4/3 smallies

A half dozen big smallies, a channel cat, and a river bottom carpeted in marsh marigolds. It doesn't get much better than that. In a deep run with some big rock on the bottom on a clear with mylar curly shad with a black back.

I'm lucky to be alive....

So I'm out fishing, enjoying the warm temperatures and all that. I happen to look down and I'm standing in the middle of what must have been a snake orgy or at least a snake spring break party till I rudely interrupted. There were two or three snakes within a couple feet of me in every direction. And I must have been standing there for ten minutes fishing before I noticed. Yep keen observer of nature I am at times. I wonder what we walk right over top of we never see at times. At least several were kind enough to pose for pictures. And the catfish weirdness continues with a shovelhead and a dandy channel on the three inch grub tonight. That's six flatheads and a channelcat on Vic's three inch with silver glitter grub in the last three days. Maybe I'll start calling that color flathead.

last week of march

I caught some dandy gills out of a pond one day then finally the river was back down to nice levels. Fishing a clear with silver grub in the same place a couple weeks ago I was catching nice smallmouth, I caught five shovelhead in two trips. Five on a grub, no monsters but pretty cool none the less. Since I do a ton of jig fishing in a years time I catch quite a few cats but five is pretty wild for this time of year. I also had a nice carp inhale the little grub. No smallies that were photo worthy in the last few days though from looking at the forecast that hopefully will change soon...

The past few days in fish...

I caught some dandy gills out of a pond one day then finally the river was back down to nice levels. Fishing a clear with silver grub in the same place a couple weeks ago I was catching nice smallmouth, I caught five shovelhead in two trips. Five on a grub, no monsters but pretty cool none the less. Since I do a ton of jig fishing in a years time I catch quite a few cats but five is pretty wild for this time of year. I also had a nice carp inhale the little grub. No smallies that were photo worthy in the last few days though from looking at the forecast that hopefully will change soon...

brrr...

Sometimes the river is all up and muddy and you are forced to go after trash fish and not proper bronze colored bass

On a swim shad and an unweighted swimbait hook fished as slow as possible in a local pond

The rivers up so...

Caught about ten LMB this evening mostly small ones but a couple were okay. But for Ohio this early in the year I was very happy. Out of a pond on an unweighted texas rigged swim shad fished as slow as I could make myself do it.

legendary...

Today is a sad day for entire fishing community. Legendary fisherman Robby Robinson has passed. Legendary is not a word I use lightly. So what made Robby so legendary? After all he was just an ordinary working guy like most of us. What Robby had was passion and the overwhelming drive to follow that passion. He used that passion to learn about and spend the time required to go out and catch more giant shovelheads than probably anyone that has ever lived. Over time he caught so many giant fish that photos of him and then stories about him began popping up in newspapers and magazines. And Robby spread the word of conservation and preached CPR. Catch, Photograph, Release. All the while teaching and mentoring an entire generation of fishermen.
Let's face it anyone can go out a catch a big fish. People do it all the time that have no business doing so. Just like people go out on their first deer hunt and luck into a giant buck. Or people can buy their way into a big fish or giant buck by paying someone else to find it for them and hold their hand till they get it. But not anyone can go out and catch a giant remarkable fish over and over and over again. Which is just what Robby did over and over again.
He joins the ranks of other legendary outdoorsmen like Fred Bear or Billy Westmorland. No hunter ever has done as much in his sport or for his sport as Fred Bear did. From humble beginnings he pretty much is the reason there is the sport of modern archery and bowhunting. And Billy, just a good old boy down in the hills pursued his passion so hard that he caught more giant smallmouth than any person that has ever lived. Just a couple of guys that loved being outside and loved what they did so well that they became legends. Just like Robby. I bet they are all sitting around a fire tonight swapping stories and waiting on a bite...