SuskyDude

Wow, I thought I was the only one who still uses a Yo-Zuri Pop'n Splash. I only have two left, and the one has been beat to death. LOL Suskydude, Where have you been able to find them... except for the occasional straggler on Ebay? Got them from ebay- I have about 6-7 of the original size and 3-4 of the magnums. The ZZ POP by yo zuri is pretty much the same lure, at least in it;s action. I was buying them from Wal Mart but now they are becoming hard to find

Popepers in fast water, I'm telling you, get outside the box.

Well I gotta disagree. The buzzbait is much LESS versatile, its only got two speeds: fast enough to buzz, or slow enough to sink. While poppers are certainley more difficult to use in fast water, I find if you start with the right design of popper and you make things much easier on your self. For example, the classic Pop-R is crap in fast water. The cup is way to deep and it grabs too much water. But a Yo-Zuri pop n splash, which has a shallow cup and a recessed bottom lip, will fish very easy in fast water. It spits, sprays and walks effortless across the most choppy, fast riffles. I won't lie, it's work on your wrists. I work the lure at about two pops per second. But belive me, its worth it. I disagree dude. A buzzer is much more usuable on a variety of situations on the river than a popper. For example when I float the fall line on the James here in Richmond, I repeatedly encounter sections 30' downstream from each other that either a popper CAN be fished or CANNOT (within reason). A buzzbait can be left on for the duration of the float and is fishable everywhere (low class rapids current, grass, eddies, riffles, canals, over logs, etc). If you also consider the how much more weedless a buzzer is over a popper with those trebles hanging down I think its safe to say it's alot more versatle. As for the speed factor yes theres days where they will prefer something slower on top, but it's rare. A river smallie is not exactly shy at chasing down fast prey. I've never met a riffle I couldn't pop. But your right about the treble/ single hook comparison...dude. I still think the popper is more versatile. You can deadstick it, work it slow, work it fast (almost buzzbait speed if you do your homework), make different sounds/splashes depending on how you work it, and change the cadence. When a fish misses, you can pause and wait...can't do that with a buzzbait. Hey whatever blows your 'fro back. I'm by no means knocking the bb, merely giving my opinion.

Rocked himself to death.

I'm talking about plugs. The tiny poppers that I think your speaking of are for fly rods.

Well I gotta disagree. The buzzbait is much LESS versatile, its only got two speeds: fast enough to buzz, or slow enough to sink. While poppers are certainley more difficult to use in fast water, I find if you start with the right design of popper and you make things much easier on your self. For example, the classic Pop-R is crap in fast water. The cup is way to deep and it grabs too much water. But a Yo-Zuri pop n splash, which has a shallow cup and a recessed bottom lip, will fish very easy in fast water. It spits, sprays and walks effortless across the most choppy, fast riffles. I won't lie, it's work on your wrists. I work the lure at about two pops per second. But belive me, its worth it.

Not a big buzzbait fan, poppers do it for me. I know plenty of guys like the buzzbait for the river though. Topwater during the low water periods of summer is fantastic. Shallow water is the key, so 2-3 feet avg is good. I target push water, riffles, chutes, as well as shallow flats with smooth moving laminar flow. In my experience time of day doesn't matter much. When the water is low and warm, and the sun is high and blazin, I kill it in the riffles.

If they're pooping raw corn, then they can't digest it, they're just passing it through.

I too have seen AND caught LM doing this. Was fishing a pond when I noticed fins poking out in the middle of a large shallow flat, a few sets of them. Water was less than a foot deep. They weren't doing much. Not really chasing, but not exactly stationary. Caught two of them on a weightless senko, missed another. It was mid-May, a chilly morning with clear skies and no wind. Lots of other fish I saw that morning were close to shore on nests. These fish didn't "seem" like nesters, but I could easily be wrong. There are no carp in this pond.

Found your pics. Nice Fish Over 24 inches? : Where'd you get that ruler?

Very, very sad. Time to work on clean energy, or this will continue.

When I have confidence in a lure or pattern, I "expect" a strike on every cast. The optimisim keeps me focused and I fish more effectively and catch more fish.

