Brrrrr..... post cold front 12/9

[Smalliebigs]

Well I had the opportunity to fish with my good buddy Hog Wally this morning. Last night watching Dave Murray's forecast for today was giving me the chills. I even messaged Hog last night bitching about the forecast and that we probably wouldn't have fish jumping in the boat and he promptly sent back a message so full of confidence it got me going (one of the things I love about that guy)

The water temps were hovering around 39, the water clarity was a scary Gin color...I could see the bottom everywhere we went in water up to 17 ft deep and the winds gusts were anywhere from 10 to 35 mph I would guess. A cold front pushed thru very early prior to us going out....not exactly ideal conditions.

I started out fishing a jerk bait as it is just one of my things, I absolutely love fishing jerk baits these fish were having none of that not even a sniff. The water was soo amazingly clear that I found myself just standing there looking at the river and it's contours and it's fish....just astounding.  I'm sure Hog was sick of me commenting on how clear it was, just so fun to be able to see everything. 

We fished for a bit I wasn't doing anything , Hog was fishing a Craw pattern they just came up with and at first glance I thought it looked peculiar. Then I tied one on and let it fall into about 6 ft of clear water and it looked amazing!!! It is really weird how these colors can look so different in and out of the water. 

Just as I started with the craw, Hog as he does, says " oh I got bite here"  and then set the hook and his rod bent in half. I knew he had something with some weight. Sure enough he did, he coaxed up an absolutely beautiful 19 inch 4lb Smallmouth. This fish was soo chunky and just a perfect Bronze beauty. I was jumping and fist pumping as I just love to see fish like this in person....I was ecstatic.

Now I'm pumped as hell and ready to go but, these conditions were just horrific for fishing and the bite was very slow. It seemed like if you could get the craw in front or near a fish they would crush it.

We moved on to a few other spots and the wind and temperature were oppressive really. Not much happening but, my excitement was keeping me warm from seeing Hog's fish.

We finally made it to a spot that Hog said there is a giant here for sure and I thought to myself what is he talking about?? As it looked fairly vanilla but, I know not to question his knowledge of that river. I made a cast right to the area he was speaking of and wham I had a nice hit and set the hook. Hog says you have a nice one and being the dork I am, I say it seems like a 17 incher. Then a massive blob of Bronze rolls in front of the boat and I see Hog lunging for the net in excitement....low and behold it's a 20 inch FAT Hybrid Smallie/Spot!!!! We were both high fiving each other like little kids. This was such a cool moment for me as I have never seen one this big in person.

Guys I know you may get sick of people pushing products on here and I am not a part of Tackle HD anymore as we parted ways. I can tell you this, their 4 inch Craw just flat out catches bigger fish on average. Eventhough we parted ways we are all still friends I love Paul, Mitch and Aaron like my brother. They have a great bait and their jigheads are the best at crawling thru rocks I personally have ever used. Sorry in advance if you don' care for my endorsement but the proof is in the pudding as far as I'm concerned.

Now as I sit here eating my wife's delicious chilli, I am wondering how old that Hybrid is???...the biggest one I had caught prior to this was 14 inches.

Anyway everyone have a good rest of the weekend

 

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[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Wow, he's speechless.  

[Smalliebigs]

[Hog Wally]

Might I add that I threw the exact craw and jighead for 4 hours. That's amazing for any soft plastic. 

[Mitch f]

Scott, that is probably the biggest hybrid I’ve seen on the Meramec. 👍 Well Done!

[Smalliebigs]

On 12/9/2017 at 6:53 PM, Hog Wally said:

Might I add that I threw the exact craw and jighead for 4 hours. That's amazing for any soft plastic. 

Dude today was really cool in many ways...I have been smiling from ear to ear and my wife says I've got my swagger back hahaha.

Both of those fish were very neat fish to see in person.

[Smalliebigs]

1 hour ago, Mitch f said:

Scott, that is probably the biggest hybrid I’ve seen on the Meramec. 👍 Well Done!

Thanks Mitch....they both were very impressive fish.

Seriously man the conditions were tough.....we had a couple REALLY good bites and capitalized on them.

This Hybrid was a FOOTBALL 

 

[ColdWaterFshr]

You guys have misidentified the fish as a hybrid.  Thats a drum.

Freak fish, either way.  Good on you.

[Hog Wally]

7 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

Thanks Mitch....they both were very impressive fish.

Seriously man the conditions were tough.....we had a couple REALLY good bites and capitalized on them.

This Hybrid was a FOOTBALL 

 

Look at the shape of this freakazoid fish   

[Mitch f]

MoSmallies looked it up and Scott’s hybrid is winthin 1 pound of the state record! Kudos Scott!

and it was caught out of a river and not an impoundment