Johnsfolly

I was out of the country last week and have been chained to my desk since I got back. Anyone finding any mushrooms of interest, particularly any chanterelles?

If that were me, I would have likely slipped (since you can no longer wear felt soled boots) while going across the water and drove my rod tip into the root wad. Fortunately the tip would have broken away thus dissipating the energy of the fall and thus preventing me from going head first into the viper pit. Not that this scenario has ever happened.

Seth - when I switch down to 2# I am typically fishing in water that is clear enough to see the reaction of the fish. I will set the hook even before I feel the take.

I have always had more success from 10 am to 2 pm for smallmouth and even brown trout. I always wondered if that was due to the actual time of day or the time it took to get to the spots where the fish were less pressured. I never stayed overnight to fish those same spots first thing in the morning to see if I would have done better.

I basically fish the same setup that Seth mentioned. I will switch out to 2# Pline fluoroclear if I an going to fish microjigs in really clear water.

I tend to fish creeks and small rivers for smallmouth. I love topwater action and will go with walking baits with a preference to Excalibur spittn image (not sure they still sell these) that i have hand painted. However, I will tend to catch more fish on a fluke, but I just don't get that adrenaline rush when a smallie blasts a topwater. In deeper holes, I will move to the shad type or crawfish crankbaits or like Drew and Gavin suggested fish crawfish baits on the bottom or a feather jig. I fish mostly baby bass or green pumpkin for the plastics and olive, brown or white feather jigs. Good luck.

That's a pig. Nice catch.

By far I have caught the most bluegill on a green/black trout magnet jig under a float. I've caught nearly 300 bluegill using that combo over the last two years.

I'd like to hear how you do when try it later this summer. The video must have been fairly old, since Doug Hannon died in 2013. I loved watching him on ESPN.

Al - great post!

Congrats on the turkey. Was it a Merriams or an Eastern bird?

Great Post! I fished the 11-Point once last year and can't wait to get back on it this time with a boat and likely my family. this post definitely puts the spurs into trying to get there.

I guess it would help if I could spell the word brown. How deep was the water that you were fishing?

Phil - Great borwn trout. That fish had great coloration. Were you using 2lb or 4lb line?

Great report to make one jealous! You have a bunch of great photos. I haven't seen that kind of action in my neck of the woods.

BS1827 - That was an awesome bass on a fly rod. Where did you catch the wild trout? I caught this and one other redear sunfish on Tuesday pushing the total to 22 for the year. Not one of those fish were caught with a Ned rig. The redears should be hitting their beds shortly. I caught a bunch of bluegill and the females l that I caught that night were pretty big with eggs.

Sound like a great trip. Nice fish and good times. It beats being stuck in the office wishing that it would stop raining for a couple of days to let the creek levels drop and not rain over the weekend. I'm a bit jealous. Great post.

OTF - Do you think that has more to do with brown trout switching to a minnow or crayfish diet and passing on the smaller food items unless they are in abundance. Whereas rainbows always seem to be likely to go for the smaller food items when they pass by. I'm not saying that they don't also eat the fish and crayfish. They seem to be more opportunistic.

I like to pan fry them not hand paint them.

Some of the best fighting fish that I caught last year were 10-15" wild trout from Spring and Barren Fork's creeks. Both of these are pretty small creeks, but those fish ran up and down stream and jumped like crazy. For an all time pound for pound fighter, bluegill and readear sunfish rank at the top of my list. Feral Oscars fight harder, but their range is restricted to Florida. I would doubt that anyone would be able to land a 10 lb bluegill if they could ever get that big.

Crap! now it looks like I will have to start thinking about getting out to OK to catch one of these guys. I just found out this week that the bluegill that I caught when I lived in Florida is a different subspecies, i.e., coppernose bluegill, than what we have around here. Unfortunately, I have no photos of any of those fish nor records of when or where I caught them. when researching the coppernose, I found out about a hand-painted bluegill found in the Apalachicola river area of the Florida panhandle that is currently not a recognized subspecies, but is a pretty darn cool looking fish. So when I go back to Florida to try for a Suwannee bass I will have to also go after the coppernose bluegill and if I make it up to the panhandle try for the hand-painted guys. I may as well head down to Miami or Homestead and try for peacock bass and clown knife fish.

Finally broke the 20 mark. With it raining almost every weekend, I have not been able to get onto any creeks or small rivers to fish. I did get out Saturday with a come hell or high water attitude and spent a fair amount of time going upstream to find clear water. Here are the latest catches: White bass - a first for me with this species Nothern Rock bass (aka goggle-eye) My first smallmouth of the year (certainly not the biggest) Puts me up to 21 for the year. I did see two new suckers and some gar in the creek. looking for a rain window to get back down again.

That was a great pari of fish. You and your daughter should be proud.

BH - That made me laugh on a pretty crappy work day. Thanks.

I remember Hula poppers and Jitterbugs painted to resemble blackbirds and sparrows. I don't think that they would have caught anymore or less fish than a standard black bait. I never did try one. I stuck with black or frog patterns.