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The Quest for 20


Mike Clifford

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JB ,

 

No problems at all with the other guy having a camera . It's just one of my superstitions that I don't carry it .

 

Hmmm , haven't been to Sindianner in a few years .

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JB ,

 

No problems at all with the other guy having a camera . It's just one of my superstitions that I don't carry it .

 

Hmmm , haven't been to Sindianner in a few years .

Sindianner or Illinois, makes no difference to me. I'm on vacation in a few weeks. Plans are unclear as of now but I'll shoot you a PM soon and see what we can do. How long of a drive is it from Indy to your area?
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Guest Don R

Got a call from Dick G earlier today.

 

Dick : You busy? Got some news.

Don : OK, where did you go? What did you catch?

 

Dick : Just check your email when you get home.

Don : Come on. You can't just leave me hangin' like that!

 

Dick : I only caught one fish.

Don : How big? On what?

 

Dick : 20"er on a Tiny Torpedo!!

Don : That's awesome! Congrats!!

 

Don : Where were you fishin'?

Dick : In the water.

 

That guy can be so secretive about his spots ;) But that's a good thing.

 

4umup1h.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, I can't let Jason get all the glory for us Indiana boys!!! This is my first 20" river smallie caught at the Tippy Rodeo back in mid July (Central Indiana). We were wading a feeder creek of the Tippy about a day after a Mayfly hatch as there were carcases everywhere! Water was a little low and slow but we were tearing the smallies up on top water. I caught this fish on a Lucky Craft Splashtail 90 Minnow (Archer Bee color). Now the strange thing was that my buddy that I was wading with was using all sorts or top water baits and I was following behind him, he would cast to a likely spot and get nothing. I would make a follow up cast with the LC and either get bit or blown up on. That lure is all I fished that day and I ended up out fishing my partner 24-20 so it was a good day for both of us. I actually didn't expect much action that day due to the heat, low water and I figured the smallies had gorged themselves the previous day on the mayflies. Maybe I was just due for a biggin'! :D The beast came from slack water in between cover and the main current so maybe he was just out cruising or staging to feed? I don't know but I didn't expect to hook up with this brute where I did!

 

 

 

Yes I'm old school and wet wade! Waders would be an admission that the water is too polluted to be in contact with so that is my way of tricking myself into thinking that Indiana's water isn't the 5th most polluted in the country!! :angry:

 

John Bunner

Indiana Smallmouth Conservation

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  • 2 weeks later...
You know...I get the feeling that those Indiana fisheries have a few more 20 inch fish than we have in Illinois.

 

Yes? No?

 

You know.... that has to be the case. Or maybe the Indiana fish are dumber than ours. I just know there's no way it has anything to do with them being better fishermen than us Illinoisiacs. ;)

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I've studied this photo for fraudulent editing. The "cut" line between the top of the bass and your neck looks suspicious to me. However, being that the size of your head is proportionate to that of the bass, I conclude that your head contains an equal size fish brain. Thus, I conclude that the photo is legit.

 

P.S. Your photographer does topnotch work.

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I would have happy if that picture had edited out that horrible thing above the fish . I'm going to make a copy , cut that monstrous creature out and hang it on my door come Halloween . :rolleyes:

 

Not only will I get to keep all my own candy but I'll get a lot more from the bags tossed to the side as the tykes run screaming down the walk . :P;)

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Some guys in Illinois don't seem to have any problem finding them. ;)

 

Sweet fish Don!

 

I have a pretty good feeling by the trees with the white bark in the back ground that the fish Don is holding didn't come from Illinois. Just a hunch though. It definately is a sweet fish no matter where it came from. There are 20" smallmouth caught in IL waters but the grass could be greener on the other side.

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  • 3 weeks later...

LOL, Grass is always greener on the other side. You guys have some hefty fish over there. Indiana smallies can be thin. We don't get too many footballs here, though they are fattening up as we speak.

 

IMGP1159.jpg 20.25" Chatterbait October

 

IMGP1123.jpg 21.5" Sammy 100 September

 

92207213.jpg 21" Sammy 100 September

 

08020720.252.jpg 20.5" Sammy 100 August

 

20-1.jpg 20.25" Pointer 100 April

 

IMGP0756.jpg 20" Pointer 100 April

 

1 in July I dropped before photoing that went 20"+ Xcalibur Zellpop

 

All from medium to small streams except the unphotoed fish from the St.Joe.

BT

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I have a pretty good feeling by the trees with the white bark in the back ground that the fish Don is holding didn't come from Illinois. Just a hunch though. It definately is a sweet fish no matter where it came from. There are 20" smallmouth caught in IL waters but the grass could be greener on the other side.

 

Hmmmm.. Donnnnnnn...almost looks like a Wisconsin River fish. :) It's got the tell tale tanic coloration. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...
My first 20 was a river fish. From the St Lawrence, caught on Father's Day, June 15, 1969. I was 14 and got it on a fly rod, cork popper. Came from the corner of a small dock. We ate him.

 

5y7yywg.jpg

I didn't know enough then to hold the fish out at arms length toward the camera! (Or to put him back!!!)

 

Scott,

That is a great shot and story.

 

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Fished a flow yesterday with ISA member Mike Maggiore. Water temp was 48 degrees and we floated down the river targeting deeper water with little or no flow. We started slow with only a 2 smallies caught in the first two hours. I caught a largemouth on the float n fly and Mike caught those first two smallies on a Senko.

 

We continued on and the fishing continued to be slow. I came upon a spot I had fished this summer and had remembered that it was fairly deep and had some rocky substrate. First cast into this area yielded this beauty:

 

8ak52dv.jpg

 

Twenty inches on the button!! Caught on my hand-tied swim jig. What a rush!! Since Jim Kast got me going on swim jigs, I have been catching alot of smallies on them the past month or so. After catching that fish, I cast into the same area and caught three or four more........all on the swim jig.

 

By the end of the trip, we had caught about 12 smallies and a couple of largemouth. That one fish was all I needed! :rolleyes:

 

 

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