Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Ernie · Jun-06-26 5:40PM

Finally...I get some time to post Thursday's trip.

I thought that being retired and a grand dad made life slow down. Nope! While it's all good, it been a fast and furious 4 days.

It all started Wednesday night when we babysat our oldest son's 2 boys (1 & 3). It all went delightfully well but once home it was a quick shower and early to bed as we (George, Chris and I) were fishing Thursday. More on that later.

After getting done Thursday, I hurried home and went back to #1 son's house for another round of babysitting. Same story, shower and get to bed as we were leaving early to meet DIL in NC somewhere to get Luke (son #2's son). Make the return trip back and crashed out after dinner.

But it's not over yet as on Saturday morning I hosted a Men's Fishing Event for some of the guys from my church. Some fish were caught and all is well.

Now...the fishing report.

We had just come off the full moon and the river was dropping. It was stained but in a good way. The water was chillier than before the rain.

Chris mentioned that today would be a spinner bait kinda day. Well, unless I'm throwing 1/8oz spinner baits at white perch, I'm not really fan of this type fishing. But George was catching them on it so I eventually switched.

Customary 1st fish pics...

George's came on a spinner bait, mine on a belly weighted fluke.

Solid fish to start. We picked at 'em all day and only caught a couple of dinks. The rest were like the ones above.

Except these two!

Great fight! And both caught on a Bumble Bee spinner bait that is older than some of youse guys!

Lunch was really good as Chris made some home made Dagwood's (he earned the right to call them that).

Right after we finished lunch, we heard a massive splash in the water!

A cooling swim was in order...

We saw lots of minnow activity and one of the times Chris told me where to throw (fluke). I immediately hooked up but had 2 sets of rocks to navigate out of. The smallie (very angry) had it's way with me and broke me off (braid, above the leader). What a rush!

George got his spinner bait slammed (by a rock) and once again, we were hoping it was a smallie giant but t turned out to be another channel kitty of 20-22"! No pic because the raft was on the move and Chris had to get on the oars.

A lot of our targets are a one or two shot and we are done scenario. If you catch one, the thrill is getting it to the boat!

While it did get warm out there, we had plenty of liquids and were just fine. Beats fishing in the cold!

hookup · Jun-06-26 5:55PM

Soon as we got to the lunch spot, I scan the water and see a monster small busting minnows on the surface. I had 1/2 sandwich in my hand so Chris ran to the boat, grabbed the first rod he could and tossed. Fish on, rod bent, then spit the bait. Exciting.

I was sore the next day pulling all that smallie weight, along with a giant cat. As soon as it hit, I knew what it was. Didn't see color for a couple minutes but the fight was on. Chris netted it, threw the net at me and jumped on the oars before the raft hit the next ledge. Great timing!

Exciting day. Everyone was hooting, hollering, and yelling. Adrenaline flowing. When those heavy fish hit a spinnerbait it's fight on.

Lost a couple good ones during the fight. Same as Ernie, line broke. At first, it appeared that I had a bad guide, so when I got home, I cleaned the rod and checked each guide good with a q tip under magnification. All was good. My theory is the fish dove to the bottom of Davy Jones' locker, swam under a rock/ledge, and "sawed" the line in half. Exciting, but still hate leaving hardware in a fish's mouth.

In one case, Godzilla was chasing Ernie's dink of a 19" smallie. Very kowl! We were all yiping and yaping - well, except Ernie because he was trying to land the 19, when we saw that big fish try to take the spinnerbait out of the 19's mouth.

Last edited by hookup (Jun-06-26 5:57PM)

Oubassman · Jun-06-26 6:18PM

Now that is what you look for on a day on the river. That is one awesome day, thanks for sharing. When you're catching only a few dinks and numerous 18 plus, it's a day for the books

drxfish · Jun-06-26 6:20PM

Sounds like a great trip! I have that same Bumble Bee spinnerbait. It has some of the paint gone from the head, but still intact. I used it not too long ago. I did try chatterbaits but thought there was not enough wind for spinnerbaits. Good on Chris for the tip!

Ernie · Jun-06-26 6:36PM

hookup wrote:
In one case, Godzilla was chasing Ernie's dink of a 19" smallie. Very kowl! We were all yiping and yaping - well, except Ernie because he was trying to land the 19, when we saw that big fish try to take the spinnerbait out of the 19's mouth.

How did I forget? As I'm bringing my fish in, another big fish swims right by, right under the boat. I thought I lost my fish but my line was still tight! It was simply amazing!

drxfish · Jun-06-26 7:54PM

Have you guys caught any of the tagged smallies? I have not.

Ernie · Jun-06-26 8:50PM

drxfish wrote:
Have you guys caught any of the tagged smallies?

Yes, a couple over the last 2 months but up above POR. We report them in. Mike Bailey is doing most of the tagging.

Some tagged fish have moved quite far. Some stay close.

hookup · Jun-06-26 10:44PM

I got one

backtofuturetoyota · Jun-08-26 11:27AM

Oh man! I have to admit that reading the post I was getting excited and ready to hoot and holler! haha. The dagwoods look great and I personally appreciate that folks out there still accomodate the everything sandwich. Beautiful smallies fellas. What a great day on the water!

Pacemaker Fishing Forum

#1 Jun-06-26 5:40PM

6-4-26, UP

#2 Jun-06-26 5:55PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

#3 Jun-06-26 6:18PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

#4 Jun-06-26 6:20PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

#5 Jun-06-26 6:36PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

hookup wrote:

#6 Jun-06-26 7:54PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

#7 Jun-06-26 8:50PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

drxfish wrote:

#8 Jun-06-26 10:44PM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

#9 Jun-08-26 11:27AM

Re: 6-4-26, UP

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