# And so it begins...



## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

...The fall quest for the one.


19.5 inches.
Clear with silver glitter 3' Vic Coomer Grub.
1/4 ounce jighead
Fast water probably waist deep fishing cross current letting it sweep downstream on a







tight line


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## afishinfool (Feb 1, 2014)

Nice fish OSG..


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## Hampton77 (Jan 26, 2014)

That is a gorgeous fish sir! I hope to join you in the hunt starting tonight.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Good luck man!


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Good lord that thing is busting at the seams


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## Crawdude (Feb 6, 2013)

Nice fish OSG!


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## greghal (Aug 22, 2013)

That's par for the course this time of year for you. You always catch the big ones especially in the fall. Congrats.


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## gibson330usa (May 15, 2012)

That's a fat one too! nice job


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## Cat Mangler (Mar 25, 2012)

Now that's what i call "football" season!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Today I caught fish on a homemade hair jig tied out of black craft fur on a 1/8 ounce head and a three inch pearl gold grubs on 1/4 ounce heads


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

A fish from the other day, also on the Clear with silver glitter 3' Vic Coomer Grub. See the little spot of blood? The fish actually jumped right as I was landing it and landed right on the rocks banging itself up some.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Sweet man, I tie hair jigs once in a while also, and honestly, I don't think there's a species in the river that won't eat a hair jig!


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Wow, very nice smb, can I ask how you fished the grubs? did you just cast upstream and let them drift on a tight line?


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

Those are all very nice fish mister.


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## GarrettMyers (May 16, 2011)

Great looking fish OSG


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

Nice feesh sir!!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

in a calm spot in an otherwise fast riffle on a Vic Coomer paddeltail swimbait


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Tom 513 said:


> Wow, very nice smb, can I ask how you fished the grubs? did you just cast upstream and let them drift on a tight line?


I try to have them swim right off the bottom just ticking it once in a great while. My favorite way would be across and upstream letting it sweep back on a tight line but i'll change it up to whatever retrieve keeps it swimming or drifting just off the bottom.


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## BaitWaster (Oct 25, 2013)

I have the feeling OSG will be passing me on the bump board for smallmouth in the near future! Beautiful fish brother!


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## hookin up (May 7, 2008)

Nice


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

19.25 on Vic's new paddletail swimbait on a 1/4 ounce jighead in a deep little pocket off to the side of a pretty fast riffle. plus a couple decent fish on a clear with glitter grub also right below riffles...


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)




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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

The hunt is on! I love it


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

OSG you're killing me! Great freaking fish!


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

The master going to work. May the force be with you.


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

The heavy barred Smallie is a beauty!

A question: Once a SMB gets to 20",usually how much growth does it put on in a year? Thanks.


Roscoe


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

Wow. Miss a day, miss a lot. Those are all great, but that first one from "yesterday" looks yuuge.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Roscoe said:


> A question: Once a SMB gets to 20",usually how much growth does it put on in a year? Thanks.
> Roscoe


I think around here smallmouth bass in streams don't get any bigger. That they top out in the 19.5 to 21 inch range no matter how old they get. Just like any record there are genetic freaks (like the fish caught out of the Mad in 1941) but that's a one in millions fish. I'd bet if you could measure every single fish in the 200 miles of the LMR and GMR combined you wouldn't find a 22"+ smallmouth. I think the state record out of Lake Erie (which is ten thousand times better for big smallmouth) is only 23.5"


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## bellbrookbass (Sep 20, 2013)

OSG - what was the fish caught in 1941? Google search is not helping me out, would love to here about that.


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

bellbrookbass said:


> OSG - what was the fish caught in 1941? Google search is not helping me out, would love to here about that.


Here is a newspaper clip from the Toledo Blade on Thursday Feb 10, 1944!










Edited to add:

Holy cow, apparently it was 24.5 inches! Is that correct OSG?


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## G-Patt (Sep 3, 2013)

It's great to see a true master at work.


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## bellbrookbass (Sep 20, 2013)

Flannel_Carp said:


> Here is a newspaper clip from the Toledo Blade on Thursday Feb 10, 1944!
> 
> View attachment 194439
> 
> ...


Unbelievable! Would love to see an article from back then to hear some details on this epic fish!


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

Sure seems 24 inch plus to me Flan. Unbelievable !!!!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Guy caught it in mad not far from gmr. Took it to local store. Like a million witnesses, weighed it on store scales. Interesting side note dayton had like 50% more people back then


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## Murky&deep (Aug 28, 2013)

I think I see a smile thru all that hair. I really don't know how anyone could contain themselves. You certainly keep us all living vicariously through your great posts. Thanks


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

bellbrookbass said:


> Unbelievable! Would love to see an article from back then to hear some details on this epic fish!


