pdxfisher

Wow! You are killing it!!

I am somewhere in the middle. I have lost big bass I fought too hard and lost big bass I fought too long. In the end each battle is different and how hard I fight the fish depends upon how they are acting.

I think it is a must have for offshore fishing so that you can tell how your boat is oriented with respect to structure. It allows me to understand where to direct my casts.

This has been a fun conversation to watch unfold. I am not totally against an electric motor kayak but I just upgraded a few years ago and so I don't think I want to spend a lot of money at this stage of my life - stage 5, groan If the electric kayaks had been around for a while, and shown the good track record that they have since then, when I last upgraded I would have been sorely tempted to have grabbed one of those Old Town ones with the spot lock. I am sure you can be a much more efficient angler with spot lock on the rivers that I fish. I do agree with @ol'crickety on wanting to use my own sweat and effort when I am out. Plus, I do like the exercise aspect of pedaling my kayak around. Right now it is most of my weekly exercise and I don't want to give that up. To counter the above statement though, one really awesome application of those out here in the PNW is the anchorless anchoring when fishing for sturgeon or shad. Right now I have to drop an anchor (sometimes in over 100' of water) in current. It would be sweet to just push a button to stay in place instead! However, the real deciding reason for not going electric is that in the end getting an electric kayak would not help me medically because my wife would kill me if I bought another kayak

I will have to think about a motorized kayak a bit more. For now I will just stick with what I have. I have paddled my kayak into the wind before but going into a 20mph wind with waves breaking over the bow and into the current is what made it so tough. Pedaling is not too hard. I used to bike about 4-5000 miles a year so pedaling my kayak around is not too taxing for me. Not as easy as a motor but not overly draining. I usually end up going about 5-10 miles when I am out for a 10 hour day (not counting any pedaling in place). Depends upon how good they are biting and where I am fishing. I will say that there are quite a few guys out here with motorized kayaks that have spot lock. I do get a little jealous watching them be able to sit on a spot and hammer it. Every time I catch I good fish I end up drifting downstream quite a ways by the time I end landing, weighing and measuring it. It would be kind of sweet to just be able to hold my position.

I love the hindsight comment. That made me laugh out loud. The ... was perfect delivery I do check 4 different wind forecasts and believe the worst one. The worst was predicting 8mph later in the day. The other three were 5mph or less for the max. They all screwed up but that happens every now and again.

The problem is that I am only a few miles above Bonneville dam (certain death) in a steep-sided gorge. I was not sure what was below where I was. I might have been able to make it to the Oregon side but that would have meant crossing 1/2 mile of river broadside in the waves. I did not think I could make that without being dumped by waves hitting me broadside. I was most of the way back by the time I got somewhere where I could get my kayak up on shore so I just gutted out the last 1/4 mile or so rather than trying to deal with getting my kayak to my truck from a pretty challenging spot (long carry up a steep hill).

I will definitely be a bit pickier going forward on days to go out. I am just going to plain avoid the river during an East wind unless I am going out with someone. My usual buddy was going to go this trip but then ended up going camping in Southern Oregon instead. The other thing I am going to do is to have a more complete kayak gear check before I hit the water. If I had looked I probably would have seen the bolt that failed almost completely unthreaded. A motorized kayak is a little appealing though. I will have to think on that one a bit. The only problem is that that if the motor failed (or the battery died) I would be in no better shape. At least with the pedal drive if the "battery" dies then I don't need to worry about anything (I hope you don't mind a little dark humor). That is good advice! The problem last trip was that it was not clumps but just strands floating around. It was just individual strands all over the place.

