whoo hooo, more smallmouth pics

[slabsrus]

Today I took a co-worker out smallmouth fishing in a kayak for his first time. Put the kayak in the water at 6pm, back to the landing at 8:30 with our limit. Caught 15. The top 3 were over 18 inches with the top 2 over 19. Stringer weighed just over 20 pounds for 10 fish. Not to shabby. :D.

[birdman]

nice catch but them are some good fish your taking outta the lakes. let them bronzys grow up to be the tropys they can be and keep the littler ones for the table

[slabsrus]

I let so many of these go it is ridiculous. Last summer I boated over 300 over 15 inches and only kept 35 so I don't think I am hurting the population too much. I am very conservation minded and would never keep any if I thought it might mean depleting the population. This lake has so many good fish and very little pressure. No worries at this point in time but I can understand and appreciate your concern.

[predator_caller]

awesome fish guys....... looks like ray could still use a hair-cut though.... frank: I think I'm a-gonna' come up there and "borrow" your kayak, and see if that luck rubs off a little. I can attest to the serious number of fish you release and if you are fishing where I think you are: then by all means keep a few before they start to get stunted. That lake can only support just so many. Good job, and keep the pictures coming...........

[FishCrazy]

Nice catch there slabsrus. I bet that was some fun there. What methods were you using and what lure or bait. I catch a few on Fletchers but not as much as largemouth. I would like to target them more. Thanks for the pictures and report. Sound like you are blessed with that fishing hole.

[slabsrus]

those were caught on berkley gulp shaky worms in green pumpkin rigged on a 1/0 gamakatsu worm hook, no weight,. fishin shallow rock piles close to shore that had quick drops into 4 - 7 feet of water. they are quite easy pickin from now until late fall. try those shaky worms, they are our #1 tournament bait. we won our 10 week series last year using them. every fish we weighed in for the first nine weeks was on shakys but for some reason in week 10 they did not want them so we switched to yamamoto hula grubs in green pumpkin rigged on a 1/8 oz shaky jig and were culling in less than an hour. ended up with culling out five fish to take in a decent limit for a second place finish for that week and enough points to take the season overall. crazy thing was we were fishing out of a 12 row boat the entire season, never even used a trolling motor, oars only. my grandfather told me something when i was very young and i have never forgotten it.
he said " Frankie, always remember when it comes to huntin and fishin, it is not the equipment you have to use, it is how you use the equipment you have, and your brain is the best piece of equipment we could ever have." it took me a big part of my life to figure out exactly what he meant but now i know how wise he was. he is no longer with us but the knowledge he passed on to me will never be forgotten and is being passed on to my sons. Thanks grandpa.

[predator_caller]

Geez' frank: now i gotta go get a tissue. quit it man...........


I could'nt agree more, keep it up.

[yankee doodler]

Good to know some people still value the wisdom of the aged...hope your kids and grandkids remember it too.

[birdman]

sorry if that sounded harsh and like im a douch lol but a bunch of us go to Rainy Lake in Fort Frances canada every year for the last 20+ yrs and we keep some smallies for dinner but they have to be 13.75 or less and look at the lake now...many many 5llbers!!!!!:D So sorry if it sounded mean, I was just concerned not being mean! Again, great job

[slabsrus]

hey , no problem birdman, like i said i appreciate the concern, sometimes there are not enough people with that. i run into quite a few people who keep pretty much everything they catch without consideration for any factors which might affect future fisheries. and thanks for the good words also, much appreciated,.