Just an ounce short…

[casts_by_fly]

I set a goal this year for a 4lb smallmouth and a 5lb largemouth. They get bigger here, but not that much and not that many. Last year I had a 4-11 largemouth and another that was the same size in the same day (didn’t weight the second).  I thought for sure I’d get there this year.

 

i got the smallmouth in March as my first fish of the year (4lb3oz). April and may were shaping up with a bunch of largemouth in the 4 lb range but I just couldn’t get a step change to the 5 lb bucket. Then the heat and drought hit and the summer has been a mess. With the cool nights over the past two weeks, the water has dropped to the high 70’s and I thought the topwater bite might pick up. I went to the same lake as last years big bass.  It’s a smaller lake (<200 acres) with an incredible forage base of alewife and bluegills. There are also a bunch of musky that keep the smaller bass population in check. So the ones that survive to 12”+ are good thick fish. I didn’t get out quite as early as I wanted so I only had 2 hours before the sun poked up and the topwater bite turned off. That was still enough. I landed 6 and had a few more blowups that didn’t take. I added two more on a jig in heavy cover on the way back to the ramp. The big fish barely sipped the buzzbait down but when the hook got home she took off like a freight train. A ton of fun in the dark. I knew it was big when it hit the net to the point I checked twice it wasn’t a small musky before I lipped it. I weighed it once, then re zeroed and weighed it again just to be sure.  4 lb 15 oz. Just an ounce shy of my target.  It was 5:15 in the morning so I didn’t take a picture. Further down the bank I landed a 4-01 and 3-11, all in skinny water. Throw in a pair of 16” fish and a pair of 14” bass and it was a pretty good morning. It would have been 17 lb if it were a tournament or about 90” for a kayak tournament.

 

pics of the 4-01 and 3-11. 
 

im heading out again tomorrow morning with another hope for a 5.