Georgia Largemouth Elusive

largemouth, but not from Georgia

It’s somewhat comical to me that with only one species remaining to achieve the Georgia Bass Slam in 2026, one of the species that would get me there is the most common of all — the largemouth bass. 

It takes qualifying fish of five different black bass species (out of 10 possible) to earn the slam, the way the program is set up. I’m confident I’ll get there with more than half a year remaining. Beyond largemouth, Chattahoochee bass live in my part of the state, and I sometimes spend time in waters where other species can be found. Last year I caught qualifying fish of seven species.

It’s just funny to me that I have four of five needed, but no largemouths. I have caught several largemouth bass this year. In fact, I caught some last week. They just haven’t been in Georgia. Last week’s bass came from Lake Guntersville in Alabama. I’ve actually caught bass in three states this year. Just not Georgia.

Qualifying bass I have caught in 2026 include Bartram’s bass, shoal bass, spotted bass and Coosa (redeye) bass. 

Favorite Fishing Destinations Countdown: No. 9 - Lake Ouachita, Arkansas

Largemouths, spotted bass, stripers, walleyes, crappie, bluegill... Lake Ouachita serves up excellent opportunities for catching a bunch of different kinds of fish, and over the past 20-plus years, I've gotten to enjoy many of Ouachita's bounties. Beyond offering excellent fishing, Ouachita is a beautiful lake, bounded by the Ouachita mountains and with clear water and mostly undeveloped, forested shores.

I've spent dozens of days on Ouachita and had fun doing everything from walking Spooks for largemouths, spots and stripers to jig-fishing for mixed catches of big bluegills and crappie. Arguably my single favorite day on Ouachita, though, was with Gary Roach of Minnesota, better known as Mr. Walleye, and Chris Gulstad. We were officially targeting walleyes, using light spinning tackle and jigs tipped with minnows, but instead found crazily good action from stripers up to about 15 pounds. More than once that day, we were tripled up with 8- or 10-pound stripers on our light tackle. Somehow we landed most fish that day. By day's we were happily exhausted.

Similar to what I mentioned about the Tennessee River, Lake Ouachita has been the site for quite a few media events over the years, which explains why I've spent far more time on a lake that's a dozen hours from home than on lakes Hartwell and Lanier combined (each about a half hour from me at the nearest point.) I've established many friendships on this lake and have spent countless enjoyable hours on the water, around a dinner table and in cabins with friends at Ouachita events.



And while it's not technically part of the lake, a bonus to Lake Ouachita is its convenience to the Ouachita River just upstream of the lake. The river, which is ideally suited for floating in a canoe or kayak or to wade-fishing, offers outstanding opportunities for smallmouths and mixed panfish, so I sometimes slip up to the river for some bonus moving water fun when I visit Lake Ouachita.

Good lodging options for Lake Ouachita include Shangri-La Resort and Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa. For guided fishing, contact Jason Lenderman, Hugh Albright or Ty Whisenhunt (870-490-1399)

Red Hot Guntersville

I just realized I never reported back about this week's fishing at Lake Guntersville. I posted a few photos on Instagram (jeffsamsel) and on my Jeff Samsel Fishing Facebook page, but not here, where I promised a report.

In short, Guntersville is rocking right now. Jimmy Mason and I spent two days working out of the Waterfront Bay area of Guntersville. I say "working two days" because Day 2 was mostly spent shooting photos. Even on the first day, when I'd guess we landed 35 or 40 bass and could have weighed and easy 20 pounds, we probably spent a combined three hours doing photo work. My job is to shoot photos and gather content, and Jimmy is a guide and a pro staffer for the company I work for, so we really were working. It was just fun work!

Yumbrella rigs were the main deal. Specifically we were throwing Flash Mob Juniors rigged with YUM Pulse and Money Minnow swimbaits, focusing on ditches and sunken islands and other structures along the main Tennessee River channels, usually over eelgrass.

As a plus, we also caught a few big, pot-bellied spotted bass, which are a major bonus at Guntersville. Largemouths were the main attraction, though, and we caught a bunch of them, including a few 5-pound-plus fish. Big, big fun!

Favorite 2016 Fishing Accomplishment: Crawfish Bass Slam

Guadalupe bass, Guadalupe River, Texas, Teeny Wee-Crawfish

2016 provided many amazing fishing opportunities, including chances to fish in a few states where I had never fished before and a few new species catches. I'll have to think more about specific favorite destinations and specific catches, but my favorite fishing accomplishment of the year is easy, and the story began in February with the bass pictured above. It's a Guadalupe bass, a black bass species found only in select Texas waters, and I caught it from the Guadalupe River in a state park of the same name. I only caught one and it wasn't very large, but I was thrilled because it was a species I'd never before had the opportunity to catch.

