Will Wetline

At 6:30 I headed out in rental boat #334 into what would become a hot, sunny day. Hopefully the breeze would hold. I knew that by now most of the post spawn smallies would be schooled in open water looking for perch and smelt. Maybe there'd be a few hangers-on around my usual spots. I wished for one more fish on the Spin Bait 80 that served me well throughout the early season. Sun still low and the breeze rippling the water, I anchored in 15' on a sand flat. After covering the flat I worked 20' depths around a rock hump with a Hula Grub on 8 lb. fluorocarbon. There were four bass here that took the bait in as many hours - slow going in the summertime. Surface temp was 77º early afternoon. At other areas on the way in I missed a couple of small bass and landed a couple. These too ate the 5" GYCB Hula Grub. It turned out that wishes were fishes, a few. There's no more to tell about this day of fishing so let's continue with proverbs: The saying above derived from a Scottish proverb first published in 1628, "If wishes were horses then poor men would ride." Well, I wanted to become a more "Compleat Angler," [izaak Walton, 1653], so I said to Jim the Gateman when I got back to the dock, "I need a new ride. More horsepower, bow mount electric, state-of-the-art sonar. Would you pass this on to the bigwigs in the DCR, please?" "Sure, Will," he replied. "Expect to see a new fleet of rental boats next time you come out." I've always liked Jim.

My biggest, 6.3 lbs, ate a 4" spider grub on a rocker head jig early pre spawn in '95. The picture came out poorly so I'll put up #2 at 6.0 which took a 4" Slimsenko wacky rigged in June of 2012.

I've added the Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 to my go-to list. I fish very clear water for smallmouth.

The weather changed all day long. Air temperature on the way to Quabbin was 45º. At times it was calm; other times windy. Sunny, then sun obscured by clouds. On my seasonally adjusted milk run, I calculated these factors into the day"s F + L + P = S formulation. What lurks under the ripples over Heavyweight Hump I wondered as I approached at 7:00. I would really like a smallmouth to thrash a Super Spook Jr. None showed an interest in this sort of violence either on top of the hump or over deep water, all of which I fan cast. Alright, be that way. I'll catch you on a Watermelon/Black Flake Senko 12' down, give or take. No takers! Were there any fish around? As I was entertaining this question a 2 1/2 lber. swam by at a depth between 5' - 10'. It might as well have been towing a banner that read, "Nyah, nyah, you can't catch me!" I watched it cruise into the depths but couldn't bring it back on the end of my line. What now? Well, I had a small. clean, heavy-for-its-size bait, a Duo Realis Swim Bait 80 in their Komochi Wakasagi finish. These high tech engineered and manufactured lures come in color patterns that are on par with the science behind the design. Over and over this season these baits have looked as delicious to smallies as lamb loin chops look to me. Let's have a look at the first bass that fell for this phony forage fish: At 10:30 the surface was fairly calm and I moved deeper, casting into 20+', the Hula Grub and its 1/4 oz. tungsten bullet coming to rest on a hard bottom with scattered rocks to bump into during the drag-and-pause retrieve. There were a couple here, the second of which weighed 3 lbs. and a few ounces by eyeball estimate. Shortly before noon the breeze came up. With the sun approaching its zenith, I set out to find the choicest areas on deep sand flats, the Spin Bait ready to fly. Think of this lure as a "slow search bait" which is a contradiction in terms in bass fishing jargon. Search baits such as crankbaits are generally retrieved rapidly, often with a 7:1 ratio reel. "Burning" a spinnerbait a foot under the surface falls into the same category. I say that this sinking prop bait searches because each cast goes a long, long way due to its clean design - its compactness, weight and an optimum match with rod and line. The Realis Swim Bait 80 is slow because if you want it to work, i.e., make the bass bite it - you retrieve it slowly and steadily. ( There is a parallel here with the past : the late, great Charlie Brewer's "Do Nothing" technique.) Anchored and fan casting the flat I connected in short order. She immediately went airborne, showing me her bronze beauty. I knew not to rush a smallie this size using a 7' ML power rod and 6 lb. fluorocarbon and, in time, she was good weight in the net, 3.6 lbs. according to the scale. Working other areas of this extensive sand flat did not produce. Casting the edge of a breakline at the end a smallie of about 1 1/2 lbs. grabbed the Spin Bait. Nothing in (or actively feeding on Hula Grubs in) the deeper water off the break. On my way back I stopped at the Bass Magnet, of course. Tried a bit of everything but no smallie love . . . Quite the opposite in fact - I was taunted again by a 3 lber. doing a swim by. ("Nyah, nyah . . .") Gotta love it all.

