Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Berries Not Quite There Yet... But Smallies Are On!

Searching the shoreline for carp.... I spooked one smaller one, but the berries just aren't happening yet. That's fine, there's plenty else this lake has to offer.

How about big chunky smallmouth? That's what the first fish of the day was, and in the end I was 1 for 3 with these guys. The second one, though a bit smaller, put up one hell of a fight. He almost jumped in the kayak on two occasions. I really wish you all could have seen this fish as well as I did, he was a colorful chunky 18 incher with gorgeous striping. But I ain't complaining, after all how can you after a fish like this?

Brand new smallmouth pattern. Details in future posts. 


A good portion of the day was spent fishing a rock bar and catching plenty of little smallmouth, perch, and red breast sunfish. I never actually knew they lived in this lake. Nor crappie, which I would catch one of later on under a dock.  Dalton and Adam eventually showed up in Ada's boat, and after screwing around for a while they stopped just long enough for Adam to catch a 19 inch walleye. And I still haven't managed to get one on the fly yet.






One last cool thing, how the heck did this smallmouth think it could swallow a perch of the same dimensions as itself?

8 comments:

  1. RM - that's a beautiful smallie! Well done! On the bass on perch crime... Pretty amazing. Takes the cake. I've seen a lot of fish with frog legs or a good sized sun fish or smaller fish tail sticking out of their mouth's, but I've never seen a fish that big stuck in the mouth of another fish. Crazy.

    Catching white perch on a fly is cool - that's one I've never done and every time you post pic's I find myself thinking "that is really cool!"
    Will

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    1. Thank you. I thought I was going to find a big dead walleye when I saw them from a distance. Nope!

      White perch are usually easier than bluegills in this lake. tough this year though.

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  2. A great day on the water. What a beauty of a smallmouth. Thanks for a good trip on the water.
    Tie, fish, write and photo on...

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  3. RM
    The smallie has got to be the ultimate fresh warm water challenge on the fly; that smallmouth fight would have been epic on film. That is what I told myself the other day when I landed that big bull bluegill; where is the camera when the time is right??? Thanks for sharing

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    1. Can you imagine if they were as big as carp? I've caught carp the size of that smallie, and they don't fight half as well.

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  4. Nice outing! How did that smallie expect to digest such a big perch? Amazing stuff!

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