Buzz

Glad to hear you caught them podum.I know what you mean about catching fish on flies that you have tied yourself. I use mostly my own flies anymore. I just seem to have a lot more confidence in them.

Great report and good info. I really want to get back down there. I've learned so much since the last time.

You may be right, and I don't think anyone can really prove otherwise.There have been several postings about parr marked trout in the last several months. I'm not sure why now and not before. The fish pictured was very clean and you can see how fat it is. At only about 7 inches long it doesn't have the hatchery look like a lot of the fish that were stocked last month. Most of them had very tattered fins and a lot of verticle scrapes on thier sides.

Thanks Kevin. I'm looking forward to doing some fishing with you too.

After fishing Shoal Creek with Chief, I didn't feel like I had caught enough fish for the day:lol:, so I headed back home and dropped off the bass rigs, grabbed the fly rod and headed to Hickory to take advantage of the longer day. I got there at about 5:00pm and quit at 6:30. I decided to fish a few places that the powerbaiters don't fish much. Faster,skinnier water was the ticket. I managed four nice fish in the 14-15 inch range on a red zebra midge. The fish really put up a good fight in that fast water. The colors on these fish were brilliant to say the least. A couple had bright pink gill plates and sides and one had bright orange gill plates and sides. It's not really uncommon to see the different colors in streams like Hickory and Capp's, it just seems like the colors are more pronounced in some of the fish I've caught from Hickory. On my way out I thought I should try one more spot. I fished up quite a ways until I came to some more faster water. I changed flies to a tan wooly midge and started drifted through the run. After a short time the indicator went under and I set the hook. At first I thought it was a chub on the end of my line, but it was one of those little parr marked rainbows that have been spoken of recently. It was a little bigger, and the parr marks were not as well defined. Still it is what it is. Unfortunately the pics sort of suck, I took them with my cell phone and the light was wrong. I guess you'll just have to trust me. Anyone see the spectator in the pictures???

.......Or so the saying goes. Anyway, I get this phone call while I'm walking the dog, it's Chief Grey Bear, he asks, "What are you doing?" So, I tell him "I'm trying to figure out where to go and wade fish on Shoal Creek". He tells me, "I was thinking the same thing". Within a couple of minutes we had decided on a place to try that we hadn't hit in quite a while. After we got rigged up we headed upstream. The creek is in great shape, clear but still a little cold. The first thing I commented on was the over abundance of moss. This is something that we haven't seen on this creek in a very long time. The last couple of years it has been a very small nuisance, but this year it is a huge issue. We fished fast water without a taker, no smallmouth today!!! As we moved upstream to a wider deeper spot with some downed trees against the banks we started chunking jigs. I had the first hook-up, a really nice largemouth. Chief held the fish while I took the pic with my cellphone, since I forgot to check my batteries in my camera. Thanks Chief. A little while later I caught a short Kentucky and that was it for me. Chief wasn't left out, he caught a nice largemouth out of a deep fast hole on a Rapalla. We worked or way back to the vehicles with no more bites. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes right after a cold front and the north wind is howling. Three bites and three fish.

Thanks for the report. Capp's is a killer stream.

Good report. There have been quite a few reports of small fish caught from Hickory lately. I sure hope they are stream bred and are allowed to survive.

Wow, that's good news.

Great question and great responses. I have been learning to fish without an indicator too. As the pros have noted, if the fly line is out of the water and you detect the slightest hesitation in it's movement downstream, it may be a slight pull or it may just stop it's downstream path, set the hook. I have gained a lot of confidence in this method, especially in faster water. Good luck. It is just another form of presentation, but it is highly productive and sometimes more realistic.

That's good to hear. I managed a couple of 14 inchers on Shoal Creek Sunday. I'm looking forward to another Big Sugar float this year. I haven't fished Little Sugar yet, maybe this year.

What Are We To Make Of This? Nothing more than what it is... BUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've already addressed this issue here on the forum. I guess you were still on vacation. I'm not gonna get worried about something that has never made the mainstream news and is nothing more than a blog. Oh BTW, I heard that Rush Limbaugh is going to leave the U.S. if the Health Care Bill passes. Now that would be a great loss. http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/rush-limbaugh-says-hell-leave-the-us-if-health-care-reform-is-passed/19389808?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Frush-limbaugh-says-hell-leave-the-us-if-health-care-reform-is-passed%2F19389808

Nice Russ. Have you all been catching any decent sized smallmouth yet?

I was up near your part of the creek later in the afternoon and was wondering if you were working or fishing. It was way too nice of a day to have to work.

It was a GREAT day to be out fishing. I've been going crazy waiting for a nice trend in the weather. If the weather stays like this it's really going to turn on. Creekwader, I'll take some pics next time just for you.

I finally got to catch a few bass today. I haven't bass fished since the end of December. I hit a few spots near the house that I usually go to when I have a limited amount of time. The water is really clear right now and there is a lot more moss than I've seen in quite some time. I tried a couple of baits,but only one produced. I caught 9 bass, 2 of which were decent sized smallmouth, the others were mixed between largemouth and kentuckies. Most of the fish were in slack water under logs and brush piles, but near fast water. The bait for today was a jig and big show craw. Several fish hit the bait on the fall after it was pulled over logs. Seven of the nine fish were caught out of two holes in a 30 minute time frame. They turned on and then turned right back off. It was good to be on the creek and catching bass again.

I looked around but I didn't see a fly box. Sorry. I got there at about 4 and left at 6. I was surprised to only see one other fisherman.

I'm going to be over there this afternoon, I'll keep an eye out for it.

As far as I can tell, I am free on the 17th I'll write it on my calendar right now so I don't forget. When are we going to see the interview air??? Let me know if I can help with anything to do with the city meetings. I'd like to attend if I can.

Great report and pictures. That is an awesome creek. I need to do like you say and get back down there before it warms up.

Thanks guys. Ollie, we didn't stay too long. We probably left just a little before you guys got there. It was nice fishing Hickory and not seeing any corn chunkers.

Wish you two could have made it down, but I understand how that goes. After Chief dropped me off I decided to hit Hickory Creek for a little while and ended up fishing for about 3 hours. I caught 32 trout and one fat goggle-eye. Only had one small fish, most ranged from 12 to 15 in. Nice colors on the bigger fish, they had the bright gold gill plates and sides. Lots of jumpers and tailwalkers. It turned out to be a pretty good way to spend a birthday.

It's called a "Trade Off", sometimes things like this happen in order to get the really IMPORTANT problems taken care of. It really doesn't matter to me if someone wants to carry a gun in those places. If it works for you,I'm glad to hear it.

I'm glad to hear there are still some fish in there, since I haven't been able to get over there in a couple of weeks. It drives me crazy when they hit my strike indicator too.