Me and my neighbor went out to Long Lake this morning for smallmouth, hoping last nights storm front would make for some good fishing. We were not disappointed. He know a hell of a lot more about bass fishing than I do, and suggested we try some topwater first thing. While I'm tying on my lures, on the second cast he gets a strike but misses. Next cast he drills it. 10 minutes into the day and he lands a nice one.

I've never topwater fished and have no idea on how to "walk the dog". After a bit of instruction, I'm getting it. After a few casts, I get a boil but miss. I decide to throw a chatterbait. I feel a slight bump and lift my rod tip. Fish on 10 minutes after my buddy landed his. Not huge but I'll take it.

We move down the shore a bit and I'm working the topwater again. I'm watching the lure when a nice smallie not only hits it, but comes a full foot out of the water.

It was one of the coolest things I've seen. Reminded me of "Air Jaws" on the Discovery Channel when the white sharks go airborne. Some how I get the hooks set. After a bit of a fight and one more jump, it was gone. Not much happened over the next hour or so. We decide to head back to where we started and continue past. Not much there either. As we walk past the swimming area, my bud decides to make a cast to a little square floating dock. After about 3 twitches, he gets a hit and lands another nice one.

After he releases the fish, I make a cast almost in the same spot. BAM! Another fish. Back to back smallies. There also happend to be a tourny going on and one of the boats saw the first one caught and came over to check it out. They saw me drill the second and moved off. Think they were alittle ticked.


Great day on the lake. I caught 3 and my buddy caught 5. Couldn't tell you how many we missed. They were hitting on top well into the morning under a bright sun. Can't wait to do it again.