Why Smallmouth?

[rsimms]

I'm going to write a story about smallmouth bass fishing. Most anglers agree that smallmouth are one of the most amazing fish we can catch around here. Even most hardcore largemouth guys won't contest the fact that smallmouth, and their fighting abilities, rule.

I want to see some quotes I can use, for the record, about catching smallmouth bass. Be as eloquent and descriptive as possible... even corny works.

I prefer "real names." If it's not on your profile, please tell me (via PM if you prefer).

GO!

 

[swamp]

It was in the spring of 1969 when my fishing buddy (ed hudson) and I went to center hill lake,sligo boat dock,
fishing for smallmouth bass,for the first time. I had just bought a 12ft.Ted Williams Gamefisher and put a old 10HP
johnson on it.No trolling motor,no depthfinder. We would take turns paddling and getting the occasional cast while
the other one fished We caught a few small smallmouth . We were fishing banks leading up to points ,black jigs
with L3 pedigo pork ring trailer. We rounded a point and came upon a boat,small john boat, with an old man sitting
on the nose of the boat. He had a sculling paddle in one hand and a fly rod with a mitchell 308 spinning reel taped to the handle in the other. He asked us if were catching any fish and we told him the truth,just a couple of little smallmouth.We asked him if he was having any luck and he reached over the side of his boat and pulled up a stringer of smallmouth ,8 fish between two and three lbs.,topped off with a four pounder.
The morning sun was shining on those fish and they were glistening, glowing bronze striped tigers and i havent got
over it since. He was flipping spring lizards along the steep banks..Just a small hook and a lizard.
They are such a classy and beautiful game fish
Hard fighting and fast running,high jumping bronze tigers.
It impressed me so much that i wouldnt fish a lake that didn't have smallmouth in it. (With a few exceptions )
Also they are pure and wild fish.
Thats more info than you asked but thats why smallmouth for me.

 

[Nauticman]

From Pete Masic Sr. (Nauticman). I’ve had the fortune of catching 3 smallmouth bass over 6 pounds but less than 7 pounds, 2 in Chickamauga Lake and one in the Tennessee River below Chickamauga Dam in Nickajack Lake. I seem to have my best luck with light tackle and small lures in the dead of winter. Honestly, I caught my biggest one (6 lbs. 3 oz.) on a 1.75 inch plastic grub with a pearl body and a chartreuse skirt on 4 lb. test yellow crappie line using a Penn ultralight reel. The reel screamed as the fish made strong runs. Somehow the small hook did not pull out and somehow I was able to net the fish as I was by myself. The other two 6 pounders were caught on a 3.5 inch tube and a jig with a crawfish trailer both with 1/4 oz. lead heads and 10 pound test line. Current is very important, some flood gates were open for at least two of these fish as I recall. Of course, I released these fish alive and in good shape. “Them ole brown fish” as Billy Westmoreland used to call them are my favorite.
I can identify with Swamp’s comment re Center Hill Lake. I used to fish out of Sligo Boat Dock in my younger days with spring lizards both day and night. I had s 10hp Evinrude that I had bought from Jimmy Holt who was then the outdoor writer for the Nashville Banner (or Tennessean). I rented one of the wooden boats there. Oddly enough, even using spring lizards day and night, I never caught a smallmouth over 2.5 pounds.

 

[Nauticman]

One more comment about “Why Smallmouth?” IMO, they are the best fighting fish around here. They make spectacular jumps, i’ve seen 3 feel out of the water. They are also beautiful, they are called bronzeback for their color and I’ve seen a few with a golden sheen to them. On the other hand, they can be almost black.

 

[swamp]

Quick reply to Nauticmans comment never caught one over two and one half pounds out of sligo,
I didn't either, mostly 1 1/2 pounds,but i moved on to more fertile territory after a few trips

 

[FirstLight]

Ever since a “magical day” on the upper end of Nickajack with a buddy about 25 years ago, those Brownfish had me. I had caught them before but never hammered them like that day. We were fishing out of a 14 foot Jon boat and lost count at 40+ fish. Most were in the 2 pound class, but we boated a few 4 plusers. It was a unique situation; TVA was beginning the rip/rap project along the banks of the upper end near the dam, and they had a number of barges loaded with rip/rap staged near a bank that created a current break that had those smallmouth just piled up in that area. Spinning rods and tubes were the ticket that day. Many times a small change in the direction of the current can set the fish up and turn a slow day into a great day.

