Saturday, September 17, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Things That Can Go Wrong Wading Indiana Streams
So you want to catch smallmouth bass in Indiana? A little afraid of what might happen when you get down in the creek or river valley?
Fret not, here is a list of things that might happen to you.
1 Dehydration
2 Broken rod
3 Broken/bound reel
4 Gravel sand in your shoes
5 Stinging nettles
6 Poison ivy- no immediate effect
7 Beaver traps
8 Barbed wire fences strung across the creek or eroded off a bank strung amongst river structure
9 Sore ankles/knees from walking on river rock
10 Worn out from walking on sand.
11 Break a shoelace.
12 Spring a leak in your waders
13 Landowner confrontation
14 ATV's in the river or creek
15 Hunters
16 Shooting practice-stray bullet/arrow
17 Darkness
18 Rain
19 Snow
20 High wind
21 Falling branches
22 Hook yourself
23 Sweat or other substance (bug spray) in eyes
24 Lose car keys
25 No cell phone service
26 Lost
27 Run out of fishing line
28 Cold
29 Hot
30 Cuts from brush/ handling fish
31 Rabid dog/raccoon, etc...
32 Territorial dog
33 Slips, trips and falls
34 Infection from water
35 Bathroom use
36 Bad fishing
37 Expensive lure in tree
38 Path blocked by log jam, thick thicket, fence, etc...
39 Water too deep to circumvent
40 Spider bite, snake bite, etc...
41 Hunger
42 Heat exhaustion
43 Allergies
44 K-bar jutting out from rip rap
45 Rock slide, mude slide, bank collapse
46 Inadequate foot gear leading to loss in comfort or ease of travel
47 Running out of the 'hot' lure of the moment
48 Conservation officer
49 Vines tripping you wearing you out
50 Stepping in an animal carcass, smell an animal carcass
51 Annoying locals- noisy, punks, aggressive, etc...
52 Ticks
53 Leeches
So as you can see, no reason to leave the house!
Fret not, here is a list of things that might happen to you.
1 Dehydration
2 Broken rod
3 Broken/bound reel
4 Gravel sand in your shoes
5 Stinging nettles
6 Poison ivy- no immediate effect
7 Beaver traps
8 Barbed wire fences strung across the creek or eroded off a bank strung amongst river structure
9 Sore ankles/knees from walking on river rock
10 Worn out from walking on sand.
11 Break a shoelace.
12 Spring a leak in your waders
13 Landowner confrontation
14 ATV's in the river or creek
15 Hunters
16 Shooting practice-stray bullet/arrow
17 Darkness
18 Rain
19 Snow
20 High wind
21 Falling branches
22 Hook yourself
23 Sweat or other substance (bug spray) in eyes
24 Lose car keys
25 No cell phone service
26 Lost
27 Run out of fishing line
28 Cold
29 Hot
30 Cuts from brush/ handling fish
31 Rabid dog/raccoon, etc...
32 Territorial dog
33 Slips, trips and falls
34 Infection from water
35 Bathroom use
36 Bad fishing
37 Expensive lure in tree
38 Path blocked by log jam, thick thicket, fence, etc...
39 Water too deep to circumvent
40 Spider bite, snake bite, etc...
41 Hunger
42 Heat exhaustion
43 Allergies
44 K-bar jutting out from rip rap
45 Rock slide, mude slide, bank collapse
46 Inadequate foot gear leading to loss in comfort or ease of travel
47 Running out of the 'hot' lure of the moment
48 Conservation officer
49 Vines tripping you wearing you out
50 Stepping in an animal carcass, smell an animal carcass
51 Annoying locals- noisy, punks, aggressive, etc...
52 Ticks
53 Leeches
So as you can see, no reason to leave the house!
2011 INSA Camp and FIsh 8/26-8/28/11
Indiana Smallmouth Alliance has a tradition of putting on a Camp and Fish event each year. This year we were at Tippecanoe State Park near Winamac, IN August 26-28th. Thursday to Sunday. Lots of great times, yummy food, and new favorite lawn game "Kubb Spiel". We had 15 attendees this year.
Fishing:
Andy got 9 Northern Pike on a wade Thursday
Weird stream. You can see down 4-5' in direct light with perfect clarity, yet would have a hard time making much out due tothe dark brown and yellow bottom. All they would hit really were 5" flukes.
