A Nice Way To End The Day

[Buzz]

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???

[troutfiend1985]

I know that I'll probably catch flack for this, but I think that Hickory probably holds a small amount of wild trout. I just don't see how that many fish can be put in there and a few don't make it to reproduce. The white tips on the picture of the trout tell me it hasn't been in the concrete bottoms of the hatchery. Just my thought. Maybe a call to the MDC or Neosho hatchery is in order, just to see what they think.

[Buzz]

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.

[podum]

Buzz, they were still in the skinny fast water today. Made my first trip to Hickory today with the bro-in-law. Started at the helicopter and went upstream. Lots of action in the fast, deeper runs. Not much anywhere else. Caught em on a #14 pheasant tail. First time fishing with flies I tied myself. Brought 6 to hand with my own handywork. I'm pretty happy tonite.

[jtram]

you could be right troutfiend, but im with buzz the one i caught last week def didnt look like a small one that got in with the stockers, but im definately not an architect so my opinion isnt worth a lot of weight.

[Buzz]

Buzz, they were still in the skinny fast water today. Made my first trip to Hickory today with the bro-in-law. Started at the helicopter and went upstream. Lots of action in the fast, deeper runs. Not much anywhere else. Caught em on a #14 pheasant tail. First time fishing with flies I tied myself. Brought 6 to hand with my own handywork. I'm pretty happy tonite.

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.