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| Pretty fish. |
I landed a pair in the 12- to 13-inch range, lost one a
bit bigger, and tangled with probably 10 more smalls from a couple year classes
today. I only had a few hours because I
had to teach tonight, and I am actually spending the day on the Susquehanna
with Kenny on Thursday, so I had no notions about going too hard today. I would have liked to have landed the one
fish that got off, but the fish that opens this post, and another about the
same size, made it worth coming out this morning. I fished from 6:45 to about 11:15 AM, and it
was a slow start. Surprisingly, a dude
was already there when I arrived, and I saw more of them later, maybe three
more. Because dude had not been on the
scene long, I could see him near the access point, so I took a walk below and
fished some water that I only fish once every few trips. It is not prime stuff, so I was not surprised
that I netted only dinks for the first two hours, but I did catch a handful of
fish. I also landed a sad looking
rainbow. From about 9 to 10 AM, I had a
good spurt of better fish, including the two I mentioned before, and then a lot
of work for more smalls. There was one
encounter, as there sometimes is this time of year, but that fish got off
before a photo. I did not stay much past
11 AM when I did not see more bugs or other signs of life. I figured a nap before class was better than
working for more smalls in bright sun and average flows.
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| Pretty creek, bow? |
There were plenty of midges and small caddis. I landed an equal number of fish on a caddis
larva, but the better ones took a size 14 frenchie. I put this on when I saw sulfurs. Sadly the bigger fish pulled free of an 18
walts that was on the dropper tag. I was
just being impatient. I couldn’t see the fish in all the glare, so I couldn’t
tell how big, and I wanted to see. He
just wanted to stay put after barely registering a take on the small bug. What I did that was unwise, especially realizing
he had the small tag, was I changed the angle on him to get him to move, and he
did. Right off the hook. The fish was probably not big enough to get
mad, maybe 15 inches, but I was mad at myself because I was at fault getting
fancy and impatient for the fight to begin.
When I see how big a fish is right away, I am usually more cautious
about bringing the fight to them, unless the cover around is dangerous or
something. This was just a stupid move
because I was mostly blind due to the weird light on the water.
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| A couple year classes of smallsies. |
I was going to make a move to another creek because real
estate here was running out, but instead I worked the same run of pocket water
another time. I landed a few more small
or average fish this time through, and I foul-hooked one in the fin that also
barely took the dropper. I must have
been late and hit him with the anchor fly.
It was just that kind of morning, I guess. Fish would eat, but the buffet has been out
there and warm for a month now, so something different has to spark an
exceptional day, I suppose. More of the
same is more of the same for them too.
Fish were caught, I got some time outdoors before a work night, and I even
got free parking in the City before class, so all in all not a bad day. I am looking forward to a change of pace
tomorrow with young Kenny. A smallmouth
or 50 on spinning gear sounds different enough because god knows I am not going
anywhere near the beach to fish this upcoming weekend!
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| Some b-roll. |
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