkley, Zee, Xzone or 6th Sense plastics I’m not adding anything to them, they get fished with their factory added formula. Types like RoboWorm that are hyped up about their salt infusion I can’t recall ever putting anything on them. I have Kick-N-Bass anise and garlic scents out there with me, use to be Fish Formula or Baitmate years ago. Don’t see them sold anywhere these days. I’m not convinced that they should be put on any pedestal. Probably good for masking human hand scents. A few years ago when all the hype about coffee scent was the rage I took my best producing Zoom finesse worm and put 3 in a zip loc with coffee grinds and let them set in a bag for a week. I think the experiment was a failure. They failed to get hits let alone a bite. But I realize at the factory the scent is infused into the plastic. Back a few years ago I took 3 of my best producing 4” cut tail worms and ribbon tail worms and soaked them for a week in Baitmate Garlic. That next fish day was a real plus fishing that worm. BUT maybe it was a just that I was in the right place at the right time. Maybe there was a higher concentration of smallies in that spot. Maybe something that Mother Nature had control over caused the great bite that day. I’ll keep bait scents in that can’t hurt and might help category. And I might be convinced that on the right day, Smallies do like a little garlic with a cut tail or ribbon tail worm.

Keep plenty of water on the boat. Keep the caffeine off the boat. Dehydration is a killer. Effects all parts of your body. You can be dehydrated and not even know it.

I’m at a loss with my crankbait fishing now (been going on for quite a while). I guess they are on sabbatical for the most part but I’m not gonna fish them and get frustrated. I’ve change up my tactics. Been picking up fish on soft plastics. I’m not giving up on cranking, I don’t understand everything about fish behavior and what the turn off to them can be. I don’t think they are even fished that hard by others on the waters I fish. I’ll turn it around some how, just hope it is sooner than later. Maybe I should make a radical change in color patterns and throw them. But my thoughts have been to keep throwing time proven producers. Maybe start throwing a new brand. I don’t think it is me or my crankbaits. I think it is the fish not being in a reactionary mode. Most fish I’m finding to be is deeper water and not roaming banks.

Pulled off a couple of back to back mornings on the river. Fished a section that I have not fished for a couple of years. Contains a bit more structure natural and man made. Back to back days seem to work out more productive. Not that I set the world on fire but was catching bass. Mentally it’s a better type of fishing for me. Mixed bag of brown and green bass. Largest Smallie 15” on a spinnerbait, largest Greenie 14” on a 7” Power worm. A few others were close in size to these. These are nothing to brag about but fishing a bit bigger bait has increased fish size some. Fall might be here on the calendar but my surface water temps are still 72-74 deg. Long range temps look like they are turning to 50-70 deg. days. WE NEED RAIN. Nothing significant in near future. Crankbait bite is still in the toilet. Was nice picking up the one Smallie on the spinnerbait. I feel compelled to throw something of a different profile and a bait I’m fishing faster. Will fish some swimbaits and flukes harder next time out.

I think the OP should count them and make a log. More good will come out of it vs. bad. Not only note what did work on the outing but what didn’t. I’m sorry “crick” I lost track of who’s post it was.

When my dad was alive and when he was with me he always had one of those K Mart/Wally World special Olympus film cameras. Kept it in his lunch/snack cooler. We did get some nice Smallie pics over the years. Old school stuff. Today smartphone stuff is crazy nice compared to that. I grab a selfie once and awhile, mostly to bug my wife at work. I have a problem with selfies. My arms are too short for my weight to get a nice pic. But my wife is a good sport. On more than one occasion over the years I’ve had her come to the river or lake to bring the camera to grab a few pics. While she is dressed for work. She know the routine. Get in the boat, take pics at the hole it came out of and release it back. When she retires it will make it easier on her.

I use to keep a log of my river Smallie fishing. Not super sophisticated but a combination of numbers, sizes, baits I used, river locations, temps and all that stuff. A lot of written notes like a log. I should have never gotten away from it. Had done it for years. I think I’ll start this again for next season. But it will be set up different next time because I get lake time in nowadays (past handful of years). I respect a 9” Smallie as well as a 12”, 15” or 20” Smallie. But I’d like to think I’m fishing for a 20”er on every cast. From my experience small smallies can be caught fishing the bank or very close to it and numbers can be high. Those little bugger are always ready to hit and most times very aggressive for their size. They certainly will hit on days larger ones will not. I don’t fish in a Smallmouth mecca river of the country. A 14”-18” fish is respectable fish. 19” and over is one of Mother Natures finest.

I generally have a Skitter Prop tied on and ready to throw. My topwater game is not with big baits. I sort of don’t know what I’m going with them and uncomfortable with the thought of trying them. I’m not throwing Ultra Lite sizes. It’s just a phobia I have. And my lack of trying bigger baits probably has cost me fish. But I have confidence in the sizes I’m throwing.

I’m always hitting my opening spot with a top water but like you I’m not gonna beat it to death because I feel the bass are there and will be willing to hit soft plastics. Or other bait. I’ll fan cast a point coming into the river. I think on more than one occasion I’ve shut down fish from hitting from being to aggressive on the amount of casting. I have to agree the river Smallies tend to be bigger on that topwater bite.

I’ve never gave much thought about the sun. Top water will be the first thing I throw and that will be in low light conditions. Pop-R’s, Spooks and mini-buzzbaits types. Before day break to sun up I fell the best and most comfortable fishing it. I move away from them after activity stops or no interest. Frog fish pads and grass during brighter conditions. I just relate that to fish wanting to draw back and wanting to get themselves in a shaded area. But I’m probably wrong with my thoughts on that. I believe if your confidence level is high enough to fish top water all day long you will catch fish.

Keep a good spare on your rig also. Hope you never need it. Shop around, I think you will get a better price than you think.

I replaced tires on my current trailer a few years ago. Put radials on it. That boat trailers beautiful or let’s say there was a noticeable difference. I get winter here in the Northeast. I block my trailer in the fall and have no weight on my tires over the winter months.