Multi species day SMB, pike, googs, crappie. We ended with about 16 SMB, 10 Northerns, 5 Rock Bass, and a crappie. biggest smallie below, 14". Lots of slaps on the fluke which were 8-10" smb. Probably would have cleaned up with a 3" fluke.
Zach M and I did a wade on Friday, driving about 35 minutes south to fish a creek there. Big difference instead of swamp and wood we had rock and silt no flow. Tubes and grubs we had 33 SMB biggest 3 16.5", 15.5", couple 14"'s.
Saturday MC and I floated the Tippecanoe river down south. Dead sea for 4 hours, but we knew it would be a PM bite on a sunny day. Fish went absolutely nuts for 2-3 hours and we paddled out in the middle of the frenzy to finish the 9 miles before dark. Too long of a float to ever finish and we left a lot of fish behind in the hour+ of paddling. Action was great. Nailing a lucky craft splashtail 90 again and again. Fun. Topwater. Can't beat it.
53 SMB/2 LMB/2 KY 1 sauger. Wakecrank then LC SPT 90. Biggest 19.5" then a 15".
Fishing:
Andy got 9 Northern Pike on a wade Thursday
Weird stream. You can see down 4-5' in direct light with perfect clarity, yet would have a hard time making much out due tothe dark brown and yellow bottom. All they would hit really were 5" flukes.
Multi species day SMB, pike, googs, crappie. We ended with about 16 SMB, 10 Northerns, 5 Rock Bass, and a crappie. biggest smallie below, 14". Lots of slaps on the fluke which were 8-10" smb. Probably would have cleaned up with a 3" fluke.
Zach M and I did a wade on Friday, driving about 35 minutes south to fish a creek there. Big difference instead of swamp and wood we had rock and silt no flow. Tubes and grubs we had 33 SMB biggest 3 16.5", 15.5", couple 14"'s.
Saturday MC and I floated the Tippecanoe river down south. Dead sea for 4 hours, but we knew it would be a PM bite on a sunny day. Fish went absolutely nuts for 2-3 hours and we paddled out in the middle of the frenzy to finish the 9 miles before dark. Too long of a float to ever finish and we left a lot of fish behind in the hour+ of paddling. Action was great. Nailing a lucky craft splashtail 90 again and again. Fun. Topwater. Can't beat it.
53 SMB/2 LMB/2 KY 1 sauger. Wakecrank then LC SPT 90. Biggest 19.5" then a 15".
The Birds and the Bass 9/13/11
Got on the water by 9am this morning. Haven't been this way in a month at least. Not much flow and lots of leaves on the slow pools made them hard to fish.
Got 10 on the found spinnerbait in the AM before the bite died off. Then a couple on fluke, then that was useless for a long time. Fish were there. Been on this stretch earlier this year with Brett. Wood ducks here and there, maybe a turtle, some vultures- then....
Redtailed Hawk. Was about 30' from me up in a tree. Never been that close without being in a car or kayak.
I threw shakey head french fry and pulled this 17"+ er off a deep rootwad. Chunky.
Next cast, a bass about 15-16" yanked my french fry. I only had one left and the seemed to want it if you let it sit in likely places. later a 15" from deep in wood. Then I lost the other worm out of my pocket after doing everything to keep it together- matches- reforming the tear etc. I was halfway through the wade. Nothing was working and I was halfway through the wade when I decided to run and gun a buzzbait and get out of dodge. Predictable results.
Burning the buzzbait as fast as I can was one thing I haven't done recently. It worked. First cat, this 17" fish and then another a couple later:
Found this fresh dead Wood duck-I guess it was dead didn't poke it. Great actor if it was faking.
Highlighted by this 19" chunk in the same spot Brett missed several fish way back in the day. It initially missed a buzzbait, but I threw a fluke in and it got nailed. What a fight and 17" followed him in. Turned and fired up the other creek branch and nailed another 15" on BB.
Got done at 5.
25 SMB (19", 17.25", 17", 4-15") green sunfish, shiner, chub, Goog in about 8 hours
Got 10 on the found spinnerbait in the AM before the bite died off. Then a couple on fluke, then that was useless for a long time. Fish were there. Been on this stretch earlier this year with Brett. Wood ducks here and there, maybe a turtle, some vultures- then....
Redtailed Hawk. Was about 30' from me up in a tree. Never been that close without being in a car or kayak.
