Smallies in the yough

[bprush]

Loaded up on around 30 smallmouth in a 4 hour stretch of wading near Dawson. They were slamming poppers on the surface but for the most part you needed to find swiftly moving deep seams and fire the line near the edges or any large structures within the seam. There were probably a dozen above 12 inches. The best i pulled out was about 18.

 

[afishinado]

Nice!.............good job.

 

[wgmiller]

Topwater bonanza! Had to be an exciting couple hours on the water...

 

[mystillwater]

what kind of poppers do you use for smallies? i use a sneaky pete for largemouth on stillwater. i'd be interested to know what folks use for topwater smallies in moving water.

 

[bprush]

They are homade. I cut them out of high density foam. The foam has to be very firm or it will not cut smoothley. If you click on the third picture it will blow up and you can see it in the fishes mouth. Ill take a close up and post it after ten tonight when i get out of work. Crawfish patterns, clousers, etc never work anywhere near as well for me. Besides, if they wont hit a popper, they are no fun to catch

 

[BountyHunter]

NICE!!!!! been catching my fair share, but not anywhare close to the size of those. Beautiful pics.

 

[bprush]

Bounty hunter,

these were not even close to the best of the year. I started another thread called the smallies are on about a month back. I think its on page two of the warm water topic. i cant figure out how to link it but i have pics of two smallmouth over 20 inches. The one that im holding looks brown because my camera died but you can see how beautiful they both were with the pic on the bottom.

Here's the link:
http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=13948&forum=16

 

[YoughRiverGuide]

Those are great bass. Nicely done.

I hate to tell a guy that I don't know his business, so I hope you take this as friendly advice: if you want to hold a nice bass (like the ones you've been catching) horizontally for a picture, put a hand under their belly so you take the weight off of their jaw--torquing their mouths like that to take pics can cause some tearing and even bone breakage. Holding them vertically by the lip shouldn't hurt them at all.

 

[bprush]

No offense taken at all. I have heard people say that about a trouts mouth but always just assumed that a bass was stronger in that area and never knew it was damaging. I will definately take note of that as we always release everything we catch outside of the occasional bluegills for a fish fry. How are you guys doing with smallies? I've read a lot on here about people saying this has been a terrible year. I suppose looking at it that a lot of the people commenting are from out east. I have no doubt had the best smallie year since about ten years or so when we had the return of the cicadas. Me and my dad have gotten five bass on the yough over twenty this year and countless bass in the 14-16 inch range. Everything had been on poppers. Just wondering what gives?

 

[afishinado]

bprush wrote:
No offense taken at all. I have heard people say that about a trouts mouth but always just assumed that a bass was stronger in that area and never knew it was damaging. I will definately take note of that as we always release everything we catch outside of the occasional bluegills for a fish fry. [color=CC0000]How are you guys doing with smallies? I've read a lot on here about people saying this has been a terrible year. I suppose looking at it that a lot of the people commenting are from out east. I have no doubt had the best smallie year since about ten years or so when we had the return of the cicadas. Me and my dad have gotten five bass on the yough over twenty this year and countless bass in the 14-16 inch range. Everything had been on poppers. Just wondering what gives?[/color]

The Yough is a tailwater fishery (cold water released from the dam) and the temps are probably just right for smallies a little ways below the dam. Most other smallie rivers in the State do not have cold water releases. Just my guess. Glad to see you having some good fishing.... :-D

 

[Fredrick]

Makes you wonder how the lehigh is fishing tweed

 

[sholgate]

Fredrick wrote:
Makes you wonder how the lehigh is fishing tweed

Ya know, I am not tweed, but I was wondering the same thing. I have yet to break the 14" mark on this summers SMB. Lehigh may be the ticket. :roll:

 

[YoughRiverGuide]

I'd say that it has been a really good year for bass on the river and if the numbers of fish in the nine to twelve inch range are any indication, the next few ought to be really good as well.

I haven't laid my hands on twenty yet this year, we had one stuck the other day, but that didn't last too long. Keep up the good work.