I'll see if I can find anything else!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

No smallies of any size the last couple days but today I had two shovelheads about two hours apart grab a paddletail swimbait. Pretty exciting on spinning tackle and 8lb line.


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## Bigguy513 (Jun 7, 2015)

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOWWWWWWWWWWW!


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Nice cats stinky! Bet that was a drag peelin' fight!


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Osg. I am humbled you da man. I think your biggest secret is obvious you spend so much time on research and the water. Tom


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Saugeye Tom said:


> Osg. I am humbled you da man. I think your biggest secret is obvious you spend so much time on research and the water. Tom


God forbid you ever get a yak


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

Saugeye Tom said:


> God forbid you ever get a yak


He has two.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

deltaoscar said:


> He has two.


Oh nooooo


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

So I'm walking up the bike trail, along some of that wooden fence that there must be fifty miles of along the LMR and GMR. I look over the fence at the river. Here it's a head high drop down to the river. Right below me is a big carp in the shallows. On a whim I pitch a grub down and reel it up right in front of the carp and let it sit there.. He tips up and slurps it in. I'm thinking to myself you idiot what have you done? The carp zings around the pool. I'm thinking I'll fight it a bit then break it off I guess. Then it runs under this limb that's lying half in the water half on the bank and fouls itself. Well the limb bends and gives and won't let the carp break the line. Oh crap I can't leave it like this. It's like 60 yards either way before I can get down to the water and for sure can't do even that holding the rod, I loosen the drag as light as it will go in case the carp frees itself. Then I lower the rod as far as I can by the tip and drop it over the fence and haul butt for a spot I can get down. Five minutes later I finally get there, untangle everything and release one very tired carp...


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

No carp left behind!


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Haha! That's an awesome little adventure


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

There was a carp in that post? All I noticed were the huge hybrid and smallmouth lol


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Actually todays best fish didn't get it's photo taken. I'm guessing 18"+. I hooked it in the roof of the mouth on a three inch grub on a standard 1/4 ounce ball head jighead. The hook popped out easily enough but the fish started bleeding like a stuck pig. Very strange as it was hooked nowhere near the gills. Rather than stress it any more I released it immediately. All fish were on a smoke metalflake grub including the channel and the shovel. The shovelhead hit in about three feet of water in a chute of water that was zooming along, no way you could have stood up in it. Needless to say in the swift water on 8lb line the shovelhead was a blast.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

The fishings heating up as the weather cools. 19" on an electric blue three inch grub in a fast run. Gorgeous colors, fat as a ham and jumped two feet straight up out of the water. It was a swell fish


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## co-angler (Jan 3, 2010)

I picked up this 20 1/8 " on a topwater bait in a slow current stretch










It's been on fire of late!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

I bet that felt good. Beautiful colors on that fish. Congradulations.


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

co-angler said:


> I picked up this 20 1/8 " on a topwater bait in a slow current stretch
> 
> View attachment 194928
> 
> ...


Holy Crap!!


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## bellbrookbass (Sep 20, 2013)

co-angler said:


> I picked up this 20 1/8 " on a topwater bait in a slow current stretch
> 
> View attachment 194928
> 
> ...


Congrats! I believe this is the only 20" to be posted in 2015 for the SW region.


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## Cat Mangler (Mar 25, 2012)

co-angler said:


> I picked up this 20 1/8 " on a topwater bait in a slow current stretch
> 
> View attachment 194928
> 
> ...


Awesome fish CA! Hope you pic'ed it for the bump board! Its worthy for sure!


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## BaitWaster (Oct 25, 2013)

co-angler said:


> I picked up this 20 1/8 " on a topwater bait in a slow current stretch
> 
> View attachment 194928
> 
> ...


Absolutely beautiful fish CoAngler! The camo on this fish is amazing! Get rhis beauty on the bump board! Congratulations on the catch!


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## Bazzin05 (Feb 2, 2011)

Nice fish co-angler. But stay off my fish!