I threw shakey head french fry and pulled this 17"+ er off a deep rootwad. Chunky.
Next cast, a bass about 15-16" yanked my french fry. I only had one left and the seemed to want it if you let it sit in likely places. later a 15" from deep in wood. Then I lost the other worm out of my pocket after doing everything to keep it together- matches- reforming the tear etc. I was halfway through the wade. Nothing was working and I was halfway through the wade when I decided to run and gun a buzzbait and get out of dodge. Predictable results.
Burning the buzzbait as fast as I can was one thing I haven't done recently. It worked. First cat, this 17" fish and then another a couple later:
Found this fresh dead Wood duck-I guess it was dead didn't poke it. Great actor if it was faking.
Buzzbait bite was on.
Highlighted by this 19" chunk in the same spot Brett missed several fish way back in the day. It initially missed a buzzbait, but I threw a fluke in and it got nailed. What a fight and 17" followed him in. Turned and fired up the other creek branch and nailed another 15" on BB.
25 SMB (19", 17.25", 17", 4-15") green sunfish, shiner, chub, Goog in about 8 hours
Friday, September 9, 2011
Now that's different 9/8/11
59 degree air temps, overcast, and a spinnerbait bite.Quite different from running and gunning topwaters just last week in 93 degree temps.
25 SMB in 5.5 hours (18.5", 17", 3-15")
Been a good year.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Techno Minnow Cometh 9/1/11
Several things planned fell through, when that happens, it opens up for FISHING. *Interlude* Can I just say how great it is to have mowed my lawn once in the last two months?
I got to my place via giant golden octopus. Get yourselves one of these. It really helps with bike shuttles and whatnot. Slid down the yellow brick road to the creek and was immediately greeted by a wave of heated butter on my face and other moist parts. I could see out of my sunglasses less than 15 minutes today. No matter. Water was super low and fish were sucking up that breathable stuff.
Stepped a couple feet in and whammo 17"+ on impact. Off. I had returned the Pflueger President XT (blue gold) for the second time in two months. This time I picked up a Shimano Stradic. Smooth, so smooth, casts like a dream. A couple bail closing issues. But so far so very good.
At the first riffle, I must have had 15 strikes. Most missing and losing most of those who did touch the Techno2000. One was another nice bass that was followed by a larger. When I let him swim to try to hook the larger he got off. So there went a 16-17"er. 2 lost already. A bass was causing waves and chasing all over. Threw in and got a 16.99" smallie to hand.
Run and gun to the next bubbly stuff. Big miss. Shallow water. Something told me the fish would hit again since it had completely missed. Did. Green-brown mouth monster with fins. 19.5"
Run and gun to next bubbly. Pick up a dink amoungst many misses. Sucking slaps that wouldn't connect. SUUUUCK. SUUUCCK. SUUUCCCCK. Zilch.
Throw over by rock....KERBLOOOSHUSS!! See fish turn and gone. No more play. Couple more slaps. Run and gun to next bubbly. This is hot like being on the sun. At least there is no water to get in to cool off. 3.5 mile wade+ bike shuttle? Why would you do that?
Dink. I say Dink. Can you give me a dink now? Dink on the hook. SUUUCK. No dink. SUUUUCK. that's a dink, follow?
Then: BOOMSPLASH!!!! -Man and fish are doing the line to mouth below water limbo. Him shaking head and me counterpressuring like a game of chess and his royal pigness aims skyward to launch Techno2000 back into space from whence it came.
Upon landing-
I look close. The FISH HAS NO FACE! Someone has removed one lip, then recently another. Looks alot like the millionairess that keeps having all the work done. It was big though. Tried to get it's better side so as not to humiliate it. 18.5"
A 16" to hand. He was frisky as all creatures with energy and a tendency to wobble can be splashing and swimming back and forth trying to get free from my cruelty. Numbers piled up. I had a choice between branch A and branch B, with branch A typically being loaded with dinks and a 15"er. I went down B. I was tired of the SUUUCKS, which would not connect. It worked. The other way was the meal ticket. A 15" in some push wanted Techno M for dinner. Then a 13" off a rootwad topped off by a long skinny 18.25"
Kept working this normally empty wood along side B and nailed a 15", then a 14" then a dink and another 15". Bass were connecting now as it had passed 5 pm.
