ryguyfi
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2006
- Messages
- 4,796
My wife had a wedding to go to and I was not invited (shucks) so I planned a big day up to Oil Creek to fish for some natives. Looking at the weather report all week, I decided it wasn’t a good idea due to the large chance of thunderstorms. So I went with plan B.
My father told me of a stream very locally for me that he used to catch brookies in. I went once before, but after talking to him yesterday realized I was in the wrong place. I drove the 10 minutes to the stream and couldn’t find a place to park without a posted sign in sight. I found a spot farther upstream. Got out, walked to the stream to find it to be just a trickle. Walked up about a half mile to not even find a chub. Didn’t even put a fly in the water.
Being disappointed, I tried to find another spot farther downstream to find access very difficult and decided to move on. There was an ATW about 2 miles down the road so I went there. Parked and walked down to the bridge… no fish in sight. Wanted to go to a nice hole upstream to find a sign “hunting and fishing by permission only”. Sign wasn’t there last year. I didn’t feel like going through the effort for 30 minutes of fishing before the rain came.
Being extremely disappointed now, I headed for home. A whole day off to fish, and didn’t even fish. I convinced myself on the way home to stop at my local park which is an ATW and fish “my hole” which surprisingly still held a few trout. I walked down to find it in decent shape. Saw a decent amount of fish… a few bluegill, a handful of trout, and some largemouth. I threw everything at them for about 30 min. I saw a sipping trout and nailed him on a sz 22 griffiths gnat. Then the rains came. I was prepared and had a rain coat on, and tossed a bugger while it rained with no luck. While it was raining… I SAW HIM. After the last stocking here, there was a large 20”+ brown in the hole that I foul hooked once. About a month ago, I saw a large fish and assumed it was him. Then I noticed he had a dark forked tail. I figured he was a nice LM. It has been my goal to catch him for the past month, and probably threw well over 100 casts towards him. I tried at night and maybe 4-5 times during the day or morning. He had 2 main holding spots which were near impossible to get a fly into. One underneath a rock ledge, and another in a cave of rocks under the water. I skipped a few casts with a hopper under the ledge, but spooked him to his usual spot in the cave. I then put on a cone head crystal bugger that I actually took out of a trout’s mouth that I caught a while back. Every time it hit the water it would get a frenzy of activity with the other fish. Missed about 3 takes and decided to go back to the big guy. I knew where he was and put a cast out there. Landed it on the rock and let it slip right in front of the entrance of the “cave”…….
All of a sudden it disappeared!! I instinctively set the hook… dead weight, the he realized he was hooked and the fight was on! He ran back and forth to his 2 spots, shaking his head, stripping line, then went under some overhanging trees, I had to go side arm to keep tension and then he came back. After several minutes he ran out of steam and he was mine! It was the largest SMALLMOUTH I have ever taken, and actually the best FISH to date on my fly rod. I let out a scream of joy, and with shaking hands took a few pictures. Marked him off on my rod and the tape came to 19” on the nose. He sure had some girth to him too, but didn’t get that measurement.
I calmly fished for about 5 more minutes to get my nerves back, then slowly walked back to my jeep and went home. No rain in sight, but the fishing today was done. Couldn’t get any better after that.
Ryan
(though as usual my pictures didn't turn out too great. but here it is)
My father told me of a stream very locally for me that he used to catch brookies in. I went once before, but after talking to him yesterday realized I was in the wrong place. I drove the 10 minutes to the stream and couldn’t find a place to park without a posted sign in sight. I found a spot farther upstream. Got out, walked to the stream to find it to be just a trickle. Walked up about a half mile to not even find a chub. Didn’t even put a fly in the water.
Being disappointed, I tried to find another spot farther downstream to find access very difficult and decided to move on. There was an ATW about 2 miles down the road so I went there. Parked and walked down to the bridge… no fish in sight. Wanted to go to a nice hole upstream to find a sign “hunting and fishing by permission only”. Sign wasn’t there last year. I didn’t feel like going through the effort for 30 minutes of fishing before the rain came.
Being extremely disappointed now, I headed for home. A whole day off to fish, and didn’t even fish. I convinced myself on the way home to stop at my local park which is an ATW and fish “my hole” which surprisingly still held a few trout. I walked down to find it in decent shape. Saw a decent amount of fish… a few bluegill, a handful of trout, and some largemouth. I threw everything at them for about 30 min. I saw a sipping trout and nailed him on a sz 22 griffiths gnat. Then the rains came. I was prepared and had a rain coat on, and tossed a bugger while it rained with no luck. While it was raining… I SAW HIM. After the last stocking here, there was a large 20”+ brown in the hole that I foul hooked once. About a month ago, I saw a large fish and assumed it was him. Then I noticed he had a dark forked tail. I figured he was a nice LM. It has been my goal to catch him for the past month, and probably threw well over 100 casts towards him. I tried at night and maybe 4-5 times during the day or morning. He had 2 main holding spots which were near impossible to get a fly into. One underneath a rock ledge, and another in a cave of rocks under the water. I skipped a few casts with a hopper under the ledge, but spooked him to his usual spot in the cave. I then put on a cone head crystal bugger that I actually took out of a trout’s mouth that I caught a while back. Every time it hit the water it would get a frenzy of activity with the other fish. Missed about 3 takes and decided to go back to the big guy. I knew where he was and put a cast out there. Landed it on the rock and let it slip right in front of the entrance of the “cave”…….
All of a sudden it disappeared!! I instinctively set the hook… dead weight, the he realized he was hooked and the fight was on! He ran back and forth to his 2 spots, shaking his head, stripping line, then went under some overhanging trees, I had to go side arm to keep tension and then he came back. After several minutes he ran out of steam and he was mine! It was the largest SMALLMOUTH I have ever taken, and actually the best FISH to date on my fly rod. I let out a scream of joy, and with shaking hands took a few pictures. Marked him off on my rod and the tape came to 19” on the nose. He sure had some girth to him too, but didn’t get that measurement.
I calmly fished for about 5 more minutes to get my nerves back, then slowly walked back to my jeep and went home. No rain in sight, but the fishing today was done. Couldn’t get any better after that.
Ryan
(though as usual my pictures didn't turn out too great. but here it is)
