Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I got out early to see if I could catch some on topwater.



Unfortunately, between the full moon, colder temps and probable spawn, I only got 3 half-hearted swipes at my little popper.  Very little surface activity or wildlife activity.  I was sticking close as my grandson, Emerson was meeting me at the ramp around 7:30am.

After I picked him up, we made a little run and started fishing.  It did not take long until I hooked up on a Roboworm/weedless jighead combo.  After a nice fight, I landed this nice smallie.





It was not long before Emerson was hooked up.  His catfish was on the big TRD.





After that, the bite died.  We tried for a while before making a move.  It was slow, but we kept at it.  River was still too low to make a longer run where the jet boats that passed us were headed.  The weather was really nice and Eagles were flying everywhere.

We tried different lures with just a couple missed bites until Emerson hooked up with something big.  It turned out to be about a 5 pound flathead.





I should have killed it, but I could not find my knife and we just decided to release it.

Next, I finally hooked up with a smallie on a keitech swimbait.  It was 13 inches.  I had 2 smallies and Emerson had 2 catfish.



It was after 11 and we ate our sandwiches.  My wife made Emerson 3 mini croisants with avacado and bacon.  I had just avacado and cheese due to stupid gout.  Very good though.

Next, Emerson scored with a 13.5" smallie.



I had something break off my swimbait after a good hit.  The knot was compromised from dragging.  A while later, Emerson hooked the strangest looking smallie that jumped completely out of the water and was black.  It got off just as he had it about to the boat.  Then I hooked something that ran straight toward me and then got off before we got a look at it.

Finally, Emerson hooked something big and, after a nice fight, I netted this hefty smallie.





That made our day.  We fished for a while longer, but the wind picked up and made things difficult.  Right before we headed back to the ramp, I caught this chunky smallie while reeling in a speed craw at the end of my retrieve.



We ended up with 4 fish landed each.  I was very happy that Emerson (Em) caught the biggest ones.  We got off the water a little before 2pm.  Fun day on the river after working hard to get the bites.