Long time guide client David Stava and I have been on a pattern for years. Five of the last six years he and I have got together to fish for trophy Smallmouth in fall. We always fish on a moon phase, this year it was full moon in late October. This year Dave invited Greg Taras to fish with us.
It was foggy and cold ss we headed out on Friday morning and it was still dark. We were talking about how hard it was to catch a 20 inch Smallmouth. Dave and I have caught hundreds of Bass over 18 inches but only one legitimate 20 incher. We had one weekend about five years ago ( maybe the best fishing I ever had!) where we caught 350 Bass. Twenty of those were 19 inches plus, but none over 20!
In the fall Smallmoth group into large schools. Where there is one Smallmouth there will be more! Early morning and dusk into darkness produces the best action. Of course the moon phase is key!
We started fishing and it wasn't long before we boated a nice 18 inch Bass on a crank bait. As the day got more light the fog really moved in! Soon we could not see the shore! We kept working around the same large hump for about 2 hours. We could not see shore at all and I kept joking "I have no idea where I am at" Of course with the depth finder I had a pretty good idea!
We ended up catching 7 fish, all 16 inches plus and I ended the morning with a beautiful 21 incher! It hit a perch thunerstick and fought hard and deep, never jumping at all.
That evening we returned after some fabulous slab Crappie action. We only had time for a couple more drifts before dark but managed to get three more big Bass and Dave got a 20 1/2 incher!
Saturday the temp had dropped and the north wind craked at close to 30 mph!
We fished hard for Muskie all day with no luck.
On Sunday we were able to get back after the Smallmouth as the weather had changed yet again! This time it was Gregs turn boating a fat 20 inch Smallie in a spinner bait. We caught several nice fish again.
Our last night and all three of us joked we needed to get a bigger one!Who was going to get it?
Sunday night was slow and the wind had changed to the south. It was almost dark and we had time for one or two more drifts. Zero fish in the boat and Dave decides to try my spinner bait. He has always stuck with crank baits in the past.
With in his first few casts he hooked a very large bass! It jumped high out of the water and we all knew it was big! Three more jumps and some big runs off the drag and finally in the net we knew this was bigger then anything we had caught all weekend!
Officially 22 inches 6 1/2 lbs!
We only caught 17 bass all weekend but four were over 20 inches! Ten were over 18 inches and all were over 16 inches. Fall is trophy time! What a great end to open water 2007!
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