Martyn White | Thursday, 19 January 2023
We had some terrible weather here last week, that meant no fishing but brought some much needed rain to top up the rivers which were ridiculously low.
100 miles to the north however, the weather front had come through a few days earlier and Chuck went out to see if he could do anything with the smallmouth. I was pretty surprised when he replied to my " it'll not be long" message to say he was already out hopping squirrel craws. Probably a month early at least, but fair enough. I was even more surprised an hour letter when the first fish picture appeared. A lovely conditioned, chunky, prespawn smallie, I hadn't even finished my pint before another picture came through! So Chuck had picked up 2 lovely smallies (they look to be at least 18") in no time at all, in January!!!
I expect it has something to do with the mild winter we've had, but either way, I know what I'm doing this Monday. I thought I still had a few weeks to top up my smallie boxes, but I'll just have to go with what I have and what I can get tied this week.. at least I know it mostly needs to be crayfish, so just a couple of patterns and making sure I've a few of each in a couple of weights to deal with current.
Here are the 2 that seem to do best here.