Smalls

I have a sweet spot along the river. Bass love to sit in this little cove just outside the current. Easy to corner baitfish in the pocket. It’s in a pretty... rough part of Detroit. I move and park my car any time I move more than 25 feet down the bank. And there certainly aint bass like that!

My goal this year is to slooooooooow down when the fishing calls for it. I always wanna powerfish, burn cranks or spinners and not really understand what I’m fishing. Even when pitching, I barely let the bait hit the bottom before I’m reeling it in and swinging it again. Ive caught tons of fish burning and jerking a squarebill. But man, sometimes those fish are just lazy.

I’ve got a Columbia PFG shirt in bright sea foam green. I stick out like a house fire. I love the Columbia, Under Armour, etc shirts that help keep you cool and block some sun, but hate spending $50 on a shirt that’s gonna get fish slime and dirt all over it. So I shop the clearance stores and find the colors no one bought for $15 at the end of the season. If you have a Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, or Dick’s close to you, I’d hurry up and check em out. I actually found some normal colors last week and stocked up.

My main concern would be that your leader would have to be extremely short for most applications. I normally cast a lure with it hanging maybe 1-2 ft from the tip. I’m certainly not launching a swivel through my guides, even if it would fit. Im a braid-to-leader guy. I’m also a bank fisherman, so I’d rather not carry leader materials with me if I don’t have to. So I’ll use a VMC crankbait snap with my hard baits so I don’t have to cut, re tie, and lose leader length. My knot tying skills are less than impressive, but I’ve yet to have an alberto come loose. My leader is gonna snap before that knot comes loose.

Commander sized 1911... in 9mm cause I like to be difficult. STI that I’ve had some work done on. Nothin crazy, just some detailed fitting and tightening up. Although, it seems to be getting heavier than I ever remember. Been toying with the idea of switching platforms. Nothin screams at me when I pick it up like a 1911 does.

I love taking them. Even if I don’t get to fish. Even if they aren’t the next KVD’s, I’m extremely proud of what they’ve learned and accomplish already. My son does the same thing. So when he does actually have a fish, I almost ignore his cries of excitement until I see his rod load up. They seem to have a pretty good understanding of setting the hook when they actually have a fish.

My vision plan covered (most of) my Oakley’s. I’ve had em forever, I can’t recall specifics. Definitely due for a new pair. I’ve never had a pair of glasses or sunglasses with any sort of anti fog treatment actually work. Instead, I apply a thin film of dish soap. Applied right, you’ll still see, and hey won’t fog.

Snacks are always a must! I usually carry the rods and tackle, and I stick water bottles, snacks, and sunscreen in a couple of mini-me sized backpacks for them to carry. The boy is starting to catch the bug, but he is still pretty young at 3. It’s hard to keep him occupied or focused for more than a few minutes. 9/10 times I take them both fishing, We go to a small pond that you literally cannot get a bluegill off the hook before the other one has caught one. Keeps em interested, gives em confidence. A big plus is that I can park 20 feet away, so there’s less lugging stuff around.

We just celebrated my daughters 7th this weekend. I’ve been taking her since before she was 3. Lately... she’s been hot and cold on fishing. She’ll beg me to go, and get bored the first 20 minutes we aren’t catching anything. So I try to hit up the spots she can run off with her little brother and play until I see her rod twitch. Then she’s all business. Shes estatic that I’ve given her some crankbaits and other lures to use. Lit up like a Christmas tree the first time she caught something on one. But she’s still young and easily bored. So I don’t fight her urges to run off and pick flowers or collect rocks. And she doesn’t fight the fact that we ain’t goin home til the bass quit bitin. And I don’t mind if she gives up fishing. She certainly gave it her alll. And I have pictures of the biggest, half-toothless, most ginormous smile I’ve ever seen of a little girl picking up a 1/4 lb largemouth bass. It sits in my wallet and it makes this grown man giggle every day. Now, I don’t hunt much anymore, but she has shown interest in learning to shoot. This I’m hesitant of... because there will be no happy pictures of her out shooting me. I simply won’t allow it.

