Sept 6th, 2010
Caro, Eric and I got on the water on a mission this morning and we were looking for big fish only! Shallow, power fishing was the plan to start the day and we were to adjust if things didn't work out but it paid off right away. About 30 mins after we put the boat in the water, a big smallie hit my jerkbait hard! About 300ft down the bank,Caro also hooked into another big smallie also on the jerkbait. I immediatly started looking for some similiar areas trying to reproduce the scenario but the strong west winds made things difficult.
It took an a little over an hour before we could find another school but by the time we found them they had already seen us and were way too spooky. Perhaps next time, with a stealth approach we'll be able to catch one or 2 out of that school. They were all over 3lbs roaming around a shallow sand/rock area.
The wind was slowly becoming stronger and stronger and made boat positioning kind of challenging but not impossible. We headed for an off-shore rock pile and kept on throwing all kinds of different presentation but it was the jerkbait that seemed to be the ticket today. On my first cast back with the jerkbait, a big smallie just crushed it and gave me one HELL of a fight. I don't know what the fish had been eating but they were fighting a lot harder then what I'm use to. The rest of the day was difficult with a few fish missed and battling the wind to find new areas. On our way back to the dock we decided to do a little pit stop on the sand flat again and I hooked another decent sized smallie on a wacky worm that had just missed my jerkbait.
Not a lot of fish today but only quality smallies well over 4lbs were caught. It felt good to fish for fun and I look forward to this fall... A lot more of those football smallies will visit my livewells that's for sure!