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## longhaulpointer (Mar 12, 2009)

Osg, your posts make me feel the same way I feel when I see fitness commercials while sitting on the couch drinking another beer; you make me feel ashamed to call myself a fishermen. Oh well its almost hunting season and time for me to head for the woods to chase grouse


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## greghal (Aug 22, 2013)

Nice fish Steve you are tearing them up. Great fish Co-Angler you also are tearing them up cograts.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

(fine print/ disclaimer...This was on of the best trips I've ever had in a river around here, some of it's going to sound like bull but it's not)

After telling my granddaughter her bedtime story and tucking her in, I left her Mamaw's capable hands and headed to the river. It was going on eleven before I got to my spot. I'll let ya in on a secret that for some reason you just don't hear much about. hybrids love the night. If you have a spot you can catch a couple in during the day odds are you can catch half a dozen at night. Well this spot was just about my best numbers spot for hybrids and tonight the weather, time of year, karma and lord knows what else combined to turn hybrid fishing into something akin to springtime crappie fishing, Well if crappies were two feet long and fought like possessed demons I guess. I honestly lost track of how many I caught which is probably a good thing no one would believe it anyways, I did catch at least 15 or 20 that were the size of the one lying next to the rod or bigger I guess. My lil point and shoot that Ive carried for years and years finally kicked the bucket and it took me half the night to figure out how to take a decent night shot with the other one. I ended up throwing most away. They looked pretty much like these and worse.
Somehow a photo that went off when I miss set the timer actually took a clear photo. It's a goofy pic of me holding the fish but at least you can see how the fish were running size wise. I cropped out the close up of my butt.
By about three or four in the morning I was pretty whipped. The farmer that owns the land here has an open faced barn that's stuffed full of bales of straw. I set the phone alarm for six and crawled up between some bales of straw and took a fishing nap. The hybrids were waiting when I got up and were still scruffling with each other to hit my curly shad. I also landed a few catfish including the one shown.
I actually landed it before I realized it wasn't a shovelhead but instead a huge channel, one of the years best fish.
Downstream of here the river makes a huge bend curving back on itself for well over a mile, so much so that a half mile walk straight behind you across a giant field gets you well over a mile downstream as the river flows. And down here was a huge deep hole I've been thinking of as a wintering hole for smallmouth all summer. So right after first light I headed out.
Dan, Dave and I call most fishing spots by a sort of alphabet shorthand. One spot might be calledl WD while another UG or even something more descriptive like the Death Riffle. Anything to keep it's real name secret in case of a conversation overheard or a text miss sent. Well Dave had named this big wintering hole the A Hole. (after the name of a nearby landmark of course)

I fished for quite some time without finding the fish. I was standing throwing a grub into a fast chute out in front of me when I noticed a little calmer spot of water in the riffle off to my left. I made a little underhand pitch cast and let the grub sweep into the little eddy. Wham fish on. And then another, and another. Last week I took some seniors from a retirement home fishing and I'm thinking the fish gods were pleased because they were more than generous today, Again I lost track but I'd say twenty smallmouth is probably close with the biggest a bit over 19". I think that's either 7 or 8 this year that's been within an inch of the magic 20 but no go again. But if this is the way the fish gods are going to tease me about it I'm okay with that. Wild temperature swing today as you can see from pics. First no windbreaker then no hoodie, then no waders I think it was like a thirty degree swing from the day befores low to todays high.


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## BMayhall (Jun 9, 2011)

Nice fish congrats, even nicer Reds Shirt. I like finding older Cincinnati Reds gear.


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

Wow. This thread is amazing. Unbelievable guys !


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## n-strut (Apr 14, 2010)

Here are a few central Ohio fish.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

The cooler weather has the fish biting again. Caught four smallies and five hybrids. All in thigh deep fast water. Two smb and the hybrids on a clear with gold flake three inch grub and the two other SMB on a topwater. The river is completely full of baitfish it seems right now. Everywhere I looked were clouds of small minnows.


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## Murky&deep (Aug 28, 2013)

Well, it seems a trip to the Amazon really is not necessary. OSG, you researched and sought out some great water, fished deep into darkness, slept under the stars, and was at it again at dawn. You certainly fish well outside of the bell curve and reap your just rewards for doing so. Thanks for sharing your adventures.


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## Aaron2012 (Mar 26, 2014)

16 inch smallie on a 4 inch white pearl grub.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Kind of a funny day, got to fish a couple hours right at daylight then again right at dark. ( took the grandkiddies to the newport aquarium. That tunnel with the arapaima, wow! )





















All the fish including the shovelhead hit curly shad fished on a 1/4 ounce jighead.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Great fish stinky!


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

I found out it's hard as heck to get the fish to pose with the ruler and still release it before it's half dead but I think you can tell that it was 20 holding the tape to end of the fishes snout with its mouth closed. They don't want to shut their mouth and pinch their tail while you use your hands to work the camera 
Last fish of the day right before dark on a clear with gold flake three inch grub. Water was 56


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

Great looking 20 incher OSG, congrats. Well earned.


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

Nice Fish!!