I fished the Columbia on the 9th from about 6:45am until about 11:30am. I was having a great day until my Hobie drive failed and I had to cut the day short. I got to the water before sunrise but as I got ready I thought I had dropped my keys and spent 10 minutes looking for them everywhere. Of course in the end they were right where they were supposed to be I am not sure how that happens. They place I looked first is right where they were but I did not find them until I looked there for a third time. Well after that little adrenalin rush I was ready to hit the water. All the wind forecasts for the day were calling for light winds from the East that would transition to light winds from the West by the end of the day. I was stoked to have some an awesome forecast!! I started fishing and in short order had one destroy my Choppo about 2' from my kayak. Let me tell you that is way better than a cup of coffee to wake you up in the morning! I landed that fish. It was not huge but maybe a 14" or so and chunky. The fishing was a bit annoying because there was lots of pieces of grass floating everywhere. Probably every other cast would get fouled. I am not sure why there was so much broken off grass. I worked that area for a bit longer but could not buy a second bite so I moved to spot number two. This spot also had an annoying amount of grass floating around it so I just fell into a rhythm of cast, retrieve, clean of the lure. In the low light it was hard to see the floating grass but my lure had not trouble finding it all The areas near shore are all quite weedy right now but there are some isolated rocky/gravelly spots. I made a cast to where I knew one of those was and within a crank or two of the reel handled I had an explosive strike on my choppo!. I set the hook and I knew for sure that this was a big fish. I leaned on it pretty hard and only managed to put a deeper bend in my rod. Oh yeah baby! Then the fish changed tactics and charged at me. For a heartbeat I thought I had lost it but I reeled like a madman and was able to put the pressure back on. The fish then made a beautiful jump just to let me know it was still on I got the fish near the kayak where it made a handful of runs, just ripping the drag on my reel. I made sure I did not reach for the net too soon (a mistake I have been making). I kept a good amount of pressure on the fish and just worked it back and forth as I worked it to the surface. I got it to the top and was able to slip my net under a beast of a smallmouth. Just in time too, the lure fell out when the fish was in the net. Whew! The fish was 20.5" long and was a fat 4lb 15oz. - I tried to wish it to 5 but it just would not go Catching a pig like that on topwater was just awesome! After I landed that guy I went back to that same spot and fished it from a few different angles but did not get another bite. I worked my way out that point past to the deep edge of the weeds alternating between quite a few different baits to try to find a wad of fish. Eventually I worked out past the deep edge of the weeds and found a group of small fish in 15-20' of water on a drop shot. Unfortunately these fish were all on the small side. After catching 5 or so I decided that I could sit there and catch dinks all day long or go and look for some bigger fish. That was an easy decision. The one cool thing was this guy who had what looked like a decent sized perch sticking out of his gut but still wanted my drop shot. The next spot I wanted to hit was occupied so I kept heading downstream. I stopped at a spot and caught a perch on the drop shot. I was getting tons of bites but they all felt perch-y so I moved again. A bit further down I fished a spot that had been producing a good fish each week. That spot is similar in nature to where I caught the big fish earlier so I was excited to fish it but I only landed another smallish bass (maybe a pound). I worked that area for a while but could not buy another bite. So on I went. The wind had now picked up quite a bit. In that section of the Columbia an East wind quickly develops rollers. That is a bit annoying to fish in but my kayak handles them just fine. I saw a boat that was anchored up across the river pull