Headwaters

I had an appointment near the river’s headwaters so I decided to fish for a couple of hours before I went to the appointment.  The river here is narrow and shallow, and the fish were pretty small for the most part.  On the first drift I had a dink smallmouth on and off.  I proceeded to catch several small chubs and dink smallmouth.  I worked down river to a point where the water was too deep for me to wade (or so I thought).  I turned around and fished upstream over the water I just fished and further up until I got stopped by an impassable log jam. I was wearing shorts and didn’t want to go bushwacking without long pants.  So I went back down river to the spot where it got too deep to wade, and found a shallow spot on the far bank that allowed me to pass.  I fished the rocky area where the bottom dropped off and caught a respectable smallmouth.  I continued to work a deadfall near the rocks and caught another decent smallmouth.  These were the first two fish that were big enough to fish for.  All the other were the size of baitfish.  It was cool to explore this new water, but the fishing was not great.  I doubt I’ll go back to this spot because the fish were so small, and it was close quarters; I lost several flies to the trees and submerged wood.

Staying cool on a hot night...

I fished on Tuesday night after work for a few hours. The sky was gray, there was a threat of rain and it was hot and humid. I went to a good steelhead spot and thought I’d find some good smallmouth fishing. I was wrong. I did manage to catch two fish, but I expected it to be much better than it was. I’m not sure why. I suspect that the invading steelhead eat many of the juvenile bass so it seems the bass population is poor in the area as a result. The first fish I caught was average sized. I caught the fish next to a downfall on the edge of a run. The second fish I caught was a good sized fish. This fish was hanging out in the slack water between two faster currents right on the seam. As the fly was sinking the fish crushed it shortly after it hit the surface. It was a nice evening on the river. There is no better way to stay cool on a hot night than to slip on a pair of shorts and chase river bass!

Falls...

If you look closely you can see the mist rising off the water that above the falls.  The sun was peeking through the trees as it came up.  It was picture perfect .

I haven’t had the chance to get out since I finished school because I’ve been catching up at work. I was going to fish yesterday morning, but I was lazy and didn’t get up early enough to go. This morning I was on the river by 6:30am. I went to a part of the river that runs right through the middle of town. There are three natural waterfalls on this stretch of the river. I fished each of them and caught fish below each one. The water was a little cloudy today from last night’s rain, but the fishing was decent anyway. I caught some nice smallmouth today and I caught the largest creek chub I have ever caught, it was 14” long and was as thick as a coke can. The first smallmouth I caught was a little larger than average. The rest were above average to large. I took a picture of the first bass and the biggest bass. I didn’t even take a picture of the world’s largest creek chub. No dinks today. It was a nice morning on the river.

Sight fishing for carp

I was up at 5:30am and out the door by a quarter to six.  I fished in a normal summer location near my house.  It rained yesterday so the river was dirty.  Visibility was not that good.  I caught a smallmouth right off the bat.  It was a dinky fish, but it was a real survivor.  This fish had survivied some kind of attack by a predidtor; a blue heron or a hawk, some kind of piscavoir.  It had a huge gash on its belly.  I took a picture because it was pretty remarkable that this fish was alive and agressively eating.  The morning dragged on and a caught a few more average sized smallmouth.  As I was casting twords the far bank in search of the next smallie, I saw a carp tailing in the shallows about 20 yards down stream of me on the same side of the stream I was on.  I got down on my knees and made a perfect cast placing a crafish fly about a foot in front of the tailing carp.  I gave the fly a twitch or two and the carp took an interest, it swam over and sucked up the fly.  I set the hook and it was on!!  The fish tured tail and tore off down stream ripping line off the reel as it went.  I got up and ran down stream chasing the fish.  The fish swam under some low hanging branches that I got hung up in for a moment.  As I was dealing with the trees the fish kept on going.  Once I freed myself from the trees, I continued to chase the fish down.  At this point it had taken me into the backing.  The river had widended giving me a good chance to put the breaks on the fish inorder to bring it in.  I turned it and worked it back to me.  I landed the fish for the obligitory photo.  Man, that was awsome!!  It's so hard to catch a tailing carp.  They spook so easliy and you have to place the cast with the percision of a sharpshooter.  Everything came together this morning.  There is nothing like sight fishing for carp.

Somthing took a bite out of this fish

          Lucky to be alive

Into the backing!!!!

Big Bass!!!

