Small-mouth from Lake Mohave

I know… this is indeed a very small fish. I have at least caught a slightly larger smallmouth bass than this one since then. There is, however, a unique and exciting feeling when catching a new species for the first time. This small fish was that first catch for me. Some of the southern waters in South Africa is home to some smallmouth bass, yet, somehow, it was just never a fish that I had the opportunity to target.

My information gathering on YouTube had revealed to me that it is more likely to catch smallmouth bass from Lake Mohave than any other bass. As informative as these videos are, they never explain where to go or how to catch these fish. Spending hours casting around, I finally figured out a pattern.  These fish prefer trees and structures to open water or grassy areas.

The first fish I hooked was about a 1 pounder. That fish unceremoniously spit my lure back at me when it was only a few feet away. The excitement of this almost-catch got me all fired up. A few casts later, and that’s where we get this little smallmouth. These are the small victories that make fishing such a great sport. This one little bass was worth an entire day of casts.

With my new eager beaver attitude, it was back to the waters to get some more fish. The funny thing about eagerness is that it often overwhelms focus. My lure got snagged on every piece of cover I was targeting. To this day, I am still sure I did not put a lot of pressure on that rod, but the results seem to differ because that’s how I snapped my first rod ever – in an attempt to not lose a lure… kind of kicks the wind out of your sails. True, it was a cheap rod, but a valuable, and necessary lesson to learn.