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Poppers and smallmouth

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:35 am
by BillSmith
Just wondering how many move to fishing for the hard fighting smallmouth bass in the streams and rivers as the water warms up. Wet wading and yellow Gaines poppers on the North branch, more fun than I can describe !

Re: Poppers and smallmouth

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 10:49 am
by Jaybird
Any luck on the lower Raritan with that ???

Re: Poppers and smallmouth

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 11:05 am
by martalus
This should probably get moved to the other fishing section, but yes, I am looking forward to smallie season! I used to fish the Delaware between Columbia and the Water Gap and had some really epic summer days fishing there. Other days it would take longer to key in where the fish were, so when wading, you really have to be willing to move up and down likely stretches as well as adjust where in water column they are hitting.

I also fished the SBR a few times outside of Flemington and had pretty good luck in the evening on poppers. I had always wanted to fish the NBR for them, but I never did. I just got a guide book for wet-wading the Potomac between DC and WV for smallies-it seems that floods/extremely high water in April/May (spawning season)have really disrupted spawning patterns over many recent years here, with whole year classes of fish missing in some stretches. I remember the Delaware had a problem with floods and disease a while ago, but not sure how things stand now. Perhaps smaller rivers like the SBR and NBR are more protected from those hugely disruptive spring floods. As I posted last week, I found a decent population of smallies in the forested faster/rocky part of the Rock Creek right in DC!

Back to the original point-there is not much more satisfying than catching hard fighting smallies on streamers and poppers while wet-wading on a warm summer afternoon/evening!

Re: Poppers and smallmouth

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:21 am
by martalus
BillSmith wrote:
Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:35 am
Just wondering how many move to fishing for the hard fighting smallmouth bass in the streams and rivers as the water warms up. Wet wading and yellow Gaines poppers on the North branch, more fun than I can describe !
Any smallie reports?? I will likely come up to NJ for Father's Day weekend and might hit the SBR or NBR.