What The Heck Is Going On?

[Al Agnew]

I wanted to do some more creeking today, so I headed to another local creek that I really like fishing. Like the one I fished the other day, I don't fish any stretch of this one more than once a summer. It's a little bigger than the other one, but not a whole lot bigger.

There is a nice pool on the downstream side of the low water bridge where I parked, and although my plans were to go upstream, I had to make a few casts into the pool below the bridge, even though it's a popular place so that pool is probably pounded to death.

Well, in my first 8 casts using another one of my homemade WTD lures, I had 7 blow-ups from decent fish and caught four 12-14 inchers. Wow, I thought, it's gonna be a terrific day! After a few more unproductive casts, I started upstream. There are some pretty nice pools not far from the bridge, and I approached them with great anticipation.

Nothing in the first one.

One half-hearted strike from a small fish in the second one.

One little largemouth in the third one.

The creek was very clear, and I could see well into almost every nook and cranny of it, and I wasn't seeing many smallmouth. I switched lures. No better. Switched again, same results.

To make a long story short, I went more than 3 miles up the creek, and ended up with a total of 24 bass, nothing over 14 inches, and of course, 4 of those came from the pool at the bridge. I hiked a road that parallels the creek much of the way back to the car, and still curious, decided to fish down from the bridge to see if it was any better. It wasn't. I caught 7 more smallies, and finally got a decent sized one at 16 inches, but I went more than a mile downstream to get them.

One probable reason for the mediocre at best fishing...too many people pounding this creek. Every gravel bar was tracked up. Several of the fish I caught had hook wounds.

But why in the world were the fish at the bridge, which should have been as lure-shy as any fish in the creek, so eager to hit when few other fish were? It's a mystery to me.

So, not having quite enough after 8 miles or so of creek hiking, I had a couple hours left before the day started getting long, time enough to check out another creek about 20 miles away. I drove to the low water bridge where I wanted to fish it, and there were three vehicles already parked there, and apparently they were all anglers, because nobody was swimming and playing in the creek (and two of the vehicles had North American Fisherman window stickers). I didn't even bother to try it. That's the only good access on this creek, but I knew of an access on an even smaller feeder stream that I've used as a spring-time put-in for floats on this creek, and I drove up to it. It was barely a trickle, but I fished it for a half mile anyway, catching two largemouth.

I've done three floats on different sections of upper Big River this year so far, all during the middle of the week, and I've encountered other anglers on all three, something that almost never happens. On Wednesday I encountered another angler on the creek I fished, something that also doesn't happen. I've caught a lot of fish with hook scars, far more than usual. What the heck is happening this year that all my creeks and river sections are getting pounded by far more anglers than usual?

[Feathers and Fins]

REALITY TV is getting more and more people interested in outdoors... Im not kidding!

[Gavin]

Big River has been blown up every time I've been looking to float. Same with the Meramec, BB, and several others....Think a lot of folks are creaking till the rain stops.

[Hog Wally]

Good call Gavin. I agree. The meramec seems to turn into chocolate milk every week. My creek just don't do it for me anymore so I just guard her. It's fun for my daughters and me to catch a can of crawdads and feed the local fish and watch em fight over a free meal.

[Chief Grey Bear]

REALITY TV is getting more and more people interested in outdoors... Im not kidding!

Yeah and they will make a show about anything. The sad part is, there is not any reality in reality tv.

[jdmidwest]

There was a crowd on the 11 pt yesterday all day. Middle of the week, middle of June, no holidays anywhere near. Way more people on the water than ever before.

I am converting back to lake fishing.

[Old plug]

Well for one thing there is more people.

[jdmidwest]

And marketing has resulted in more people outdoors to sell more licenses.

[jdmidwest]

I watched a group of 20 on the 11 Pt yesterday. Rods ranged from Snoopy poles to river catfish spinning rigs. They were fishing anything from white powerbait balls to 6 inch mister twisters. None of the line weights were under 8lb test. Big red and white bobbers on some of the rigs.

None of them were fishing anything that would be considered normal by any angler on that stretch of water. But they were flailing the water and scaring the squirrels out of the trees. Somehow, they managed to catch a pickerel, and it was on a big yeller stringer.

[Justin Spencer]

The economy and gas prices have people changing their hobbies and vacation habits?