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## BaitWaster (Oct 25, 2013)

Beautiful fish OSG! Congratulations on the 20 incher!


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

You searched long and hard for that fish this year. Well done


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## Eatsleepfish (Aug 3, 2008)

Congrats OSG on finally finding "the one". Isn't this the 5th year in a row you have caught one?


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## bellbrookbass (Sep 20, 2013)

Beautiful fish OSG! Congrats on another 20"!


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## Hampton77 (Jan 26, 2014)

I'd say you've got another 1/4"+ past that 20" mark from the picture. Great fish OSG. Regretting not throwing that gold flake this weekend. Congrats on keeping the streak alive!


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## Cat Mangler (Mar 25, 2012)

Pure smallmouth madness, wtg on the 20+ Steve!


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

I love this thread, Steve. Keep them coming. 

PS: Feel free to send some of these guys over to the LMR:


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

A bit of looking back over this thread has me reflective today...



























































Fall is a bittersweet time for me. I tried to use another word, bittersweet seems so overused when applied to autumn. I even went so far as to look it up and try and find a synonym that worked as well. I didn't, so bittersweet it is. The definition of bittersweet is a combination of happy and sad. Exactly the expression of how I feel about fall. There is such exquisite beauty in fall. But it is the beauty of death and dying. I crunch thru the fallen leaves and realize another summer is past, gone. You only get like eighty or ninety of those in your lifetime if your lucky. With the passing of each I feel a twinge of guilt. Did I wring every last drop of summer that our busy lives allow out of it? In midsummer I am Huck Finn along the river. Baking catfish over the fire, wading wet, summer is a grand adventure with no end in sight. One continuous thing. Fall instead is a collection of moments. Each trip a precious jewel with every trip different, every day changing. Trips in fall feel like that last piece of your favorite cake, you savor it, eating slowly knowing soon it will all be gone. But then I find an excuse to be out again the next day, like a bear sensing the coming of winter I gorge on the next moment and then the next. I can never get enough.
Even my approach to fishing itself changes. In spring and summer I take fishing trips, going to a section of river and fishing it in it's entirety, exploring each riffle, each eddy, each pool. Come fall that all changes. A days fishing becomes more like running a trapline. I might tramp thru half a mile of fallen leaves to fish one seam for an hour then drive twenty miles to stand in one spot and fish another spot for two hours. Hemmingway once said that some writers are born just to help another writer write just one sentence. I sometimes feel my whole years fishing has been just a prelude to catching just that one fish. A giant faustian bargain for that one or possibly two twenty inch smallmouth. And heaven forbid you lose a giant in October, a dukkha settles over you. What if that was the last chance, the one chance at THE fish your going to get this year?. After losing a grand fish I can become a professional melancholic. Some years I feel the need to stand up in front of the group and say, "hi I'm Steve and I'm a melancholic". Then other years the mood is different. You've caught The Fish early. Possibly several and the losing of a grand fish comes with laughter instead of heartbreak. Once or twice over the years the fish gods have smiled so much and so often that my appetite is satiated. It's fall and the fishing is good and I've proven to myself whatever it is I set out to prove when I begin the yearly quest for The One. Twice now I've had years where I've landed a great fish and released it without measuring her. What does it matter if she was 19.5 or 20? Does it make the fish and the experience more rare or special? Just today a friend texted me describing the fight of a great fish. He described a jump then said "it landed like a log". What a great line. I never even asked how big it was, it didn't matter, it was obviously a grand fish. But those moments are few and very very far between for an obsessive like me. But no matter what my mood I do always try to give thanks. Not a ritualized contrived thanks but a simple and natural one, much like sitting beside a harvested deer for a moment to reflect on the hunt. I've been lucky to be blessed with more time to fish than anyone should ever have but I still try to fish with childish joy at just being able to be outside at such a glorious time. I remind myself that even in summers death, everywhere you look nature is planting the seeds of next years rebirth. You can see it in the antics of squirrels planting acorns, the ruttng of deer even the burrs stuck on your jeans at the end of a day. Life itself is a glorious circle. I chose to find my place it by watching the fog lift off a river at dawn, reveling in the riotous palette of autumn leaves, the sunlight reflecting like a thousand diamonds off each drop of water as a smallmouth leaps in evening sunlight. My obsession somehow grounds me, connects me back to what is true.
Right now, today, tomorrow, this week, is just about the best chance to catch The One you will have. But notice the pattern of morning frost on the leaves. How the crunch of leaves underfoot somehow makes the silence of the woods deeper. Notice the cormorants floating on the pool downstream, the steam as a deer breathes in the cold morning air across the riffle. Not only is the fishing as good as it will ever get but the whole experience of fishing is as good right now as it will ever get.

