Sally the Spotzilla, Caught Twice Two Years Apart

So two years ago, my wife, Rachael Stutts, was fortunate enough to hook and land her personal best spotted bass at the time that was extremely full of eggs and weighed in at four pounds three ounces.  The bass was a beast of a spotted bass and especially for the small river it was caught from.  Well it was caught in one of the pools formed in a shoal complex just before the river dumps into a lake.  She was throwing a rapala J11 on a 6ft spinning rod and a fairly small spinning reel.  Rachael played the big girl like a pro as she rolled and turned on the top of the water.  I finally was able to lip it and after pics and weight, she was released into the same pool she was caught from, an area about the size of an olympic swimming pool.

Well fast forward to this year and late April conditions, high muddy water with an approaching storm front.  I knew it would be a good day for fishing so I tied on my 5" slow sink Bull Shad and headed to the same river.  Which has given up a 4lb+ spotted bass last spring and two so far this spring.  This river is so small I hop rocks to get to the other side and you can cast across it in almost every spot on the shoal complex and river.  So I had caught a few decent bass on the bull shad as the skies darkened but nothing huge.  I then had one about 3-4lbs come up and just slap at my swim bait but didn't eat it.  That gave me the drive to fish this hole a little longer before moving on.  I crossed the rocks to get to the one area in this pool I hadn't cast to, and slung my bull shad next to a tree with fast current going by.  I let it sit for a second to sink, then gave my rod tip a good pop which turns the lure side to side like a spook but underwater, when WHAM, there she was again and hungry.  Sally the Spotzilla, as we now named her, began to run and pull then came to the surface and with her big old head I knew it was a good fish.  Had no clue it was Sally.  The fish was downriver from me, in heavy current, with shallow rocks between me and her.  The worst case scenario.  So I just leaned on her, and slowly pulled her over and around the rocks until I got her in an eddy below my feet.  The fish had the lure perfectly horizontal in her mouth, the tail off of one side and the head on the other, treble hooks all in her face.

 So I grabbed the bass behind the head and let out a victory yell.  The fish had spawned out already, or else she would have gone five pounds.  At the time the thought did cross my mind that it may be Rachael's fish I caught but wasn't sure and released her.  On a side note, I hooked her ten feet to the left of where Rachael caught her fish two years ago this spring.  In the pictures you can plainly see a black birth mark on the left side of her head on the gill plate.  The fish had some sort of infection where it lays it's eggs so hopefully it'll survive that so we can catch her again next year.  Catch and Release really works people!!

Early Summer Pond Fishing

Sometimes when the spawn is over, the best place to be is on a small body of water such as a pond to catch numbers and if the ponds properly managed, some quality sized bass as well.  I have recently been without a way to get our kayaks to the river, so we've done our share of wade and pond fishing.  I tell you nothing beats a good farm pond bite and when they get to feeding, sometimes you can catch fish on any lure you want to throw.  My personal favorites for early summer pond fishing are topwaters such as pop r's, spooks, and prop baits in low light conditions and if the sun is up I go to a soft plastic or spinnerbait fished just below the surface.   A zoom trick worm is ideal for catching big pond bass in the summer time.  Even some crickets and a bobber can yield some great results.

Just recently here in May, I was able to fish a small body of water loaded with 1-3lb bass and a lot of small to okay sized bream.  The bream were all over the banks and the occasional ball of bass fry was left roaming the pond.  Just before dark I took to the pond with a pop r on the end of my line and within minutes was battling a nice largemouth that just absolutely inhaled the lure.  All the fish inhaled the pop r with great ease so setting the hook and landing these bass wasn't difficult at all.  I moved on and after fishing around the pond I ended up with four nice bass in twenty minutes.  The next morning I awoke and stepped out with the pop r again, caught one right behind my Dad as he was bream fishing off the dock.  He was so mad he wouldn't turn around and even look.  LOL.  So if your stuck with no float partner or rivers are way to high, give pond fishing a try, it can pleasantly surprise you.

When Your Stuck to the Bank

       About the middle of October, our lives changed drastically when I was hit head on by a small compact car and it totaled out my Nissan Xterra which we had used for carrying our Kayaks to fish for the past four years.  As most of you know, it's not  only a lifestyle for us, it's in our blood now; we are addicted.  So without a truck, what is a fella to do?  Hit up some smaller rivers and travel the banks, rocks, and even wade the shallow waters for some surprisingly large bass in such small waters.

      We fish a small unnamed river that flows into a lake, that at places, is barely as wide as a two lane road.  It's about waist deep on average and there are a few holes and pockets inside the shoals we wade that are a little deeper.  But we find most of the year, the big spots, shoal bass, and occasional largemouth are in the shallowest, fastest water we can find inside those shoals.  

    The gear I recommend for small flows like this would be one versatile rod, that had a medium action with some give to the tip and at least a length of 6.5-7ft.  That sounds long for wade fishing, but when a 4lb spotted bass grabs your swim bait on the end of a 50 yard cast, you need a long rod to drive the hook home.  I use a Dobyns 765 CB GLASS for this type of fishing.  It lets me throw anything from jerk baits, which are my all time favorite shallow water lure, small swim baits, spinnerbaits, top waters and more.  

      Now as for lures, the one's mentioned above are my main aressenal and I almost never slow down to plastics because in small flows, there are just less baitfish for the bass and usually less pressure so that makes for some extra aggressive, big spotted bass and shoal bass.  I caught a shoal bass from the one lane wide, creek/river you see above that weighed 4lbs 1oz and was only 18.5" long.  She was fat and pregnant, and wanted my Suspending Rogue like it was crack for an addict.  

4lb 1oz Shoal Bass

    I usually use those oh so stylish, "fanny packs" that have double water bottles on them.  You can get them at Walmart for really cheap and it comes with the two 24oz water bottles that fit on your sides like two six shooters.  This works great for a drink in one and an extra spool of line in the other.  Then you can fit your assortment of jerk baits, spinnerbaits and occasional soft plastics (just in case ;) etc.  I find the suspending jerk bait to be the deadliest of all the tactics I have tried for these small water bass but have caught some pigs using my 5" Bullshad also.  Sometimes they just swipe at it though, because it's a little large to represent the forage in this river but at least that shows me where they are and I can come back and get them to eat that jerk bait when it suspends in their face.   

     So try some small water wading when you find yourself stuck without a vehicle, you might just be surprised at the size of bass that can live in 2-3ft of water annually.  These fish are trapped in this area and live here year round.  So they are accustomed to the fast water and feeding even in cooler temperatures.  Don't be afraid to give that small flow a shot that's down the road from your house.  You may just catch a few of these weirdo's, like this spot and shoal bass hybrid.