Five Pound Problem

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Grimes on May 21, 2009 at 10:01pm

It is is bag of superstiotions


Josh Potter said:

I have a 5 pound problem too but it's not a bass issue.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on May 22, 2009 at 9:02am

Caught it on a carolina rigged 4 inch slime tail. It was caught on the point directly across the bay from Baitman island just down from I-82 bridge. I caught the 15" male the cast prior, and she got mad that her boyfriend started loving worm too.

Shouldnt you be out throwing your Sanko's in Lake Minnesota?

Zach Chandler said:

What did you catch her on, swimbait, lipless, dropshot? Or something more natural? Zzzz, Zzzz.

The Snake said:

Its funny because I have caught a five pounder, yet I'm not sure I've ever caught a four. Caught a ton of 3's, and maybe some of them have been 4 even, but not an oz more. Luckily I had a camera and a scale with me when I caught her. Its the fish in my avatar pic. 5lb 4oz. I just got lucky that april day. I would certainly trade all of your 4's for the five.

snakes

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on May 22, 2009 at 11:29am

Hey Ben,

Spring is arguably the best time of year to catch a trophy smallie but I catch a lot of my biggest smallmouth during the summer. My favorite ways to catch these summer fish are with swimbaits and topwaters. Ideally, I try to find wolf packs of smallies keying on pelagic baitfish. These fish often receive little to no pressure but can be difficult to locate at times. Covering water with swimbaits and topwaters can be a good strategy for locating these fish.

My experience is that the smallmouth have a tendency to school by size this time of year. When you connect with a big smallmouth, you can usually catch more than one if you manage the school properly. This can involve repositioning the boat if the wolf pack follows a hooked fish in, or if they follow your lure to the boat and don’t commit. Sometimes it is easier said that done.

During the summer, I typically catch my biggest fish between 2 pm and 5 pm, with the exception of the morning and evening topwater bite. For example, at Lake Washington in the summer, these seem to be the hours when the boat traffic is at its peak. This is also the time when the 5+ lb. fish seem to bite best for me.

Don’t be afraid to try a large topwater in the middle of the day to entice a bite from a big smallmouth. Unless conditions are perfect, you won’t get many bites on this pattern but the fish will be quality.

Good luck!

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