We decided to go at as soon as I got off of work at the fly shop. Knowing Charles, he was late because he had already been fishing somewhere else. He showed me this picture of a beast of a smallie he got from one of the smallest creeks we fish!I've been to that creek before, and normally fish like that don't come easy. The pre-spawn season is going, and the fish must be loading up on food to prepare. That particular smallmouth seems to have a good amount of fat on him.
Charles said he fished this creek all morning and afternoon with a few nice smallmouth. We've gotten a lot of rain here, and I'm not surprised that the water ran colder and muddier than normal.
After I got off work, Charles and I met at the same park Bobby and I fished the week before. The water was higher and muddier this time, and no trout were to be found. But we were there for white bass.
Charles and I fished through the first two rapids with nothing. This isn't surprising, considering the water was significantly faster, and it was hard to get a fly down without a sinking line. It was easy to notice that the creek was colder this time, which probably shut down a few of the fish.
We headed to the run that produced fish last time, and after awhile, I hooked up. It was a decent 12" white bass. These fish fight hard, especially in the fast water we were fishing.
We immediately decided to start keeping fish, even though at this point we knew we'd only get a few. After going a few minutes without a hit, I switched to a craft fur clouser in all black. That turned out to be the switch I needed.Immediately after, I landed two more white bass. One was this fat spawner of 16". This one almost got himself on the reel! So much fun on the 6 weight!
We continued fishing down the river and caught a few more. One or two we had to release because they were so small we couldn't get any meat off of them. Once it started getting dark, we had 6 fish on a willow branch we used as a stringer.
We went back to Charles' house to clean the fish. He showed me how to remove the mud line on the filets, then we cleaned all of them and I went home with them. Charles just told me to take all of them for a family dinner. The next night, we fried them and made Po'Boy sandwiches out of them. Very much worth the time to clean them. I don't think I'll ever overlook white bass as food again.
A difficult day of fishing, but sometimes the numbers of white bass just aren't there. The run still hasn't hit its peak, and I'm hoping to get out for more action soon!
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