Reading about this fine day makes me smile. Thanks.

It's not late breaking news that chartreuse is a popular color for clear water smallmouth. It is curious perhaps that on Quabbin I have only shown it to smallies on a spinnerbait body and skirt in recent years. My choice has been natural colors such as GYCB's #s 176, 194 and 297. When I throw a tube it's a Smoke/Red & Black flake Gitzit. Early this morning I was disappointed and mildly perplexed that the smallies didn't want breakfast served on the surface. It was calm and cloudy, seemingly good conditions for topwater. Thinking deeper though, I thought their appetite might be off due to changing weather and post spawn funkiness. Maybe I could find a few in deeper water worked at a leisurely pace. Here's what I went to: Nevermind the Gene Larew 4.5" Biffle Bug in Natural Craw for now. The stars of today's softbait selection were Reaction Innovations' "Corndog" colored Smallie Beaver and Yum's 5" Dinger in what they call "Bumble Bee Swirl." I hadn't tried Dingers before and bought the Bee because the name amused me. Smallie Beavers have done well for me the past several years - in Watermelon/Red. I had been carrying the Corndog for two years, untried. I anchored in 20' and could cast to 10'. Then I put the popper and the Spook away and changed up to the presentation you see above. The bass were holding deeper, maybe 15', and they liked the Beaver dragged/paused/twitched and the Dinger jerked off the bottom repeatedly and then dropped again as if it were prey in it's death throes. Here's the best of several fish which took these offerings: Late morning I relocated to the Big Bass Breakline, so called because it drops quickly from a 5' depth over sand and gravel into more than 30' with sandgrass and some wood on the bottom. A 6.0 was swimming there in 2012 and I hope she'll swim by again when I'm around. The Biffle Bug was rigged Texas style with a 1/4 oz. tungsten bullet and caught the attention of this: Mid afternoon I was facing the Bass Magnet, an isolated rock ridge covered by a couple feet of water at its highest point. A 10 MPH wind is at my back and it is now clearing quickly. Nothing stopped a Rapala DT-4. I was getting frustrated when the twitchy Dinger wasn't picked up either. Apparently there were no fish on the top. The soft stick bait was finally eaten by a small bass (1 1/2 lbs.) away from the rocks over a deeper, soft bottom. Okay then. What could the chartreuse-tailed Smallie Beaver show me? I anointed it with MegaStrike, cast, dragged it a short distance, paused. I sent vibes to it through the rod. "Tick." A fish moved off slowly. It was now my job to tighten, set, play and net. She weighed 3.9 lbs. About 5:00 I had found a sweet spot 15' - 20' deep on the Bald Head Ridge but nothing there at this time except bait-eating rocks. The wind was still up and the sun was getting lower. Maybe they were shallower now. Got two takes on the Beaver. Missed both. Bah. Would it inhale the Dinger? It's after 6:00 now and it's been satisfying to have read conditions well enough to be able to finish up with a limit of a few ounces over 15 lbs. And it's funny too to feel energized (mentally, anyway) after 12 hours of casting. But it's time to head in. I will remember to deepen my inventory of soft plastics with at least some chartreuse in them. WW

Yup. Greetings from Greenfield which is about an hour's drive from Gate 43 on Quabbin Reservoir where I chase smallmouth.

Those are some serious smallies.

Absolutely. Read this post about my first outing with the Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 and then go to YouTube and watch the 15 videos about this weird looking little wonder bait. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/137440-hai-on-quabbin-51514/

If you look closely at the last photo in this post you can make out a 4.25" Biffle Bug in Natural Craw color hanging out of the smallie's mouth. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/138974-a-crank-a-creature-and-a-big-fat-worm-on-quabbin-6714/

