in Ohio...caught some nice smallmouth yesterday, here is a picture of one, it has been eating well.

Very nice smallie and active enough to chase down a spinnerbait,I'd say they were heating up for sure !

Nice belly on that one!

I'd say that smallie stepped away from the restaurant table and waddled out saying ooooohhhhh I ate too much! This overeating / obesity problem in our country has simply gone too far.....even the fish? Someone implement some regulations on these fish, thinking about calling my congressman.

I caught a crawdad on a spinner bait 2 days ago. I drug it over 30 feet back to me, thought I snagged a leaf. What are craws doing out in February? What are they doing attacking a spinner bait. That sucker had some big claws on it too.

Nice smallie Mike! getting excited for some fishing in a month or so for the walleye run.

Holy-moly, Mike!

quote missmolly: "Holy-moly, Mike!"

Caught this one yesterday and now it's snowing :(

Very nice bass Mike. Well done!

Nice smallmouth. Went out Mississippi river Hampton Dam today. 1 hrs and nothing. Buddy got 6 nice eyes last Friday. Cold front snow rain and river went up 2 feet.... I'll give it a couple days to calm down. Prime time on river now..

Indeed nice fish and beautifully marked. Talk about very quality fish coming from a middlin sized stream......well done!

And what about those claws on that crayfish? I mean seriously! Are you sure there is not an outflow to a nuclear power plant coming into that stream........

quote mastertangler: "Indeed nice fish and beautifully marked. Talk about very quality fish coming from a middlin sized stream......well done!


And what about those claws on that crayfish? I mean seriously! Are you sure there is not an outflow to a nuclear power plant coming into that stream........"

Funny you should ask...... ( check link below )

First Municipal Nuclear Power Plant

quote QueticoMike: "

quote missmolly: "Holy-moly, Mike!"

Caught this one yesterday and now it's snowing :(



"

That's one of the most beautiful smallmouth I've ever seen, Mike. Maybe THE most beautiful.

quote missmolly: "

quote QueticoMike: "

quote missmolly: "Holy-moly, Mike!"

Caught this one yesterday and now it's snowing :(




"

That's one of the most beautiful smallmouth I've ever seen, Mike. Maybe THE most beautiful. "

It helps to have the sun beating down on it to bring out the pattern on the fish. I have had a lot people say they liked the pattern on that fish. Thanks!

Where are you fishing? Up in the northeast near Ashtabula where the steelhead run in from Erie or are you down in the central part of the state. Always wanted to fish some of those area rivers and streams. I haven't lived there since I was quite young and have always wanted to give the fishing a crack. Nice smallmouth!

quote HighnDry: "Where are you fishing? Up in the northeast near Ashtabula where the steelhead run in from Erie or are you down in the central part of the state. Always wanted to fish some of those area rivers and streams. I haven't lived there since I was quite young and have always wanted to give the fishing a crack. Nice smallmouth!"

SW Ohio - about 15 miles east of Indiana. 90 miles north of Cincinnati and 109 miles south of Toledo on I-75

quote QueticoMike: "

quote HighnDry: "Where are you fishing? Up in the northeast near Ashtabula where the steelhead run in from Erie or are you down in the central part of the state. Always wanted to fish some of those area rivers and streams. I haven't lived there since I was quite young and have always wanted to give the fishing a crack. Nice smallmouth!"

SW Ohio - about 15 miles east of Indiana. 90 miles north of Cincinnati and 109 miles south of Toledo on I-75"

triangulating your picture as we speak.

I think I know the place. :)

Quetico Mike,

Awesome. You sure know how to catch smallies. Keep those pics coming.

quote QueticoMike: "

quote missmolly: "

quote QueticoMike: "

quote missmolly: "Holy-moly, Mike!"

If someone had painted a mount in those colors, I'd have said, "Wow, it's pretty, but no bass is that pretty."

And I would have been wrong!





Caught this one yesterday and now it's snowing :(





"

That's one of the most beautiful smallmouth I've ever seen, Mike. Maybe THE most beautiful. "

It helps to have the sun beating down on it to bring out the pattern on the fish. I have had a lot people say they liked the pattern on that fish. Thanks!
"

quote missmolly: "

quote QueticoMike: "

quote missmolly: "

quote QueticoMike: "

quote missmolly: "Holy-moly, Mike!"

If someone had painted a mount in those colors, I'd have said, "Wow, it's pretty, but no bass is that pretty."

And I would have been wrong!

Caught this one yesterday and now it's snowing :(

"

That's one of the most beautiful smallmouth I've ever seen, Mike. Maybe THE most beautiful. "

It helps to have the sun beating down on it to bring out the pattern on the fish. I have had a lot people say they liked the pattern on that fish. Thanks!
"

"

Nature sure paints some pretty pictures :)

Big Tail......probably a good fight even in colder water.