anchor and head in as it got rougher, but I stayed. I got to my favorite spot on the river. I just knew I was going to have a slay fest. I fished that area with swimbait, spy bait, and wobblehead. I went over that spot three times figuring I might just be missing them due to the rough water but I could not buy a sniff. I was both stunned and bummed by that turn of events. I eventually gave up on that spot and went to another spot that gets fished hard but is still usually a good spot. This spot is closer to shore and downstream from a massive weed bed. I was back to the problem of trying to fish around and through all the floating pieces of weeds. I gave up on treble hook lures pretty quickly and went to switching between a drop shot and a swim bait. With the drop shot I just made very short flips to clean water. With the swim bait I could sometimes jerk the weeds off when I felt it get fouled and get mostly clean retrieves. The "normal" part of the structure where I usually have success was dud. I kept working upstream along the the weedbed for a bit. I figured with the wind blowing pretty good now and quartering into the weedbed that that there might be fish swimming along the edge waiting for bait to blow into it. That turned out to be a smart call because on one of my casts along that edge my swimbait got smoked. I had another really good fish one!! I carefully fought that fish which was tougher now due to the wind and the chop but I just tried to keep my cool and remain calm. I once again kept good pressure on the fish and was able to eventually where it down and get it to the surface. I was able to slip my net under another beast of a smallmouth. This guy was 19.75" long and weighed 4lbs on the dot. Two four pound plus fish in a day is a good day in my book!! I thought maybe I was going to slay them along that weed edge but once again this fish seemed to be by itself and I could not buy another bite. I am not sure if the fish were just moving around fast and I was happening to briefly cross paths with them or if these big fish were flying solo. It seems to happen a lot in the fall though. I don't find them grouped up as often as I do in the summer. Anyway, after fishing that for a while and not picking up another bite. I moved again. The cool thing is that they wind which had been picking up died down to a gentle breeze. I was feeling so smart for not leaving when it had become rough earlier. I fished another favorite spot with the swimbait and hooked a decent fish (maybe pound and a half). I got it next to the kayak and decided not to net it. As I was trying to grab it the fish shook off. I touched though so I count that as a catch I was excited though because I say another fish following that one when I had next to the kayak. I thought maybe I had found a spot where they were loaded up but nope. I fished that spot with a variety of baits, depths and speeds but I could not get a second bit. It just seemed like that kind of a day. I moved to the other side of the structure and after trying a few moving baits I picked up a drop shot. On my first cast with the drop shot I had barely moved it after it sank to the bottom when I felt a fish pick it up. I set the hook and could feel that this was once again a good fish. After a good battle, with that fish taking drag at will for a while, I was able to wear it down and land it. I said that looks like it might weigh 2 and half. I guess catching those 4+'s had warped my perspective because it was a nice 18.5", 3lb 2oz bass. I pedaled back to the spot and cast again. Once again as soon as my drop shot hit the bottom a bass grabbed my drop shot and it was game on. After a spirited tussle I landed a 16.75" 2lb 11oz bass. I went back to the spot and after fishing it for a bit I picked another bass. I did not weigh or measure this guy but he was probably around 15". The good news is the bite was on the bad news was that the wind was picking up. On my next cast I snagged up and had to re-tie. I decided to replace my entire leader since it was feeling kind of rough. In the time it took me to do that the wind had really picked up and I was back to fishing in high wind, whitecaps and rollers. I hooked a nice fish (probably 2-3lbs). I put a lot of pressure on that fish and tried to land it quickly due to the waves. It came up to the surface and was able to shake the hook in a half jump. I was dumb for trying to horse that fish in and got what I deserved. Right after that (around 11:30am) my drive failed. I had repaired it a few weeks back and I guess I did not tighten some of the bolts on the cable pulley system tight enough and they had worked loose while I was fighting to hold my position against the wind and current. My drive was useless. While I tried to fiddle with it (not knowing it was useless to try yet) I drifted downstream even further. Between the wind and current I was moving over 2mph. I quickly realized it was a lost cause and stowed my drive. I picked up my paddle and started working my way back upstream into the teeth of the wind. There was really no place for me to pull over so all I could do was try my best to paddle the ~1.5 miles back to the ramp. Well going into that wind was brutal. I dig each stroke with all my might just to make some progress. The best speed I could manage was around .6mph and when it gusted my GPS would show me that I was going 0mph (sometimes even going backwards). Being at stage 5 kidney failure my health is not the best to begin with and now I was facing what seemed like an impossible task and there was not another boat on the water. So I steeled my self and just kept grinding away. I could not stop for even a minute because if I did I would immediately start heading back downstream at 2mph. It was brutal. I was not sure I was going to make it back. I paddled for all I was worth while waves broke over the bow of my kayak. Watching the shoreline just added to my despair because being out in the middle of the river I could not even tell I was making progress it was so slow. Finally I settled on not looking up and just watching the front of the kayak. I would only look up every 200 strokes. Doing that I could kind of tell I had moved a little bit upstream. That helped my confidence. The other thing that saved me as that at this time of the year the native Americans leave buoys out on the river for when they are allowed to run their nets. After an hour of paddling I was about 1/2 way back and had reached one of those buoys and tied up to it for a few minutes of rest. I ate a small snack, drank some of my drink, gave myself a pep talk and then got back to it. The wind just remained brutal but I just kept digging for all I was worth. I was still not sure I was going to make it. My arms and core were now burning. I have very little energy reserves and I knew I was pushing my limits but I kept going. I had no choice. I was angling back towards the ramp and eventually I made it close enough to shore that I was over the weedbeds that grow to within a foot or so of the surface. At that point, even though I still had about 1/2 miles to go and I was really tired I was able to make better progress. The weeds both help cut the current and flatten the waves a bit. I was able to get my speed up to over 1mph plus being closer to shore made it easier to see my progress which was uplifting. It was still a battle but for the first time I knew I had a chance. Finally after 2 hours and 15 minutes of paddling I made it back to the ramp. I almost cried I was so relieved. I really was not sure I was going to make it back for a lot of that trip. I had not good ideas on what to do. I periodically thought about dumping all my gear. I am sure that would have helped a lot, but I just could not bring myself to do it. I would guess I have a about 50 lbs of stuff and a lot of that stuff (all my rods, the net, the flag, my cart, my dry bag, etc were just catching the wind. I just could not bring myself to chuck that stuff in the river. In the end it obviously did work out but I am not sure if I have further damaged my health. I guess time will tell. Anyway, thanks for reading that. It was tough writing this one up. So the fishing was good while it lasted. 13 bass with a lot of big fish but the kayak was not so good Here is some video from the day. I did not include any of the slog back (I don't want to see that again and I am sure one one else does).

