Just a quick post to shift gears from the panfish and largemouth gigs so far this spring. I was invited by my friend Judson to fish one of our favorite small rivers in central Maryland and had a sensational day on the water as pre-spawn smallies were active with thunderous strikes on hairjigs tipped with plastic trailers. A few fish took small crankbaits as well. Check 'em out...

My buddy Judson collared several high-quality smallies on the crank.

But most of our fish, like the one above, took a 1/16 oz hairjig with some type of plastic trailer. Here are a few of our better fish from today...

We tallied 60 smallmouths today, with many fish running from 14 to 17 inches...great sport on our ultra light gear and in the rivers' current.

Judson shows one of our many 'doubles' today.

Judsons' best bass came on the Rapala crankbait

This one ran me downstream a ways...had to follow on the light line. Yes...a great day on the water in chest waders, a handful of lures, and hard charging smallmouths. wearing us out. We took a break for some grub in Judson's cabin, made the decision to go back out and fish in the pouring rain, and ripped em up for another hour! My two largest fish on the day never made the highlight reel because I decided to leave the camera in the truck due to the heavy rain and wading conditions. Literally, my all-time top, small river smallmouth trip ever!