MIbassyaker

Got to sneak out for another trip to "Lake 19" this morning, 7 to 11:30. A good one nailed nailed my Cavitron buzzbait on the first cast....and popped off a couple arms lengths away from me. I reminded myself I don't believe in omens, and carried on, throwing mostly the Cavitron until the sun was over the trees, then moving in on the surface veg, pitching a Zoom lizard. I ended up catching 8 LMB + a ~2-footer pike. Couple of buzzbait munchers, 16" and 17", helped ease the sting of that first lost fish: Another 17" ate the lizard, and a 19", 3.81lb slurped the buzzbait. I was about ready to go home, when this 19.5", 4.18lb grabbed the lizard: And that, I declared, would be the last cast.

I fish from a kayak, shore, and wade, almost always close to home. So no long-distance trips, no boat to pull, gas-up and and maintain. I suppose I spent somewhere in the mid-hundreds considering total tackle, gas, misc. accessories, license, and occasional usage/launch fees. Didn't buy any new rods or reels, so that kept it down.

Just a few casual giants!

It's the lure you buy the most of, not your most commonly used. Otherwise you would have used them up at a higher rate as well, and not run out of space.

Finally got some free time today and hit the Grand River. Best of 10 went 18" and is easily my best Smallmouth this year: Couple of 16"s also showed up:: Got a lot of bites and blow-ups that didn't hook up, but every one that did hook up went absolutely ballistic. Each of the 3 fish above jumped 3 or 4 times. The net was essential today.

I pulled a Veritas combo out of the river a couple years ago. Somebody had even gone to the trouble of replacing the tip.

"Chance the Snapper"!! Hilarious. Got a Florida man on the case now here too. https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2024/08/the-termigator-florida-man-coming-home-to-hunt-west-michigan-lakes-elusive-alligator.html The guy grew up on the lake and is back to visit for a couple weeks. Haven't heard any updates, which I assume means they haven't found it yet.

Green heron was the first thing I thought of too. They'd be a big meal, but they're not huge, and they hang out right down there at the waters edge. I can easily imagine an enterprising big bass taking a shot.

I feel like @Fishlegs and @TnRiver46 ought to have some good intel for you. As far as differences from LMB, the first thing I'd say is, it is harder to find them, but easier to get them to strike. Lure choice is less important than reading water and evaluating conditions to determine where they most likely are. Smallmouth move a lot and may travel miles to find a preferred spot. In free-flowing river sections, reading water is a skill all its own, and takes some practice. The second thing is, they compensate for smaller mouths with greater aggressiveness. So, all else equal, you tend to get more strikes, but fewer hook-ups. Sticking to baits in the 2-5" range helps a lot. I have no doubt you could catch a smallie on a 10" worm, but you're more likely to be successful on a 4-5" worm. They also tend to "slash" at topwaters (trying to stun prey? nobody really knows). So trebled baits, like poppers and walkers are often more useful than frogs and toads. Of course, smallmouth will attack them all, but will they hook up? That's the question. Buzzbaits should have a trailer hook. Spinnerbaits maybe a trailer hook, but less important, in my experience.

I probably bring less than most people. I'm only out for a few hours at a time, usually on lakes not more than a few dozen acres, or sections of small rivers. What I bring depends on where I'm going -- could be very different from place to place. I usually have a good idea of what I'm going to use before I go. This would be different if I fished bigger waters, or for longer trips. -1 small tackle bag for plastics, all in their original packs; zippered side pouch with a few spinnerbaits and buzzbits. -4 or 5 3500 stowaway boxes for terminal tackle and hardbaits. One mostly hooks/weights/heads for rigging plastics; One with topwaters and/or jerkbaits (usually one or the other). Two with various kinds of jigs, including bladed jigs. Maybe one box with some crankbaits. Everything fits easily in a crate on the Kayak, or a medium-to-large backpack/slingpack if on foot.

I don't glue most plastics, but I've been using LocTite for some Elaztech stuff when the keeper is weak, or on an EWG jighead like the owner finesse heads.

Keep it up, Hammers. I've been able to fish exactly once this month, and don't know when my next opportunity will be. Catch a few for me.

I haven't tried any of the newer Fenwicks, but I own several models in the old Elite Tech Smallmouth and Aetos lines, spinning and casting, that have been in service constantly since I got them -- they were very good rods at their price point that never really seemed to catch on. Weird! I have the 7'0 MF Aetos spinning, and it's rated 1/16-3/4.

I'm mostly uninterested in fishing socially, and almost always go alone. I spend almost every other moment of my life around people, so I treat fishing as my chance to disengage from them for awhile. If I had my way, I would always have the water to myself every time. I fish a semi-regular rotation of around 3-dozen distinct lakes and river sections within an hour of my house. All can be accessed publicly, and get fished regularly by other people. But some are pretty out of the way and not well known, and a couple I found only with some effort. I live in a moderate population center and I don't have time to travel far on a typical trip. So even the less-travelled waters are not really that lonesome. However, on a few, I rarely see anyone else if I am there on a weekday morning. The two most "lonesome" lakes I fish both require paddling in from a creek to access. One is entirely on state land and completely undeveloped. The other has privately owned shoreline, but pretty small and marshy enough that most of it has not been developed. "Lake 12": and "Lake 13": (13 fishes quite a bit better than 12, though)

M power Casting = 1.5 crankbaits, 1/2oz hard topwaters (poppers, walkers, crawlers), light-cover 1/4oz t-rigs/jigs.