Anyone still chasing bronze? I have a never fished '79 model FF806 Fenwick fiberglass rod that needs a rightful break-in. Think I am going to try a small east Tennesse river tomorrow to get my fix. Anyone else getting in on any smallmouth action?
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I just got back from fishing the Maumee River in Ohio. I was at a conference and went up two days early to fish before my meeting. The river is really low and a northerner hit the day I fished but still managed to catch one nice smallie on a Couser-like pattern I tied with yellow and orange bucktail. Other than that it was reallly slow. Saw only one other flyfisher the entire day. He was a native and got skunked, so I felt better after that.
Normally the smallies in this area are putting on the feed bag in preparation for winter at this time of the year. However heavy rains and the resulting runoff has kept the river unfishable for the past 10-12 days. Will try in a couple of days but this summer has been slow as high waters much of the summer has put more minnows in the river than I have ever seen. The result is fish that can find food anytime and that means my offerings aren’t as appealing as normal. I keep working for the one great day that makes my season.:neutral:
Wow, wish we had some of your rain. It’s been really dry here in Kentucky.
Evidently it’s been dry in Ohio as well.
Fished my river last evening. (See earlier post on this thread) Even after two weeks of no rain the river was 12-24 inches higher than normal. Water was clear but running very hard and I was unable to get my weighted clousers and woolies on the bottom…thus getting skunked. My ultra-light spin fishin’ buddy got four at about 12" each but at this time of the year we are looking for the big fish. Probably head out this weekend as the number of fishing days are getting limited. It was a beautiful evening on the stream and was visited by a golden eagle twice:D.
in all honesty, in my neck of the woods, fishing really gets going around now. I’ll be fishing all next week with a couple of old fly rods I’ve inherited from my grandfather. The suspense is killing me… Honest to god, the blood pressure is through the roof in anticipation.
Turvy, did you try a sink line? That’s practically all I use anymore when fishing fast moving rivers. Those lines, while a little more difficult to cast, will really keep your flies down in fast moving water.
I haven’t fished with sinking line and have thought about it, but getting my flies to the bottom of this river is only a problem a few days a year. Some of the holes I normally fish are not fishable even now because I can’t wade out far enough out to get a cast to the best water. It’s just something I put up with. It’s a great piece of water 85% of the time. I also have some slower water holes for high water times but didn’t have the time to hike in, fish and hike out Tuesday evening. If I could find a sinking tip line at the right price I would think hard about buying it.