Took a trip to Cabela's in E. Hartford Thursday and found Rapala's DT series on sale (along with a number of other items I don't absolutely need). I don't often throw cranks, but the DTs in bluegill were too pretty to pass up. At 7:30 a.m. I was anchored in about 15' on my favorite pile of rocks. I thought the DT-10 would balance well with my St. Croix Avid medium power rod and Shimano Curado which was filled with 10 lb. Silver thread AN40. On the first cast I cranked the bait to depth, then a few more feet then I'm not superstitious about bass on first casts. I thoroughly fan cast the area but no more takers. I'm getting superstitious. There have to be more bass around this choice spot at this time of the day at this stage of the season (post spawn), so I go to a wacky rig. This set up is golden most any time and I particularly like it for "clean up." Here's one wacked out smallie: And another: A third picked up the Senko shortly thereafter but the take had been imperceptible. Had her on for only a few seconds, just long enough to determine she had "authority," if you know what I mean. I'm hardly the first fisherman to state that it's the biggest that get away. Alright then. Might there be another bass that would like a sale priced, bluegill pattern, deep diving crankbait? Yes! It's about 9:00 now on a bright morning. I thought I'd waste half an hour drifting a large sand flat while throwing a Duo Realis Spin Bait 80. This expensive little Japanese wonder produced very well for me earlier in the season. Not today though, and I think only because the fish were not on these flats. Next I spend five hours dragging bottom with soft plastics at 15' to maybe 25' depths. I'm moseying a creature through sandgrass and bumping it into rocks and the occasional 75 year old stump you find in the Quabbin. Wish I had brought an alarm clock - could have caught up on needed sleep instead. 3:00 now. I'm positioned a long cast away from the Bass Magnet, a short, narrow, rocky rise surrounded by deep water on one side and shallow muck on the other. Water temp. here is 70º and I expect a smallie to smash the DT-4 when I strafe the high point. It took 6 - 8 casts before a spirited 2 lber. slammed it - so spirited in fact, it jumped a foot away from the boat and threw the crank . . . . Why I love smallies in 25 words or fewer . . . The Senko will tell me if there are any more around. Uh-huh: The scale said 3.9 lbs., the best of the day by a few ounces. Correction: Make that 4.1 lbs. I figured the fish would be off the top of a football-field-length ridge so I set up in approximately 20'. I was dragging a football swing jig w/Biffle Bug through scattered rocks when almost back to the boat it got "thunked." The 7' medium power casting rod was adequate (obviously) for the hookset of the standard wire hook I used - I had had some question beforehand about this. It's close to 6:00 now and I'm thinking that 11+ hours in the sun and breeze should be enough for this graybeard. Just a few more casts at the opposite end of the ridge . . . where a 2 lber. was waiting for a bluegill pattern DT-4 to come along. Tight lines, all. WW

That's a well told tale and some quality bass you found. Thanks.

Detailed report and great pics. Thanks!

May 26 Weather Underground had predicted a 25% chance of rain in the morning. This is what Quabbin looked like shortly after 7:00: Well, since I was in the middle of it I might as well try to catch a fish. A Super Spook Jr. brought up a bass for a look then the little Spin Bait 80 got another about half way back to the boat. I was increasingly frustrated as this wet, windy day wore on by bass - five in all - that grabbed the Spin Bait, were on for a while and then vamoosed. Why could I get only one to the net? Anyway, by 8:00 I was really, really ready for a good fish to distract me from the general miserableness of the morning. Near the top of my go-to selection is a Senko, either 4" or 5", wacky rigged. Thank you, Mr. Yamamoto. Took another smallie about the same size in the afternoon as well as a couple of smaller bass. May 29 Here's my first of this fine morning. It grabbed a Reaction Innovation's Smallie Beaver in watermelon red. I like a little red flake in a bait when the sun shines. Today I had with me my long time friend, Don Muller, Steelhead Slayer. You've seen him before in last year's report about our steelhead trip to central New York's Salmon River. Don's great strengths as a fisherman are concentration and perseverance. Around home he occasionally lays out a fly for trout but more often goes golfing. He thought he might like to do a Q trip with me and I said , "Sure." Once on the big water we cruised flats and saw scads of buck bass guarding nests. Not what we were after. My game plan for the day was working 15' - 20' depths off spawning areas for transitioning females. I set Don up with my 7' medium power rod with 8 lb. Silver Thread AN40. On the business end was a 5" Yamamoto Hula Grub T-rigged with a standard wire Gamakatsu 2/0 EWG hook. A 1/8 oz. tungsten bullet got it to the bottom. At first Don was working it too fast. I suggested he draaag . . . pause . . . and what's he do? This: As far as I know, the last time he went bass fishing was with me about 15 years ago. Of course I wanted him to catch fish as long as the quantity was one fewer than mine and the heaviest was one ounce lighter than mine. The next fish to come up from approximately 20' was this laker. (Yes, on the Hula Grub.): If you believe me when I tell you that my finger is purposely in this photo saying, "Hey, a laker!" please PM me. I have a bridge for sale. I would say that Don has got the hang of it now. I was fishing too although I opted for a 5" Senko, wacky. I'd let it hit bottom then twitch it back to the boat, pausing occasionally. Late afternoon we headed back Inside. The Bass Magnet, a small rocky stretch surrounded by deep water on one side and acres of muck bottom on the other, was hot. We were fishing the same baits except that I remembered that I had a few circle hooks and decided to try one. My first bass took off fast and when the line came taut, it was off. Huh. These hooks, as I understand them, are meant to catch a fish in the corner of the mouth. You get the slack out of the line and simply start to reel. I did this with the next two pick ups and netted both. Here's one: It's hard to leave 'em biting, but at 6:00 I said, "We gotta go." Mistress Quabbin had been generous, giving us a total of 16 smallies with an estimated average weight of a few ounces shy of 3 lbs. And Mother Nature smiled. I think I see a steelhead fly with a multicolored tail in the clouds . . . Later, WW

