Everyone the Rock has made me fall in love with it all over again. The Small Mouth are just everywhere and had the most fun there in a few years. Talked to Mr. Babler on Thursday to get a idea of water color from Shell Knob to the Dam. Mr. Babler thanks again for that information. So after our talk I went to the Dam area. I fished from Cows to the Dam and every point seemed to have nice Smallies on it. On friday we found them from 18 to 25 using tubes and C-rigs. On Saturday they had moved to a more constant depth of 18 to 20. Yet on Sunday only small fish (under 15") on that depth. After a little trial and error we found them again in 26 to 30.
We would put one marker buoy at 24 and one at 35 and cast between them so we were staying in those depths all the time. We were able to get a 2+ lb average over the three days. Managed one over 3 and had a couple over four on but lost them near the boat. The bite is very lite and most of the time you do not feel the bite at all just gets heavy. We would do a slow lift of the line to try and detect any fish as not to have them drop it but in most cases they had just swallowed the bait. Cut the line and after about 30 min to an hour it would be in the bottom of the live well. Thanks for that info in an earlier post Bill. Hope this helps anyone heading down and looking for a great time with the smallies.