Suwannee bass, Santa Fe River, Florida, Deep Wee-Crawfish

In March, I got the chance to fish for Suwannee bass in Florida's Santa Fe River and to catch a few on Deep Wee-Crawfish. Having then caught two black bass species I'd never caught before by March and having caught both on Rebel Crawfish, I wondered how far I could carry that in a year. To shorten the story, I ended up catching seven species, which at one time would have been considered  true black bass slam, all on the Rebel Crawfish. Biologists have fairly recently defined a couple of other bass that are very similar to spotted bass a distinctive species in select watersheds, but the seven I caught represent what traditionally has been seen as a slam.

Interestingly, the last one I caught, which came late in the summer, was a shoal bass, and it came from the section of the Chattahoochee River that is less than 1/2 hour from my house. See photos below for species three through seven, each with a caption telling the species, location and kind of Rebel Crawfish.

Largemouth bass, Ouachita River, Arkansas, Middle Wee-Crawfish

Smallmouth bass, Ouachita River, Arkansas, Middle Wee-Crawfish

Spotted bass, Ouachita River, Arkansas, Middle Wee-Crawfish

Coosa redeye bass, Chattooga River, South Carolina, Deep Teeny Wee-Crawfish

Shoal bass, Chattahoochee River, Georgia, Wee-Crawfish

A Most Memorable Bass Strike

Do you have favorite fish strikes etched in your mind - ones you remember as if they occurred 10 minutes ago? One of my favorites recently came into my mind, although I'm not sure what triggered the memory of a fish I caught 25 years ago.

The setting was a small lake in Barnwell State Park in the South Carolina Lowcountry. I suppose I had found a bit of free time while traveling somewhere by car and had stopped by the park, which I'd never been to before, to rent a johnboat for a couple of hours and try fishing the lake. I'm pretty sure I only had one bite, but that's no complaint. The bass was a good one, but not a giant (maybe 6 pounds). The strike itself was the memorable part.

I cast a weightless worm through a gap between two clusters of reeds and line draped over a strong strand of spider web between reeds. As I started reeling, the web strand held strong, keeping the worm high so it was skimming the top. Suddenly the surface bulged, like a folded piece of paper, about 6 feet from the worm. The bulge surged toward the worm, and the worm disappeared in an eruption. I set the hook solidly and connected.

Since I was alone and this was long before the era of cameras that shoot good selfies, when I released the fish, only a memory. It was (and is) a good memory, though!

Footloose Fun

"Be ready at the end of each pump," Pete Ponds told me. "That's when they're hitting it."

The words had barely escaped his mouth when a bass proved him right by walloping my Footloose crankbait just as I finished a rod pump and began reeling to take up line. I leaned into the fish just enough to set the hook and realized quickly that it was a pretty chunky largemouth.

I'd been catching some bass, but Pete had been spanking them on the Footloose, a small Bandit crankbait that swims barely beneath the surface and that I'd never fished. It looked too fun to not try, so he's rigged me one as well.

Some anglers fish a Footloose extra slow so it stays on top, as a wakebait. Others crank it quickly and steadily to draw reaction strikes. Pete works it with sideways pumps so it swims just beneath the surface and hesitates and pops up slightly each time he reels to take up line. That's when the fish most often strike, and that certainly was the case when we fished together.

I couldn't tell you how many bass we caught on the Footloose. I just know it was a bunch and that we had a bundle of fun. I also know that I've discovered a new tool for when the bass are shallow and aggressive but won't quite commit to a topwater lure.

Florida Fishing

When I spoke with Tim Mann and Chris Holleman about possibly getting together to fish later this spring and they both said they could make something work just a few days later, I couldn't pass on that chance, so a few days later I was in my car and had it pointed south. I fished Lake George one day, sight-fishing for largemouths, and spent two days chasing redfish and speckled trout in the Jacksonville area.

Sight-fishing with Tim is always fun and a learning experienced, and while the wind chased us around some in the afternoon, conditions, plentiful fish on beds and Tim's direction allowed even my untrained eyes to see several fish and catch a few. While we didn't land any real giants, we caught a lot of good fish, and our best limit would have easily weighed more than 20 pounds. Hard to say how big a bag Tim would have caught if he had just been fishing instead of mostly trying to help me! It's not uncommon for he and tournament to bring 30 pounds to the scales this time of year.

