Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I was originally going to take the boat out today, but bagged that plan when I heard it was going to be code red.  I am fishing with my grandson tomorrow, so decided not to push it.  I got up early and I figured I would take my daughter to work and fish a little from shore.  I got there just after 5:00 and had 2 rods with me.  One had the chug bug on and the other I rigged a fluke on a new hover rig head I bought a while back. 

I started with the chug bug and a fish swiped and missed it on about my fourth cast.  It was still pretty dark and when I cast it out again I noticed a birds nest.  I tried to fix it, but it was pretty bad and I really could not see well enough.  I decided to switch to the fluke.  I was surprised that it did not get bit right away, but after a few casts, I caught a feisty 14 incher.  A couple casts later I hooked a little bigger one.  These fish each jumped about 5 times.  I was happy with how the bait did not tear up (4 inch zoom fluke) and the hook seemed sharp and strong.  I cast a few more times and after a couple misses, I hooked what seemed to be a solid fish,

The fish pulled drag and stayed down.  I had a good fight on my hands!  I thought it could possibly be a catfish, because it did not jump.  I kept putting pressure on it and it would pull back drag.  It was really dogging me and swam downstream and then started upstream.  Finally, I got a look at it when it swirled on the surface, and it was a huge smallie!  I worked my way toward the shore and was able to grab the fish.  It was heavy and a beautiful fish.  I measured it on my rod and it was right around 20 inches when I checked with a ruler.  I got it right back in the water and it swam away strong.





The sun was a bright red ball that did not come out on my picture.  I tied the chug bug back on the other rod after my fluke got chewed up.  Nada.  Put a Yum Dinger on the hover rig and no fish.  The bite was over by about 6:15am.



This big doe was keeping an eye on Ernie's boat.  Fun, but smokey morning.

Last edited by drxfish (Jun-29-23 4:59AM)