Been catching a few fish....

[streamerguy1]

It's been a pretty frustrating warmwater season for me so far with inconsistent flows and cooler water temps. The bass fishing(mostly smallmouths for me) has been pretty slow. Even the crappie don't seem to be in their normal summer haunts in my area. Just gotta adapt I guess.... here's a few of my recent catches...

These guys keep getting in the way!!

The carpin' on my favorite local-ish PA tailwater has been very frustrating to say the least. It seems to be at a good level for only a couple days, then we get a ton of rain and they release more water out of the lake! Right now it's over 2000cfs. It fishes best at 250cfs for carp(and smallies). Ughhh..... Though I did take advantage when it was low...

Got into a bunch of bowfin this year. It's been tough overall though with the cooler temps, but when the fishing was good, it was usually really good....

This morning my brother and I got into a few white bass which is always fun.

And this was the catch of the day!!!!! 30 inches on the nose. I doubt I'll ever catch a bigger one(except for maybe Erie). Totally unexpected. I was mainly after musky and I did have a follow from a good fish. Didn't hook up but it's always a rush seeing one check out your fly!!

And now the trophy of the month.........drumroll please.............................

 

[J55tyger88]

Dang homes thats good work by you! Nice fish!

 

[Fishidiot]

Wow! Very nice walleye. We don't see many walleye pics on this forum but I'd take that guy any day - real trophy fish on the fly. And on a bright bluebird day too.

One thing I learned throwing gear for muskies is that, while getting the big toothies is mighty tough sometimes, you do wind up catching some real trophy bass as incidental catches. The same is true with muskie flies and walleyes (I'm assuming this guy ate a muskie fly?).

 

[dc410]

Good post. I haven't caught many smallies this year either and one of my favorite carp spots just got totally reconfigured Sunday evening with yet another 4 inches of rain. I have never caught a walleye, bowfin or white bass on the fly rod so your WW season seems very interesting to me. Thanks for sharing your experiences and great photos with us.

 

[streamerguy1]

Thanks guys. Overall a rough year at my normal spots(especially for smallmouths), but I've had some good moments. Happy with the summer so far.........

Fishidiot wrote:
One thing I learned throwing gear for muskies is that, while getting the big toothies is mighty tough sometimes, you do wind up catching some real trophy bass as incidental catches. The same is true with muskie flies and walleyes (I'm assuming this guy ate a muskie fly?).

I'm finding this to be the case more often than not also(fly and spin), but I'm perfectly happy with it I was actually having some pretty vicious strikes from white bass on my "muskie flies" so I figured I'd downsize a bit in hopes of getting a few of them to save the day. I'd probably consider the fly more "bass sized" or on the small side of the spectrum for muskie/pike flies. It was probably about twice the size of the one shown in the white bass pic(I had to downsize again...). Either way it's bigger than what I'd normally throw for the average 10-12in smallies near me or the average trout. Big flies=big fish! That fish is without a doubt my best catch this year, and one I'll remember for a long time. Usually I target walleyes with spinning gear a little in the spring, but so far this year I've caught very few eyes. I'll take a 30in fish on the fly over a bunch of 15 inchers any year though...

dc410, in regards to walleye..........unless you catch a biggun you're not really missing much. They do taste pretty good though(this fish was released to fight another day..). Now bowfin and white bass on the other hand are a blast on the fly. It took me quite a while to figure the 'fins out but once I did man are they fun. White bass are great fighters as well, and it can be a riot if you get into a bunch of 'em. Two great fish.

 

[sarce]

Awesome variety of fish there! Last pic had me laughing. Those smallies are born mean.

I've always wanted to try and see how many different species of fish I could catch in a day on the fly. I wouldn't limit myself to one body of water...think it would be fun running around and constantly switching tactics to go after different fish.

 

[icyguides]

That walleye is very impressive. Great job!

 

[wgmiller]

Wow, that is a nice "marble eye". According to this chart, that fish would be 27 years old! While that may not be its true age, I'm sure it's quite old!

http://www.wildernessisland.com/WalleyePikeAgeSize.php#.U9xRcqPDVUA

dc410, if you want to wade the Susky for walleye, I have a good spot to take you. Carp, smallies and muskie are also a possibility as well!

 

[Fredrick]

Nice selection of fish you got there especially the bowfin I have yet to catch one I would love to find a place around my way that has them in numbers worth fishing .

 

[streamerguy1]

wgmiller wrote:
Wow, that is a nice "marble eye". According to this chart, that fish would be 27 years old! While that may not be its true age, I'm sure it's quite old!

Dang. I knew the fish was old but not that old! It would still be cool even if it was just in the high teens. That fish might be older than me! That whole watershed receives a lot of pressure from the catch and keep crowd so it's cool to think how that fished survived all those years without getting roped up.

sarce, yeah it's amazing how aggressive those little buggers can be! That fish is actually a largemouth though, at least I think it is? Smallies are very very rare at that location(though there are a few...).

Fredrick, if you ever get the chance to fish a place that has a good pop. of 'fins definitely do it. They're mean fish, and even though it doesn't seem like it they have some pretty nasty teeth(mostly hidden by the gum line). Don't want to stick your hand in their mouth! If you ever end up in NW PA at some point I can recommend a few locations...

 

[wgmiller]

Since I posted that, I looked at a lot of different sources on walleye age and I *think* 27 is probably too high. As can be imagined, a number of factors come into play with estimating fish age via size such as food supply, sex, body of water, etc. Conservatively speaking, I'd say that it's at least 15 years old. A 30" walleye, even by Lake Erie standards is a trophy fish!

 

[streamerguy1]

Yeah I too went around looking at different sites(for other species as well). 15 years is still pretty old! I was just on Lake Erie yesterday afternoon perch fishing(which stunk BTW) with my uncle and I showed him the pic. He couldn't believe it wasn't a Lake Erie fish, and even if it was he said it was still big for Erie. It's gonna be a tough one to top for sure lol One can only try though!

As for the perch, we think the weather is affecting them as well. 5 fish over 8in in 3 hours is not good! This has been pretty much the norm most outings. On the other hand the white perch and white bass are hitting good. Next time on the big pond I'm taking a fly rod out with sinking line as most of the fish(except for the yellows) were suspended off the bottom in relatively shallow water...

 

[sarce]

SG I looked closer, but I still think it's a smallmouth. Baby large mouths usually have a greenish color on the back and a well-defined stripe along the lat. line. That looks more bronze to me and I can't make out the stripe, but it could just be the photo. Either way...the other fish you posted are pretty awesome and I'm jealous of every single one haha.