Saw The Guru On The Water Today

[Bman]

BMan all these fish are truly "magnifique",magnificent specimens,thanks for sharing this pic of your friend the s.m(Guru),all these fish were great specimens

You are welcome. Although, after seeing the direction this thread I started has taken, I have asked myself if I made a mistake.

I always enjoy reading the posts from Al, or zipstick, aka the guru aka Nick.

[ohmz138]

You are welcome. Although, after seeing the direction this thread I started has taken, I have asked myself if I made a mistake.

I always enjoy reading the posts from Al, or zipstick, aka the guru aka Nick.

Never a mistake dad. Those are nice bass anywhere you go. Thanks for posting.

[Jigggg11]

Never a mistake dad. Those are nice bass anywhere you go. Thanks for posting.

All the people you mentioned you yourself,ohmz138,show professionalism,and have a tremendous passion for the sport, this is why I joined this forum,kudos to all of you.Always try to find the (positive in any posting).

[FishinCricket]

Never a mistake dad. Those are nice bass anywhere you go. Thanks for posting.

amen!!!!!!!

[ness]

I'm having a helluva time following this thread. How'd this one go wrong?

Phil -- can you give me permission, temporary of course, to do a little editing? I could have this cleaned up in no time.

[ozark trout fisher]

BMan all these fish are truly "magnifique",magnificent specimens,thanks for sharing this pic of your friend the s.m(Guru),all these fish were great specimens

Nah, those are just minnows.

Just kidding, those are all awesome bass, great pics.

[solus_vero]

You are welcome. Although, after seeing the direction this thread I started has taken, I have asked myself if I made a mistake.

I always enjoy reading the posts from Al, or zipstick, aka the guru aka Nick.

Ya, I kinda fell a tree cross the river on this thread. I'll try and not let that happen again.

Back on track here, I remember reading a conservation report years back that said 90% of all the smallmouth they studied had gravel in they're stomach. When I was young, and we still ate all the fish we caught, I noticed the same thing. I have my own theories on why this is but,,,

What do you make of this Bman and should it be considered when choosing lures for smallmouth?

[FishinCricket]

I'd say that if I spent a good portion of my day rooting crawdads out from under rocks, I'd end up with a belly full of gravel too... Eh?

[Bman]

Ya, I kinda fell a tree cross the river on this thread. I'll try and not let that happen again.

Back on track here, I remember reading a conservation report years back that said 90% of all the smallmouth they studied had gravel in they're stomach. When I was young, and we still ate all the fish we caught, I noticed the same thing. I have my own theories on why this is but,,,

What do you make of this Bman and should it be considered when choosing lures for smallmouth?

I'm no expert, but I believe Cricket nailed it. Crawfish of all sizes are loved by the Smallies. If they are feed on crawfish, the Bass have to suck up some rocks I would think. And yes this is something I consider when Smallie fishing. My favorite Bass lures are Jigs that imitate Crawfish. My confidence bait.

I would like to hear what Al or Nick have to say.

[solus_vero]

I'm no expert, but I believe Cricket nailed it. Crawfish of all sizes are loved by the Smallies. If they are feed on crawfish, the Bass have to suck up some rocks I would think. And yes this is something I consider when Smallie fishing. My favorite Bass lures are Jigs that imitate Crawfish. My confidence bait.

I would like to hear what Al or Nick have to say.

I think it goes allot further than just crawfish. Like trout SM will eat what ever is hatching off the bottom at the time, crawfish, leaches, insects. It is an easy thing to stir up the gravel up current from a fine mesh net and see what turns up before you start your trip.

I noticed on one of my many SM hunts, the SM's were slapping minnows out of the water so I tied on a teeny torpedo (not a tiny torpedo)and started ripping it across the top of the water, 2 to 3 feet at a time in quite shallow fast moving water and did quite well. The SM wouldn't just come up and take it, they would slap it out of the water then turn around and take after it landed back in the water like a trout rising on a dry fly. This seemed to work best early in the morning and late in the evening. One point about this method, it twists the heck out of your line, but if you try to use a swivel to stop the twisting,it will hinder the action of the lure.

As far as gravel in they're stomach I'm sure they were rutting around for anything they could find at the time. Not just crawfish. Something to think about.

Just like BMan, I would like to hear what Al or Nick think about this.