The saltwater days were extra fun for me because I haven't done a lot of that recently. In fact, my species list from last year didn't include any saltwater species because I never made it to the coast. This year's list now includes both specks and reds, and I hope to keep adding to that. I was actually supposed to be saltwater fishing in Texas this week, but the weather blew out that trip. However, my next two trips are to Louisiana and Florida, and plans for both include some saltwater fishing.

Naturally, I like the way a redfish crushes a lure and the fight that follows. Beyond that, though, I simply enjoy being out in the marsh, smelling the salt air, and watching the changes brought by rising and falling tides.

My Frist Santee Cooper Cast

With plans to travel to Black's Camp on Lake Moultrie today, I can't help but think about the first cast I ever made into the Santee Cooper Lakes. It was more than a quarter century, but I remember it almost as if it was yesterday.

It was an early spring morning, my second semester in college at the University of South Carolina, and I was with James Helms, a friend from South Carolina who had been building the Santee Cooper legend in my mind since the previous fall, when we met. James had a boat at school, so we'd fished Lake Murray together several times, but this was our the first opportunity we'd found to take a whole Saturday and fish Santee Cooper.

It was right at daybreak, and James had just launched the boat about halfway up Lake Marion (I believe at Santee State Park). While he parked the truck, I cast a Texas-rigged plastic worm into the fabled waters from the riprap bank. About two lifts into my presentation, I felt that telltale "thump, thump," paused a moment and set the hook solidly. A few minutes later I was unhooking a thick-bodied, 2 1/2-pound Santee Cooper largemouth.

If you fish much, you probably can guess the rest of the story. We fished from dark to dark on a perfect spring day, hitting some of the most beautiful bass waters you'll ever see, and didn't get another bite!

2 Species Tallied

Today's ice adventure on Presque Isle Bay allowed me to add two new 2015 species, bringing the tally seven. I actually caught four kinds of fish today, but I'd already caught largemouth bass and bluegills this year. New additions to this year's list were pumpkinseed and yellow perch. I came within inches of adding black crappie to the list as well, but the one I nearly caught broke off about the time its nose hit the hole. It wasn't sufficiently in control for me to feel like it could be counted. I also had a break-off from something bigger and stronger that I never got a look at. I'll never know what that one was!

Asher's Fine Season Start

Yesterday I shared that the boys had gone off to the pond in pursuit of bass and that I was eagerly awaiting a report. The blog was barely posted when I got a text from Nathaniel with a picture of the fine bass Asher had landed. Asher's fish, which Nathaniel estimated to have weighed about 3 pounds, easily bested anything Nathaniel or I have caught so far this year, and it was Asher's largest fish of any kind to date.

Asher actually caught two bass yesterday. Both hit a Bandit Shallow Flatmaxx over a flat, a little bit off the bank. Nathaniel hooked one fish on a shaky head, but it got off. The day was dark and fairly mild for early January.

Nathaniel, Asher and I all have matching 2015 species lists: largemouth bass and bluegill and all from the same pond. I hope to add a trout or two to that list before the week is over. Before the month is over I'll almost certainly expand it a little between planned trips to fish the Pennsylvania ice and to fish for trout in Missouri.

Midday Rally

The Chickamauga bass bite was tough. No way around that. An occasional chunky largemouths would blast a frog or take a flipped Biffle Bug, but the fishing was generally slow. So when I learned that Don Lamb, a tournament angler from nearby Ringold, Georgia, had found a mixed school of black and white bass, I was eager to get in on the action.

The white bass were small, Lamb warned, but he noted that schools of largemouth were in the same area and feeding on the same shad. Largemouths or white bass suited me, and I didn't really care if they were small. I just like catching fish, and when you're around eating fish, you never know when a good one might surprise you.

Lamb was working the schooling fish with a Little George, which he'd let sink to the bottom and work with lifts and drops. I caught a couple of white bass on one of his baits, but then I got thinking about the Gene Larew Rally Grubs I had in my bag. They have a great swimming action, and I figured they probably were about the right size to match the shad. The Bobby Garland Mo' Glo heads I had were a little light to cast with my baitcaster, a 7-2 medium heavy Lew's Custom Speed Stick, so I tied a tandem Rally Grub rig, spacing thing jigs about 15 inches apart. Beyond doubling the casting weight, a tandem rig suggests shad swimming together.

The white bass schools weren't as thick as when Lamb had been in the same area that morning, but the fish we found definitely liked the double Rally Grub rig, and I ended up catching several white bass and largemouths, plus one spotted bass in only a couple of hours of fishing.

The Rally Grub's name stemmed from the fact that it was designed to produce a rally when you need a burst of action, and it sure lived up to it's name last week.