At times smallmouth bass will readily hit topwater baits which is a lot of fun. But we have caught them on everything from hair jigs to jerkbaits to spinnerbaits.

I guess my best Brownfish day was when i caught a 7.25 pounder. I caught 2 others over 5lbs that day but the 7 pluser was the pinnacle. It was on a Good Friday a few years ago. Dad was supposed to fish with me, but was under the weather and couldn’t make it. I had the water pretty much to myself that day. Again there was a unique current break where that big mama was sitting and i was fortunate enough to land her; even without a net. i called dad to come see that fish and get a photo.

On many occasions, Dad and I have fished all day with little or no bites only to catch 1 big smallmouth at the end of the day. That one fish we always agree, turned a bad trip into a great trip, just because of the “lore” of the ‘ol brown one....

Pete Masic, Jr.

 

[jimwarden]

Jim Miller

Why Smallmouth?

They dive under one side of the boat and jump three feet high on the other side.

They like to show off by jumping out of the water so they can come straight down on your topwater spook.

They swim faster than your drag can adjust, so back-reeling had to be invented to try to keep up with them.

They hit a spinnerbait so hard they knock the blades off, or fight so hard it takes five minutes to bend the spinnerbait wire back into shape.

They have a habit of pleasantly surprising crappie fishermen with their affinity for small hair jigs or grubs.

They live in the most pristine and beautiful streams and lakes.

They like to run right toward you when caught to see how fast you can reel to try to catch up, and sometimes while jumping every two feet. I lost a seven pound class smallie that did that very thing. I heard the lead head jig hit the side of the boat, she just laid there and my net man just stared at it until it flipped and swam off. Don’t feel bad as I had caught a 7lb 12oz smallie earlier that Jim Rivers helped we weigh to see if it broke his line class world record.

Got started loving smallmouth with my older brothers going to the Clinch River in Oak Ridge, TN in late 50s early 60s before it was impounded to make Melton Hill lake. The love affair continued with trips in 60s to Sligo dock at Center Hill with jigs and pork rind, night fishing Watts Bar in the 70s with spinnerbaits and hair jigs, and then many trips to Pickwick Lake in the 80s with Fat Albert grubs. Finally in 2001 to South Holston Lake to learn the Float n Fly method, and then to Dale Hollow Lake to catch winter smallmouth on the FnF.

 

[swamp]

Good job jim,
I think thats what richard is looking for,and you nailed it.
One thing i can add is when flyfishing for smallmouth with popping bugs you don't know what to
expect.Sometimes they will slowly rise up and slurp the bug in.Sometimes they grab it on the run and
when more than one fish gets after a bug ,they will skyrocket, carrying the bug three feet in the air with them and there you are, stripping line like a madman while the fish is jumping on the other side of the boat.

 

[billyc]

Fishing for trophy small mouth is alot like deer hunting. Your really only fishing for one fish tournament mentality rarely works when fishing for them. With largemouth most of my biggest ones I was very fortunate to catch in tournaments one eleven four teens and numerous nines. Small mouth my biggest is 6.84 caught in the lake in a Monday night tournament six or seven years ago. I have boated a 8.10 and nine over seven in twenty plus years of fishing for them . All of them have come between November and March . I have found the dead of winter to be best time to catch a giant. Least that's when I have found them to be the most assessable to catch. A big crankbait or spinnerbait would be my choice of lures. I quickly learned the fight difference between fish five to six pounds is dramatically different with fish over seven . The first run is like a striper and they rarely jump and can change direction on a dime and get you in a bad position. I've seen 50 pound braid snapped by a fish that I know was in ten pound class by a buddy of mine . I also seen the fish my friend Lee caught about ten years ago that was 10.80 . He caught it from the bank on a grub! If you want to catch a really big small mouth you have to fish the worst current you can find the big ones stay away from areas that get heavy pressure much like trophy deer stay in the thickest hardest to hunt places.