But my guess is that Crawfish had your spinnerbait in one claw and that bass in the other ........technically I guess its still a catch however ;-)

quote mastertangler: "Big Tail......probably a good fight even in colder water.


But my guess is that Crawfish had your spinnerbait in one claw and that bass in the other ........technically I guess its still a catch however ;-)"

I caught a smallmouth that was about 15 or 16 inches right before the last one I have pictured with the good markings and that fish came fully out of the water 3 times like it was the middle of June. These fish are no longer sluggish around here. Crazy fishing for Feb. in Ohio.

quote QueticoMike: "in Ohio...caught some nice smallmouth yesterday, here is a picture of one, it has been eating well.



"

We must live in the same vicinity, unfortunately I haven't been able to get out yet. Beautiful fish!

quote RiverFisher: "

quote QueticoMike: "in Ohio...caught some nice smallmouth yesterday, here is a picture of one, it has been eating well.




"

We must live in the same vicinity, unfortunately I haven't been able to get out yet. Beautiful fish!"

Thanks! I fish the Great Miami River.

Finally pick up my first eye of the year. Took 4 trips (5 minute)drive.kept 2 15 inches.seen other guys catch a few but it's still slow. River temp is 42. Pool 14 Mississippi. River. Chargingup boat battery. Let the games begin

Got 4 of these 18 inch males tonight. Water is 40°. And high. Fish are up on the rocks in 8 foe. Lock and dam 14 Mississippi river.

My trip to Eufaula Ok. last week. I cleaned 66 fish and took home 8 gallons of fillets.

quote Mickeal: "My trip to Eufaula Ok. last week. I cleaned 66 fish and took home 8 gallons of fillets. "

That's a lot of cats! My river here has been too high due to heavy rains. Now the water temps are going to be dropping with this cold front for the next week. I wish it was February again :)

Picked up a couple of decent ones yesterday in the backyard river.......

Quetico Mike,

I like your "backyard" for sure.

Your smallie pics get me thinking about fishing Quetico over the 4th of July. Can't wait.

Nice fish Mike! I can see why you like your double willow leaf chartreuse spinnerbaits, wow! Water is still hard up here...

Mike its time to catch some other kinds of fish. Do you ever catch any of those big brown bass with the sucker type mouths and big scales? Those are fun to catch! I bet they would pull rather nicely in that river and spring time is the right time. All you need is a forked stick, a can of whole kernel corn and some doughballs........good clean fun ;-)

Man, you got my juices flowing. I'm not too far from you, in the Indianapolis area, but this is my busy time of year. Not a lot of time for fishing right now. I may need to come visit that river some time soon!

quote mastertangler: "Mike its time to catch some other kinds of fish. Do you ever catch any of those big brown bass with the sucker type mouths and big scales? Those are fun to catch! I bet they would pull rather nicely in that river and spring time is the right time. All you need is a forked stick, a can of whole kernel corn and some doughballs........good clean fun ;-)


"

Been a couple of years since I went carp fishing. They do pull hard. The best is when you snag a 10 pounder in the tail and you are in canoe and you get towed around the river. When you can't turn their head they just go and go and are hard to wear down.

quote Bdubguy: "Nice fish Mike! I can see why you like your double willow leaf chartreuse spinnerbaits, wow! Water is still hard up here... "

When the water levels are above normal and murky, a large, colorful bait with vibration helps the big ones to home in on it.

quote gymcoachdon: "Man, you got my juices flowing. I'm not too far from you, in the Indianapolis area, but this is my busy time of year. Not a lot of time for fishing right now. I may need to come visit that river some time soon!"

Aren't there big smallies in the White River?

Hooked a huge carp one time fishing the Genoa dam on the Mississippi. I was in a boat and there were people on shore and along the wall.
Thought I had a monster eye. Had everyone's attention and I was milking it

Buddy gets ready to net it in the murky water,and it gets up to the top, and we both just colipise andy buddy laughs and yells.... f ******carp. We all had a good laugh.

I have a good carp story for you. I just got home from Quetico, literally just got home from a 1000 mile drive, didn't even unpack. My buddy wanted to do a canoe float down the river. Figured I could put everything away and clean it up the next day. We launch at a bridge and float less than 200 yards and I hook up with a monster fish. I'm thinking it is a huge smallmouth. I'm fishing with a A.C. Shiner silver and black stick bait, it is like a Rapala original stick bait, but with more a little more shine, wobble and a little thicker. I'm fighting this fish like crazy, my partner in the bow is paddling like crazy to keep me in position to land this fish. I have no idea how long I had been fighting this fish and then finally it comes to the surface and my partner sees it is a carp and he says he his done paddling me around trying to catch this thing. I said at least paddle me to shore and let me fight it from there. And that's what we did. This monster carp tried to eat a minnow stick bait. It was hooked in the lips. I was able to land the fish on shore. It was a 42 inch carp, biggest carp of my life. I drove a 1000 miles up and back to Quetico and I caught a bigger fish back home in the river than I did the whole time I was in Quetico.

quote QueticoMike: "

quote gymcoachdon: "Man, you got my juices flowing. I'm not too far from you, in the Indianapolis area, but this is my busy time of year. Not a lot of time for fishing right now. I may need to come visit that river some time soon!"

