Quote Originally Posted by Craig Johnson View Post
bluebasser86,

Were the shells open or closed? Were they live zebra mussels or just the shells? Single shells or still connected to the other half? Sorry for all the questions! If they were live zebra mussels, then more often than not they are firmly attached to the substrate meaning they are rather difficult to pull off. If the shells don't contain a live zebra mussel then they aren't usually attached and can sometimes be found in large piles of loose dead shells which would be really easy to inhale a few while snapping a crawdad off the bottom. If the regurgitated zebra mussels were still alive then the smallies could have been targetting the zebra mussels as they would have to expend some energy to dislodge the attached zeebs from the bottom. Again, sorry for all the questions! I've not seen any sign of the El Dorado smallies eating zeebs so hearing of your trip has my interest!

Great looking smallmouth! I bet those were a BLAST to catch!
Had a mix of all of it, some were half shells, some both halfs and empty, some must have been recently eaten and were still closed. Smallies can clamp down pretty hard for a bass and in areas on Melvern the zebras get stacked on top of each other and are easier to pull loose in clumps. Maybe the bass are starting to recognize those as easy targets? I don't eat smallmouths and this is the first time I've put one in the livewell at Melvern and only did so because it was a tournament so I'm not sure if it's a regular occurance or if I just caught a couple oddballs. Yes, they were both a blast to catch too, the big one went 4.80lbs and won big bass for the tournament.