Smallmouth Bass Report for
(Click the thumbnails above for our smallmouth bass slide-show.)
Benny Pearson with a nice North Carolina smallmouth bass caught on July 30, 2001 (click image for full view)
Benny Pearson usually stalks the game-fish and fowl around his home of Lake Charles, LA but booked a day to stalk some North Carolina game-fish with Altamont Anglers while on vacation in Asheville, NC.
The fishing on Saturday, July 30 was fast and furious, according to AA guide Teo Whitlock, but it was a day for numbers, not size. However, it wasn't exclusively numbers, as the pictures of these sizable smallmouth bass prove.
Click any of the thumbnail images that follow for a slide show of the fishing on July 30, 2001:
Mike Browder with a nice largemouth bass caught in the mountains of North Carolina on July 15, 2001 (click image for full view)
Mike Browder normally stalks the wildlife around the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana from his secret fishing and hunting camps. But when the calendar gets around to July he escapes to the cool air of Asheville, NC where he resumes stalking the wildlife with Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock. They don't have smallmouth bass like ours in Louisiana, and we don't have largemouth bass like theirs in our mountains--or so we thought, until Mike caught that one on the right while stalking smallies.
The trout fishing and the smallmouth bass fishing is highly regarded around Asheville, NC, but what's not so widely known is the diversity of our fisheries: add in the musky and striper fishing, and local anglers have more choices than most...
Click any of the thumbnail images that follow for a slide show of the fishing on July 15 and 15, 2001:
Vee Khamphilavong hoisting a hefty smallmouth bass caught on a fly, June 21, 2011 (click image for fullsize view)
Vee Khamphilavong came a long way from his home in Ontario, Canada to have the best day of smallmouth bass fishing in his life (his words, not ours). Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock put Vee in all the right spots for success with the flyrod, and Vee did the rest. We're having some fine smallmouth fishing this June, when we're get an opening between thunderstorms, whether we're fly-rodding for them or using our sneaky spinning and baitcasting rods.
Click the following thumbnail images for a slide show of Vee Khamphilavong's great day of smallmouth bass fishing, June 21, 2011:
Charlie Helm hoisting a hefty smallmouth bass caught on June 23, 2011 (click image for fullsize view)
Charlie Helm, of Jacksonville, Fl, headed north to Asheville, NC for some sightseeing and managed to work a day of bass fishing into the family vacation. Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock took Charlie to one of our favorite stretches of river and, despite the rainy start to the day it looks like it all worked out in the end.
One thing is clear from the photos here: Charlie Helm is a bass-catching machine! Our North Carolina smallmouth bass didn't stand a chance with a team like Charlie and his guide, Teo. Click any of the thumbnail images that follow for a slide show of the fishing on June 23, 2001:
Greg Braunstein hoisting a monster striped bass caught on the Watauga River, May 25, 2011 (click image for full-size)
Greg Braunstein fishes with Altamont Anglers whenever he gets the chance (like this time and this time), escaping the work-a-day world of his medical practice in Florida for the cool, tranquil waters of the Watauga River.
Greg is an avid fly fisherman, as the following photos prove, but is willing to experiment with new techniques, if his guide suggests--and Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock did indeed suggest targeting something other than the Watauga River's trout population.
That giant striper Greg caught wasn't weighed (no scales in the boat!--there will be next time...), but Teo says it felt heavier than his 45lb anchor so we're going with 40+ pounds. And--truth in advertising--it wasn't caught on a fly.
Click the thumbnails that follow for a slideshow of Greg Braunstein fly fishing the Watauga River on May 24 & 25, 2011:
Tim Fischer with a French Broad River muskie, April 13, 2011 (click image)
Altamont Anglers fishing buddies Tim Fischer and Brad Bohen drove down from their home waters in Wisconsin for a week or so of Southern hospitality, in the form of our warmer waters.