Aren't there big smallies in the White River?"

Yes, there ARE.......

My largest smallie ever........6lb 8 oz is from the White River. Near the Headwaters. If folks have paid attention to where I'm from, you know about EXACTLY where I'm talking about. I will not share the place as it gets a ton of pressure already.

Way back in the day........over 20 years ago I was pitching a texas rigged power bait up into a ripple and allowing the bait to get "sucked into the slackwater. Once in that slackwater you could always catch a good fish or two.

Well on this particular day, I was striking out until BIG MAMMA pounded my 4 inch power crawl. That fish fought me long and hard. When I finally landed her, I put her in a cooler full of water and took her up to a local place and had her weighed on certified scales.

6lbs 8 and1/2 ounces.

I took her back and released her, as I had never ever in a million years thought of killing it and putting in on my wall. To this day I don't have a fish on the wall.

I have not caught one close to that. I have 2 polaroid pictures of it, but have not seen them in years........I might look for them again.

Man...........what a fish.

I have never caught one like that again, but I regularly catch good smallies there when in my hometown, and have caught large mouth up to 6lbs there too.

My all time favorite story is watching a frenzy of crappie work up the shallows to this deep pool. I tied on a couple maribou hair jigs I had, and managed to catch 30 of 40 of them that day. And I'm not talking about 6-7 inch crappie. I'm talking 12 - 14 inch bad boys.......

Man, I SO need to get back there.

Later,

Geo

Now, if folks were really paying attention before I edited this post, I told you EXACTLY where I was fishing, by giving the name of the place where I had it weighed........

HM......

Crap! I wasn't paying attention and I live in Indy and I am always moaning about the lack of good fishing around here.

Well, I will tell you that I grew up in Anderson, and learned the joy of smallmouth fishing in the White River. I remember days of wading my favorite stretch, and catching 25-30 smallies in 1 1/2 hours. I'd be back the next day and do it again. But these were smaller fish, 10-13", and man would they put on an aerial show. Most were caught with a fly rod and Clouser or deer hair popper that I had tied. The biggest smallmouth I have seen out of that section of the river was about 18". I have paddled and fished from Yorktown to Anderson about 6 times in the last year, and had one trip last fall from south of Farmland to Yorktown. When my schedule eases up, I will be exploring the section from Anderson to Noblesville. I think it should be a productive stretch.

Some of my biggest carp have come from White River, several mirrors as well. Carp fishing is a blast!

hey great stuff guys........42" carp and smallies over 6.......Dons fly rod smallies and Yogis state record "walleye" ;-)

Makes for entertaining morning coffee material!

Thanks for the info Don. I think I need to start doing more river fishing and skip the busy reservoirs.

quote gymcoachdon: "Well, I will tell you that I grew up in Anderson, and learned the joy of smallmouth fishing in the White River. I remember days of wading my favorite stretch, and catching 25-30 smallies in 1 1/2 hours. I'd be back the next day and do it again. But these were smaller fish, 10-13", and man would they put on an aerial show. Most were caught with a fly rod and Clouser or deer hair popper that I had tied. The biggest smallmouth I have seen out of that section of the river was about 18". I have paddled and fished from Yorktown to Anderson about 6 times in the last year, and had one trip last fall from south of Farmland to Yorktown. When my schedule eases up, I will be exploring the section from Anderson to Noblesville. I think it should be a productive stretch.


Some of my biggest carp have come from White River, several mirrors as well. Carp fishing is a blast!"

When you make it through that stretch of the White, Don, make sure to fish the area where the big power lines cross the river (downstream a ways from White River Campground, but above the dam impoundment). I had some good smallie action in that area a number of years ago.

Will do...that stretch above the dam looks good, but I imagine it gets fished a bit more than upstream a bit. I really enjoy dropping my basketball net anchor above riffles, casting a #3 Mepps, gold with bucktail, above a riffle, then floating through and dropping anchor again below the riffle. I can't cover many miles if I have a fishing rod with me...

quote QueticoMike: "

quote RiverFisher: "

quote QueticoMike: "in Ohio...caught some nice smallmouth yesterday, here is a picture of one, it has been eating well.





"

We must live in the same vicinity, unfortunately I haven't been able to get out yet. Beautiful fish!"

Thanks! I fish the Great Miami River."

I got out on the GMR for the first time this year. Got about a dozen but none like the one in your pic. Best today was about 15 inches.

Fishing was a lot better in Feb. than July this year. With the high\muddy water nobody fished much last month.