North & South

Sturgeon Bay in Door County, Wisconsin

A Delta notification on my phone tells me that I can check in for my flight any time. I guess that means the next trip is getting close. I'll actually drive to Atlanta early tomorrow morning to get on a plane and will do the same thing next week at about the same time. Both are fishing trips that promise great action, the chance to field test some cool gear, and many opportunities to gather photos and story material, but that's where the similarities end.

Tomorrow's travels point me north. I'm flying to Minneapolis and then connecting to Green Bay, where I'll spend three days fishing the spectacular bays that bound Door County, which is located on the peninsula between the Green Bay and Lake Michigan. We'll fish cool, clear, rocky water and target smallmouth bass, walleyes and salmon, and I suspect it will be sweatshirt weather.

Next week's air travel take me south -- way south -- with the first flight going to Dallas and the connecting flight taking me to Mazatlan, Mexico. From Mazatlan, we'll travel by van to Lake El Salto, where big largemouth bass will be the lone target. We'll work timber and vegetation with big lures, and light fishing clothes will be the order of the day. I'll go with sleeves and long pants, but only for the sake of sun protection.

Today's work is a mixed bag of wrapping up writing projects, packing, banking, charging batteries, clearing memory cards and doing the other stuff that will make me ready for travel. Hopefully I'll get to bed at a good time, because the 2:30 a.m. alarm is going to seem pretty early!

Norfork Lake Beckons

Trey Anderson shows off a chunky Norfork
Lake largemouth.

I can't imagine how much time I'd spend fishing in the Arkansas Ozarks were it not for the 650 miles between here and there. As is, the region's beautiful lakes, trout-filled tailwaters and tumbling smallmouth streams lure me a few times every year, and somehow that 12-hour drive doesn't seem that long when I'm Arkansas bound.

Early Tuesday morning, when Nathaniel and I hop in the truck to head for Norfork Lake, it'll already be our second Ozarks excursion of 2014. Last month we enjoyed a wonderful visit at Gaston's White River Resort, and we actually spent one day in the shadows of Norfork Dam so Nathaniel could spent a little time fishing Dry Run Creek.

I'm looking forward to spending a few days at Mockingbird Bay Resort, getting better acquainted with Norfork Lake. It appears opportunities striped bass, largemouths, spots, smallmouths, walleyes and crappie could all be on tap. A classic Ozarks lake -- clear, rocky and spectacularly scenic -- Norfork also serves up outstanding fishing, especially during the spring, when the fish tend to be shallow and active. I've only been out on Norfork a couple of times, so I'm eager to spend more time out there.

Of course, if time allows before or after our Norfork adventure, Nathaniel and I might have to slide just a few miles down the road so he can make a few casts into Dry Run Creek. He turns 16 in a month and a half, so next week likely marks his final opportunity to fish this fabulous youth-only trout stream.

After we leave Norfork we'll slip down to Mountain View for a day, and Nathaniel will trade his fishing rod for an instrument and will compete in the Southern Regional Mountain Dulcimer Championship at the Ozark Folk Center. Then we'll cap off our Ozark Adventure with a bit of floating and wading in the Spring River for smallmouths, trout and more before beginning our journey toward home.

Should be quite a week of fishing. Watch for reports and photos here, on my facebook fishing page, on Twitter and now on Instagram.

Five in the Books

My 2014 fish list got a nice kick start during last week's ice fishing adventures in Pennsylvania, with five species tallied. The bright-colored pumpkinseeds were probably my favorite addition simply because that's not a kind of fish I always encounter. None last year, I know. The others -- bluegill, black crappie, yellow perch and rainbow trout -- were all on last year's list and are all species I normally stumble across over the course of the year.

Next weekend's plans take me to Alabama's Black Belt Region, where a largemouth bass and maybe another species are two are likely to be added to the 2014 list. (Trip, which begins on Thursday afternoon, is actually a "Cast & Blast" event, but ducks or deer don't go on the fish list.) Word has it that a seriously big bass is a definite possibility in small lakes I will be fishing, so stay tuned!

Toledo Bend Giants

I did a lot of dreaming today as I spoke with tourism folks and guides about the fishing in different areas, but nothing grabbed my attention quite like the beautiful bass mounts at the Toledo Bend Lake Country table at the opening night dinner of the SEOPA conference. One mount -- the one in the picture above -- is a replica of the lake record largemouth, a 15.33 ounce giant caught in 2000. Looking at a list of the top 100 bass ever entered in the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program, the top 20 on the list all weighed more than 13 pounds.