Picked this 17" off a rootwad like we used to do back in the day. It too displayed notable frisk.
Kept going picking off a few more 10-13"ers. I was pretty beat and skipped the last pool. Got on Fishbike and headed the 4= miles back to robot car shuttle then home base. Wife had grilled me up tomato mozzerella basil grilled cheese that was off the hook. Actually 2. MVP.
33SMB in 6.5 hours (19.5", 18.5", 18.25", 17", 16.99", 16", 4-15")
I got to my place via giant golden octopus. Get yourselves one of these. It really helps with bike shuttles and whatnot. Slid down the yellow brick road to the creek and was immediately greeted by a wave of heated butter on my face and other moist parts. I could see out of my sunglasses less than 15 minutes today. No matter. Water was super low and fish were sucking up that breathable stuff.
Stepped a couple feet in and whammo 17"+ on impact. Off. I had returned the Pflueger President XT (blue gold) for the second time in two months. This time I picked up a Shimano Stradic. Smooth, so smooth, casts like a dream. A couple bail closing issues. But so far so very good.
At the first riffle, I must have had 15 strikes. Most missing and losing most of those who did touch the Techno2000. One was another nice bass that was followed by a larger. When I let him swim to try to hook the larger he got off. So there went a 16-17"er. 2 lost already. A bass was causing waves and chasing all over. Threw in and got a 16.99" smallie to hand.
Run and gun to the next bubbly stuff. Big miss. Shallow water. Something told me the fish would hit again since it had completely missed. Did. Green-brown mouth monster with fins. 19.5"
Throw over by rock....KERBLOOOSHUSS!! See fish turn and gone. No more play. Couple more slaps. Run and gun to next bubbly. This is hot like being on the sun. At least there is no water to get in to cool off. 3.5 mile wade+ bike shuttle? Why would you do that?
Dink. I say Dink. Can you give me a dink now? Dink on the hook. SUUUCK. No dink. SUUUUCK. that's a dink, follow?
Then: BOOMSPLASH!!!! -Man and fish are doing the line to mouth below water limbo. Him shaking head and me counterpressuring like a game of chess and his royal pigness aims skyward to launch Techno2000 back into space from whence it came.
Upon landing-
I look close. The FISH HAS NO FACE! Someone has removed one lip, then recently another. Looks alot like the millionairess that keeps having all the work done. It was big though. Tried to get it's better side so as not to humiliate it. 18.5"
A 16" to hand. He was frisky as all creatures with energy and a tendency to wobble can be splashing and swimming back and forth trying to get free from my cruelty. Numbers piled up. I had a choice between branch A and branch B, with branch A typically being loaded with dinks and a 15"er. I went down B. I was tired of the SUUUCKS, which would not connect. It worked. The other way was the meal ticket. A 15" in some push wanted Techno M for dinner. Then a 13" off a rootwad topped off by a long skinny 18.25"
Kept working this normally empty wood along side B and nailed a 15", then a 14" then a dink and another 15". Bass were connecting now as it had passed 5 pm.
Picked this 17" off a rootwad like we used to do back in the day. It too displayed notable frisk.
Kept going picking off a few more 10-13"ers. I was pretty beat and skipped the last pool. Got on Fishbike and headed the 4= miles back to robot car shuttle then home base. Wife had grilled me up tomato mozzerella basil grilled cheese that was off the hook. Actually 2. MVP.
33SMB in 6.5 hours (19.5", 18.5", 18.25", 17", 16.99", 16", 4-15")
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Around the World in Eleven Wades 8/8/2011
Let me start this by explaining this year I debuted the Indiana Smallmouth Gold Challenge. A non serious competition where INSA members gain Gold points for doing things like fishing with other members, catching smaliies on found lures, fishing multiple streams, volunteering at INSA events, signing up new INSA members or getting old ones to renew, catching two fish on one line, picking up trash, taking kids fishing, fly fishing, fishing wrong handed, fishing after dark, posting entertaining reports etc.
Awarded at next year's Stravaganza will be the Golden Smallmouth. ( A Bigmouth Billy Bass which I intend to airbrush gold and reprogram the music on. Each year one INSA member will hold onto the bragging rights of the Golden Smallie like the Stanley Cup is held.
Left the house shortly after 10:30am with the initial plan of catching a couple pigs or so and getting back for dinner. Then I thought, why not do something different for once?
