Today I fished for 2 1/2 hours, from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm.  It was a very windy and mild day for November.  It took me a little while to figure out a productive pattern but when I did it was magical. 

I started the day fishing a shallow sandbar and a cut because the water temperature hand risen from 50 degrees to 55 degrees.  I figured that the bass would be schooling up and feeding on shad.  I chose to throw a shad colored willow blade spinner bait, and a gold colored silver buddy.  I had one short strike on the spinner bait and that’s all.

I decided to change my strategy and fish a rocky bank that was about 10 ft deep.  I used a 1/16 oz Erie Darter.  I got my first bite at 2:00 pm and it was a 14 in Smallmouth.  I fished this pattern for about 15 min and caught 2 keepers. 

The fish I was on weren’t good enough for this time of year so I switched things up again.  Since the big fish weren’t next to the deep rocks I figured they were in transition, either coming back from the shallows or going towards the shallows.  I targeted a gradual sandy drop off that went from 2 ft to 7 ft.  Before I made my first cast I noticed a huge ball of baitfish swim by the boat.  I chose to throw the silver buddy because it closely resembled the size of the baitfish.  I made my first cast parallel to the deep water in about 4-5 ft of water.  On my first jig a nice 4 lb Smallmouth cracked the buddy.  I put her in the live well.  I made my next cast to the exact same spot and a monster 4.8 lb smallmouth demolished my lure.  This fish fought hard but didn’t jump, THANK GOD!!!!  I seems like every time a big fish jumps it throws the hook. 

I ended up catching 2 more beautiful 3 lb Smallmouth on the same pattern.  My total for the afternoon was 6 keepers.  My best five weighed approximately 15 lbs.  November on the St. Joe River can be very exciting!!!    

 
4.8 lbs