Fall Small Mouth Fishing...

[SholtC]

Well, it's been a while since I first posted so I thought I'd share a couple pics of my latest outings.

 

Last Saturday was working around the house when I decided to take a break from it all and head out and do some Fall Small Mouth fishing I've heard so many great things about. First spot I hit up turned up nothing...not even a hit. Moved to a new location and threw on a crankbait and first cast landed me a 10-11" smallie that put up a nice little fight. My second cast turned up this 17" brute. Tons of fun bringing this one in...put up a great fight. Continued to fish for another hour without much luck..but I was happy with the day.

 

 

 

Tuesday on my way home from work, I decided to try a spot I've driven passed for the last 11 years without so much as a thought. lol Well, first cast and I was hit hard by this guy...another 17" smallie. I had to scramble back up to the car to get the BB for the pics. lol

 

 

 

Fished for another 15 minutes and landed a 12" smallie then called it a day. Stopped in the same spot Wednesday night and met up with a nice fellow fishing the opposite of the river. He hadn't been having much luck but was happy to share the local. About my 3rd or 4th cast landed a nice 12" smallie and thought, here we go again;) lol I had just purchased a new (to me) Flueger bait caster rod a reel set up and decided to give it a try. I can certainly tell the difference between a quality set up and the entry level Shimano set up I currently have. Anyways, about 15 casts and I was hit hard, again...started taking line and thought I was into the motherload! lol Realized it was cause I hadn't set up the drag! Ak! lol So that split second I took to tighten the drag, it gave the fish enough slack to spit the crankbait at me! lol Whizzed passed my head and got caught up in the weeds behind me! lol Got a look at the fish...likely a 14-15" or so...all in all...it's been a pretty fun week of fishing. Maybe there is something to this fall small mouth fishing?

 

The one thing I just can't seem to grasp is, where are all these 18+ small mouth?! lol I've caught 3 - 17's this year, matching my pb but haven't been able to get over the hump! lol Guess I'll just have to keep at 'er and hope the fishing gods are looking down on me;)

 

[mercman]

NICE SMALLIES !!!

having the same prob here.talked to a guy who said he was catching and releaseing smallies buy the handfull, or so he said.went to the spot he said with the bait he said......zero

But that won't stop me, ya see......i'm a fishaholic...... and my name is Paul

[timmeh]

Nice fish, the smallies can really put up a battle. I find this time of year they can be hit and miss, as they're on the move so finding them is tougher, but when you do it's fun.

 

 

The one thing I just can't seem to grasp is, where are all these 18+ small mouth?!

 

Well first off a 17" river fish is a nice fish for rivers in S Ont. Of course there are bigger ones out there but you don't find them everyday.

 

Thing is river smallies are slowwww growers. An 18" fish may easily be 20 or more years old. The problem is too many people have the annoying habit of keeping those big fish. Not trying to stir up crap here but it's obvious with such slow growing fish C&R is essential.

 

Or course if you want to catch 18+ more consistently you'll have to try the lakes.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Nice smallies. Fall fishing can be non stop action, but the big ones like colder water so go deep or look for alot of current.

[sauce]

Nice! Reminds me of how the river fishing has been in my "goto" fall section this year. The fish are there, I'm just not getting as much response to the baits that worked last year. To catch fish I've had to slow right down and really work areas for a long time to pluck fish out. Last year, I fished spots and pulled 3 or 4 fish over 16" in short order. Move to another spot and get a couple more. Maybe they were well fed this summer and the fall feedbag hasn't reached the desparation phase yet. It will, just need to keep fishing and be there when it happens.

Edited October 23, 2010 by sauce