Parkerhollow

It's been almost a month since I've been on the water and I'm up in MN on a work trip watching all the action from the internet!! i get back late Thursday and nothing short of a North Korean missle is gonna keep me off the water Friday! ill ride with ya hog if no one else can. Otherwise I'll put some hours on the shoal runner😎

I might just refinance the boat and throw one of these things on mine now. Been waiting for someone to review an ultrexx on here to see how they like it. thanks for posting!

This is the exact reason I buy at least two federal waterfowl stamps annually. It's been awhile since the price was raised on those and $25 doesn't go near as far as it did 10 years ago.

I'm in for a few

Tons of good attitudes and solid wisdom on this thread! Not to get overly philosophical but to me there is a larger point to qualifying someone as an expert angler that has to include the overall knowledge of the resource. might seem obvious that in order to be an expert angler you have to be at least a part time biologist but I think there's a solid reason for distinction. Experts are the people that we want working with MDC to set regs, define management goals, etc. This group of people can not only tell you where the fish are, but why they are there and speak objectively with scientific based reasoning on the matter not just spit anecdotal remarks. They can tell you if there Personally I respect the opinions of these individuals at least as much as most of the career biologists. These guys and gals are on the water the most and looking at it with a scientific eye not just at the weigh in bag in a tournament. like it or not we are all representatives of the sport (even the guys with gigging rails and freezers full of smallmouth) but some of us are also ambassadors of the resource. Those individuals have my gratitude and I am really glad they communicate their observations on here and elsewhere. Just my opinion.

That's where my hesitation was coming from Al. I'm sure sunfish this size get eaten by smallies occasionally but I'm guessing it's on the larger end of the optimum bait size scale mainly due to the overall shape not necessarily the length. Trying to find the line between big enough to keep the little ones off the line but not too big to be such a low percentage lure that it's counter productive. Which begs the question, what % of a small mouths diet do sunfish comprise? thanks again for all the replies, sorry for the delayed response I was out of pocket for a bit.

Sorry I missed it boys, work had me stuck in midtown Manhattan which is as far removed from Smallmouth as it is decent brisket!

Agreed, that's why I thought I would try it. Never ceases to amaze me at how small of a fish will hit such big lures! Where I'm a little pessimistic is in the profile, specifically top to bottom. I know Bass will eat a small sunfish but I'm not sure how "preferred" they are as a component of their diet compared to shad or other larger but more slender easier to swallow forage. hence the success of the large trout swimbaits in the western lakes. Anyone know how much smallies love sunfish?

Question for the group.... Anyone tried the larger swim baits in the rivers for Smallies? This thing looked to good not to try but I'm new to throwing swim baits and honestly dont know what to expect. Its almost 4.5" long and fairly tall and I have to rig it with a 5/0 EWG weighted hook so I'm not sure??

Soon man, soon. Work got me all this week and most of next. Might be able to sneak out a day early or late next week, I'll hit you up! stay on em for me, I need to learn how to find them in the higher murkier water!

I'm hoping you find some time to test out that new kayak you picked up, I've been waiting to hear how you like it!

Tried something different this week. Typically I run up to a spot that I've caught fish from before, burn through it one time with whatever lures seem appropriate for the temps and season and then move to the next spot, rinse and repeat. Since it seems like the smallies are transitioning towards spawning areas I thought I would select a few larger pools with good ripples above and below and pound them mercilessly until I either caught something or my arms fell off. For the first section I selected a place that I've never done very well at just to see what happens. It's a well known spot with a short bluff on one side and grass bank on the other, with typical gravel bar and back eddy at the top and gravel bar backwater at the bottom, maybe 300 yds total. I started off at the bottom of the run working up the bluff with a crankbait, nothing. Switched sides to the grass and tossed a jerk bait and picked up two small spots off of some logs. Back to the bluff side with the jerkbait, one 15" spot (or is it a hybrid?) in about 75 yds of big rocks. Hell with it where's the ned rig rod, I declare! Staying with the bluff side I pick up three largemouth in a row all 13-16" by dragging it slowly along the bottom. Thinking I'm on to a pattern I continue the rest of the way up the bluff and get nothing. I work my way back down stream alternating between the jerkbait and the ned on the grass side and get nothing. Back up the bluff I go again this time I'm going all in for the big boys that I know have to be there so I grab the HD craw and work over the same spots again this time changing the boat position Tight against the bluff and casting upstream and across to present different angles of attack. the exact spot I caught the three LM at produced a decent SM on the craw. Repeated casts brought nothing else, switched the boat around to where I had it earlier on the grass side and threw the craw some more and picked up another LM. Went back to the boat position where I caught the SM and caught another SM on the craw (little guy). I went up the bluff the rest of the way and caught nothing else but drum. Drum love the HD craw btw. Kinda frustrating but exciting nonetheless! i tried a few other places some fast water, a long stretch of deeper water with a bunch of downed trees and had almost nothing. i guess pounding a spot over and over can be productive or at least not spook the fish out as bad as I originally thought. Can't say I had a better than average day but can't say it was worse either. Good luck to everyone!