An idea formed. The mental calculations of my route kept playing in my head like a day's fish count. Over and over correcting itself when a better optioned pined in. Started out as a 5 stream attempt, but as I completed each task, others came in reach and past wades or floats gave me a good idea where to try.
First stop, where a bridge had recently been removed. Jaw dropped. Brown stain and 12" of visibility. Stream historically has very clear water. In fact, you can usually count on it running cleaner than most. Nothing up top. Moved to a spot that has held fish in the past, throwing white chatterbait. It was good to feel a solid connect and nice 15" fish to hand not 10 minutes into the journey!
Next creek, a quick catch on wake crank, then another. Went upstream a bit because there was a fork that had a run come into it. Wanted to see if I could get a quick score at the junction. No dice. Was filled with chubs and shiners. There were holes, but didn't see any smallmouth bass. Got out and caught another on a Sammy on the way back.
On the road, this time some psychedelic Captain Beefheart playing. Abba-Dabba, ZOOM foot- lead shoe rainbow tie-dye maple flavored shoestring!
Then I had to get a LMB, but couldn't let it effect my quest for the 5 stream catch? Maybe I could do more than 5 streams? Dink smallmouth fell to a grub in Wabash and then another in the creek. Score and score. My first ever from the Wabash. Wonder what would happen there at night? Probably some good things.
At this point I had 5 streams. MORE. Go, go , go ! I could get 10 streams (+2 Gp for each stream after 5) and maybe a Grand Slam Plus (Rock Bass, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Kentucky Spotted Bass, and White Bass). Started formulating where I could get a Largemouth bass in a stream in a deep corner of brain... Hunger, hunger for more streams to score in. Going Out West played...
Close to the Tippecanoe river, so added it to the chain of streams, mapping out scores in my mind and had fun adding the points over and over again, but first I'd go hit a small, small flow. Climbed down a sheer mountain side to catch this guy in stream #6:
Annoying little buggers kept slapping and I finally got one of them. Creek had no holes, but great habitat and never 2' of water. Needs jackhammer work to become stellar fishery. One. Out.
This was actually pretty fun despite the lack of fishing and lots of driving. At least I wasn't getting tired and had tunes. Stopped for Arby's. Old school Sabbath for a bit...Then some Bad Seeds.
Tippey was a real test. Got in at 18. First Sammy cast got banged by this nice brown fish:
Then another, bigger:
More aggressive attacks and a huge fish followed the bait to my feet. I had scored and had to leave. The water was incredibly warm and dark brown, but decent clarity. Current was fast in the center and smallies were aggressively feeding in the slow water areas. Wanted to stay so bad, but I was on a mission, pigs be damned!. It was around 6pm.
Off to the next micro stream, #8, got out climbed down behind enemy lines for a quick smallmouth bass CIA mission, wakecrank downstream, 3 quick bass. Water was red orange! Yech. Score. Out. Drive. 630pm.
Goog on tube, thinking Grand Slammage. Got two.
#10 was an easy one. Luck would have it my route took me right past a nice riffle and that is all she wrote with this one eyed 15" I have caught before:
#11 was right down the road and I hit a nice LMB and SMB under the bridge on WC. Must have been having a pow-wow under there. I had hit LMB near this oxbow in the past so I figured it was the best shot for Grand Slam finale, if not I had an area of #10 I could count on for a LMB. Went 16.5 with huge mouth.
The Smallie made me drop all kinds of things in the water scrambling for pic #11. Wiped camera off and saved a couple lures from floating downstream after I relipped her. Went 17.5". Caught another 5 SMB and went home.
11 streams, 5 different Indiana bass, one bag o' garbage collected 56 GCP!
Whew, that is done so now I can get back to normal fishing
Awarded at next year's Stravaganza will be the Golden Smallmouth. ( A Bigmouth Billy Bass which I intend to airbrush gold and reprogram the music on. Each year one INSA member will hold onto the bragging rights of the Golden Smallie like the Stanley Cup is held.
So yesterday I had to put some pressure on the leader by attempting 5 smallmouth out of 5 streams in one day. It evolved....
An idea formed. The mental calculations of my route kept playing in my head like a day's fish count. Over and over correcting itself when a better optioned pined in. Started out as a 5 stream attempt, but as I completed each task, others came in reach and past wades or floats gave me a good idea where to try.
