Chartreuse Was The Ruse, 6/14/14

[Will Wetline]

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