08-22-2003, 11:27 PM
By far my best day ever on the Brandywine. I fished from 6:30 am until 4:00 pm and tubed from the Route 100 Bridge in Pennsylvania to the Thompson Bridge in Delaware. Totals for the day were:
1 - 19 inch Smallmouth
2 - 18 inch Smallmouth
4 - 16 inch Smallmouth
11 - Smallmouth between 12 and 15 inches
23 - Smallmouth between 10 and 12 inches
2 - Smallmouth under 10 inches
2 - Redbreast Sunfish
1 - Rock Bass
The sunfish rock bass and 2 of the 10 - 12 inch bass and one of the 16 inchers were caught on the 5" Green Wienie Red colored Salt Shaker Worm rigged weightless and texas rigged with a 1/16 oz. bullet sinker. The rest of the smallmouth were all caught on 3 inch Big Hammer swimbaits rigged on a 1/2 oz. un-skirted Buzzbait head. I also had at least a dozen if not more larger bass jump and throw the Big Hammer/Buzzbait combo. I was reminded the hard way by loosing several nice fish that when a fish jumps to wind as fast as possible! If I were to guess I'd say at least 80% of the fish made two or three awesome jumps during the fight.
I am now fully convinced that the un-skirted buzzbait rigged with a 3 inch Big Hammer is a better lure than the standard skirted buzzbait. I threw a skirted buzzbait for a few minutes here and there and got a few hits but no hookups and they definetely weren't as interested. It makes sense - even though the pulsating skirt of a buzzbait probably looks pretty good to a fish I'm sure that little baitfish swimming just under the surface looks much more inviting.
Yesterday I noticed that the Big Hammer/Buzzbait bite didn't turn on until after the sun came out. Today was the same. I got a couple of hits early but it didn't really turn on full speed until after the sun came out. A little later I noticed quite a few surface feeding fish and started paying attention to them. I used to think they were just sunfish and small bass feeding on bugs. I also noticed that there were lots of dragonflies everywhere - but only after the sun came out. At one point I was watching a dragonfly cruise just above the surface when about a 12 inch smallie came flying out of the water, snatched the dragonfly out of thin air, did a flip and splashed back into the water. It was so cool! I'm pretty sure a lot of my topwater success today is because the bass are concentrating on the surface.
As soon as the Big Hammer/Buzzbait bite turned on I made a decision to throw the buzzbait for the entire rest of the trip - even in the very shallow or fast current areas that I usually throw the Rebel Wee-Crawfish to try and pick up a sunfish or creek chub. By doing this I learned to things: First - it can't be too shallow to throw a buzzbait and Second - bass will strike a buzzbait in relatively fast moving water. Many of the big fish I caught today were caught in areas that I never would have thought to throw a buzzbait. The 19 inch fish came out of pretty fast current that was no more than a foot and a half deep.
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1 - 19 inch Smallmouth
2 - 18 inch Smallmouth
4 - 16 inch Smallmouth
11 - Smallmouth between 12 and 15 inches
23 - Smallmouth between 10 and 12 inches
2 - Smallmouth under 10 inches
2 - Redbreast Sunfish
1 - Rock Bass
The sunfish rock bass and 2 of the 10 - 12 inch bass and one of the 16 inchers were caught on the 5" Green Wienie Red colored Salt Shaker Worm rigged weightless and texas rigged with a 1/16 oz. bullet sinker. The rest of the smallmouth were all caught on 3 inch Big Hammer swimbaits rigged on a 1/2 oz. un-skirted Buzzbait head. I also had at least a dozen if not more larger bass jump and throw the Big Hammer/Buzzbait combo. I was reminded the hard way by loosing several nice fish that when a fish jumps to wind as fast as possible! If I were to guess I'd say at least 80% of the fish made two or three awesome jumps during the fight.
I am now fully convinced that the un-skirted buzzbait rigged with a 3 inch Big Hammer is a better lure than the standard skirted buzzbait. I threw a skirted buzzbait for a few minutes here and there and got a few hits but no hookups and they definetely weren't as interested. It makes sense - even though the pulsating skirt of a buzzbait probably looks pretty good to a fish I'm sure that little baitfish swimming just under the surface looks much more inviting.
Yesterday I noticed that the Big Hammer/Buzzbait bite didn't turn on until after the sun came out. Today was the same. I got a couple of hits early but it didn't really turn on full speed until after the sun came out. A little later I noticed quite a few surface feeding fish and started paying attention to them. I used to think they were just sunfish and small bass feeding on bugs. I also noticed that there were lots of dragonflies everywhere - but only after the sun came out. At one point I was watching a dragonfly cruise just above the surface when about a 12 inch smallie came flying out of the water, snatched the dragonfly out of thin air, did a flip and splashed back into the water. It was so cool! I'm pretty sure a lot of my topwater success today is because the bass are concentrating on the surface.
As soon as the Big Hammer/Buzzbait bite turned on I made a decision to throw the buzzbait for the entire rest of the trip - even in the very shallow or fast current areas that I usually throw the Rebel Wee-Crawfish to try and pick up a sunfish or creek chub. By doing this I learned to things: First - it can't be too shallow to throw a buzzbait and Second - bass will strike a buzzbait in relatively fast moving water. Many of the big fish I caught today were caught in areas that I never would have thought to throw a buzzbait. The 19 inch fish came out of pretty fast current that was no more than a foot and a half deep.
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