Well fellas I did a bunch more smallie fishing this fall. The bite was really hit or miss but I ended up doing ok. I didn't catch nearly as many fish as I did this summer but the average size was better. In the summer I fished rivers almost exclusively but since October I've been hitting the still water more often. So here are some of my favorite pics from this fall.
Here's a nice river SM that ate a swimbait retrieved along the shoreline.
When the scenery is this good it doesn't matter if the fish are biting, which is a good thing cause I got skunked on this day!
Most of the smallies I catch from one lake have this neat blue color on their back and face. I really like the way they look, even when they're small.
Another river fish, also on a swimbait.
If it has a small mouth and you catch it on a hair jig it counts as a smallmouth right???
Here's a big lake smallie that bit a tube in a laydown over a dropoff. Don't know how I got him out of there.
Another chunky lake fish. This one creamed a swimbait on a cold November morning. The way he was jumping he must have thought it was August.
I tried to use slightly bigger baits this fall to get a bigger average bite. It worked pretty well but I was surprised just how many little fish will also take a 6" swimbait. I caught some nice fish on Esquired's homemade baits too. Pics of those fish sucked as did alot of others I took this fall. I have to work on my timer pics or get someone to go fishing with me, then maybe I'll be able to weigh more of my fish too.
And by the way, I'm not giving up yet. I'll be out chasing smallmouth for a day or two this weekend. I'm going for broke this time. BIG fish or no fish.
Here's a nice river SM that ate a swimbait retrieved along the shoreline.
When the scenery is this good it doesn't matter if the fish are biting, which is a good thing cause I got skunked on this day!
Most of the smallies I catch from one lake have this neat blue color on their back and face. I really like the way they look, even when they're small.
Another river fish, also on a swimbait.
If it has a small mouth and you catch it on a hair jig it counts as a smallmouth right???
Here's a big lake smallie that bit a tube in a laydown over a dropoff. Don't know how I got him out of there.
Another chunky lake fish. This one creamed a swimbait on a cold November morning. The way he was jumping he must have thought it was August.
I tried to use slightly bigger baits this fall to get a bigger average bite. It worked pretty well but I was surprised just how many little fish will also take a 6" swimbait. I caught some nice fish on Esquired's homemade baits too. Pics of those fish sucked as did alot of others I took this fall. I have to work on my timer pics or get someone to go fishing with me, then maybe I'll be able to weigh more of my fish too.
And by the way, I'm not giving up yet. I'll be out chasing smallmouth for a day or two this weekend. I'm going for broke this time. BIG fish or no fish.
Wait till next spring Tinboaters! 
