Warm water plethora...

[Poke 'Em]

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.



Then a beautiful longear right after that.



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.



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.)

[crappiecrazy]

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

[James Smith]

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

Jim Smith

[Eight Thumbs]

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

Jim Smith

Hi Jim,

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

[Poke 'Em]

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.

[Wingsdlc]

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

[FishnDave]

Sweet fish!

[Bluegill222]

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

[sharps]

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

[Icemanxxxv]

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