IcatchDinks

I say River Run in the title, but it was really a very casual river wade. A friend I fish with often and I spent two+ hours wading the Chippewa River this evening. The day started out sweltering hot and muggy, and we made plans for the evening thinking it would be pleasantly cool. It was cool, but not pleasantly so. The wind picked up, temps dropped, and I'm really glad I threw a hoodie in the car before I left, because I needed it. Cool temps notwithstanding, we managed a pretty fun trip. My friend struck first. He was fly fishing and nabbed a beautiful little trout. It was small but we were both elated, because even though we had heard there were trout in this river, neither of us had ever caught one. I managed a dink smallie minutes later, and a nice sized rock bass minutes after that, both on a T-rigged Yum Dinger. More time went by. Neither of us having much luck. I lost three plastic lures to gnarly snags. I was trying to fish a deep pocket created by a fallen, half submerged tree. This stretch of river had many such pockets, all of them quite deep, and I had a killer day on the river smallies at this same spot last year. The spot I was trying to drop my Dinger into required a long and accurate cast, and I'm not the best caster, hence why I lost several baits. Finally, I gave up on the pocket after zero bites on several well placed baits. I turned and threw my bait down stream into more brush and laydowns. Nothing. I started to retrieve my bait, kind of playing it on the way back to me. There was a barely submerged log that I had to get my bait over, so I reeled down fast and popped the lure up and out of the water to clear the potential snag. As the lure left the water, a fish lept after it, took the bait mid-air and crashed back down. FISH ON! I landed my best smallmouth of the year so far. 14 or 15 inches, and quite fat and healthy.

Beautiful fish, Katie!! Congrats!

Thanks, gents. Especially @bulldog1935 for the links and schematics. I'll figure out exactly what one I have and order parts accordingly.

I have this rod and reel combo I got second hand a while back and never used. Come to find out, it's missing the spool tension knob. I have very limited knowledge of bait casters. I've used them twice and discovered they have a high learning curve and immediately reverted to my spinning reels. Not sure if the knob was missing when I got the combo, or if it fell off in the two odd years since I've had it. Either way, does anyone know if I can order replacement parts for this somewhere? And can you tell if there's any mechanism that was held in there that is missing? Any help would be appreciated.

This. Everything eats them. Great lure.

Everybody's catching absolute monsters, and I caught possibly the smallest smallmouth of the year. But my 1 year old got to hold it, and he thought it was cool.

That was an awesome read, @Pat Brown! Congrats on the monster! Extra fun to read because I think I know which body of water y'all were on, and can better visualize what it all looked like. Felt like I was in the boat with you. This is the stuff we Michigan boys can only dream of. (Except I'm planning another trip to NC this summer, so maybe my dream can come true. 🤞🏻)

Where the heck did the nice weather go? Cold, windy, overcast day made for slow fishing today. Got one little dink in 2 hours.

Following because I too want to know all about flukes.

I took my toddler out to the pond for a boy's fishing trip. He spent most of his time in the stroller, as he is fascinated with the water and I'm terrified of small children near water. But I did get him out and helped him hold the rod and reel in the bait a few times. Right as it started to rain us out, I hooked and landed a 15ish incher. The first bass my boy has ever seen in person. He petted it very gently on the head and then waved "bye bye!" as I released it. He then immediately asked for more, but the rain was falling hard, and his mother was eager to have him home.

I do have photos of this same moment, but from the front. I'm just not comfortable sharing his face online.

This is a really good point. Zero wind can be just as bad as excessive wind. I always want a little breeze while I'm fishing. But perfectly still, calm water, and dead stagnant air can make for a tough day on the water.

Had to deal with some intense wind earlier this week. Blew my casts everywhere. Limited my bait usage to heavy baits like spinners and heavy finesse presentations. Didn't catch anything and couldn't cast accurately. So, for now, I hate it.

@Bluebasser86 that has to be the coolest catfish I've ever seen. Sounds like an awesome weekend.

