Rocket Bass

Most of my readers (that number being 3) have figured out that I spend most of my time chasing smallmouth bass. Well, if you live in SE Michigan and do not feel like driving 3.5 hours for trout, that is what you do. We here in MI catch a lot of rock bass while pursuing smallmouths, and most anglers view them as one step up from a speeding ticket. They inhale flies so you have to stop fishing and pull out the hemostats, they give a might tug like a trophy smallmouth then roll over and play dead, and they are of a size that you can't grab them by the lower jaw. This results in at least one really good fin-prick every trip. They are despised and "don't count" for many anglers.

Everyone is wrong. Rock bass are cool. They give novice partners great practice at fishing cover (where you always find them), they cooperate during fly fishing clinics when the bass are thumbing their noses at you, and they create positive memories of otherwise sparse days. They tend to lie doggo in very specific spots, so when you get on to them it is a great chance to tell you buddies that you had a 50 fish day. I once caught over 30 from a single backwater the size of a pool table, and stopped only when it got so repetitive that I had to move on, having punished the species enough for one day.

The rock bass also provided me with one of my coolest experiences ever. I was casting a small popper, and hooked a good-sized one that would have been an absolute keeper for any panfish angler. When I got it within 10 feet of the rod tip, the line just sort of stopped and thought that it had darted under a log or something. Instead, the "snag" started circling and I spotted the largest smallmouth I have ever seen, ever. It had inhaled the rock bass completely (did I mention that this was a good sized rock bass) and we were at a standoff. The bass would not let go, but I could not hook the bass because the popper was, of course, deep within the jaws of Mr. rocket bass and the hook wasn't exposed. This went on for quite some time. Every once in a while the bass would lose the rock bass only to grab it again. The smallmouth finally got bored with this and sort of lumbered off to the trench. This occurred on a river where an 18 inch smallmouth gives you bragging rights for weeks, and 20 inchers are an urban legend. This fish was 25 inches at least, and probably weighed over 6 pounds. Only a bass that size could inhale a 6 inch rock bass repeatedly and make it look easy each time I saw it happen. I did release the rock bass, but it was not a happy rock bass and probably spent the rest of the summer growing new scales.

The rock bass in the photo above was caught last week, and until I got it to hand I thought it was a decent smallmouth. About 12 inches, and twice the size of the usual "nice rock bass" you hold up for your fishing partner to admire. Of course, no tape measure so a chance at a Michigan master angler rock bass certificate was lost. It made me cry inside. Note to self, add tape measure to gear list, and also pick up one of those cutesy Simms fish counter things that you always thought were stupid until you realized that no will believe the abundance of this species until you have some real numbers.