Above The Damn Dam - Philpott Lake 4/25/23

[trout-r-us]

WARNING - to Pretentious Snobby Bastards, this does not contain fly fishing, but rather the dark side, but with a finesse approach. Light spinning gear with 6 pound line. And aghast, to make things worse we used live minners.

So it is when my "little boy" decides he wants to go fishing. It also happens to be one of my favorite approaches.

Hadn't run the boat for 6 months, so I thought I'd surprise the neighbors and move the "eyesore" out of the back yard for a day.
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Started off with a bang with a nice smallie for my son. Note the blotches along the lateral line. Perhaps a Smallmouth/Alabama Spot hybrid? 😬
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Didn't last as things got slow, so we made a short move and my son quickly found another nice Brown Bass that got off right at the boat, i.e. quick release.
Was hoping for some walleye at that location, but no go.

Moved to another spot that had produced in the past, but no luck on this day.

Moved back to the first location as cloud cover blocked out the bright sunlight and a light breeze put a ripple on the water. Action picked up as my son landed another nice Smallmouth, a couple of what we believe to be the dreaded Alabama Bass, and finished up with yet another chunky Smallie.
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The state likes pelvic fin clips from the suspected Alabama Bass and they encourage harvest of all of them, so I kept a couple for the dinner table.
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Interesting that VDWR states that 87% of the lake's bass population is Largemouth, but our spring methods invariably result in a much greater percentage of Smallmouth. Go figure. 😁

If it was a contest, my son beat me 6-0. Luckily we don't consider fishing as a competition. (Unless I catch more). 🤣