Tim and are hardcore musky hunters, working with Musky Country Outfitters in Hayward, Wisconsin. But they also like their smallmouth bass, as you'll see by clicking the thumbnails that follow.
That musky on the left--which measured 42"--was caught on the French Broad River by Tim on a sack of feathers roped onto a tandem pair of hooks by Tim (a pattern designed by Brad Bohen called the Double Beauford). The fly was thrown by a 10-weight fly rod on a 350 grain sinking flyline--and don't forget the 80lb Fluorocarbon tippet on your leader, or suffer the teeth!
Click the thumbnails for larger views of some Southern smallmouth success enjoyed by Tim and Brad:
Teo holds a fat smallmouth bass caught by Tom Taylor on April 3, 2011 (click image to enlarge).
We have Tom Taylor's wife to thank for his discovery of Altamont Anglers services: she bought him a gift certificate a while back, and he's been coming back for more.
Tom's first visit was in search of trout, but on April 3 and 3 he mounted a campaign against our smallmouth bass. Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock knows where they are, and he and Tom teamed up to teach the smallies a lesson or two.
Click the thumbnails that follow for larger views of a bunch of North Carolina smallmouth bass caught by Tom Taylor in early April, 2011:
Tom Martin with a fat smallmouth bass on March 23, 2011 (click for bigger view).
Tom Martin, aka the Dapper Angler, loves to chase the smallies with Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock, and on March 23 Tom brought his fishing buddy Blake Puryear over for some fly fishing lessons.
Clicking on the thumbnails that follow, to enlarge the images, doesn't reveal much evidence of fly fishing lessons, but it sure does reveal evidence of some great smallmouth bass catching, early Spring style.
Jay Dodd with a double-handfull of hefty smallmouth bass caught on March 2, 2011 (click image for larger view)
Altamont Anglers guides Teo Whitlock and Jay Dodd took a little time off on Wednesday, March 2, to test the smallmouth waters. They found the waters to be welcoming, as that photo on the left attests. Jay's holding the double that he and Teo hooked up to start the day off right!
Water temps right around 48° have prompted the pre-spawn behavior by the smallmouth bass, which means they're on a big feed to take on protein before the spawning begins.
Once water temps get up to the mid-50's the spawn will be on and the fishing will be off until their finished, so we should have a few more weeks of good fishing ahead of us. Click the thumbs below for larger views of the fishing on March 2, 2011:
Teo Whitlock with a big smallmouth bass caught on September 20, 2010 (click image for larger view)
You might notice something odd about that picture: it took 2 photos to get the whole fish! We combined the 2 pictures of the one fish to share the whole fish with you.
Debbie Griffith hefting a real hog of a smallmouth bass, July 19, 2010 (click to enlarge)
Carl Hoffman with a hefty smallmouth bass caught on March 27, 2010(click image to enlarge).
Andy Squires, with a fine smallmouth bass caught on March 9, 2010(click image to enlarge).
Altamont Anglers guides Teo Whitlock and Forest Marshall teamed up with Andy Squires for an early-season outing on March 9, 2010, and that beautiful, back-lit smallie being held by Andy here was but one of many excellent bass boated and released. Click the thumbnails below for more of the fishing on March 9, and then scroll down for the fishing on March 12 and March 16...
Teo holds a great smallmouth bass caught by Scott on March 12, 2010(click image to enlarge).
Teo and Andy, joined by their buddy Scott, returned for some more of that great smallmouth bass action. The weather wasn't so nice in morning, though it cleared and warmed a bit in the afternoon, but the fishing was at least as good!
And, like pinching yourself to make sure it's not all a dream, Teo headed back with his fishing buddy Tim Fischer as a witness. Tim hails from Wisconsin, and is an avid Musky and smallmouth angler who was impressed by our southern beauties. Click the thumbnails below to see how impressive the fishing was on March 12 and 16, 2010...
(Altamont Anglers operates on Pisgah National Forest Rivers under USDA Forest Service Permit #PIS6560)
