Mineral Fork Smallies

[Smallieguy87]

On 4/20/2016 at 8:35 AM, dan hufferd said:

I would be interested in goggle eye, good eating. Love those smallies ! Great pic's the water looks good.

I enjoy goggle eye too! not much fight to them but they are tasty indeed and seem to be plentiful. I had to sharpen that picture up a bit...the camera it was taken on wasn't the greatest but i'm glad it turned out good! The stream looks pretty healthy this year that's for sure. 

[Smallieguy87]

On 4/10/2016 at 0:52 PM, DownStream said:

Thanks for the report. Has the stream changed much since the floods?

just got to check out the section near kingston access. I parked there and waded up about 3 tenths of a mile or so( was pressed for time). The section of beach right off the trail hasn't changed a great deal from last year but is a bit deeper. going up stream from there the channel is split pretty evenly by a gravel bar. past that gravel bar it looks like the main channel has widened out a fair bit. The high water had washed away some of the high mud bank on your right side(when going up stream). That side always had deeper water and that's still the case....I'd say its even deeper now and has that nice green/blue tint to it. The left side of the stream in that portion has a fair bit of large rock and is a big hill side...not much has changed on that side of the stream at all besides a bit of new gravel on the bottom.

[flyguy_stl]

Thanks for the report. I was getting ready to hit Kingston in a few hours. Sounds promising!

[Smallieguy87]

3 hours ago, flyguy_stl said:

Thanks for the report. I was getting ready to hit Kingston in a few hours. Sounds promising!

Great! Give us a report on how it goes!

[flyguy_stl]

This was my first time on the fork and I will definitely be back soon. I covered the same water you walked today.

I ran into a very dedicated fellow that hauled a loaded 17' aluminum canoe down to the water. I haven't been to the Big or Mineral Fork before, so I left my kayak at home. I was curious how difficult it would be to paddle upstream on either body. Needless to say, I'll definitely bring it next time, though I'm tempted to finally pull the trigger on a canoe.

I had two takes once I found the right color but lost them both. In my rush to get out the door I forgot my other spool case which had the sinking line I wanted to fish, so I tried to improvise. I found a 7ips versileader in my bag but it had almost no mono left at the tip, so I improvised a bit.

My improvised sink-tip did the job with some lead eye streamers. In the last hour I hooked this 16" chunker and another 10" from the same hole a few minutes later. 

Not bad for what is likely a very pressured section. 

[Smallieguy87]

6 hours ago, flyguy_stl said:

This was my first time on the fork and I will definitely be back soon. I covered the same water you walked today.

I ran into a very dedicated fellow that hauled a loaded 17' aluminum canoe down to the water. I haven't been to the Big or Mineral Fork before, so I left my kayak at home. I was curious how difficult it would be to paddle upstream on either body. Needless to say, I'll definitely bring it next time, though I'm tempted to finally pull the trigger on a canoe.

I had two takes once I found the right color but lost them both. In my rush to get out the door I forgot my other spool case which had the sinking line I wanted to fish, so I tried to improvise. I found a 7ips versileader in my bag but it had almost no mono left at the tip, so I improvised a bit.

My improvised sink-tip did the job with some lead eye streamers. In the last hour I hooked this 16" chunker and another 10" from the same hole a few minutes later. 

Not bad for what is likely a very pressured section. 

That's a good looking fish my friend! I've never got into fly fishing but would love too. I almost pulled the trigger on a sage BASS II smallmouth fly rod last summer but decided against it at the last minuet....now i don't have the cash for it lol. You're right on it being pressured. as you go further up from the access you'll see a house or two on the hill and those residents frequent the stream (cant blame them) The one good thing is that most of the locals fish very particular sets of lures....lures that i don't pay any mind to for that very reason. Glad you had a good time out there. Maybe ill run into you sometime. Seems like i'm there at least twice a week after the spawn is over. I have a few different sections i hit to keep it interesting and take pressure off the previous area.

I'm hoping to be out near the old rivermont grounds soon and get a good look at how its changed since our high water in December. It's a shame that rivermont is no more. It used to provide at least some half way safe parking for people whole wanted to float and fish or even people who just liked to wade for the day. Thanks for the report and pictures man. I hope my brief walk through was of some help for you. 

[DownStream]

Good looking fish. Give it a month and I'm sure I'll be frequenting the stream. Thanks for the report.

[flyguy_stl]

Smallieguy - it definitely helped me get my butt out the door! It was a great first time down there. I'll be back with a canoe next time so I can explore much more upstream. 

I have the Bass II Smallmouth in an 8wt. It was with me but I didn't fish it much. It's an amazing topwater rod, decent with intermediate lines and unweighted streamers, and poor with full sink lines or weighted streamers. An extra foot makes a lot of difference when you're moving a lot of weight around. I think on water the size of the Mineral Fork, it could certainly do it all. It just doesn't hold up with a lot of weight if you're casting >30ft. I generally only rig it up if I'm taking two rods out - one streamer and one topwater. 

[Smallieguy87]

On 4/27/2016 at 10:11 PM, flyguy_stl said:

Smallieguy - it definitely helped me get my butt out the door! It was a great first time down there. I'll be back with a canoe next time so I can explore much more upstream. 

I have the Bass II Smallmouth in an 8wt. It was with me but I didn't fish it much. It's an amazing topwater rod, decent with intermediate lines and unweighted streamers, and poor with full sink lines or weighted streamers. An extra foot makes a lot of difference when you're moving a lot of weight around. I think on water the size of the Mineral Fork, it could certainly do it all. It just doesn't hold up with a lot of weight if you're casting >30ft. I generally only rig it up if I'm taking two rods out - one streamer and one topwater. 

It would be my first fly rod ever...so a huge change for me. I think mineral fork would be a good place to start with a new flyrod. Wouldn't mind getting back to trout fishing every now and then if i had one.

[Flysmallie]

Several years ago I spent some time looking at a fly rod specifically for bass. It did not have to have "Bass" in it's name or printed on the blank, just something in a 7 to 8 wt that matched my casting style and felt good in my hand. I was able to cast quite a few rods. The Sage Bass rods, some other sage rods, BVK, a Cabela's something or other, few different Orvis rods and a Redington Predator. I got a really sweet deal on the Redington but I can say that even without that deal it still would have been the rod that I chose. It matches my style perfectly. Casts weighted flies with ease. And even without that deal it was the cheapest option.

Don't get too hung up on a name or a brand. Take the time to find something that works for you. Even if you haven't cast a fly rod before you still should cast as many as you can to learn what works best for you. I learned a lot in that time trying different fly rods in different shops. The most important things I learned was about my casting style. You have to find a rod that matches. It doesn't matter if someone else likes it, it will feel differently to you.

I did end up with a Redington. The BVK was a very close second. Very close. The Sage Bass didn't even make the final cut.