Small stream warmwater flyfishing

[dc410]

I stopped today for a short time and fished one of my favorite stretches on a local small warmwater stream for the first time this year. I really enjoy this type of warmwater fishing and had a blast this afternoon as I brought quite a few rock bass, Smallmouth bass and Redbreast sunnies to hand in a short period of time. All fish caught were on one of my “go to” WW flies - a severely beat up and overused olive colored dumbell eyed, rabbit strip tailed Wooly bugger. I have called it the Wooly Bomber over the years and have caught a ton of fish on it.

As I was fishing down through a fairly productive run I heard a loud “splat” in the water right behind me. It almost sounded like a dead limb or something fell into the water behind me. As I turned around I spotted a squirrel paddling for its life through the riffle toward the bank. I watched it as it crawled out onto the bank and up the trunk of a large Sycamore tree to a branch where it paused to shake itself off and take a breather. Never actually saw that before. “Squirrel fly for toothy critters”? - Meh, probably not or maybe?

I’m really looking forward to getting in some WW flyfishing this season as summer approaches. Hopefully the weather gives us some better stream conditions than we were offered last year. I have found spending the summer months doing some WW flyfishing to be one of the most enjoyable and relaxing times flyfishing that I have experienced.

 

[Dave_W]

Well said!

Here's hoping for a good creek WW summer this year. I checked my favorite local WW creek today from the car via drive-by. It's down to the lowest level I've seen it in months, but still dirty.

In my experience, the small stream WW game lights up a bit before the rivers do. Usually by mid-June the sunnies and bass are well dispersed and eager to eat.

 

[jifigz]

The streams around here and the Juniata is certainly starting to appear more summer like and I love it. I can't wait to crush some fish. I went down to the Juniata yesterday and caught one rock bass. Boy that was a bad day.

 

[SteveG]

I fished a trib to the Juniata last weekend that is on the warm side, and found the smallies and fallfish very active, as were the large carp which I couldn't fool. Does the small stream ww game usually turn on before the larger rivers?

 

[jifigz]

SteveG wrote:
I fished a trib to the Juniata last weekend that is on the warm side, and found the smallies and fallfish very active, as were the large carp which I couldn't fool. Does the small stream ww game usually turn on before the larger rivers?

No, but this year has had elevated water levels, slightly cooler weather, could possibly be post spawn time for bass, and so those are all things stacked against you. Generally by this time of the year the fish are easy to catch. I can throw a Gurgler and hook up with a redbreasts sunnie on every cast. I'm blaming my poor outing in a big weather and atmospheric pressure swing.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

I'm hoping to do some warm weather fishing locally this year as well. Honestly our local trout streams are still fishing better than I have seen in many years due to the cooler weather and lots of water for an extended period.

Went out for a couple hours Fathers day and landed 9 trout in a couple hours and lost a few. Fish were healthy and most had nice fins for stockers. Want to catch some Smallies though, and only a matter of time till the heat gets here.

 

[Carpo]

Hi all its my first post about something I truly enjoy. As we get older our bones enjoy warmer weather and mine likes wet wading in the local streams for all our ww species . Carp on a 6 wt is a blast as is sunnys on a 2 wt. I don't miss Trout fishing that much anymore, I usualy tie ww flies then.

 

[dc410]

Welcome to PAFF. Great to have another carp/WW guy on board!

 

[jifigz]

Carpo wrote:
Hi all its my first post about something I truly enjoy. As we get older our bones enjoy warmer weather and mine likes wet wading in the local streams for all our ww species . Carp on a 6 wt is a blast as is sunnys on a 2 wt. I don't miss Trout fishing that much anymore, I usualy tie ww flies then.

Trout fishing is a lot of fun, but I agree. I'm much more of a WW fishing, wet wading kind of fool myself. I wouldn't dare ever use a 2 weight where I WW fish most often though. The possibility of hooking into a big smallie is just too great. That wouldn't be good for your rod or that fish. If I was in a place that only had bluegills and largemouths then I'd go for it, though.

 

[poopdeck]

I grew up fishing native trout streams where we caught teeny weeny trout after teeny weeny trout till I had my fill of teeny weeny trout which are smaller and no more colorful then your average sunfish with a whole lot less fight. It's been largely WW creeks and the Lower Delaware river for me for the last 4 decades.

In my local creek I catch boat loads of sunnies and Rockies for every bass I catch. I generally gear up to keep the smaller sunnies off my hook by fishing a 6 weight and larger flies just because of the bass. Although I do stray and use a 3 or a 4 wt when they stock the creek with trout and the bass arent quite active. Not because I'm a trout fishermen, usually because I can't get out for the shad run and I've been cooped up in the house all winter.

One time i noticed a largemouth bass violently attacking every sunnie I hooked. I finally caught a small sunnie and the bass inhaled it. I fought the bass for about 15 seconds before it spit the sunnie out. I still landed the sunnie as a conciliation prize. Just wasn't enough hook to hook the bass as well. The following day I went back with a popper and on the second cast I caught the bass from behind the same rock he was at the previous day.