A combination of letters like a cosmic constellation came to mind along the road as NIN blared Industrial Goth: *S>M>K>D>W>R>T>W>L>S>L* or S2W2L2KDRT. I calculated pi and the more or less best route and the quickest spots to pick up a solitary smallmouth from each stream. My goal, destroy INSA Gold Challenge 5 stream challenge. I didn't want the 20 points, I wanted all I could gobble. I would hit forks and tribs, big and small, stop for one cast at a bridge, jump in the brush and hope to get lucky, quick then drive quick with my GPS to the next spot.
First stop, where a bridge had recently been removed. Jaw dropped. Brown stain and 12" of visibility. Stream historically has very clear water. In fact, you can usually count on it running cleaner than most. Nothing up top. Moved to a spot that has held fish in the past, throwing white chatterbait. It was good to feel a solid connect and nice 15" fish to hand not 10 minutes into the journey!
Got in the car and raced off to the next, which was running green stain and very little flow. Vis maybe 14-16". Took a while wading downstream at a new spot, finally found a little turbulence and promptly a 10" smallmouth bass:
Next creek, a quick catch on wake crank, then another. Went upstream a bit because there was a fork that had a run come into it. Wanted to see if I could get a quick score at the junction. No dice. Was filled with chubs and shiners. There were holes, but didn't see any smallmouth bass. Got out and caught another on a Sammy on the way back.
On the road, this time some psychedelic Captain Beefheart playing. Abba-Dabba, ZOOM foot- lead shoe rainbow tie-dye maple flavored shoestring!
Took awhile, but I played a hunch and hit the outlet of one creek and the big W-bash. The creek water was causing a clear mud line. I stood between the 'Y' sticks and was questioning my logic when: several nice smallies took issue to my Sammy, but appeared to be sun shy (pulling away just short). Had one 14" flop off, then caught a 5" spotted bass. Didn't think to get a picture, cause surely I wasn't gonna get a rock bass and LMB, right? Then this guy hit a Sammy. Ooh. 5 Bass Indiana Grand Slam possibilities swirled in my head like dancing sugar plums.Random White Bass! If I could manage all 5 species in a day, I could nab another 15 points.
Then I had to get a LMB, but couldn't let it effect my quest for the 5 stream catch? Maybe I could do more than 5 streams? Dink smallmouth fell to a grub in Wabash and then another in the creek. Score and score. My first ever from the Wabash. Wonder what would happen there at night? Probably some good things.
At this point I had 5 streams. MORE. Go, go , go ! I could get 10 streams (+2 Gp for each stream after 5) and maybe a Grand Slam Plus (Rock Bass, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Kentucky Spotted Bass, and White Bass). Started formulating where I could get a Largemouth bass in a stream in a deep corner of brain... Hunger, hunger for more streams to score in. Going Out West played...
Close to the Tippecanoe river, so added it to the chain of streams, mapping out scores in my mind and had fun adding the points over and over again, but first I'd go hit a small, small flow. Climbed down a sheer mountain side to catch this guy in stream #6:
This was actually pretty fun despite the lack of fishing and lots of driving. At least I wasn't getting tired and had tunes. Stopped for Arby's. Old school Sabbath for a bit...Then some Bad Seeds.
Tippey was a real test. Got in at 18. First Sammy cast got banged by this nice brown fish:
Then another, bigger:
More aggressive attacks and a huge fish followed the bait to my feet. I had scored and had to leave. The water was incredibly warm and dark brown, but decent clarity. Current was fast in the center and smallies were aggressively feeding in the slow water areas. Wanted to stay so bad, but I was on a mission, pigs be damned!. It was around 6pm.
Off to the next micro stream, #8, got out climbed down behind enemy lines for a quick smallmouth bass CIA mission, wakecrank downstream, 3 quick bass. Water was red orange! Yech. Score. Out. Drive. 630pm.
Another Micro after long drive #9 7pm: WC:
#10 was an easy one. Luck would have it my route took me right past a nice riffle and that is all she wrote with this one eyed 15" I have caught before:
#11 was right down the road and I hit a nice LMB and SMB under the bridge on WC. Must have been having a pow-wow under there. I had hit LMB near this oxbow in the past so I figured it was the best shot for Grand Slam finale, if not I had an area of #10 I could count on for a LMB. Went 16.5 with huge mouth.