It seems that I have established a routine of fishing on the weekends because of school. I fished Friday afternoon after work and man it was tough. The sun was bright, it was hot and there were lots of kids and dogs swimming in the river. I walked downstream from where all the kids were swing and I caught an average smallmouth on a clouser minnow. At lease the skunk was off me. I continued to fish on downstream and fished every nook and cranny of water that looked like it could hold fish. I paid particular attention with the very limited amount of shaded water. I didn’t have another hook up for hours. I fished as far down as I could go; there is a big logjam that prevents me from walking further down river from this spot. I decided to put on a popper and fish my way back covering the same water with a different fly. I fished a shaded bank near a down fall and right in front of where a run slows into a pool. I had already fished the ruin with a clouser minnow, but had not fished the bank or down fall thoroughly yet. On the second or third pop of the bug brought up a huge smallmouth. The fish violently hit the fly, breaching the water on the way up and making a huge splash on the down. I set the hook as I saw it disappear below the surface. The fish leaped out of the water a second time shaking its head and tail-walking across the surface. After the second big jump, the fish turned down river and ran hard. This bass ripped line off my 5 weight reel so fast, I thought it was going to burn out the reel’s drag. This is the first time I’ve had a bass rip line off the reel. I worked the fish side to side and slowly tired it out and worked it in. I beached the fish like I would a steelhead. This fish was a serious player. I took a few pictures and quickly released this beast to fight another day. The fish was at least 18” long and about 4 lbs. Most of the river bass I catch are 10”-12” and about 1 lb. or less. It was a big and old fish. This fish made up for the tough afternoon and the low numbers. If all I had caught was this beast of a bass, I would have been thrilled. It was the fish of the summer. Hell, it was the best smallmouth I’ve ever caught in the river! This was one memorable fish. I cast back to the same spot after I had released the monster bass and hooked into another good bass. The second bass from this spot was not as big as the first, but was an impressive size too. I wound up losing the second big bass. I really didn’t care after catching that beast that made my day.

I fished again on Saturday morning at dawn. I immediately caught a carp, and continued to catch several smallmouth, creek chubs and some rock bass. It was a great morning on the river. It was cool and mist was rising off the water. The fish of the day was a huge rock bass; the biggest rock bass I’ve ever caught. I fished a remote section of river that does not get any angling pressure and is tough to access. It was cool to explore new water. The area I fished did not have the best water; the river was either too shallow to hold fish, or the current was extremely slow. The fishing was not as good as I had hoped it would be.  I really expected some sexy water back in this new streatch of river. Regardless, I managed several good fish. It was a nice way to start the day. By the time I left it had gotten HOT!!! It was time to go. I was glad I got out early while the temperature was comfortable and fish were biting.

Sunday morning on the Grand

I headed to the Grand River Sunday for a morning of fishing. I haven’t fished the Grand in a while and I was hoping it would be a productive morning. I woke up at 6:00am and was packed up and leaving the house by 6:30am with a cup of coffee to go. I arrived at the park at about 7:00am. I got into the woods and the vegetation was out of control. The weeds and bushes were as tall as I am. As I fought my way through the brush the mosquitos were swarming around me. As long as I kept moving quickly they did not have a chance to land and bite me. I walked up river to a spot that I expected would produce some fish, where there is a nice run with a bolder covered bottom. It’s a great steelhead run, but the river has a lot more water during steelhead season. I got there and you could see the bottom clearly. There was nowhere for the fishies to hide. I fished through anyhow and nobody was home, as I expected. I continued up stream and again, I found low water and nobody home. One to the next run… As I arrived at the third run, I saw a bass hugging the bank. The fish shot off into the depths of the run as I walked by. Ok, that was a good sign; at least I saw a fish here. On the second or third cast to into this run, I hooked up with a shiner. At least I wasn’t going home with the skunk. I continued down stream into the pool below the run and I saw bait fish being pushed up. That means one thing, a bass was feeding below. I cast just beyond and ripped the fly through the area where the bait fish were jumping out of the water and bam, fish on! I fought the fish in and I was about to grab it by the jaw when it jumped up at me and threw the hook. I could have caught the fish in my hand it was so close when it threw the hook. I continued to fish and caught my first smallie fo the day on a sculpin patern. Fishing on downstream, I began to work a bolder field that was mid pool; I hopped a crayfish fly across the tops of the rocks and caught another smallie and then a rock bass on a clouser minnow. I was now working my way back toward the car and going over water I had already fished when I pulled out another smallie. I continued fishing, but that was the end of the catching for the day. I expected the fishing to be better than it was. I’m not sure if it was the low clear water, or the fact that I’m not used to fishing such large water for bass, or a little bit of both; regardless, the fishing could have been better. I really had to work for the fish I did catch that morning.