Shifting Gears
JT Kenny is trading in his magnum spoon for a drop-shot
(Editor’s Note: The writer's opinions and observations expressed here are his own, and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies or positions of FLW.)
Summer is here again. With it comes a change in what I'm focusing on and a lot of sweat on my brow. It just seems like every summer gets hotter than the last.
My attention has now been turned to smallmouth bass and Northern fisheries for the rest of the year (Oh, yeah, and did I mention that as of the time of this writing, bow season was 38 days away? Not that I'm counting.) I've been in my garage putting away all my Nichols Magnum Spoons and 8-inch swimbaits and replacing them with 3- and 4-inch drop-shot baits, tiny swimbaits and diminutively sized jigs. I could almost hear the call to rights playing in the background as if it was a funeral.
Gone for another year are the days of jack-poling on a school of bigheads out deep on a main-lake ridge. No more boat-flipping 6-pounders on a Ben Parker Magnum Swimbait with 17-pound-test Berkley fluorocarbon and an 8/0 hook. No more speed-cranking a 10XD in 20 feet and getting locked up by a 5-pounder. No, sir, that's all over till May again.
I am stripping the big line off the Halos and re-spooling with 6- and 8-pound-test Berkley flouro, and reflecting on how much fun it was catching all those fish with all these relatively new baits, how hard some of the strikes were and how easy it was catching fish on baits that they haven't seen before. Well, that's all over now – back to smallmouth fishing.
Not to downplay it; I love smallmouth fishing. I have had a lot of success and made a lot of money with smallmouths. I'm very comfortable with a spinning rod and love staring at my bottom machine. Yet if I had my druthers, I would be largemouthing with big baits and heavy line. After all, I'm a boat-flipper not a netter. I've lost so many fish over the years while messing around trying to get them in the net with light line, instead of just boat-flipping them right into the floor.
I wish smallmouth fishing was like that. Well, let’s just step back a minute here. How do we know it’s not? Has anyone really ever tried a 10XD, Magnum Spoon or 8-inch swimbait for Northern smallmouths? Who says they won’t bite it? Wait a minute! Hold the presses! How do we know? We all just automatically assume that smallmouths eat little stuff.
Well, two to three years ago we all thought that largemouths, in general, ate relatively small stuff too. All hope is not lost! I'm not saying I'm throwing away my spinning rods and 6-pound-test line, but maybe I shouldn’t store my spoons for the winter yet either. I'm gonna find out and make my own decision about whether smallmouths do or don't eat the same big stuff that largemouths eat.
Remember the Alabama Rig? Everyone thought that was pretty dumb at first too, right? That makes me feel a little bit rejuvenated, excited even. Let’s go smallmouth fishing and show them the some baits they haven't seen yet. Will this be a Herculean triumph? Or will levity set in and see me with a drop-shot in 40 feet at the start of my next smallmouth derby as usual?
This will give me plenty to think about on my two-day journey north to the famed smallmouth waters of New York and Ohio. Oh, and maybe there’ll be a little daydreaming of the mystical flight of the arrow and it finding its mark …