Strawberries and Smallmouths

Rick Bramwell

I began this spring’s strawberry season by buying berries from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and then from local Indiana patches. I believe the variety Jewel is the sweetest, but I could not find them until last week.

I headed north to Holland, Michigan, to help celebrate six-year-old Solene’s birthday. She and I shopped at a local clothing store. She modeled several outfits. I bought three.

Afterward, I took Solene, her four-year-old brother, Jo Jo, and her soon-to-be six-year-old cousin, Sineya, to Visser’s Farm strawberry patch. They had Jewels, ice cream, and donuts. We partook of all.

A park playground closed out the evening, leaving me with three very tired children ready for bed. 

I have many miles between loved ones, all the way to California. Two more trips are planned for this summer. One will be to see my new granddaughter, Rose.

I’m still finding redear at Geist. Most have moved off the banks. I’m catching them in from five to eight feet of water. Not only are they scattered, but much less aggressive. I’m considering dropping to a one-inch, Slider Panfish paddle tail grub.

For this setup, I will need a shorter-shanked 1/32-ounce jig. Since there is no way to tell how long a jig hook is online, I go to my own private warehouse, James Lasswell’s garage. 

If this man has an addiction, it is strawberries. I had the sweetest of them all. The barter was gladly made.

This bait worked wonders on Kentucky Lake in the spring of 2006 before I knew what I know now about redear. Their post-spawn inclination to just peck at the tail has influenced me to go smaller. Lasswell had just what I needed.

Tuesday morning, Joe Jones, my son Greg, and I fished a very private lake. I’ve mentioned it before. There are five aerators to keep plenty of oxygen in the water. It is stocked with smallmouth bass, wipers, yellow perch, walleye, bluegill, redear, and lake trout.

The bite was fair, with Joe getting the lion’s share of the action. He caught three 19-inch smallmouths and one, perhaps a little larger. Joe made a long cast with a Whopper Plopper topwater. A big redear hit the lure, then the big bass got hooked, going after the panfish. Joe landed both. 

“I’ve never had this happen before, and have no hope of it occurring again,” Joe said.

This lake has taught me that a 1.5-inch crappie grub is not too large for redear or too small for smallmouth bass. Yellow perch like it also.

I haven’t noticed readers spawning more than once on Geist. On this Dream Lake, they began nesting in early May and are still spawning, although I don’t think they are the same fish. There is one area where most of this activity takes place.

It seems like they spawn in platoons. The water is clear enough to see the redear and bluegill nests. In the same area are the 2- to 4-inch egg-raiding bluegill. Cruising through this melee are bass and perch, making easy meals of the minnows.

This wasn’t one of my better days, but I was glad to see Joe Jones do well. It was an experience he will not soon forget.