[JasonN]

Fished Axehead Lake from 6:15pm to 7:25pm. Mostly cloudy; rain possible; little wind.

Figured it would be a great night and quickly found it to not be so. Used my always popular Axehead technique of 3" Slug-go's above the weeds.

Started off along the northern shoreline and nothing! I was getting concerned - haven't been skunked anywhere in 10 outings!

Finally got around past the south bay by the "beach" area which has received some of the shoreline work. Saw some bass and they wanted nothing to do with a red Slug-go. Switched to white - nothing. Switched to Pepper flake and that did the trick. Caught a total of 5 bass, biggest was 11"

Then I caught this fish...

The eyes were "a bit" red and the mouth, when closed did NOT extend past the center of the eye. I think it's a smallmouth bass but i've seen many young largemouth bass that were tough to ID.

So what do you all think? I'm thinking smallie but I need input here.

 

[toothdoc]

Looks like a smallie to me.

 

[MrB]

definitely a smallie, now I believe there is smallies in there

 

[midwestmuskyhunter]

i would say smallmouth...

 

[coyote]

No doubt its a smallie, thats a good sign maybe a bigger one one of these days.

 

[twoglasseyes]

Cool!

 

[NPIKE]

Nice job going 10 for 10...
I also have trouble I.D.ing the smaller bass ..

NPIKE

 

[twoglasseyes]

Does anyone know where to get stocking info on the fpdcc lakes? I have been looking and cant find any serious stuff. I cant even find anything that says theres smallmouth in belleau, but there are, right?
Just wondering.

 

[pezdek1]

definately a smallie

 

[Augy]

:shock: smalleville!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Culprit]

nice job Jay,finally proof of smallies !

 

[JasonN]

Does anyone know where to get stocking info on the fpdcc lakes? I have been looking and cant find any serious stuff. I cant even find anything that says theres smallmouth in belleau, but there are, right?
Just wondering.

I've got stocking info Rudy. I'll post it later tonight.

 

[Islandfisher]

That's awesome that you got a smallie out of axehead, way to go!

 

[Islandfisher]

I just looked up the smallmouth stocking info for Axehead, however the info is only between the years of 2000 and 2005.

2000 - 1,750 SM fingerling

2001 - 1,750 SM 2"

2003 - 1,800 SM 1.75"

2005 - 1,750 SM 2"

Let's see some more local smallies!

 

[pezdek1]

well you can bet if there's one in there that big there's definately one in there bigger hmmm 5 years worth of stocking fingerlings... the 7 year fish should be... between 15-18 inches Might be some monster smallies in that water!!!

 

[toothdoc]

I doubt if there are any monsters in there yet. I'm sure that Jnap will chime in on this, but I know that smallies grow a lot slower than LMB. I want to say that it is something like 1 inch/year. Anyway it is nice to see one actually caught there.

 

[pezdek1]

5 year old SMB will be around 12-14 inches. anything in the 18-22 inch range will be 9 or more years old. we know they've been stocking them since 2000? that would make it 7 years worth of growing for the first fingerlings to be put in there, which would make it... around 15-18 inches in length for the 7 year fish, and that's if they first stocked them in 2000, they could have before that.

 

[ClancyWiggum]

Of course this all assumes the fingerlings weren't eaten first or that the smallmouth weren't taken from the lake after gaining legal length. With a slower growth rate than largemouth it is possible many of these baby bass were eaten already. It is good to know though that at least one has survived so far :mrgreen:

 

[JasonN]

Well that little fish I caught is the first CONFIRMED smallie i've seen taken from there. I've heard others tell me they've caught the occasional smallmouth but it amazes me how many people show me a pic of a "smallmouth" bass they caught and its actually a largemouth.

Nonetheless, I think I may try to target smallmouth bass my next time there. I'm thinking jig/minnow, tube baits, crawfish imitators.

 

[toothdoc]

Targeting smallies sounds like a great plan to me. Now that you have confirmed they are there. 8)