Swan Creek

[faded]

Spent the afternoon wading and fishing the Swan...I love that place....Cool rocks and clear water... Always seems to relax me just to get there...Caught a couple of perch, a goggle eye, and 15 or so smallies...Best fish was a 15 inch small mouth that hit behind a rock and put up a good fight before coming in....All catch and release....A 15 inch smallie on this stretch of water is a pretty big fish..Have caught a couple larger in there but not a lot....most in the 7 to 10 inch range.... I used some ZOOM tubes for the first time and I love the color ( I think it is a watermelon crayfish) and they caught some fish but they do not hold up well...Seem to rip and tear pretty easily...Probably won't invest in any more of them..... Beats my morning on the James getting SKUNKED....

Speaking of the James anyone seen otters on there??????....I am pretty sure I have ( at least I can't figure out what else they could be)

[RSBreth]

I haven't seen Otters on the James, just Mink. Now at the park in Ozark on the Finley, Otters. Big ones. About the size of the neighbors dog.

Try the Zoom Flukes or similar soft jerkbaits, worked really fast and erratic. I had three good bass today on the James on the PowerBait Jerkshad. Love them on Beaver and Swan, too. Use superglue to repair them when they rip. For tubes, well, they all rip. I haven't found a good one that doesn't.

[faded]

might very well be a mink just had not thought of that until today had a buddy telling me how he had minks stealing his stringer of trout on the White River .....thanks for the advice on bait....Tubes do all rip but these ZOOMS seemed to be much more fragile than most I have used....will look into your suggestions

[Dutch]

How are you rigging those tubes? I use tubes quite a bit and don't have much ripping problems.

[faded]

Standard rig....weighted hook into tube....I use tubes rather frequently and this brand seems to be a thinner plastic...had 3 rip on me on Sunday...Either on removal from a fish or after a couple of cast and retrieves...might have simply been a bad batch not sure but not nearly as durable others I have used.....