Weather had settled and I decided to give it another go after a previous evening of bass and crappie. Water was still, no wind and weather was sunny. Water in lake had risen about 6" since the weekend so suspected it was also cooler due to snow runoff out of upper Nisqually. Decided early to skip crappie for this trip as the ones caught earlier in the week were pre spawn and the water temperature change would put them off. Instead I targeted smallmouth knowing there were several in this bay.

Did plenty of casting with nothing but exercise. Found some weed free small rocks in about 10 feet of water near a known channel. Lengthened my leader to about 3' and made a soft cast not more than ten feet from shore. Had an immediate take. Quickly knew this was a good fish. When it rolled to the surface could see it was a large smallmouth. Played it carefully as I was using 4 lb test on an ultralight. Managed to work it in and lipped it. It was a solid heavy female that was close to 5 lbs. Easily removed the hook (if you don't use circle hooks when fishing bait you need to start using then as they hook fish in the corner of the mouth saving fich),...took a quick cell pic (so my fishing buds would believe me) then released her for another day.

Great fish and a beautiful evening. Sat for a minute admiring the water then packed it up and headed back to the jeep. Can't improve on something like that!

Basics: 4 lb line / small casting float / small circle hook / carefully rigged medium worm (rigged live worm like a weedless) / 36" leader / light weight / ultra slow retrieve

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