Top Water Action!!

I had the chance to fish Monday night and tonight (Wednesday night). Monday was not so good. The only thing biting was the mosquitoes. Finally just after sunset I hooked a fish. This fish bent the rod over fully indicating to me that it must have been of respectable size. A second or two of fighting this fish and it was gone. I continued to fish hard despite the darkness setting in. Just when I decided to cast one last time before hitting the road, I hooked into another small mouth bass. This fish was on the smaller side, but kept me from going home skunked.

Tonight was a much different experience. It started slow. The water was low and slightly stained, with about 12"-18" of visibility. I started swinging streamers with no luck. I decided to give the hair bugs a try. Now I have never had any success fishing top water flies for bass before. I've read about it, I have some poppers, hair bugs, and divers in my box. I've fished them all before with no luck at all. I tied on a blue and orange hair bug that is meant to be a blue gill imitation. I cast it a few times and striped it in over some boulders, nothing. I moved down stream and cast the fly right below the boulders I had been fishing just before. I stripped the fly in as it swung down stream and wham! In a splash of furry I had a smallie on the line. Now it was a small fish, surprisingly small for the size of the fly. Size didn't matter, I was thrilled to catch this fish on a top water fly. Here is a picture of the fish with a huge fly hanging out of its mouth.

















On the very next cast, I caught a chunky rock bass on the same top water bug. Here is the picture of that fish.















I moved up river and around the bend and began to fish a faster tail out and just missed a good size bass, I know it was a good size because it fully breached the water as it went for the fly! I was too quick to strike and pulled the fly from the bass before it was hooked. I moved up river again to a nice slow moving section that was covered with rocks and boulders on the bottom, the bigger boulders created shallower places and the voids between them created deeper pockets. I cast the same blue gill hair bug down and across and stripped it in. Bam! Another bass! This one was bigger than the last two... The night just kept getting better. Here is a picture of that fish.

















I began to move back towards the access point as it was about 10 minutes until sunset. I saved the hole near the access path for last so I could fish until it was too dark to fish any more and still walk out easily. This time I had a tube jig fly that Jerry Darkes showed me how to tie. I cast the fly into some slack water between two faster currents coming into the channel from opposite directions, just below some large rocks visible from where I was standing. after a strip or two, it was fish on! This was a nice fish, about 15" with big shoulders, it was probably a 2 lb fish, maybe larger. The best fish of the day anyhow. The picture of that fish is below.

















Here is a good shot of the fly of the day, the blue gill hair bug.

Low and clear

I have never seen the river as low as it was today. I checked the USGS flow gauge and it was running at 59 CFM. You could see bottom in even the deepest parts of the river. I expected the fishing to be really tough. I had about an hour to fish, it was between 5:00 and 6:00 so it was still bright and hot out. I started stripping streamers and caught a hefty rock bass. There is a picture below, it's the short and stocky fish. As I continued to fish down river, I started drifting crayfish patterns through a tailout and caught two other rock bass, two creek chubs, and two small mouth bass, one of which was a very respectable fish. There is a pictuire of the smallie below as well. Seven fish in an hours time was some great fishing. A lot better than I expected based on the conditions. It was a surprisingly good outing.

I hit the river Thursday after work and fished until it was too dark to see my line. I went to a usually secluded spot to find a guy fishing with a spinning rod like he was in the bassmaster series. I walked up river past him and politely said hello. I was sort of bummed out to find this guy there, I enjoy the peace and quiet of this spot on the river. I fished all evening to catch only one average sized bass (not picture worthy). Just as I was about to leave, I fished the last riffle near the access trail and caught a nice bass, 16 inches and probably 2.5-3 lbs. I took a picture, it came out reasonably well for being taken in the dark. After releasing the fish I put the headlamp on and walked back to my car. I will post the pic later due to some technical difficulties.

