Warm water plethora...

Tried a new stream today. First cast resulted in a hookup (though a lost fish). Good sign though. It just got better from there.

I had started off throwing a small wiggle minnow, but quickly changed to a baby bass colored Clouser. That's what brought the first fish to hand, a nice 12" (or so) smallie.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2544/...3ca29c2f_b.jpg

Then a beautiful longear right after that.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/...5e8b005d_b.jpg

Caught a few more small fish on the Clouser before I decided to tie on a small crawdad imitation I came up with. Bingo! First cast on that resulted in the biggest fish of the day.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/...f90fce4d_b.jpg

In all I caught two species of bass, 4 species of sunfish and a chub. Probably 30-40 fish in total. Also had a massive carp follow my fly, but never took it.

Oh, and I'll leave you with this guy, who darted out from under a tree to absolutely NAIL a crawdad... When you can see a fish coming for you fly, full steam ahead, from 10 feet away from it... There's nothing better. (The only thing that comes close is the bend he puts in a 3 wt.)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3612/...dca6ca3f_b.jpg

Nice job on the pictures! I loved seeing the different kinds of fish. Glad you had a good day on the water!

Nice fish and nice photos. That longear sunfish has simply stunning coloration! THanks for sharing.

Jim Smith

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James Smith

Nice fish and nice photos. That longear sunfish has simply stunning coloration! THanks for sharing.

Jim Smith

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Hi Jim,

Thanks for identifying the sunfish. That color is absolutely blinding. 8T :)

Upon further review, I believe that the bass in the 3rd pic is actually a Meanmouth Bass, a hybrid of a spotted bass and a smallmouth. I thought it looked a little odd for a Kentucky (spotted) bass (which are common in this stream), and the characteristic tongue patch was smaller and not as rough as you would normally find on a Kentucky bass. So I'm going to go with it being a meanmouth, which would make it the first of that "species" I've ever caught.

Great looking fish. Looks like you had a great time!

Sweet fish! :D

Like brook trout, longears rarely get big, but boyoboy are they pretty little dudes! The smallies ain't bad, either.

Just ain't nuthin' like a smallie fight.....and if longears grew to weigh 5 lbs. you'd need salt water tackle to land one.

Vic

Nice really nice what a great way to start of the 4th of July!