Fiesty Smallie Stream!

[brhoff]

Hit a stream that is new to me but one that I have had my eye on for a couple years...found it to be AWESOME!

This was a pretty small river, only about 20-25 feet across for the most part...water was shallow and about crystal clear.

Got the first 3 fish within 10 minutes and caught all day long.

What I found shocking was the fight of these fish...the first one had me doing a double take, it was only about 8" but fought, jumped and thrashed like crazy....this continued all day!

There were no subtle takes and sippers here...fished mostly top-water and the strikes were sudden, thrashing...all business.

I suppose the skinny, clear water makes compitition for food tough so if they are going to expose themselves, they mean business...these were by far the strongest Smallies I have come across!

Caught scores in the 8-12 range and 6-7 in the 14-15 range.

If you look at the pictues, you'll see greenish pockets...most all those held fish..some of those tiny holes actually held 5-6 fish!

Only took one fish pic...I figure life is tough for these fish so let 'em be.

[turvy]

The stream looks very nice. My favorite may be just slightly bigger with a little quicker water but yours looks promising. Keep looking for those little green pockets, especially in the fall, and you will find out that there are bigger fish than you expected in that stream. Every once in a while I will miss a fish or two but for the most part the smallies on my stream just rip my flies and then I just hang on for dear life...even the big ones! Tight lines.

[BelAirSteve]

Nothing like stream smallies on the surface. My local water is a little smaller than yours, and the smallies top out at about 13 inches, but there are lots in the 9 - 11 inch range. What were you catching them on? I use orange and olive stimulators. If the fish are not looking up, try hanging a pheasant tail in a size 10 or 12 off the back of a hopper or stimulator.

[JohnScott]

brhoff -

That kind of report makes a dedicated trout guy start thinking about .....

Naw, I just can't bring myself to say it. Sorry.

John

[brhoff]

I was using a chartruse Gurgler basically a #4 stinger hook with a kip tail, rubber legs and a foam body...pretty much what I use for Smallies in the summer...they also attract Rock Bass, Large Mouth and 'Gills...it is great being able to target what is hitting throughout the day and use the same fly to go from 18-19" Sammlies down to 2-3 in 'Gills and Rock Bass and everything in between.

John,

This small stream really reminded me of some of the skinny water we used to fish for in Connecticut for smallish trout....I used spin gear back then but the principle was exaclty the same...target these small pockets usually located in the tailing of a riffle.

I can't even explain how smashing the strikes were in this situation, that low clear water really gets them going when they see food and this little river holds some pretty good sized ones as well as the water levels are generally somewhat higher than right now.

I'm sure you could tie up a gurgler or two and try a Smallie stream a county or two over from where your at...you know so no one sees you...BUT they will seem the gleam in your eye as you start to look at those big, gaudy Bass Bugs at the local shop and be careful when you try to slip a spool or two of 1X tippett in with your next order!

[crappiecrazy]

Thanks for the pictures and info. I am going to be on the lookout for some "green" on my next trip to my smallmouth creek. (if it ever clears up). I am new to the creek fishing scene. I fished it a week ago this past Sunday and small LMB and KYs were knocking the fire out of gurgle pops. I guess that is about the same thing as a gurgler???? Thanks again for sharing the tips.
Tom

[brhoff]

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...rglepopfly.jpg

Yup. That is the beast, I use the Gamakatsu #4 Bass stinger and hardly ever miss a fish with the nice wide gap and sharp hook.

Not too sure on the KY Smallie scene...I once spoke in length about the creek fishing down that way with a 40+ year (and I mean year round) Smallie hound and he insisted that the lakes hold much better Smallies...he went on to say due to the higher water temps in the creeks the LM's and Spotted Bass crowd out the Smallies.

NO clue as the the truthfulness of that statement but I'll tell you, the guy knows fishing and knows Kentucky.

[brhoff]

Sorry one more thing to point out Crappie...the second picture is where the green is I refer to...it is a cell pic so not so great but if look you'll see the tail of a riffle on the outside bank...the little 20" area betwen those three rocks held 4 Smallies and 2 Rock Bass that I caught and the bluish green smudge in front of the rocks on the very outside along the bank held another 4 or 5 fish....this stream goes like that for miles...it is really a paint by numbers river for fly fishing.

[crappiecrazy]

Sorry one more thing to point out Crappie...the second picture is where the green is I refer to...it is a cell pic so not so great but if look you'll see the tail of a riffle on the outside bank...the little 20" area betwen those three rocks held 4 Smallies and 2 Rock Bass that I caught and the bluish green smudge in front of the rocks on the very outside along the bank held another 4 or 5 fish....this stream goes like that for miles...it is really a paint by numbers river for fly fishing.

Thanks for the tips!