Well your 20lb bags make me jealous so I guess we are even

I think the best days are the ones that start a bit slow and then pick up. I just appreciate each fish that much more on those days.

This week's tale starts out as one of sadness but fear not for there is a happy ending I went to fish the Columbia on Saturday even though there was a brisk wind. I got to the ramp at first light and was met with rollers that were probably close to 2' high. I was expecting this and so I was not dismayed. I loaded up the kayak and timed my jump onto the kayak and off I went. I started pedaling hard to get out and get fishing. As I started to pedal downstream my drive popped out. No big deal, I will just click it back in. A couple more strokes and it happened again. Oh well, I guess I did not get it all the way clicked in. This time I made sure. A couple of strokes later and it popped out again. By now the wind and the current had pushed me downstream a small ways so while rocking back and forth like crazy I tried to see what was happening. The one clip that holds my drive in was just flopping back and forth and not acting spring loaded. I turned around and limped back to the dock while waves were breaking over the bow. I was leaning forward to hold the clip in place with my hand while I awkwardly pedaled. I eventually made it back to the ramp and pulled out. I spent sometime looking at it but all I could tell was that it was toast so I packed up and drove home. Once I got home I took apart the latching mechanism and saw that the spring had broken. The configuration is like the bail springs used to be on spinning reels 25 or 30 years ago where the springing happens by coiling and uncoiling the spring rather that stretching the spring. The engineer in me jumped into action. The spring had broken where it attached to the lever arm so I just tediously uncoiled one wrap of the spring to give me enough wire to reattach it. Seems to work fine, it will have just a little bit less locking power than before but overall I was satisfied. Just to be safe I did go out later and get a couple of replacement springs in case it breaks again. I checked the weather after the fix was done and saw that the gorge was a no go on Sunday and Monday but the Willamette looked great on Monday! Yay! So on Sunday I went out and got myself an early birthday present. A new spinning rod to throw Ned rigs with. I screwed up my old rod when replacing a grooved tip top guide. Just me being stupid, nothing to see here, move along I looked at Fisherman's and Cabela's but I just could not find the perfect rod. Finally I went to Sportsman's warehouse and picked up a Lamiglas 7', 1/16-1/4oz, 4-10lb test, moderate action rod. I could immediately hear the angels singing!! That rod was exactly what I was looking for and not too pricey (~$97). I was excited to take it out on the Willamette the next day. So finally we can get to the fishing report The day started off slow and weird for me. There was some kind of mini bass tourney going on (just 6 or 7 boats) but between people fishing the shoreline and the non-boaters I got the last non-trailer parking spot in the parking lot and I was there before first light. By the time I got unloaded those guys had blasted off and were all long gone. The day looked perfect. Cloudy, cool, threat of rain. I mean I was even feeling the urge start pigging out on crawfish I started out throwing a topwater because that is ALWAYS good on a day like that. Always except on Monday. I even switched up topwaters a few times but I did not get a sniff. I was quite surprised and actually a little mad. I switched to a spy bait. Nothing. Swimbait. Nothing. Finally I picked up a jerkbait within a few casts I had a good strike and the fish was pulling nicely. Whew! It turned out to be this pretty little largemouth, which was a cool surprise. A short while later I caught a second (dink) largemouth and the a small smallmouth. After that I stopped getting bit on the jerkbait so I started moving along and cycling through my rods as I did. I picked up a little pikieminnow on a swimbait but that was it. I had been on the water for close to 2 hours and only had 4 small fish to show for my efforts. I could not believe that the fish were not in a chasing mood. Eventually I picked up a drop shot and caught a few fish. Then I tossed out a Ned rig on my new rod and caught my first fish on the new rod (just a little one). I was only catching dinks but after catching nothing it was welcome. As the day progressed I kept trying to force the moving bait bite. The fish kept telling me know but I just knew any minute they would start slamming my spy