Summertime Smallmouth Sleuthing, 6/25/17

As I headed out today, I didn't really expect much. The weather forecast was for sunshine and 5 - 10 mph winds, but with Quabbin's surface temp at 74.1º at 7:00 a.m. I knew not to expect much hanging around the humps, flats and ridges that held good smallies earlier in the season.

The game plan was simple: cover water and throw proven baits. I love the way smallmouth whack a Fluke on wind-blown banks and this bait accounted for two somewhat better than legal fish. And, after the water had warmed past 50º this season, my go-to has been the Ned rig. This worked for three more, decent smallies.

The last fish made my day. With the boat anchored over 20 feet of water, I could lay out a long cast and drop a bait into half that depth. With the wind increasing and the clouds darkening I was thinking two things: I might get soaked and, of greater interest, this weather might make the bigguns move.

Setting up on a fish as soon as I started the retrieve, it came right up and then settled in for a lengthy battle in deep water. It seemed like it took just this side of forever (at least three minutes) to winch her up and into the net. She weighed 3.96 lbs.

Not long after our photo op, the scene looked like this:

I stowed my gear and headed in smiling.