A Little Green and Brown Action

[gstott]

I was curious to see how the bass fishing would be after the week of cold, wet, nastiness, so I decided to go to my favorite largemouth pond. The water was down about 12 degrees to 57. It wasn't super fast action, but I managed 11 bass. Six were dinks, a couple were around 13", and the other 3 were in the 16-17" range. Despite the colder water, they still fought hard. The wind was raging, so tube control was difficult. I never really managed to find a pattern. Of the large ones, one took a deep diving crank in about 12 feet of water off of a point, [inline "bass small.JPG"]the next took a shallow diving jerkbait further up that point in a few feet of water, [inline "bass 2 small.JPG"]and the last good fish took a dropshot worm in about 13' of water off my old standby dropshotting point.[inline "bass 3 small.JPG"]

I hadn't been out for smallies in a long time, so the next day I went to see how they were fairing with the cooler water. The temp was only 54 here. Action wasn't fast and furious, but I managed 11 bass and I snagged a mirror carp in the side. That was a pretty good fight, it made my hand cramp. No pic of that guy as I had already slimed up the tube enough getting the trebles out of his side. Other than the small bass of the day, (10-11"), which I caught on a perch colored shad rap, I caught everything on Jackall Squirrel jerkbaits. I started with a regular suspending model, and scored a few on that (for some reason the camera just didn't want to focus on this one bass).[inline "blurry bass small.JPG"][inline "smallie small.JPG"]
I decided to try a deep diving version, and that was all I caught them on after that.[inline "smallie 4 small.JPG"][inline "smallie 3 small.JPG"][inline "smallie 2 small.JPG"]
The best fish of the day hit it on the pause, and I was able to watch the line jump about a foot. I love jerkbaits. She jumped several times and peeled drag at least ten times before I got her in the net. At 17 1/2", it ended up being my best smallmouth ever by a 1/2". [inline "big smallie small.JPG"] Someday I'll have to make it up to The Snake where fish that size are common, but for this system, I was pretty happy.
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[cpierce]

Beautiful fish! Especially the smallies, for this area and anywhere they are awesome. It is really amazing to see those reservoirs still with so much water in them this fall. I imagine that will help in the years too come. You almost tempt me to leave the stream fishing......almost.
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[hulapopper]

awesome report and areas. very nice scenery
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[jeremypeace]

Has the water came up at the large mouth pond?? Last i was there it was super low..
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[gstott]

Thanks guys. Those fish really seem to be doing well with the extra water this year.

The water came up several feet from the rain that we had, it looks more like June levels than October levels. It was way lower last year than it ever got this year though.
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[SmartWeed]

That's a nice looking smallie stream and some dandy fish. Lot of rock and it sure looks pretty with the leaves coloring up. I think any smallmouth over 15" is a great fish.
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[jeremypeace]

Did you try the river below for smallmouth?? Also next time ou go there carolina rig a pumkin orange or a silver flaked chartreuse rubber worm and worth the bottom slow... the toothie fishies are digging it right now..
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[forgiven]

Nice post. Your fishing in Eastern Idaho?
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[gstott]

Thanks Smartweed. That means a lot coming from someone who has caught so many nice smallies.

I will keep the Carolina Rig in mind. The areas I like to fish are so rocky that most of time I get discouraged crawling plastics on the bottom as I get hung up constantly. How big are the walleye you've been getting into? I usually only fish for a few hours before heading straight to work, so eater size eyes aren't as exciting as smallies for me.

Oh, and yes, I was in southeast Idaho, not to far from Preston.
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[SmartWeed]

The areas I like to fish are so rocky that most of time I get discouraged crawling plastics on the bottom as I get hung up constantly.

I don't think there is any solution to that problem, but I have found that if I take the hook shown below, slide the weight up to the bend, squeeze it tight and then file it into an arrowhead shape, I don't hang up as often. I use it to fish crawfish imitators, or even tubes. This is a new Mustad Powerlock hook/spring. Another solution to the rocks is to use ball head jigs with light wire hooks and bend the hooks to free them.


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[gstott]

Hey that's a good idea on the swimbait hooks. I have some of those as well as the weights you can clip on to the shank where ever you like, so I will definitely try them next time I'm up there.
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