Sweat the small stuff to find the big stuff

Jeff and I had a nice trip last week.

Jeff took his turn in the bow and found this beautiful smallmouth (>18") in the riffle in the picture to his right. The water there was about 4 feet deep in a narrow channel with rootwads along the bank...a small patch ideal for a hungry smallmouth to use as an ambush point.

We also fished the log jam over his left shoulder hard, but had very little luck there or in any of the traditional heavy cover "hotspots".

Having just gone through our first cool snap and entered a period of rising temperatures and moderate water clarity, the fish were dispersed and harder to locate. Jeff and I both lost fish that challenged our gear a bit before tossing the lure. I think I had a case of "wimpy hookset" disease most of the day.

This will be my last smallmouth trip until October. I was glad to see at least one nice fish in September.