Finally had my first multi-fish day of 2025. I'm really eager for that first smallie and spent the first hour or so fishing the river. Couldn't get anything to bite and broke of three different baits on snags. (Including two Owner under spins which are worth their weight in gold for me.) Might go back tomorrow and try to wade out after them. I finally gave up on my smallmouth dreams and went back to the retention ponds. Fished another hour, and while I got to listen to CMU's Softball team demolish Ohio in the nearby ballpark, I couldn't get anything to bite. I was about to give up around 6:00, when I finally got one on the Mepps #4 Black Fury. Not big, but big enough beat the skunk. Moved on down the bank to the merest bit of submerged brush poking out from the bank. It wasn't much but it was the only visible cover around. So I ran the Mepps in front of it, and sure enough a little dink darted out and ate it. Two fish on the board. A little bit later and a little further down the bank I caught the largest fish on the day off a pile of rocks, again on the Black Fury. About 15 or 16 inches, this one is a real solid fish for this little pond. Rounded out the day at 7:45 with another dink.

I rediscovered the joys of angling in the summer of 2021 while dating my now wife. We got married in February of 2022, and now have two beautiful children: a little one and a half year old boy, and a four month old daughter. Even though he's pretty little, I figured it's probably time to bring the boy fishing with me occasionally. He knows all about fishing. He loves watching videos of other fisherman on YouTube with me. He yells "Dewee!" (his best attempt at saying "fishing") everytime the on screen angler holds up a fish and then waves and says, "bye bye!" as the fish is released. He can easily identify fish in pictures: both photos and cartoon representations. He even has little toy fishing poles and wooden fish to hook with them. He calls all of them "Dewee!" So we took the family to the riverside park today and I crouched with him between my knees on the bank and helped him hold and reel my fishing pole. His favorite part was the exciting action of the cast. We had one dink swipe and miss the bait at the bank, and zero action after. But my son handled the action of reeling better than I thought he would, being so young. I cant wait to actually have him present when I catch one so he can see the "Dewee" in person. Anyway, I wanted to brag about my kid to y'all. He's practically just a baby, but he's learning fast and growing up fast. Can't wait till he hooks his first fish all on his own. He also calls the river "bath."

@Pat Brown and Jake, huge congrats!!! Those are some awesome fish. I'm so happy for and jealous of you! 😆 That's so super cool. @softwateronly, always nice to see your beautiful smallies that are anything but small.

LETS GOOO!!! It's really and truly spring when @Swamp Girl catches her first bass. Those are some really pretty, dark fish, too. Congrats!

I braved the wind and the cold for about an hour today. Caught one bass after most of that hour. It was low fifties with a stiff wind that made it feel much colder. I would have been fine if my fingers didn't go numb.

The wife sent me shopping at the store near the pond. (Sam's Club is a couple minutes away from one of the retention ponds I often fish.) So I snuck down to the pond for a few minutes before I got the groceries. Only pole I had in the car was a 4'6" ultralight I picked up for two dollars because Walmart apparently couldn't give them away, but it did the job. I caught one very skinny 16" bass, and figured I should hurry up and get home before my lovely wife got overwhelmed with the kids.

Spincasters and spinning reels FTW!

Everybody else has such crazy stories. Mine is pretty tame in comparison. Best day bass fishing (in regards to quantity ) was the first time using a whopper plopper in a little honey hole I discovered on the Chippewa River. I caught about a dozen or so solid river smallies on back to back to back casts. They could not stop hitting the top water. Nothing record setting, but it was a ton of fun. My best day fishing in general was fly-fishing for grayling in a secluded Alaskan stream with my dad, my brother, and a family friend. We caught more than I can count, cooked them over and open fire on a sand bar. Just like my smallmouth honey hole though, I've since heard that that particular stream has been discovered and ruined with pressure. Best day for Largemouth was a quick pre-work trip in the morning when I caught my PB last year.

@Rockhopper, what a fish! Nice catch!