The Online Source for Washington Fishing Information

Breaking Smallmouth

I encountered breaking , surfacing smallmouth on lake samammish this Saturday, I tried topwater, Spook Jr. Floating Rogue and Popper, swim baits, even tried a weighless fluke. No bites in spite of multiple fish coming up at a time. How can I catch these fish???
Fred

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Byrne on June 1, 2009 at 7:30am

Fred,
Did you try any of those copper spinner baits you make?
Mark

Permalink Reply by Fred Vander Werff on June 1, 2009 at 7:52am

No, and how do you know about my favorite copper bladed spinnerbaits?

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on June 1, 2009 at 8:08am

I have had the same problem at Sammamish. Unless you get the bait in there right in the middle of the chase it is hard to get them to eat it. There are like 14 billion salmon smolt in the lake right now so your lure has some competition. I went out on Sat (the skiiers drove me crazy) for a couple of hours. One smolt saved itself from a squawfish by charging right at my boat. It was pretty funny.

Permalink Reply by Chris Blandi on June 1, 2009 at 11:53am

I was out there saturday too. The skiiers weren't too bad, only cause of the fact I considered Lake WA on the same day. I saw a good amount of salmon smolt running around, can't wait for these fish to fatten up.
I saw a few fish breaking the surface, but they were far enough away I didn't know if they were SM or Squawfish, but I casted over there anyway if I was close enough.

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on June 1, 2009 at 4:12pm

How dare you defend the skiiers. They were bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Chris B said:

I was out there saturday too. The skiiers weren't too bad, only cause of the fact I considered Lake WA on the same day. I saw a good amount of salmon smolt running around, can't wait for these fish to fatten up.
I saw a few fish breaking the surface, but they were far enough away I didn't know if they were SM or Squawfish, but I casted over there anyway if I was close enough.

Permalink Reply by Chris Blandi on June 1, 2009 at 4:48pm

HAHA !! I need a set of Binoculars like our boy Mike W. There were 4 boats tied together where I was fishing, and I'd imagine a few of the ladies were topless at some point from all the hootin and hollerin.

Eric DeLay said:

How dare you defend the skiiers. They were bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Chris B said:
I was out there saturday too. The skiiers weren't too bad, only cause of the fact I considered Lake WA on the same day. I saw a good amount of salmon smolt running around, can't wait for these fish to fatten up.
I saw a few fish breaking the surface, but they were far enough away I didn't know if they were SM or Squawfish, but I casted over there anyway if I was close enough.

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on June 1, 2009 at 5:02pm

Hi Fred,
I don't know a thing about this phenomenon on Sammamish as I had never even fished the lake until this February. On the Columbia however, these fish would be pretty reliable to catch and would more often than not be good ones. They would be chasing juvenile American Shad for the most part so it may be different than the smolts on Sammamish but I found an LV-500 to be one of the best ways to catch these fish simply since I could throw it further than any bait and catch the fish's attention right away with it. The key was to get the bait in the water right where and when you see the minnow start skipping out of the water. Even before you actually see the bass on its trail. This more often than not would result in a strike. Sometimes the minnow would start flipping too far from the boat to reach in time though which is why I think the LV-500 (or something heavy you can reel quickly) gives you the best shot. Once you see the commotion stop you missed your window of opportunity and you can cast where you saw the chasing taking place as many times as you want but you wont get bit. At least that is what I have found from my experience. Therefore, I think the key is to recognize this taking place as quickly as possible, get your lure right where (or slightly past) you see the minnow flipping, engage your reel before it hits the water, and get that thing burning. I try not to give them a chance to even think about whether to hit your lure when they are chasing like that. That's my two cents, but again thats on the Columbia, Sammamish could be a totally different world! Wouldn't hurt to give this a try though!

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on June 1, 2009 at 5:12pm

Try a soft plastic swimbait on a heavy leadhead. You need to be able to throw it a mile. Like David mentioned, make your cast immediately when you see baitfish breaking the surface. Timing is everything in getting these fish to bite. When your swimbait enters the water begin retrieving it quickly. Gradually speed up your retrieve until the point that your swimbait is breaking the surface periodically and even skipping, mimicking a fleeing baitfish. You will get your shoulder dislocated.

Permalink Reply by Jordan Doucet on June 1, 2009 at 6:51pm

Great Advice Tag! That sounds like a kick in the pants. I agree with David though, a LV-500 Lucky Craft in MS American Shad or Aurora Black has done the trick for me a few times.

Also, one day at Lake Goodwin I saw this happening and caught them on a 176 Hula Grub on a 1/4oz jighead throwing right in the middle of the jumping fish. Go Figure...

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on June 1, 2009 at 7:36pm

If you can get it in there while they are chasing they will eat almost anything. On Washington I have interrupted chases with spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwater.

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on June 1, 2009 at 8:12pm

Agreed!

Eric DeLay said:

If you can get it in there while they are chasing they will eat almost anything. On Washington I have interrupted chases with spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwater.

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on June 1, 2009 at 8:58pm