This is what Quabbin looked like until noon when it started to clear. Wind was a manageable 5 - 10 MPH. Water temps. ranged from 59º - 62º. I expected to find post spawn smallies Outside but first made a quick stop at an Inside location which can be a great early season spot. I found only one good LM here and a bunch of little ones. Next checked a few areas of extensive flats not too far away. There were a number of vacant beds but I thought that on this dark, breezy morning there might be a few hungry cruisers looking for breakfast. Fed only one, a small but aggressive bronzeback which was on a 3/8 oz. spinnerbait as soon as it hit the water. Mid morning I was anchored off Heavyweight Hump. Would there be fish on top of this rock pile? None that would grab a spinnerbait or crankbait. Maybe if I got into a ninja's state of mind . . . I tied on a Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 and, as on my first outing with this unusual looking little bait, (see: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/137440-hai-on-quabbin-51514/ ) retrieved it slowly with no extra action and the rod tip low. Seems that clear water smallies have an appetite for this bait that slowly wobbles along in the water column when other baits get the cold shoulder. I hooked three on it today and landed two. All hard hits. Let's now drag the bottom off the hump at a 15' - 20' depth. This was the first time I tied on another winter project, Do-It's Football Swim Jig, shown above the Spin Bait. You can see I passed on paint. I opted for a "Coca Cola" finish which is simply accomplished by a two week soak in Coke. The sulphuric acid in soda takes the high shine off the bismuth in the alloy. This articulated jig is designed to be cranked along the bottom at a moderate pace. Use it on clean, rocky bottoms unless you are looking to come up with a gob of sandgrass or other greenery to garnish your tuna fish sandwich. I retrieved this rig briskly; the bismuth/tin head telegraphed the bottom sharply and didn't hang up as much as a bullet would have. Apparently there was a pod of decent smallies around because within 15 minutes I had two good takes, neither of which I stuck. (Bah!) The third one you see below: A couple more things about the swing jig mold - It was designed for an EWG worm hook such as the Gamakatsu 584 shown below: I didn't like this arrangement thinking that, even with a dab of superglue, the bait is going to slide down the shank in short order. I don't like my socks around my ankles either. I did mold a few this way and planned on using Owner's nifty centering pin gizmatic. The function of the skirt collar is to retain the spring until you twist on the bait. You could also use the Owner hooks that come with the SpringLock keeper if you want to mess with a split ring. (I've got the right pliers - several pairs in fact - and it's a chore I dislike as much as spooling line. I do both when I have to, of course.) Looking through Barlow's extensive hook selection, I found EWG standard wire hooks which are used in one of Do-It's Arky jig molds: I did have some doubts about the "physics" of this arrangement - would the wire bend when setting the hook? It hadn't when I unhooked the mid-weight smallie in the photo. And I'll tell ya, neither of us was particularly gentle with the other during the fight. Mid afternoon I headed back toward the dock checking several spots along the way. Excuse #297 applies to the rest of this trip . . . Sun came out, shut down the bite. But hey, whether you get skunked or catch a bunch, It's always time well spent on big, beautiful Quabbin.

That's some good catching, Mitch!

What a fishery! Congrats on your success.

Great pics, Scott! Did you bring blade baits and bucktail jigs? Try 'em both at that water temperature as well as the suspending jerbaits.