I lived in this apartment complex for about 2 years. It was my ex’s, moved in with her. There were two ponds on the property. They defied all rules and reason of an ecosystem. The only 2 fish in the pond were laregemouth bass, and bluegill. I could not take my kids fishing and expect to fish. I would hook a worm, and before I had a chance to grab my rod- “dad, I caught a fish, get it off”. When I fished alone, I found there were bass that would grow to sizes they certainly should not in a “puddle” that was not half the size of a football field. I don’t dare utter the weight of my biggest for fear of being labeled a liar. I still I’ll make the occasional trip, on Saturday and Sundays, when the office is closed. They favor frog type offerings the most.

I had to tell myself this out loud today. Twice. I’ve been going over Google earth a lot. The summer is the busy season at work, so I might only have an hour, maybe two , here and there to get a quick fix during the week. So I’ve been looking for small ponds to make a run at. I have ave a few spots on the bank of the Detroit River I can walk to, but unfortunately they often require me to saturate the area thoroughly before finding the fish.

Caught my largest on a black/red football jig I picked out of the $1 bin paired with a watermelon/red flake beaver craw. Middle of the day in the middle of summer. Pitched off the bank to underneath an overhanging tree in maybe a foot and a half of water and she violently choked it down just as I was about to reel it in. Biggest smallmouth ate a chartruese/Black back KVD 1.5. I dug it into a grass patch and ripped it out.

Back down to the low 30’s/20’s for at least the next 2 weeks. Pretty sure it’s never gonna warm up

I stopped in to the new rebranded store as I was early to an appointment just down the road. They had barely started setting the shop up, and I was expecting the same ol Gander junk. From what I saw, I was actually kinda surprised by the selection. They had a few brands/models of things that I was hoping to purchase locally, but no one carried.

We had a heatwave in Detroit last week, it reached 50 on Friday. I work Sunday-Thursday, so it seemed the stars were aligned. Like many of you, I’ve collected some new gear over the winter and have been pacing around the house waiting to try it all as it sits there taunting me. Most notably I’ve picked up my first “higher end” rod, and a very nice reel that I’ve been frothing at the mouth to try out. I didn’t have time during the week to go and scout any of my usual spots. My thought process was that it wasn’t warm enough for long enough to melt the ice, but that the river should have had enough current in some spots to keep the ice away. So I packed up my gear, decided on a few spots that I thought might be ice free, and peeled off. Fellas, I was heartbroken. Not a single spot could be had. One looked promising, but with the current, it was pushing 25x25 slabs of ice right past the shore. Even if I had a bite, the odds of getting broken off by an iceberg made it a losing bet. My hopes were so high, but Mother Nature crushes them violently.

Those are some fine lookin hogs! I don't seem to find that many smallmouth, but when I do, they’re plump little buggers.

I’ve been skimming through that for a few hours, haha.

I did not expect this to become the topic that it did! Thank you for the responses. From what I gathered, it seems like strain and the fact that our water is hard for a good chunk of our year has most to do with it. I guess we’re just stuck with our “dinks” up here in the thumb.

I’m actually picking up an 8 ft Pelican “boat” this weekend. I’ll make a post about it because I have some questions. But I did give a kayak thought. I want to like the idea, but I’m a klutz and I prefer to stand. As far as tournaments go- I’d love to, for the sole purpose of learning and meeting fishing buddies. I’m not very competitive, I prefer to challenge myself.

Cabela’s had a stand of really nice looking shades in the fishing section last time I was there. I don’t recall the brand name, but if I remember they were around $30-40. If I didn’t need RX lenses, I’d have probably given em a try.

It’s on my short list for this year! So naturally, the next question is... how would transplants of FLMB, with their genetics, fair in MI? I wouldn’t expect them to reach such great weights here, but I imagine we might get a few more pounds out of some of them, no?

Well, like I said, I imagine there are plenty of other factors, trout is just the one that I see pop up constantly, so it seemed like the obvious one to mention. But I suppose there’s an additional question within the question, or perhaps a clarification on the original. It’s obvious that we cannot grow bass like they do, but what are the leading factors. Is it the winter? Pressure? Certain strains just can’t? I’m certainly not “targeting” a record, just a question that has irked me for some time, and something I haven’t been able to find any insight on.

The optimist in me wants to believe it’s the other way around ?

The only place I’ve ever bass fished is here in the Midwest, so I’ve never had the chance to deal with many strains of bass. But do they differ THAT greatly? If so, how is it that these different strains can vary so greatly?

I might have misheard or misread the information, but regardless, the point that that their bass are eating trout still stands. I imagine that there has to be other factors in why their bass are so large, it just seemed like the one that I see most.