Today.  Lake Berryessa in Napa CA.  Drive thru miles of sobering burn areas to find a gem of a lake.  My first visit.  My first smallies.  I thought I had hooked into giants the way they pulled line and spun my kayak around.  Nope, just strong.  Really cool. My first cast of the day!
 

 

 

Smallies are a blast. They use to be pretty rare around here but they've taken hold in several lakes in the area thankfully.

 

Congrats on your first one.

13 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Haha. Love it. Reminds me of prom night

Nice work, smallies are a blast. 

Grats!

Your the one that's hooked now. 

I’ve said it many times.  Smallmouth are fisherman’s crack.  ?

Congrats!!

On 11/27/2020 at 7:08 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

Your the one that's hooked now. 

Boy ain't that the truth...and we all thought it was us going after the fish...LOL

Awesome!!!!

On 11/22/2020 at 12:04 AM, They call me “Gaiter Salad” said:

Haha. Love it. Reminds me of prom night

Went to 3 proms.  Should have gone fishing instead.

 

Nothing better than smallmouth fishing. And when you can’t fish for them reading about them fills in the gaps. 

now you know the open secret, with first hand, tactile experience.  when people say "pound for pound, smallies fight harder than anything else." it's true.  a 3lb or bigger smallie, fights like mike tyson in the 80's.

 

  i think rock/red eye/warmoth bass are a close 2nd, the big ones are pretty insane, but rare around here.  ymmv