Tip up. I fish for smallies and I love the jump. I don't lose many fish as long as I don't horse them when they are in mid air. Besides, when a big smallie really wants to jump...she's gonna jump. Sticking the rod down ain't gonna stop her.

"Largemouth bass posses sense of mechanoreception that is kind of like a cross between hearing and touch. The organ responsible for this is the neuromast, a cluster of hair cells which have their hairs linked in a glob of jelly known as 'cupala'. All fish posses free neuromasts, which come in contact directly with the water. Most fish have a series of neuromasts not in direct contact with the water. These are arranged linearly and form the fishes lateral lines. A free neuromast gives the bass directional input. The lateral line receives signals stimulated in a sequence, and gives the bass much more information (feeling the other fish around it for polarized schooling, and short-range prey detection 'the sense of distant touch)." seems like bass' ability to detect prey is similar to bats, only they dont have active electroreception (sensing its surrounding environment by generating electric fields and detecting distortions in these fields using electroreceptor organs) but passive electroreception, which just means they only receive bioelectric fields. I've seen videos of people feeding their bass in an aquarium and they drop the shad or prey behind them where they, in one motion, turn and suck that prey in as if they knew exactly where it was without seeing it. i'd imagine these abilities are heightened when eyesight is lost. Yep. And I imagine their sense of hearing is enhanced as well. But it's still remarkable to me that a blind bass could thrive. The particular bass I was speaking of was not only a successful hunter, but it also managed to avoid the pike, musky and catfish that prowl the river. Neat stuff.

Well in that case, they were all seven lbs! ;D Kidding, kidding. The old "long arm" shot can be decieving. I see it trick alot of people on the "guess the weight" threads.

Paul, Two years ago I caught a very healthy, chunky, 16 inch smallmouth that for all intents and purposes was completely blind. One eye was severely damaged (couldn't have been usable), and the other was completely gone. Had no problem chasing down a crankbait.

Great pics! Nothing like catching fish while your guides are freezing up!

Snagged while fishing for smallies, went 27 pounds, then went in my friend's garden. Carp make great fertilizer. Oh, and don't knock the gloves. I'm not one of those lady-fingered lilly-livered types, the dang thing was slippery!

Little from column A , little from column B. Depends on what is needed. I finesse fish a jig or soft plastic, and prefer to power fish a topwater (poppers usually) when I can. Otherwise I use cranks mostly.

Good eye! It is indeed an avid. Wading is fun, and besides I don't have a boat on the river! We often fish from my buddy's canoes or kayaks, but frequently hop out to wade particular spots. In the spring, sometimes wading is the safer option, and we just paddle down stream from spot to spot. In the summer, when the fish are in the riffles and chutes, it's pretty much the only way to get to them.

Awesome fish as usual Dwight. I bet it never gets old!

What a weaird spring so far. Have been catching smallies on and off since early March. River has been unseasonably warm, but water has been high. Been catching a few here and there everyday since last weekend, then Wednesday the fish finally started really stacking up and I caught close to thirty. Mostly 15-18 chunks, but only one went four pounds. The big girls haven't made much of a showing yet. Unfortunatey the weather went south so it looks like it'll be back to a few fish here and there this weekend. Anyway, here's a few pics. Largest is on bottom, 4 lbs even.

Got one of these a year ago. The g'zone rock I think its called. Made by Casio. Thing isawesome. Shock proof, water proof, dust proof. Has an electronic compass and built in flashlight too! I got the orange one, easier to spot when its at the bottom of the river.

Come on guys, no one should be responsible for their own actions, this is America!

Seriously? You've already asked this question in at least one other thread, and got a few good replies. You really sweat the details too much kid. Stop asking about when the "best" time to fish is, and actualy go fish. You'll learn way more on the water, and you'll realize that worrying about the moon phase/pressure/whatever is pointles the vast majority of the time. What you should be researching (as in looking up on your own, not posting 4 different threads for the same question) is how water temperature and current affect river smallmouth. These variables are several times more important than that moon phase vodoo and pressure nonsense.