 

[FishingwithRusty]

Smallmouth for me are always a pleasant surprise, mostly because I don't fish for them but I know almost immediately when I have gotten a hold of one because of how hard they fight.

I was fortunate enough to go way up north a few years ago and fish for them, what an experience!

 

[FishingwithRusty]

An almost 7lb Sallie that tackled a spinnerbait in northern Michigan

 

[billyc]

Big Kentucky spots can fight hard to they are tougher to find than big spots because they tend to suspend in water column and suspending fish are very difficult to catch.

 

[Fshn Cpa]

Just when you think you have them figured out they do something completely different

If you find them today, chances are they will be gone tomorrow

 

[rsimms]

Thanks everyone! Whenever I get this written/posted obviously I'll share.

And special thanks to jimwarden. You gave me about a a half-dozen new and different lines I could use. emoThumbsup emoWorthy

 

[Hooker]

I'm gonna add one real quick,,a 4lb smallie will fight harder than any largemouth I've ever caught and talk about pristine environments,,I have pictures of the only trip Jim Warden n I have ever took together,,,Dale Hollow,,,,8 inches of snow on the ground and about 4 inches on Jim

 

[Gone fishin]

Oh my gosh, he said as the 3 pound #smallmouth took flight and was eye level with us trying to shake my spook. This took place on the flat below the power plant during an FLW series event. Spoken by Ray Scheide, September 2010.

 

[elwestb]

As the late Billy Westmoreland said, there ain't nothin' like them 'ol brown fish! They may jump immediately after hook up and jump then several times in a row or they may not jump at all and just bulldog nose down, digging for the bottom! Most of the time when I think I've hooked a big SM it turns out to be a big Drum and then when I think it's a Drum it's a big SM! My PB SM was a 7.25 lbs. and caught below the Chick Dam on New Years day about 10 years ago. It was misting rain and sleet with a brisk breeze blowing and the temp was in the low forties. I was by myself and had not done squat all morning. I think I had caught five or six big Drum but no Bass of any kind. I was throwing a jerk bait and thinking very hard about loading up and going home to warm up and watch the ball games when I felt a tick on my jerk bait. I set the hook and she immediately started stripping line, digging for the bottom and headed for the river channel. I mean it was like I had tied onto the back of a Buick station wagon! I put the rod in my left hand and just held on and said out loud somewhat in disgust, why couldn't that have been a SM? I just knew it was another big 'ol Drum but about that time she wallowed up on top of the water and I saw her! She never jumped, not once. I one handed, netted the fish and set down to catch my breath just looking at that fish. Like I said I was alone and in that type weather there was hardly no one on the river. I had to run down stream a way but i finally found three guys shiner fishing in a Ranger. They helped me weighed the fish and snapped a couple of pictures and I put her back in the river. That was the only Bass I caught all day!

 

[rsimms]

Hooker - 11/14/2018 4:35 PM

I'm gonna add one real quick,,a 4lb smallie will fight harder than any largemouth I've ever caught and talk about pristine environments,,I have pictures of the only trip Jim Warden n I have ever took together,,,Dale Hollow,,,,8 inches of snow on the ground and about 4 inches on Jim

Been there, done that. It was actually Jim who first introduced me to float & fly fishing on DH. But it's CFF's enmreal pictured here. I had to pour coffee on my steering cable to thaw it out everytime we needed to move to a new place on this morning.

 

[rsimms]

Thanks to everyone for weighing in!

Here's the story: https://newschannel9.com/sports/outdoors/smallmouth-the-king-of-the-river

 

[jman60]

Great Story!! Enjoyed it very much. I will always remember my PB 6.5lbs. Caught it fishing for stripe. Probably caught 40 stripe that day but all I remember is the one smallmouth. Thanks for jogging the memories.