Smallie Dump
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streamerguy
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Wow, those are some amazing fish. I think I know exactly what river it is. Not the Allegheny right? If I'm right I have yet to unlock the secrets numbers wise, but have been getting a few fish here and there with a few nice ones mixed in. I guess floating it is the way to go. Again awesome fish. Like Kabutt said, keep em coming!
streamerguy
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Here's some OH and western PA smallies from the past week or so. Got the steelhead itch yesterday with the cooler weather and wind, but it's still bass time.
streamerguy
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Explored some new sections of river....
Heres a pretty good one from last weekend that my brother caught. One of our best this summer.
It is hard to tell in the pic, but the second fish had a small lesion on the gill plate with a really small parasite/worm hanging off the lesion. I ended up pulling the little parasite(half a mm wide and maybe 4 long) out with a pair of hemostats. What kind of parasite is this, and is it life threatening? Should I have pulled it out or let it stay? I wouldnt have done it if the parasite was latched on, but ti came out much the same way a splinter would.
It is hard to tell in the pic, but the second fish had a small lesion on the gill plate with a really small parasite/worm hanging off the lesion. I ended up pulling the little parasite(half a mm wide and maybe 4 long) out with a pair of hemostats. What kind of parasite is this, and is it life threatening? Should I have pulled it out or let it stay? I wouldnt have done it if the parasite was latched on, but ti came out much the same way a splinter would.
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Not sure. I get some SMBs (and lots of sunnies) every year with lesions but I can't recall ever seeing a worm like parasite in the sore on any bass I've caught. My guess would be it's some sort of anchorworm or other external skin parasite(?). I doubt it's anything to be concerned with. You might send a PM to Mike, he could probably tell you more about this critter.
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Nice!
Kabutt
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Thanks. It is indeed. Basically a wooly bugger with natural marabou and two flashy rubber legs for antennae. Tan body palmered with brown hen hackle, and dumbbell eyes big enough to make it ride upside-down. I used to make the body out of furry foam like a clouser crayfish, but that takes too much time and they've been just as effective without it. I call it my Yousocraaaaay-fish. Ha!
streamerguy
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Nice fish. Goin bass fishing again this weekend, I can't get enough of them!
I had loads of fun with my 5wt on a local smallie stream yesterday. I was doing pretty well on a size 8 green hopper for the majority of the day. I sneaked up on a run that my brother and i foolishly overlooked 3 weeks ago and spooked some nice sized fish. I cast onto a particularly nice looking lie at the tail of the pool/run, and had a brain fart or something, because i failed to hook what looked like a 16-17" smallie that gently sipped my hopper off the surface. I am so used to bass just smashing the bug, that i was caught unawares by this clever lunker. I kept working the run and experimenting dead drifting the hopper, and also stripping it back to me like a popper. I proceeded to miss two violent strikes from decent 14" fish while stripping the hopper in. No clue how they werent hooked, because they smashed it and immediately turned to head to the bottom. I was pretty disappointed at this point, because those were 3 stellar fish in a row for me to miss on this stream. I continued to fish upstream, but coming back down, I decided to experiment with some subsurface patterns. My normal clouser combinations surprisingly didnt turn a fish, so I switched to this recent tie I whipped up this week. Just a small zonker with a good bit of lead in it on a size 6. Wow, this thing banged fish for the 45 mins I fished it. Such easy and elegant fishing too. I would angle a cast upstream, mend to get the fly down a bit, then let the current swing it while maintaining some form of contact with the fly. No more furiously stripping clousers. I might have a new money fly. The best part is, I missed so many great fish that I will be itching to hit the stretch again.
Question for you guys, how often is too often to fish unpressured bass? This is the 2nd or 3rd spot of this stream that I can almost guarantee no one fishes(or atleast VERY few fish). I usually fish each spot once every 2 weeks, if not more time in between visits. I dont want to hammer these bass too badly and ruin a good thing for me and them.
Question for you guys, how often is too often to fish unpressured bass? This is the 2nd or 3rd spot of this stream that I can almost guarantee no one fishes(or atleast VERY few fish). I usually fish each spot once every 2 weeks, if not more time in between visits. I dont want to hammer these bass too badly and ruin a good thing for me and them.
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Good sportsmanship. I also try not to pound one stretch of water too much. From your description above, it sounds like you are giving the spot (and the fish) plenty of rest.
Nice job. Sounds like fun.
BTW, have a few "depth charge" flies tied with lots of weight is always a smart idea to reach fish in fast and/or deep sections of the stream or river.
My views on this - as one who does a good bit of small stream bassing - are still evolving and I think each creek may have different answers. Generally, on small, WW streams such as this that are unpressured, I usually hit them no more than once a month over the summer - maybe twice. By mid October, those bass will probably be gone (this is a natural migration, not a result of angling pressure). Some streams can probably be fished more without any impact. I'm not really sure. For one thing, if you keep fishing a spot, locals will see your car there and you may attract additional fishing pressure (I believe this has happened to me). Overall, however, I wouldn't lose sleep over this issue. Small stream bass see far less pressure than trout and they're hardy critters that are usually only exposed to fishing pressure for about 4-5 months of the year.
Tell me about it, I have resorted to taking very roundabout ways to access the stream, and certainly limit the amount of people that see me. One stretch of this stream receives a good bit of pressure, but that is because you can park on the side of the road and literally fall into the stream. My favorite stretches involve 1/2-1 mile walk, and I just dont think most people are willing to walk that. The ones that are willing just dont know it exists/holds an awesome pop. of smallmouth. Fishidiot, you and I discussed the migration of smallmouth from small and medium streams last summer. I can guarantee they do not migrate out of the main branch(maybe a smidge larger than spring creek), because there are plenty of dams and spillways to prevent fish migration. Heres the funny thing though, there is a minute tributary that empties into the ww stream. It is a joke, its like 3-5 feet wide, and you would only think it held chubs. It has insanely awesome stream structure for maybe 150 yards, which culminates in a hole thats a small pond(6' deep by 25'by35') and this pool is packed with smallies, PACKED. I need to drop by there in oct/nov just to see if they are still in that spot or if they move out. Looks like they have a good thing going, so i dont know if they would.
Interesting. My guess would be they'll migrate but maybe not. All the bass don't migrate out of all the creeks. Based on what you describe, with so many barriers on the main stem, the fish in that big pool may stay there all year, so long as they have adequate food in the late autumn and early spring. As long as there's decent flow all summer and the little creek doesn't go stagnant, it ought to prove to be a good bassin spot for years to come. If they do, in fact migrate out of the big pool, whether they return the following year may depend on flows - if those flows are very low in the May-July time frame, they may not return that year. Hhmmmmm....
Drop by in mid Nov and see what you see - I'd be curious to know.
Kabutt
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Just wanted to bump the smallie dump... Ended up on the Big J last Saturday afternoon. Never fished it before; picked a random non-boat launch access and was discouraged to see two too-big bass boats motoring by. Figured any bass in the 3-6' deep clear water would be spooked for a while. I messed with a couple sunnies for a minute, and was about to turn and head out when I saw a boil mid-river. Had constant action for the next 3 hours on a weird unweighted rabbit fur minnow thing...
