Susquehanna 10/3

[Woolybugger]

Hot, shallow water. 3' at the Harrisburg guage.
"ginkyhackle" posted that fallfish are so under rated...... I must agree! They are more plentiful than smallmouth in the river, they grab a fly with gusto, and jump like a big trout!
I went out today with a 5wt and size 6 streamers. I was fishing for fallfish, and if a bass grabbed my fly...... also wonderful.
I landed 5 smallmouth bass and 16 fallfish. The biggest fallfish, around 20", pulled drag to the backing and fought like a salmon!!

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[ginkyhackle]

Wow! Great photos! Did you catch all of these fish with the same woolybugger? If so, what kind of technique were you using? I tend to find that fallfish hit streamers for me when I'm stripping them upstream a little irratically. I have never been able to catch a fallfish (ever) dead drifting or twitching a bugger downstream. I wonder why that is! Also, is that a bead head? Weight has made a huge difference for me in our drought-stricken rivers!

 

[ginkyhackle]

Check out this site FallFish

It has a thread in which a few anglers admit to being closet fallfish fanciers. I remember when carp were always considered "garbagefish" -- now they are lauded as "freshwater bonefish." I think it just a matter of time before fallfish are recast as "warmwater grayling!"

Incidentally, in europe members of the minnow family enjoy a very different reputation.

 

[Woolybugger]

ginkyhackle,
No, not all the fish on the same bugger. I like to change flies all the time........... must be that I've learned how to tie a Uni knot in a couple seconds! LOL The best for me has been a size 6 black or olive woolybugger.
All the fish I catch are cross current cast or downstream. If I cast upstream with a sink line, the bugger will get snagged or get full of snot grass.
Having said that, tonight I put floating line on my 5wt and caught a couple upstream.
No beadheads for this guy!! Only unweighted buggers with a sink line. If I have a floating line on, and have deep water, I use a lead eye bugger. I hate to cast a weighted fly on a fly rod. A sink line will cast so nice and put the streamer in the strike zone way better than adding lead. But that's just me!! Even trout fishing, I hate to add split shot and strike indicators. If I want the nymph/streamer to sink, I use a sink tip line.