Where'd they go?

[Lloyd]

How things can change from one week to the next. I waded my favorite creek on 9/11 and the fishing was fantastic. I caught over 11 quality smallmouth (16" or more by my estimates), and lost one that looked to be over 18." The water was higher than it was on previous trips this year, so presumably the area had gotten some recent rain. What really surprised me was the size of the schools in confined areas. In two spots I saw schools of at least 10 good fish, whereas I typically don't see more than two to three fish of that size together. Fast forward a week and things were totally different. The water was way down but I decided to check those spots to see if the fish were still there. Well they weren't, at least not in anywhere close to the numbers from the week before. I did thorough searches of both pools, wading right up to the available structure and peering down into it. In both cases I only saw a few fish. So where did the rest go? It's hard to imagine that they went downstream, because that would involve traversing countless riffles where the water barely wets an ankle. And yet that seems more likely than alternative explanations - that the fish went upstream, or that they were still there and I just couldn't see them. Any thoughts? 

[FishnDave]

[Flysmallie]

40 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

 

Apparently Poseidon took them. 

[FishnDave]

[Lloyd]

Come to think of it, I did see a bald eagle in a tree over one of those pools yesterday.

[Ik314]

Undercut banks . 

[Ik314]

Am I seeing something or is this possibly a hybrid ? 

 

[Terrierman]

Otters are also on the usual suspects list.

[Al Agnew]

2 hours ago, Ik314 said:

Am I seeing something or is this possibly a hybrid ? 

 

Yup.  Hybrid.

[Al Agnew]

They do start moving this time of year, and they apparently can make it down some pretty skinny riffles when they start to move.  I suspect they move through the riffles at night.  By October a lot of the smaller creeks will just not have many fish left in them.  Those that don't move to wintering pools downstream will move to pools with undercut banks or large rocks that they can get under.