Saturday I helped my sisters move. We finished at about 3:00pm. My special lady was out with her parents so I was sitting around with some time on my hands. Even though it was in the middle of the day, I hit the river. I figured a few hours on the river was better than a few hours sitting at home watching TV. I may have been wrong, it was so hot and muggy outside. The heat was oppressive, but the fishing was awesome, to my surprise. I caught a nice bass on the first or second cast of the day. I thought to myself; it's going to be a great day on the river. I fished up river and caught an awesome fish like an hour or two later. This fish was 17-18 inches and an easy 3 lbs. I took a few pictures of the fish and knelt down in the water to release the fish (unharmed of course) and kerplunk! My camera fell out of my pocket into the water! I grabbed it as soon as it went in, but it was soaked. I took out the battery and opened all trap doors to let water out and air in. So those pics won't be available for a little while, if ever. This camera has gotten soaked before (I fell into the grand last spring) and worked fine after it dried out the last time, we'll see if I get that lucky again.

Yesterday (Sunday) I went out mid day after having brunch with my special lady. Much like Saturday it was really hot and sticky. I was constantly sweating and being beaten down by the sun. I have some funny looking tan lines from my shirt sleeves and gravel guards. I hit a new section of river, it was hard to access and the bottom and long with the water was pretty muddy. I fished hard and hooked one average sized bass below a riffle, I fought the fish, brought it in near shore where the fish wrapped my line around a dead fall near shore, it was just enough leverage to allow the fish to throw the hook. The fish was gone. It was a sporting fight, this time the fish won. I moved by car up river to a better location. I fished all afternoon without so much as a bite. Finally I changed flies and started drifting a small crayfish fly through some medium fast water. I hooked a creek chub or two and kept fishing since this was the most action I'd seen for hours. I thought I snagged and pulled the line to free it, the line pulled back, fish on! This fish fought an awesome fight, it was a beautiful aerial display. I wish someone was with me to take photos of the fight as it was spectacular. I brought the fish to hand and took a good picture with my cell phone's camera. The picture is posted below.

From the river it was time to clean up and head down to Little Italy for lots of pasta and fine Italian deserts at the Feast. It was a hot busy day, but it was a great day filled with awesome bass and the best Italian food in town!

Out with a buddy

I usually fish alone. Yesterday I hit the river with a buddy I met while I was out fishing one day last spring. It was a really nice outing. It was great to have someone to talk to while walking in. We fished about 100 yards apart so it was like fishing alone in that regard. I thought it was nice because I didn't feel distracted like I have in the past when I was out fishing with other people. I actually got to focus on fishing. Now the funny part is that I never seem to do well while out with others, I guess it's some sort of performance anxiety. I hooked and lost two bass, one was of respectable size, the other was a smaller fish. The larger of the two was lost because the hook point on the fly was bent by snagging on something prior to hooking the fish. That made me angry because I usually inspect my flies after a snag and change them if they have been damaged. My buddy, who is a very accomplished fly fisher, caught several fish, a few small bass and a chub or two. I think we both had a great time and expect we'll fish together again sometime. I hope I do a little more catching the next time we hit the water together.

Playing hookie...

I left work a little early yesterday afternoon and headed to the river. I had about two hours to fish, so I was trying to cover the water quickly. I came across a productive spot where I caught a couple of very large chubs (in the 14 inch range), a small mouth, a nice sized rock bass, and a carp. I have pictures of the carp and the rock bass below. For a quick afternoon outing, I was very happy with the fish I caught. The carp put up a hell of a fight. It went on several drag screaming runs and tried to get me all tangled up in the rip rap. I had to run down river after the fish and fight it out into open water to prevent getting all tangled in the rip rap and broken off. This fish was determined not be caught, still running in water so shallow half its body was above the surface. The fly of the day was a small crayfish fly. The same fly caught every fish I caught yesterday.

Could have been better...

I was on the river just as the sun set this evening. There were fish feeding on the surface everywhere around me. I thought it would be a great evening for sure. I caught one creek chub. not too exciting. I thought to my self it will get better. I tried every fly in the box. I stripped streamers and I tried dead drifting crayfish and nymphs. Nothing. Finally just as it got dark, I hooked a nice small mouth. The fish jumped out of the water, looked me in the eye, basically said screw you, and spit the hook at me. That was it for the evening. I hadn't been out in a few days, and may not get out again for a while. Needless to say this was a real disappointing outing.