Awesome report and beautiful fish! I love the start of canoe season!

Chief wins the internet for today. Back to this fish off thing..... If you girls are half serious about it I propose the following.... three day online tournament for OAF members only, any river or stream named in the forums by any legal methods. Catch, measure, photo and immediate release. Bass of any species may be submitted, enter up to five fish total. submit photo showing proof of date and time on measuring stick, (hawg trough, Berkeley aluminum, etc). Pinching of tails is permitted, length only, no weighing required. (3 judge panel to determine winner? Volunteers? Prize is bragging rights and a 6 pack of Schlitz, warm. what am I missing?

Well I might as well confess and let judgement fall upon me.....but first a backstory with anecdotal evidence. im barely old enough to be annoyed by the flat bill, Luke Bryan, wearing so much bling on the arse of your jeans it looks like you sat on a chandelier crowd but I can remember when Times beach had three legged bluegills and >18" smallmouth in enough abundance that a guy could have hopes of catching one every time he went without feeling delusional. We all know the story of the change of the lower Meramec so I won't recount it now. Way back we fished from Allenton down to valley park three nights a week and caught plenty of fish, some occasionally nice sized and (gasp!) we even kept some dioxin be darn. Back then the river was full of junk, dead bodies (dad found two on separate occasions) agriculture pollution, a much higher percentage of catch and keep anglers and nice smallmouth. We would see a boat or two most every time we were out on the weekdays and what seemed like a small armada on the weekends. fast forward 30 some years and that section of river looks a million times cleaner, no more dioxin, and dare I say almost zero fisherman, body count is about the same though. And that section probably sees the least amount of pressure on the whole River. And now I struggle to catch a quality fish there except during the spring and fall shad runs. But Hog Wally, Smalliebigs, Mr. Agnew and others can post up pics of 4lb fish from that stretch and elsewhere and make it look easy. So what gives? Its simple, they fish a lot. Like way more than most people. If Al's canoe had an hour meter on it the display would need to be 6" wide. I fish a lot too. I work from home and have all the time and gear necessary to decimate any River or creek in the state and yet I struggle to catch quality fish. Why you ask? Probably because I still don't fish as much as I should to learn the river as well as those guys, that and a life long affliction of bad fishing luck. Seriously put me in the back of anyone of those guys boat and not only will I catch 1 to their ten but I can mystically make their catch rate drop by 80%. It's a gift? Here's the confession, I've lurked this forum for years. Read every post by the master anglers, studied every photo for details and checked all the back channel gossip I can and can honestly say It's never helped. Sure I've figured out some of the hotspots but it's not materialized into any real results for me. For crissakes ive even gps marked the spots where I've seen Hog Wally fishing. Guess what, I haven't ruined any more fishes days because of it. So here is a guy that has the time, the resources, inclination and the affliction to do exactly what everyone is afraid of and it has resulted in very little improved results for me, or detrimental effects to the fish or other anglers. And I've been hard at it for awhile now. Skill matters and those guys have more than most. moral of the story? Very few people have both the time and resources to do any real damage to the overall fishing pressure (excepting catch and keep anglers). I still see one or two boats when I'm out on the weekdays, the weekend crowd seems a little bigger though. I still struggle to catch fish although I feel like I'm improving due to logging more time on the water and gaining experience. Do I like pulling up to my favorite spots and seeing a boat there? Not especially but it doesn't happen all that often, especially during the week. At the end of the day as long as they are catch and release I could care less. Case in point, A fellow OAF member passed me on the river last year while I was fishing my favorite spot, later I passed him upstream. We leap frogged each other the whole afternoon and both met and talked at the ramp. Later that night he post up an 18.5" smallie he caught on the bluff I was fishing Just a few min before. He was new to the river scene and had just bought his first jet boat, I thought for sure "there goes the neighborhood". Helluva nice guy and aparantly pretty good fisherman, Haven't seen him since, go figure. The way I see it the guy fishing "my spot" practicing good ethics and catch and release is probably gonna help care for the resource and vote in local elections just like I do. Frankly I want that guy to have a good time and realize how precious the river is and what a world class place it can be with just a little bit of care and effort. I want to say thanks to everyone that has the courage to post up pics and reports on here as well as all of the technical how to's. Most of them have done more for the resource than I ever could. You've given me tons of new techniques to try and most importantly Inspiration. Speaking of inspiration, weather is breaking for the better think I'll get off the internet and go see what the river is up to.