Small Mouth at Jordanelle 7-7-03

[leaky]

Well fellow fisherpeople,

I guess I've lost the knack. Several years ago I was able to go to Jordanelle and catch all the big guys(small mouth) I could handle. Early on it was even from shore! Getting old and lossing my touch? I just spent a full day fishing hard from my tube and caught a zillion perch and only a few bass (largest 14in.). Bud and I had a good time with him swimming all day but not nearly as fish successful as I had hoped. It was in the 90's, pretty calm, forgot to measure water temp. Had to be in the 60's. A tolerable amount of boating. Am getting more tollerant. None of the perch were good size, kept a few for dinner. Fished shallow, points, bays, deeper water, etc. Don't have a fish finder so don't really know what's underneath, but fished my normal productive areas. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong may help.

P.S. Dude - Bud decided to show up in time for fishing even though you didn't give him up!


[unsure]Leaky

[TubeDude]

[cool]Hey, Leaky, glad Bud decided to come back before you left without him. I guess there is just something about the bond between a man and his dog.

I didn't chip in on your post on the Utah board, but I have a theory on the reason for the slow fishing for smallies. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. Right now there are hordes of small perch in the water. The smallmouths feed heavily on the abundant forage. Therefore, they are not as susceptible to a curly tailed jig being earnestly offered by some old dude with a dog in the water.

There's another factor at work here too. During the summer, with higher water temps and more boat traffic, the bass...both largies and smallies...tend to become more oriented toward feeding at night. If you were to go back after the sun went down, and the toys were off the water, I bet you would find some more active bass. Sometimes it can be like you are fishing on a different lake.

If you can't or won't fish at night,at least be there before first light and fish until the bite shuts down. You can always catch the occasional bass during the day, but low light conditions, with minimal noise, will always be more productive.

Next, we have to get you rigged up with sonar, so you can know for sure that the fish are there, even if you aren't getting them.
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[leaky]

Hi Dude,

Had considered what you suggest. Certainly can't argue against the perch consideration. In the past, I've been reluctant to be out in my tube in the dark. I feel a little vulnerable. Probably could take some kind of light I guess. Glow stick, things you break to activate? Anyway, any particular suggestions as to lures to use, shallow, deep etc., considering the snaggy bottom and loosing lures. Could always catch a bunch of small perch and fish em dead? I even have trouble with snagw drop shot fishing since the brush is so high. Just thinking out loud.

Leaky

[TubeDude]

[cool]I would be willing to bet that any large smallie you catch right now will have tails of perch sticking out its gullet. I know a couple of guys last year who mopped up on big (20" plus) smallies by dropping small perch down just above the top of the brush on small leadheads...no plastic. They hooked the little perchies through the lips and just vertical jigged them...or raised and lowered them...paying attention to when the line stopped falling before it was supposed to. You don't have to drop into the brush to catch fish, but you need to be where the fish are.

Another good tactic is to fish crankbaits that run about seven or eight feet deep, over ten to twelve feet of depth. Smallies will come up off the bottom to grab a sexy crank bait. Here again, you need to know your depths. Fish too deep where there are lots of snags and it gets expensive. Too shallow where there are no fish and all you do is wash your lures. It really pays to check out the bottom depth and structure with sonar before working it over with expensive lures. Even if you are casting and retrieving plastics, it helps to be able to count them down to the right depth before retrieving.

I don't know any serious year-round smallie chaser who does not live and die by his sonar system. Without it, you are strictly "chuck and chance it". By knowing a lake and the fish in it, you can catch something most of the time, but you will catch more and bigger fish...consistently...if you always fish in high percentage water.

The main difference is when the fish are near the bank and you can stay just offshore and work the shoreline by moving along and casting into the bank with slow-sinking plastics, like the Senkos and your Robo Worms. Properly rigged, you will catch fewer snags and spend more time in fish country.

As far as night fishing, you are more vulnerable, if there are boats on the water. Most of those boats are going to be fishermen, not skiers, and they are usually more cautious. You should have a light. I wear a headlamp. I turn it on only when I need to signal an approaching boat of my presence...and for helping me get my gear back out of the water when I'm done. It is also helpful for watching out for snakes after dark, on the way back to the car.

For tieing knots or fiddling with tackle, I usually carry a small penlight that I hold in my mouth and then tuck back in my vest. Don't shine a bright light along a shoreline at night, or you will send all of the foraging fish back out into deeper water.

Never fish at night on a lake you do not already know well. It is also a good idea to get launched before dark and to get into position in the area you plan to fish. That way you can stay out of heavily used boat channels and reduce the risk of an unwanted encounter.

Hope some of this helps.
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[leaky]

Dude,

Good comments. Just about every smally I've caught had 2-3 in perch in their gullet.

[crazy][crazy]Leaky

[TubeDude]

[cool]Yeah, I think it was Tomegun who commented on your thread on the Utah board and he said he saw both bass and trout chasing the little critters.

You know, one of my best lures this time of year on Deer Creek, which used to be just like Jordanelle is now, was a small smoke sparkle tube jig. I used a permanent black marker to make a line down the back and three small bar marks on the sides. When the little perch were around the weeds and the shoreline I got lots of big rainbows, browns and bass on those little tubes...fished on 4# line. Also got a lot of the bigger perch on them.

Maybe we can figure out a pattern on them. Ask Bud. Maybe he's got his mind back on fishing now.
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