The Smallie made me drop all kinds of things in the water scrambling for pic #11. Wiped camera off and saved a couple lures from floating downstream after I relipped her. Went 17.5". Caught another 5 SMB and went home.
11 streams, 5 different Indiana bass, one bag o' garbage collected 56 GCP!
Whew, that is done so now I can get back to normal fishing
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Staying Out Late 8/3/2011
Decided to fish on Wednesday pretty late. Swept by Fall Creek to get the 5 streamer Gold Challenge started close to home, casting from the walking path. Several lazy slaps at Sammy and I had to move on, scoreless again.
Avon traffic blows. Called a bunch of you up on the drive. Took forever to get where I was going. Sarah took the GPS to San Diego and my Gazateer was missing the page. Didn't remember which way to the next bridge. When I got to the take out I saw minnows getting busted from up on the bridge. Left the bike thinking I would be right back. I never came back.
Hadn't fished this stretch in 2.5 years. Not much depth to it, bedrock, chip rock, shady cliff to one side and substantial silt in straight aways. Mostly a nice walkway of bedrock the whole wade so ground could really be covered. Ended up going nearly two bridges.
Sammy. Oodles of aggressive, hard fighting bass that would jump insanely high from shallow water. Pretty cool. I feared there might not be any pigs on this hard hit stretch.
Most of the fish were 11-15" on the day. One long stretch where there was nothing. Just weren't any fish there. When the habitat improved, smallies were aggressive
Largest fish on the day was this lump tummied 17" with what looks like a madtom catfish in his gullet. Couldn't have eaten it long ago and was already coming for more!
Brown stuff is the algae I dragged her through during the fight:
Caught my 5th double of the year on a Sammy:
Was really burning the daylight back when I ran into a couple of other guys throwing spinners about 20'. Showed them the Sammy and 7'6" rod I was using. Turns out the guy owns land at the bridge I parked at. He was decrying all the pressure the tiny creek was getting and people removing bass. I was at 53 bass when I met them and promptly in the middle of power walk return trip with Wbz in action. I caught two 12-14"ers immediatley at the push water, doubling up the size of the fish they just caught and probably giving them an "aha" moment. Always good to be nice to land owners to get that friendly treatment.
On the power walk back, I picked up a few nice fish tossing buzzbait after the sun had gone down and the headlamp came out. The last 15"er of the day in the black.
56 SMB in 6.5 hours (17", 16", 6-15") Wonder what could have been if I had hit big fish water...
Avon traffic blows. Called a bunch of you up on the drive. Took forever to get where I was going. Sarah took the GPS to San Diego and my Gazateer was missing the page. Didn't remember which way to the next bridge. When I got to the take out I saw minnows getting busted from up on the bridge. Left the bike thinking I would be right back. I never came back.
Hadn't fished this stretch in 2.5 years. Not much depth to it, bedrock, chip rock, shady cliff to one side and substantial silt in straight aways. Mostly a nice walkway of bedrock the whole wade so ground could really be covered. Ended up going nearly two bridges.
Sammy. Oodles of aggressive, hard fighting bass that would jump insanely high from shallow water. Pretty cool. I feared there might not be any pigs on this hard hit stretch.
Most of the fish were 11-15" on the day. One long stretch where there was nothing. Just weren't any fish there. When the habitat improved, smallies were aggressive
Largest fish on the day was this lump tummied 17" with what looks like a madtom catfish in his gullet. Couldn't have eaten it long ago and was already coming for more!
Brown stuff is the algae I dragged her through during the fight:
Caught my 5th double of the year on a Sammy:
Was really burning the daylight back when I ran into a couple of other guys throwing spinners about 20'. Showed them the Sammy and 7'6" rod I was using. Turns out the guy owns land at the bridge I parked at. He was decrying all the pressure the tiny creek was getting and people removing bass. I was at 53 bass when I met them and promptly in the middle of power walk return trip with Wbz in action. I caught two 12-14"ers immediatley at the push water, doubling up the size of the fish they just caught and probably giving them an "aha" moment. Always good to be nice to land owners to get that friendly treatment.
On the power walk back, I picked up a few nice fish tossing buzzbait after the sun had gone down and the headlamp came out. The last 15"er of the day in the black.
56 SMB in 6.5 hours (17", 16", 6-15") Wonder what could have been if I had hit big fish water...
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