Yup, the pattern worked again today!

[Al Agnew]

So in my last post I talked about this pattern I've figured out this time of year, and how I was catching some really nice fish the last few days.  Today, I went on a different river, too small for the new jet boat.  I wasn't sure whether the pattern would work, because this river is far smaller, and somewhat clearer.  The type of spot these fish are hanging in might be too small and shallow, I thought.  I tried it a couple places starting out, and got nothing.  So I just drifted down the river casting to everything that looked good, trying lots of lures.  You know the fishing is poor when I keep trying lures!  I was skipping a lot of the spots that the pattern would fit, because they were just too small and shallow.  And halfway through the float, I hadn't caught a single smallmouth, and only 5 small spotted bass and a 14 inch largemouth.

And then I came to a spot that just looked like it should be a good one for the pattern.  Using a crankbait, sure enough I hooked a big one.  It turned out to be about 19.5 inches.  I also caught two more smaller fish there.  So, since I'd not been catching much of anything in the pools and around logs and rocks and all the other places that I was fishing, I decided to just paddle through everything else, enjoying the early spring wildflowers and a gorgeous day, and just fish when I came to one of those spots.  

Not every spot had fish.  But enough did that I expected to catch fish in all of them.  The next fish was a big surprise, though...a 21 inch largemouth!  This is the kind of spot that NOBODY would expect a big largemouth to be.

And then, the REAL highlight of the day...

It's been 45 years since I caught my personal best, by length anyway, Ozark river smallmouth, a 22.5 inch, summertime, slender fish that weighed 5 pounds even on a set of scales that was within an ounce or two of being accurate. I was really wondering if I would ever beat it...but today I think I did.  The massive fish hit exactly where I expected it to be, and cleared the water in a wild leap that made my jaw drop.  It took a while to get it in, and when I netted it I thought, "this might be the biggest Ozark river smallmouth I've ever caught."

Problem was, I had left my set of scales in the new boat.  I had nothing to either weigh or measure the fish with perfect accuracy.  The only thing I could do was lay it on my paddle blade...the blade is about 20 inches from where it starts to flare out of the shaft to the tip.  I carefully held the fish's mouth closed, lined it up even with the tip of the blade, and squeezed the tail lobes together.  The tail went at least two inches past the beginning of the flare!  And it was FAR thicker and fatter than that old personal best.  It might not have made 22.5 like the old fish, but I'm absolutely certain it was a lot heavier than 5 pounds.  I got a couple pictures and released it.  

[Quillback]

Wow, that is a tank, congrats!

[ColdWaterFshr]

14 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

  And it was FAR thicker and fatter than that old personal best.  It might not have made 22.5 like the old fish, but I'm absolutely certain it was a lot heavier than 5 pounds.  I got a couple pictures and released it.  

Alright!  Let's see the pics!

[Al Agnew]

5 hours ago, ColdWaterFshr said:

Alright!  Let's see the pics!

Here's the only one I've downloaded off my phone so far.

[Al Agnew]

Here's the big largemouth.

[Al Agnew]

Went out again today, back on the first river.  It's getting lower and clearer, and I wasn't sure the pattern would be holding.  It was.  I caught three that were all exactly 19 1/4 inches, and a 19 incher.  Another big fish day, only caught 5 smaller ones, including a 16 incher.

[Mitch f]

1 hour ago, Al Agnew said:

Here's the only one I've downloaded off my phone so far.

Well, I heard about this fish so I came out of hibernation ONE time to comment! That’s a toad brother! Good job!

back to hibernation 

[ColdWaterFshr]

12 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Well, I heard about this fish so I came out of hibernation ONE time to comment! That’s a toad brother! Good job!

back to hibernation 

Don't play peek-a-boo.  Stick around, Mitch.  We're all good now.

[Al Agnew]

Well, dang it...I have been cripping around for a month and found out today that I have a partial Achilles tendon tear, and have to be in a boot for 4 to 8 weeks.  Can't get it wet, so the only fishing I'll be able to do will be from the boat from nice boat ramps.  I was wanting to try some other sections of stream in the canoe while the fishing is good.  It's probably going to get worse as the rivers get low and clear, but next week's forecasted rain might make it better if it doesn't completely blow out the rivers.

[fishinwrench]

12 hours ago, ColdWaterFshr said:

Don't play peek-a-boo.  Stick around, Mitch.  We're all good now.

Don't believe it for a second, Mitch.   These boys are SNAKES !   😅