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Norm & I were on another lake today in pursuit of those violent striking smallmouth. We hit the water a little later than usual around 8:00 and were quickly searching for a 6 pounder under not so perfect conditions. A light rain was falling along with a strong westerly wind of 15 to 20 knots making the 43 degree weather feel more like 32. Norm’s faithful companion Buddha was with us again and he didn’t like the cold, wet, windy weather either! We began by throwing blades & jerk-baits to try & locate some active fish but soon found out that they weren’t aggressive at all. We soon switched up to some slower moving jigs and unfortunately, missed a few strikes. I knew it was only a matter of time before we would make contact with one of these bruisers and stuck with the slower baits. With the water temps hovering around 60 degrees I really thought they would be more inclined to react to faster moving lures, but they just weren’t moving at all. In the first few hours we were only able to land three bass but the ranged from 4.5 to 5.5 pounds respectively. I knew I would have to make some drastic changes and decided to make a long run to another area in hopes of more active fish. This proved to be a better decision as the water was slightly warmer and we were now fishing in some current. The first several fish fell victim to a jerk-bait held on a long pause. By allowing the current to sweep the bait downstream, we were able to trigger some violent strikes that really didn’t require any hook-set at all. Most of them just ripped line from the reel upon contact! When this happened, I knew that a spinnerbait would most likely work as well and instructed Norm to chuck away. Almost on his first cast, he was locked! From this point on we just covered specific areas of the water and caught almost everywhere we stopped. Although most of the fish were a little smaller than we had hoped for, their attitudes were large. They all fought like champs once hooked and who could ask for more! From 2 pounds up to 4 pounds we just kept hooking up in both shallow and deep. By shifting locations on the lake we were able to turn a desperate search for big fish into a good day. Maybe we didn’t see a fish over 6 today, but we will be into those bruisers once again. There’s still plenty of days left in the season and fall is prime time for the real trophies. Oh well, we’ll just have to get two 6 pounders next time we’re on the water to compensate for our lack of one today!!

Guided Fishing!
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