bait, jerk bait, crank bait or topwater. I was stupidly stubborn on that front. After a while I would realize I had not had a bite in a while and pick up either my drop shot rod or my Ned rig rod and catch some fish. Occasionally I would catch one that was a little better in the 14" range but for the most part it was a dink fest. Around 11am I stopped to eat lunch. I turned off my camera while I ate and thought. I realized I needed to just give up on moving baits and focus on slowing it down with soft plastics. I figured I could at least catch a bunch on my new rod. Well, it seems like that is what the fish gods were waiting for me to figure out. From that point on my fish quality went way up! I still caught plenty of dinks but now there were a lot of nicer sized fish in the mix. I started fishing a hump after lunch that produced 3 bass in between 16 and 16.5" and a handful of dinks off the downstream side. I moved to the upstream side and hooked another nice one. This was a 16.75" 2lb 2oz bass. As I was holding up to the camera (like I did all the others) I realized the camera was still off. Doh! I turned it on and at least got a picture of this guy. From that point on I pretty much I kept that new rod and Ned rig glued to my hand and the bite stayed pretty hot for the rest of the day. A short while later I got another 16.5" bass. A short while after that I caught my longest fish of the day a nice 18.25" 2lb 8oz smallie: I was loving the way that rod fought those fish. It bends so deep down the blank which is just perfect for fighting a fish in the kayak. The smooth flex in the rod absorbed every surge that fish made. I could still hear those angels singing! Not every fish I caught was a nice one but I was catching fewer dinks and the small one seemed to be more often in the 13-14" range. Something about that spot just held so many nice sized fish. I am not sure why since it really looks similar to so many other spots. I am just glad I fished it! Eventually that spot petered out and I worked my way upstream trying spots here and there. I would occasionally catch one in the 15" range but there were always a few dinks for every decent fish. Still I was having a blast and just loving the new rod more and more with each fish. I moved from spot to spot. Catching some fish and then leaving when the bite slowed even a little. I eventually made my way to one of my favorite humps. It produced like so many of the other spots. A few nice fish and some dinks. I worked my way to the upstream end of the hump and tossed my Ned rig out into a little deeper water. As I took up the slack as it sank and tumbled downstream I saw the line jump and felt a thunk. I set the hook and I was into another really nice fish. That fish tried every dirty trick in the book. It dove under my kayak and came up jumping on the other side: Again and again that fish would dive under the kayak and rip out drag but that new rod was the perfect weapon to counter every move that fish made. Eventually I landed what would end up being my heaviest fish of the day. A really nice 17.5" 3lb 2oz bass. After the slow start to the day and the early dinkfest this was turning into a pretty amazing day! I fished for a bit longer but after that fish I decided it was getting late and so I decided to head back and fish a few spots along the way. I was up to 49 bass on the day but I really wanted to get to 50. I went back to the first magic hump and picked up a nice fish almost right away (which got me to 50, yay!). After a few casts with no bites I went to a different spot and picked up 2 more small bass. I was just going to head back when I thought. Let's try one more spot. All I can say is that when your luck is running good it is running good. On my second cast I felt a thump on the line and set my hook. I could not believe it. Another really nice fish!! This fish also put up an incredible battle and got some serious air: Here is short of that jump with a slomo replay: Eventually that fish too succumbed to the beautiful constant pressure I could apply with that new rod. Turned out to be an incredibly photogenic 17.5" 2lb 8oz. The markings on that fish were just amazing. I decided that should be my last cast of the day. What a way to end an incredible day. That new rod really got a great workout. All 5 of my best fish were on that rod. My best 5 totaled 86.25" which is a pretty awesome day for the Willamette (at least for me). I ended up with a total of 53 bass (including the 2 largemouth) and 1 pikieminnow. I probably caught at least 3/4 of those fish on my new rod. Here is some video of the day. It is a lot of dinks but there are some nice ones mixed in.

