You all know that I'm not a trophy hunter. Many is the time I've had to remind A-5 that it is not about the tug but rather its about the experience. So I fish for the types and species I like and Black Bass and an occasional Smallie remain a pleasant By-catch. At Merrill Creek fishermen often get glassy-eyed and emotional about certain things and this yr I hope to prove them right. They always mention the sizable Smallies they catch along the three Dam Breasts. When I try to get them to talk more about it or ask what they were using their usual answer is "I can't stop for then, I got the planers out and I cant stop there". Finally I met a 'Clear-eyed' fisherman that targets these and he said that there are indeed some chunky Smallmouth along there. When I go along the Dams I see fish about 100' out in 15-30' and I assume these are a mix of Largemouth, smallmouth and seasonally Brownies and Salmon. I want to target them a little and would like to toss baits (TR and SB) perpendicular to the dam. Of course there are two choices....I could position near the Dam and cast out or I could position out 100' and cast in to the dam. From reading I realize that cranbaits and square bills, something I don't use, are often fished from deep to shallow whereas with TR and Crawlers I've not seen much talk of direction.
What do you recommend and what would you do.
