I Caught a Rock… and Some Fish… and Tried Out a New Worm… AND A QUIZ
I haven’t been fishing in a while. Yesterday I decided to take the whole day off and go fishing. I was up early took care of a few things, took care of a chore or two, and get some gear ready separate from the gear I plan to keep in the boat(s). I was planning on some canal bank bassin’. There were just a couple things I couldn’t find in all my stuff. Some 1/16 and 1/8 oz worm weights, and some 3/16-5/16 weedless ball jigs… preferably with a 60 degree hook. I like to use a light free sliding Texas rig for worms in the canal, but I prefer a powder coated ball jig for areas where I want to drag it across the bottom. By the time I had checked online for Wal-Mart and Sportsman’s Warehouse to see neither had my jigs I was out of the shop at the crack of noon… thirty.
After picking up some worm weights at Sportsman’s and making a drive, I was to my turn off by almost two. It was blocked off, so I had to make a drive around and double back. I still didn’t start where I wanted to, but I started. Nothing in my first spot, and I didn’t see any smalls swimming around either.
The canal was a little low, and barely moving, but it was moving.
On my second stop I just came right up on it not expecting anything to be there and I was surprised. There were 20 or so smalls swimming around, 8-10 bigs (decent) fish out a little deeper and while I was standing there trying everything I had tied on I noticed a couple in the “Oh, my goodness!” size swimming along the deeper edges of the structure. They totally ignored me. Okay, they may have had some aversion to my baits, but other than that they totally ignored me.
In the next spot I stopped way short, walked up a bit, and made a long cast. I nailed a keeper size large mouth. Probably not two pounds, but solid.
The next spot I did the same thing with a different bait, and nailed a keeper small mouth.
Then I caught the rock. Well, more of a stone. Technically a pebble. Okay, I didn’t actually catch it. I brought in a wad of grass, and tangled in it was a tiny hard earth nugget.
Later I nailed back to back smallmouth just below a bridge. This little guy came first…
and then on the very next cast an easy 3 plus pounder. I was fishing unknown age lighter line and I tried to swing it so I wouldn’t be covered in dirt for a photo. It flipped, the line snapped, and he slid across the dirt and back into the canal.
It was a while before I connected with another bite. Another baby small mouth in an area with a lot of broken concrete.
I finished off the evening with my bait over a branch thinking I was hung up before the snag made a big swirl and dragged my line off the branch. I admit I never even thought to set the hook after that. Probably wasn’t as big as the smallmouth that broke off earlier, but it felt decent. When it changed direction in the water it came un-buttoned. I tried for a little longer, but it was already getting dark. Winter doesn’t tend to have that one last big bite just before full dark like summer does so I wrapped it up and walked back to the Jeep.
I fished just four baits. Initially I fished them about equally, but I just wasn’t feeling one of them, so I put it away.
The other three all caught fish, I lost a couple fish, I had a few bites that never hooked up, and I have great confidence in all four baits. Three of them I have had good days with in the past, and one of them is brand new, but not the type of bait. I have had good days on that type of bait in the past.
1. Which three baits caught fish?
2. Which bait got the most bites?
3. Which bait hooked the biggest fish?
Scroll down for the answers…
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- ABC
- A
- A
Bonus. A was also the brand new bait. You can buy the mold here. Basic Curly Tail Worm Swims 6 (+) inches – Cavities (1 or 8)
Bonus. D is the bait that would normally get the most bites, but it got none before I put it away that day. This mold is available here: Curly Slick 275 – 12 Cavity or 26 Cavity