Guys n gals, hope you’re all really enjoying your work day today.
I thought I’d jump on here and give you a little trip report to help get you through the afternoon. (sorry for such a long post)
I just spent my lunch hour fishing a beautiful stretch of Big Walnut River here in the Columbus area. This was only the second time I’ve fished the river in this section. It is incredibly fishy looking and is surprising clear for this river with tons of structure and cover for fish with some great riffles. The first time I was there I was skunked while fishing picture perfect water, but I did see TONS of big crawdads. This time, I fished an F.S Cray I tied for a previous swap I was supposed to participate in, underneath a foam frog I tied this past weekend.
I stepped up to the water’s edge and tossed my flies in so I could situate myself and strip some line out. I just happened to look up in time to see my frog being drug under the water. I quickly set the hook on a very fat, very thick sunfish that probably measured around 9-10 inches!! He was after a big meal of a crayfish on size 6 hook!
Afterwards I missed a very viscious hit right under my nose on the frog from little smallie, then caught a vibrant sunfish that looked like it was a bluegill, green gill, sunfish, smallie hybrid. It was a mutt if I’ve ever seen one, but it was gorgeous. (sounds like the redbreast sunfish I just read about from ronp).
I moved up stream a little to some faster moving water framed by extremely tight cover and structure. I’ve never seen a fishier piece of water! I worked it hard and hadn’t had a single hit, but I saw a very dark, very big shadow chasing a little baitfish cruising near the surface of the water. I tied on a brown over orange clouser minnow and went at it.
I was already late getting back to work, so I told myself I could have one last cast after several with no hits. I launched my flies out into the current with a roll cast and finally hooked something right near shore. After a brief fight I saw what I thought was either a crappie or a white bass (I’m thinking crappie) that was a very decent fish. My rod tip got tangled in the trees above me and lost him before I could handle him.
You know how it goes. One more cast after you’ve caught a fish turns into “well, I caught a fish, so I have to give it one more cast.” I finally landed my flies underneath a big over hanging tree trunk and gave it the same presentation I had used before. Just where I saw the dark shadow streaking out before, my frog was violently yanked under and I knew I either had a snag or the fight was on. I pulled hard and it pulled hard back. I’ve never had a fish put a bend in my 7wt like this one did. I couldn’t help it and audibly let a “HELL YEAH!” fly out. This bruiser made 3 very impressive tail walks and aerial shows and I was surprised to see a LMB on the end of my line. He dove for the tangled mess of tree roots and branches several times and almost suceeded. Thank goodness I’d decided to tie on the 0x tippet! I would never have horsed him out of that muck without it. Finally, I reached down to lip him. After closer examination I discovered he was indeed a small mouth. Red eye, shorter mouth and typical vertical marks overpowered the VERY green color of his scales. This bruiser was every bit of 18 inches and was definitely the biggest SMB I’ve ever caught. Boy was he thick!
I reached for my phone to take a picture only to remember that I’d left it in the truck knowing that it would proably get wet. Sorry guys. It pains me to say I have no photo. However, he swam away with as much vigor as he did coming to hand, so I’ll be back tomorrow for round #2.
I sure hope you guys can all get out and enjoy the weather this week. The fish sure seem to be enjoying it here in the Island Nation 