The Lunker Program, which I just learned about this evening, awards a free replica mount for 10-pound-plus bass caught from the lake and delivered in good condition to one of a handful of official program weigh sites, where fish are weighed and tagged before being returned to the lake. Last year, a record 57 mounts were awarded. Over the years, more than 500 fish have been recognized as Toledo Bend Lunker Bass.

Because the fish are tagged, biologists are able to learn more about the big fish's movements, and sometimes the same fish are caught again. The replicas mounts are all given out in May during the McDonald's Big Bass Splash, a huge annual amateur bass tournament.

Toledo Bend is one of those really legendary fishing destinations that I've yet to visit. Someday!

Slow Start to Fishing Year

By the time March rolled around last year, my list of species I had caught in 2012 had already hit a baker's dozen. Five days into March 2013, that total languishes at three species: brown trout, rainbow trout and largemouth bass. Part of the big difference comes from the simple fact that I haven't gone on any late-ice trips this year. Catches from last January and February included eight species that I pulled through the ice during trips to North Dakota and South Dakota. However the bigger truth is that I just haven't had opportunity to spend many days out this year, and when I have, conditions haven't been conducive to catching fish.

Nathaniel and I leave for one of our favorite fishing destinations -- Gaston's White River Resort -- on Monday morning, and I'm confident we'll catch plenty of fish, rain or shine. Somewhat ironically, in terms of my fish list, is that the two most likely fish to catch there are rainbow trout and brown trout, which are two of the three species that are already on my list. Of course, if we walk to the Gaston's pond, there's a good chance we'll catch a largemouth bass or two. Oh yeah. That's the other fish that's already on the list!

First of '13

Well, it occurred almost three weeks later than I woould have preferred, and I can't claim that it was a very impressive fish, but I'm glad to report that I've finally caught my first fish of 2013. Fish No. 1 (and No. 2, which came on the next cast) were small largemouth bass caught from the bank of a nearby ponds during a short afternoon outing with Nathaniel. Both hit a Bobby Garland Stroll'R fished on a Natural Science Road Runner head. Nathaniel caught one fish, which was a little bigger than mine, on a weightless YUM Dinger.

 

My best guess is that species No. 2 on my 2013 fish list will be a trout. The forecast for the next few day looks good, and the rivers should be settled enough in a day or two for the trout to cooperate. I'm pretty sure that Nathaniel and I will find our way to the North Carolina mountains one day next week to catch some trout.

2012 Species List

For no reason other than fun and curiosity, I decided that this year I would keep try to keep track of all the different species of fish I catch. I say try because I could forget for a while (although I will seek to stay updated) and then miss something as I'm thinking back. I might also catch a sunfish or something else that I can't positively identify by species.

It' easy so far: blue catfish, black crappie & largemouth bass. Come Monday, I hope to expand with a few more northerly species as I'll be fishing in North Dakota.

Maybe some day I'll try to compile a life list, sort of like birders do. I'd miss a few, I'm sure, for the same reasons listed above magnified by four decades of fishing. It would be kind of cool to have such a list compiled, though, and to officially add to my life list when I catch some kind of fish for the first time. In February, I might have the chance to catch a splake, which would be a definite first, and I have to think I'll catch something for the first time in Costa Rica in March. If I do ever get such a tally compiled, I'll blog about my findings.

Summer Break Bass

My nephew Jerred sent me a phone photo of this 5-pound largemouth bass he caught yesterday. That's what I call a summer day well spent. Congratulations, Jerred, on a great fish, and thank you for sharing the photo.

A Few Inches Deeper

"I'm not hitting any cover," Nathaniel said, having been thinking about my comment from a few minutes earlier that most strikes were coming after I felt my crankbait bump off a stump.

I'd caught four bass and lost another in pretty short order since Doug Markham had figured out that the bass were using a shallow, stump-covered flat and that they were tuned into crankbaits. Nathaniel was throwing an XCalibur Square Lip Xcs2, just like I was, and was making the same presentations over the same stumps, but so far he'd not had a strike.

Then it hit me. His baitcaster was spooled with 17-pound-test. The one I was fishing was spooled with 10. The lighter line was allowing my bait to go just a tiny bit deeper, and in that specific setting, that gave me just enough depth to hit the tops of the stumps and trigger strikes. Nathaniel didn't want to trade rods with me, and it was too late in the day for a total overhaul. He did pick up a rod that was spooled with 14-pound-test, though, and even that difference allowed him to hit a little bit of cover. Just a few minutes later he was in the game with a bass of his own.

Little things can make a big difference some days, and yesterday was one such day.