Saw some old friends today ;-)

[Fish Chris]

Went to my trophy Smallie / Northern strain lake today, and I saw a big, long Smallie that I'd estimate to be at least 7 lbs, but maybe a little over 8. But here's the thing.... I've caught two 7.5 lb Smallmouths on that exact spot, almost exactly 1 year ago. Wanna' bet the fish I saw today is one of those two 7.5's I caught last year ???

So then, I go to my "secret spot" and the big green girls were up :-) Not spawning yet..... but that's cool. I never seem to catch the big Northern Largemouths out of this lake sightfishing anyway. I always stick those on swimbaits.

But anyway, here's the thing about this spot; I stumbled onto it 2 years ago, and I saw 4 bass... 3 about 8'ish, and one that looked to be close to 10 lbs. In the first two casts, I stuck two that went 8 and change. On the next trip I stuck another 8. Never got the big one that year.

So, last year I see 4 good bass in the same exact spot. {I'm totally convinced they were the same fish}. I stick one of the 8's on one trip, and a 10.3 lb'er on another trip :-) (Whoo Hoo ! Only my second double digit Northern at that time)

So, here we are a year later, and today I sight 3 good bass in the same exact spot (hope the 4rth is still okay, but still just hanging low. None of them were up two days ago). One of the 8's followed my Hud towards the boat.... but the water is still only 56 degrees or so, and she wasn't very fired up today..... But I bet she will be in the next week or two

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Anyway, it's just a trip when you go back to the same spots year after year, and see the same exact fish ! I mean, I'm not really surprised...... and from what I have learned and experienced in the last several years, I'm 90% confident {without even catching them {yet ;-)} this year, that these are the same fish. I know a lot of guys would find this almost unbelievable. So just for those guys, I'll show them side by side photos when I catch them again in the next few weeks ;-)

Peace,

Fish

PS, Almost forgot.... Yes, I did get a couple Smallies. Sight fished one nice 4lb'er {believe it or not, that was the male ! The female was fatter, but shorter, and probably still only about 4 lbs.

Oh, and I stuck a 3 1/2lb'er on the Hud :-) Pretty amazing that I was able to hook it, with my 8" Hud rigging. Actually, it managed to get one of the hooks right across the nose bridge, right above it's lip. Only my second Smallie on a Hud, and coincidentally, the other one was a 3 1/2 lb'er, in the same exact spot 2 years ago :-) Same fish ? Ahhh.... not so sure about that one. Their are tons of 3 1/2 lb'ers in this lake, and I don't think they are quite so territorial as the big ones.

[paul.]

congrats chris.  i think you've set a record for most smilies in one post.

seriously, this was a very good post.  i believe this as well.  me and a friend were talking about this just the other day.  i tend to think that barring something unusual,  a lot of big bass return to the same area to spawn year after year.  maybe not the same exact spot, but the same general area.  i also tend to think that once you find a big fish on a bed, she might not be too awfully far away for the rest of the year either - especially if the spawning area is close to deep water.  

[Fish Chris]

Hey Paul, chuckles :-) I smile a lot in person too :-)

.....yes... especially on lakes like the one I'm fishing, where the level has been spot on the same, each of the 4 years I've been fishing it.

Will post some photos soon.

Peace,

Fish

[roadwarrior]

Great post, thanks!

8-)

[SMfisher]

great post fish chris. i also think fish return to the same spots year after year. will be waiting to see your pictures after you catch the same fish this year, and read your report.

[Big-O]

Terrific post Chris and I too fish the same areas on variety of lakes year after year but out on deeper main lake structure. For a fact we repeatedly catch the same wonderful fish several times over the years and verifiy them with photo markings etc.

"Old friends" is a great way to describe them because we do become kinda partial to them since they so graciously come out to play with us now and then....becomes more of a hopeful visit than a challenge huh....Thanks again, that was a good read

Big O

[SMfisher]

i live 8 miles from the new river some of my friends live 3 to 4 hours away they only get to fish a couple weekends a month i tell them by the time they get back i'll be on a first name basess with some of the smallmouth. long story short i caught the same bass 5 times and the wife caught it one time last year but was in different places over a 3/4 mile stretch of the river, so far haven't caught it this year (yet).

[Paul Roberts]

When you frequent the same waters you begin to recognize Old Friends, and appreciate C&R more and more.

I once caught a ~6lb LM on a crankbait off a small sunken hump in August that had one blind eye. The following August a friend of mine caught the very same fish on the same spot with a crankbait. It was still blind LOL, and had put on a bit of weight. He thanked me for releasing it. And he did the same.

I've also been able to follow strong hatch years in the small waters I fish. Many of these little waters tend to have boom and bust populations. I followed one year class (from 2000) during which the bass went from hordes of little ones that would eat anything, eventually honing down to a good number of bass that reached 18" (in 2008) before the pond went nearly dry during a drought. They survived this winter but the numbers aren't there. It's fun, and interesting, keeping track of them. But I also lost an entire pond, with a big hatch year I was following, to winterkill a couple years ago. That was a bummer.

I have one pond that has a large group of 19" class fish that maintain great body condition except for mid-summer. But, I've only broken 20" there twice, and just barely. I think this is the type of water that begs for an up-sized presentation. There has to be some bigger ones there, although it's a heavily fished water and a lot of anglers seem just unable to release a "big one". Normally, when bass begin to outgrow their food, it shows in body condition, but no signs of that at this pond. So the lack of 20+inchers in my catch is probably a combination of old age, angler kills, and possibly tactics.

It's really satisfying to get to know specific waters.