Awesome day on the water! Fishing out of a piece of Tupperware has its advantages

Yes, almost every fish was dark. Just a few were lighter in color. I try to be careful out there. My kayak is pretty stable. Just need to keep the hips loose I should have put the net down and shortened my line. The fish pulled out a few feet of drag after I picked up the net and I could not put it back down. I was just locked on to failure

I hit the Columbia river out of Stevenson on Sunday the 27th. I had not been fishing in several weeks due to not feeling my best and so I was anxious to have a good day. I got the the river around first light and it almost looked like it was raining there was so much bait (shad fry) dimpling. The thing that had me worried was that I did not see any swirls of bass chasing that bait. I went to my first spot, which is usually good for at least a couple of fish, but I did not get a sniff. I quickly rifled through a variety of presentations and depths but I might as well have been casting on dry land for all the good it did me. I quickly (well quickly for a kayak) raced to a second spot. My first cast resulted in a lost fish, then a couple of dinks swiping at my topwater. I switched to a Ned rig and landed a monstrous 8 incher. Still, an 8 incher feels good when you are feeling like you are cursed. I could not get a second fish off that spot. At the third spot I picked one up on spy bait that was probably 10". At least they were getting bigger! Then I hooked a decent bass on a swimbait that jumped and spit the hook just a couple of feet from the kayak. I was not a happy camper. Plus, the wind was kicking up already and the West wind was increasing the smoke. I had guessed that the West wind was going to bring in cleaner air. It was just another thing I was wrong about on Sunday I moved again and finally landed a decent fish on a swimbait. A nice 17.75" that only weighed 2lb 11oz. A bit skinny but it looked like a monster to me after the tough start. You can see some of the smoke in the background. After that I moved to a hump that has been very good to me and picked up one a spy bait and a couple of nice sized fish on topwater. The second topwater fish was one of those insane strikes where a smallmouth comes clean out of the water on the strike. The day was getting fun! Of course as soon as I thought I had it figured out I could not buy another bite on topwater. Eventually I decided to dredge the depths with a wobblehead jig and a creature bait and that rewarded me with my longest fish of the day. A very skinny 18" 2lb 8oz bass. Of course, I knew that this was the deal now! Narrator's voice: "This in fact, was not the deal". After that I went on one of the worst stretches of losing bass I think I have ever had. I moved spots and started fishing a drop shot because the wind was just so bad. I lost 5 straight bass. Finally (not proud of how long it took me) I switched hooks and changed from nose rigging to wacky rigging my drop shot. That seemed to really help. I still lost some fish but now was landing way more than I was losing. I ended up landing 6 bass on the drop shot and they were mostly nice ones: My heaviest fish of the day, a 17.5" 3lber. A couple of the others Those fish were coming out of 24-28' of water. When that bite finally slowed I picked up a few more including another nice one fishing a Rapala DT16 (Dives to 16') more on top of the point I was fishing. Eventually it was clear that the magic spot was magic no more. I moved downstream a bit and picked up one last bass on a drop shot on a different hump. However, by now the wind was blowing so hard it was not even close to being fun so I called it a day. Even if the wind had laid down a little the smoke was bad enough to make want to quit. My eyes were burning and even though my face mask I could task the smoke. Yuk! When I got back near the ramp there were folks doing the para-boarding (or whatever it is called). I saw one guy probably soar up a good 15-20' in the air. Definitely time to pack it in! Overall it was a decent day: 16 bass with my best 5 being a 17", 17.5", two 17.75" and an 18". No monsters but those are solid fish and fun to catch. I lost quite a few including one that would have been well over 3lbs when I tried to net it with too much line out. Just plain stupid there. Still, it felt GREAT to be back out on the water and I think I smiled most of the drive home. Here is a video of the day:

Usually the first thing I do is change locations (different depths, different types of cover, etc). If I have tried a couple of spots without success then I will slow down. Usually that means picking up my Ned rig rod. I consider a good day on the water any day I don't have to touch that rod If the slowdown does not work then I do a complete 180 and try and burn something in as fast as I can. If none of that works then I resort to weeping and colorful language

On his Instagram there was an Idaho area code (208) in the background of one of his pics. That bag of fish was unbelievable.

Great report! Those are the best kind of days!

I am out all day and with the renal diet restrictions I have I don't have a lot of choices available. I bring one PB&J sandwich and a little fruit. To drink I bring some Fizzie Izzies and some water. Just enough to get me through the day.

That's a nice bag of fish! What did the big fish go?

Now that is a day and a half! If those fish get any bigger they are going to pull your canoe under like a bobber

In my kayak I net pretty much every treble hooked fish. Before that I buried hooks in my hand with a flopping fish still attached on two occasions. I decided that was enough for me I would say the say that the way in which I net the fish depends on how the fish is acting. If it is flailing and thrashing on the surface I will sometimes make a stab with the net. My normal is to slowly move the fish and net towards each other. I don't think there is one way that is right in every situation.

I think that some people really target just big fish and toss huge lures. I don't do that. I try to fish where big fish hang out and catch everything I can off those spots. I catch more than my fair share of big fish but also many to catch good numbers of nice sized fish at the same time. Maybe I miss out on a few big fish with my approach but it works for me. I would guess I would say I am trying to mostly catch 2 and 3lb smallmouth and happy when a 4 or 5lber shows up. If I am in a spot and catch ~3 dinks in a row I will move because I don't think big or decent sized fish tend to mix in with a lot of dinks. That is probably my only concession towards trying to increase the average size of my catch.

Stick with Texas rigged baits for while If I saw that on a TV show I would say that could never happen. Thanks for giving as a laugh!! Life is stranger than fiction.

Smallmouth are just downright inconsiderate no matter where they are from.