Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I met Jimmy at 5:15am to get some topwater smallies. 



We got to our first spot and no fish busting, but I got bit on my first cast with the Whopper Plopper.  I gave jimmy the 75 size on a spinning rod and we soon had a double.  Jimmy's was bigger and that will be the theme for the day.





A few casts later, Jimmy had a big one on.  It jumped a couple times and put up a great fight.  He had to switch sides of the boat a few times until we got it in the net.







That was a heck of a way to get our day started.  Jimmy's longest smallie yet.  We caught a few more.





The fish were moving away from us and we finally decided to make a move.  We saw quite a lot of fish feeding more mid-river, so we stopped near a more rocky area that had feeding fish.  Jimmy cast out one of my newly tied jigs with a ned bait on it and got slammed.  Another really nice fish.





I was falling behind...





It was a little aggravating seeing fish feeding around the river, but we were struggling to get bit.  We eventually made a move and floated for a while with just a couple fish.  Once the sun came out the topwater activity really died down.  The water was a nice green, but stained color and you could not see the bottom.  We finally ended up floating the area with rocks we hit on the way up.  After not getting bites, Jimmy switched to the flatworm and got a catfish.



While I was rebaiting that rod, Jimmy decided to try the wobble head jig with a green pumpkin GOAT.  After a few minutes, he hooked something big.  It pulled drag and was fighting hard.  After a minute, we figured it was a big catfish.  We did not see the fish for a while and Jimmy asked me to video the fight.  I do not know how to post videos, but it was pretty funny.  Anyway, it was a BIG catfish and we finally got it in the net.  We were laughing like kids.  I think it was 6.71 pounds.



Video- https://imgur.com/1h4Hklz

After we got that sorted and he started fishing again, he hooks something else that was screaming drag.  It went for a run, and I had to chase it with the trolling motor.  We never saw the fish but thought it must have been a carp.  It was an epic battle that I also took a video of.  Finally got it in the net.  Much hilarity during the fight and trying to pick it up and weigh it.







Video-   https://imgur.com/iDw6I4h

We caught maybe one or two smaller fish and missed a better one.  We were just floating, and I decided to throw the crankbait and caught a catfish.



A couple casts later I caught a feisty smallie (maybe 15 inches) that self-released at the boat.  Then it got slow again, and it was getting hot.  We were withing sight of the ramp when Jimmy got bit on the flatworm.





That kept us fishing and we both ended up catching a couple before calling it a day.





We got off the at 12pm with the biggest catfish and carp boated in that jon as well as some big smallies.  Final tally was 33. 14 smallies, 3 catfish and the carp for Jimmy and 14 smallies and one catfish for me.

Last edited by drxfish (Jun-30-25 11:05PM)