Going To Hit Some Marginal Creeks Today

[LittleRedFisherman]

Smalliebigs, man that's torture to see, I just got in from my 3rd 15 hour day. I'm ready for some "aquatherapy" for sure. Maybe next time...Glad you had fun.

[Al Agnew]

Smalliebigs, you might not have done any better on your secret creeks. I floated Huzzah Creek with Cory on Tuesday and Courtois Creek with Mary today. Both trips, it didn't seem like a lot of fish were in the creek yet. From what we're learning from the tagged fish program, seems like the fish in a LOT of these smaller streams move into the larger rivers in the winter, or at least to a few wintering holes in the lower parts of the creeks, and they don't come back into their usual summer haunts until we get a real good warm rise. Huzzah and Courtois are a little low and haven't gotten much high water so far this spring. There were fish here and there, including a few big ones, and several times today I saw fish that seemed to be moving upstream, out in the middle of the creek and swimming purposefully. For instance, one time, in a flat, shallow run with little cover, I watched two that were swimming side by side go upstream right past the canoe without being spooked by it, no more than five feet away--and they were twin 18-19 inchers. I don't think the fish are quite in spawning mode yet, but they are in transition, moving around, and apparently not thinking all that much about feeding. We probably didn't catch more than 25 or 30 both days (usually you can expect to catch 70 or more on these stretches), and on Tuesday we only had two nice fish, a 16.5 and a 17, while today I caught a couple of 16s. Wasn't any rhyme or reason to where they were located or what they were hitting on. Caught a fish now and then on spinnerbaits, topwaters, jerkbaits, and soft plastics.

Just thinking about it, perhaps the water temps have got these fish almost in spawning mode, but it's too early yet for them to be in their favorite spawning areas, so they are kinda confused and not thinking about eating.

But I guess it didn't matter much...the creeks are absolutely gorgeous right now.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Courtois last Sunday we spent more time skipping rocks than fishing, but I didn't see many fish and when I did fish, nary a bite. Still beautiful to be out.

[fishinSWMO]

Nice pictures Andrew! Looks like the kids were having a lot of fun, and that's what counts. I was out on a creek yesterday and noticed a few times how much fun my kid was having, running around exploring etc.

that I didn't really care if I caught any fish or not.

[Smalliebigs]

Courtois last Sunday we spent more time skipping rocks than fishing, but I didn't see many fish and when I did fish, nary a bite. Still beautiful to be out.

Sweet pics!!!!! totally awsome....I love your daughter standing in the canoe......looks like a time to remember

[ColdWaterFshr]

Thanks, Scott and Jeremy. We had a great time.

[Mitch f]

Thanks, Scott and Jeremy. We had a great time.

Can't wait until my youngest gets old enough to take out, looks like a blast!

[aftersh0ck]

Torpedoes and stream smallmouths my fav when the time is right, especially in the mornig