Some moments from the last couple weeks I cherish:

A popper that bounces off a boulder arcs a foot thru the air and is struck simultaneously as it hits the water. Surely that fish tracked it thru the air.

A little glance structure or current guiding wall that had such a steady stream of shad pouring over it that every few minutes one would flop out on the wall itself and you could capture them by hand. Which I did with two, hooking them and then lobbing them out and letting them sweep back down on a tight line. One caught a channel and one caught a hybrid. It was a perfect moment.

Arriving at a hole right after daylight to watch a flock of mallards wheel overhead as a dozen cormorants ran across the surface in a panic liftoff.

Another morning walking up to the river and having a hybrid chase bait almost right at my feet. I underhand out a grub and have the rod almost torn from my hand as it strikes four feet from the rod tip.

Seeing a shovelhead in gin clear water looking like a prehistoric sea monster.

Coasting along on the kayak as a beaver passed twenty feet away going the other way.


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## Hampton77 (Jan 26, 2014)

Thank you. ^^^


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

This is an awesome thread,great job osg. .. fyi we have the c-shads here locally now at fishermans warehouse. Cant wait to see the padle tails!


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

Saugeyefisher said:


> This is an awesome thread,great job osg. .. fyi we have the c-shads here locally now at fishermans warehouse. Cant wait to see the padle tails!


Be careful mentioning that on a public forum man. They will be bought up quickly.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

ML1187 said:


> Be careful mentioning that on a public forum man. They will be bought up quickly.


Yup Flan will get all of them


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

ML1187 said:


> Be careful mentioning that on a public forum man. They will be bought up quickly.





Saugeye Tom said:


> Yup Flan will get all of them


I believe Vic Coomer's Curly Shadz are what SF actually meant; I knew there would be some confusion when I first saw that lol.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Flannel_Carp said:


> I believe Vic Coomer's Curly Shadz are what SF actually meant; I knew there would be some confusion when I first saw that lol.


Thank god


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Yes i seen no padle tails yet,just the ones with a twister tail like tail


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## co-angler (Jan 3, 2010)

Targeting spotted bass, I cast to a small pocket off the river along a long slow stretch.
This fat girl gobbled up my topwater bait. She dove, jumped and pulled like an Olympian!
Once to the bank, I pulled out the tape which revealed that I had caught a 21"er!
21 on the line from tip of mouth to tip of fanned tail.
I was so geeked I forgot to pinch the tail but who cares?! It became my PB!
Thanks to all on this forum whom have contributed!


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Congrats!!!! 10 yr old fish!!! Beauty


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Nice fish co-angler! Congrats.... 
And the bait i mentioned earlier-vic coomers curly shad(sorry for any confusion). I was happy to see them at my "local store"(better;-) ).... the only other option i hve for a bait that style is zooms swimming shiner. And the curly shad has a bigger body,and right price! I only tossed one for a few,but sure ill find the right application for it(here wiper,wiper,wiper!!!).....
Seeing this thread though has me wanting to give up lake fishing,an learn the rivers in my back yard better...


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Co angler you never cease to amaze me dude... Well deserved catch !


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## senger (May 24, 2013)

Holy crap. 21 without the tail pinched! Probably 21.5 or 21.75 with it pinched I'd imagine. That's huge. So huge in fact I just had to look it up. I used the In-Fisherman charts. Love them guys, especially that show on cable. They are always catching great fish and then at the end Al comes on and gives a little Christian talk about living right, not stealing and not lying, stuff like that. Anyways they have what they call a length to weight conversion chart so you can get an idea what your fish would have weighed. They say a 21 inch bass will weigh somewhere around 5.78 and a 21.5 inch bass somewhere around 6.21. Yessir that's a dandy. I'd say it's safe to say six pounds plus. Wow you sure got yourself a trophy there. It's a good thing you have such a good picture or no one would believe you caught a six pound plus smallmouth. Gee that's a swell one.


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## co-angler (Jan 3, 2010)

Senger, maybe that's how big those northern lake smallies get but with regards to this fish, I doubt it touched the 5 lb mark. It may have been close but that's about all I'd give her.
Thanks all the same though for your research and kind words.


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## greghal (Aug 22, 2013)

Great fish co-angler, I'm with you on weight, I caught my PB a couple years ago in a small creek off the Great Miami. That fish was 19'', but was long and slender. Congrats on a great fish.


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## greghal (Aug 22, 2013)

Great write up on your reflections Steve, I often feel the same way, but I can't write it down so eloquently. Thanks for your post.


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