# Black bass slam



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

I've never been much of a "see how many Fish Ohio's you can get" kind of person, but after I caught my PB largemouth earlier in the spring I had a little goal in the back of my head: black bass slam. All three Ohio species (smallie, largemouth, and spot), Fish Ohio's, all on the fly. The largemouth would be the toughest for me simply because I had never caught a bucketmouth over 20" on the fly. With the new non-Erie smallie size (18"), I knew this was doable in my area. Spotted bass I assumed to be the easiest because I have caught 15"+ spots every year for several years running. However, the spotted bass streams I fish don't really get "hot" until late June/early July, so I wasn't expecting it until later in the summer. I definitely wasn't expecting to have this little goal accomplished by mid-June.

Largemouth, 21" from a public pond, 9' 7wt










Spotted bass, 15", unexpectedly from the Hocking River, on a lunch break with a glass 3wt



















And yesterday I popped the smallie, also on a lunch break on the 3wt glass, 18" on the nose










I have caught a lot of spots in the Hocking, catching them there isn't that uncommon for me...but this was the first one over about the 12" mark. They had all been really small bass. It was awesome to see the takes on the largemouth and spot, both were very visual takes. The smallie was blind hooked, but put on an epic battle. I didn't count, but the fish must have jumped and completely cleared the water 7-8 times. I've never had a smallie this size go so aerial. The largemouth and smallmouth I'm not sure I'll better this year, but I expect to get a bigger spot once the creek fishing heats up. My PB is 16 1/4", and I want to top that this summer.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Congratulations ! All nice fish and a Great start to summer.
I wish the spotted bass fishing in the streams I fish was a little better, they're one of my fav fish and Beautiful especially from clear water.
Who fought the best ???
Good luck and Good Fishing !


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

I had my hands full on all of them. The largemouth dove hard into some old weeds and I thought had hung me up, but I was able to force her out. The spot, mainly because it was on the 3wt, was hard to control and kept trying to dive for a stump system at my feet. The smallie took the longest to land, mainly because it was hard to get close enough to her without a net. The bank drops off from dry land to about 3.5' deep where I hooked her, so I had to guide that fish all the way to the bank on the 3wt glass, which wasn't easy.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

. It is incredibly hard to judge the fight of different fish especially since conditions are normally so different in every location.
The Smallmouth I catch tend to come from much stronger current which gives them a decided advantage, but those spots do pull hard.
Nice fish and Good luck and Good Fishing !


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

Nice report. Maybe a dumb question here, but how do you tell the difference between a spot and a largemouth? I think I've caught a few "spots" on the rocky river that I thought were largemouth.
Rickerd


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

rickerd said:


> Nice report. Maybe a dumb question here, but how do you tell the difference between a spot and a largemouth? I think I've caught a few "spots" on the rocky river that I thought were largemouth.
> Rickerd


The jaw line doesn't go quite as far back as a largemouth, more like the jaw line on a smallie. The giveaway is the tooth patch on the tongue. Largemouth don't have it. It's not a true identifier, but it usually gives me a hint before I ever even see the fish, spots don't (in my experience) jump much. They seem to dig for the bottom hard, kind of like the fighting difference between a rainbow (leaper) and a brown trout (digger). It's not to say they won't jump, because I have had them do it, but they seem to go aerial a lot less than largemouths.


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