Hai! was heard echoing in the hills surrounding Quabbin quite often on this day in the middle of May. At the time I thought it was a battle cry sounded by a Japanese warrior when engaging the enemy but, when Googling a Japanese/English dictionary later, I found that it actually translates as, "I am paying attention and I understand what you are saying." This corrected understanding works as well: Having "listened" to the big lake, I assessed the conditions and presented appropriately. Before I get into the day's adventure, let me introduce Brad B., a mild mannered bassmaster with whom I had been swapping true tales of smallmouth trips for the past couple of years. You know how it is when you talk the talk with another fisherman. Sometimes you think you're being sold a bridge but on rare occasions you know you're talking to someone who really knows his stuff. Not only does Brad know more than a few ways to catch a bass, he's overly modest about it. We started from Gate 31 about 8:00. We saw a number of smallmouth - some big - on beds but neither Brad nor I care to park over a bed and harass a bass until it goes nose down on the bait. What we did was cast a variety of lures onto the flat, over the edge into the deep - wherever we thought a smallie might be hanging out. I checked the water temp. It was 59º. Brad tied on a venerable Heddon Torpedo which he had modified and with that put the first bass in the boat. This caused me to have an acute attack of SCS (seasonal confusion syndrome). Hell, only four days prior to this calm morning they were rooting around on the bottom picking up my blade baits! We worked our way out into the big water and at 9:00 we found ourselves on the edge of a favorite rock hump. The sky was gray; the water was flat. Gray is okay but a flat Quabbin makes for skittish fish. This requires the approach of a ninja in the night . . . It was time for the "technique of silent capture" - Spybaiting. I took out a Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 and secured this $13.99 Japanese creation with great care to the end of a full, fresh spool of 6 lb. Sunline FC Sniper which I had strung through my St. Croix Avid ML power rod. The reel used was a Shimano Stradic 2500. Opening the bail and loading the rod, I cried, "Hai!" and let this weird looking little bait sail over the vastness of Quabbin. After letting it sink for a few seconds I began a slow, steady retrieve, rod tip low . . . Three more spybaited bass came over the gunnel during the course of the day. They were all fine, plump fish but not nearly as hefty as Big Mama. I'm not going to trouble you with the sad tale of my limit fish that departed a rod's length away from the boat. And what was Brad doing while I was practicing stealth maneuvers? Quite the opposite and it was a lesson I won't forget: He was reeling Pointers, mostly the 78 size but also the 100, working them briskly with a twitch or Two then a short pause. I have never caught a smallie on a suspending jerkbait when the water was warmer than 53º. Could be because I've always been a sweep and pause kinda guy when working a jerkbait, and more slowly than Brad's banzai presentation. Here's a pic of an average Brad class bass: And here's his best: To close, let me say that Brad is a gracious captain and a fine fisherman. And when he shares a piece of bass fishing insight with me I say, "Hai!."

Check out In-Fisherman magazine at the bookstore or wherever you can find it. It covers many species but often has excellent articles about bass, especially smallmouth.

I've gotten good results with the Smallie Beaver with the tails intact while fishing for clear water smallmouth. They are good baits but, like others, I find the description of the colors to be distasteful rather than clever.

Starting in the early '70s I would make a 2-3 page entry in a notebook with details of a day's trip. (Yes, kids, the tools used for this historical data recording technique were a pen and paper bound between card stock!) In 2010 I lept into the Digital Era with the purchase of of a Mac OS10. A year later I got a Canon PowerShot D10. After gaining a basic understanding of how to operate these tools, my log entry for a day's trip would be in the form of a post for BR and another site frequented by other western MA anglers. Here's a sample: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/118690-a-smorgasbord-for-smallies-51413/ I am certainly going to mention weather conditions, water temp., depths fished, baits used and presentation. I'll talk about anything out of the ordinary and new baits/presentations that worked for me. In the dead of winter I can relive these trips and smile (or smack my forehead). And I also hope there's a smile here for you and possibly a tidbit of information you can apply to your fishing.

This article may interest you. Note the author's choice of tackle. http://www.insideline.net/index.php/feature-soft-plastics/1016-so-simple-it-just-plain-evaded-me I cast shaky heads I make from the Do-It mold in weights from 1/16 oz. - 1/4 oz. on spinning tackle. I generally throw baits 3/8 oz. and heavier on baitcasting gear.

I use a topcoat as well. The product is CS Seal-Coat and I use it primarily to worm proof the jig because vinyl paint is not worm proof by itself. I hadn't done this final step when I posted a few bucktails April i8th, but it's done now because who knows? - maybe I'll find that the smallies want these jigs tipped with a piece of a small plastic worm. At some point in the season I'll be throwing painted jigheads dressed with a Kalin's or GYCB grub and this topcoat will prevent a gooey mess. Head cement by itself is adequate for plain bucktails but, as you pointed out, a topcoat does provide additional protection for the thread wraps that have been immersed as well as stick on eyes.

Well done, Mitch.