Double trouble on the creek

[Lloyd]

On Sunday I waded one of the Mississippi River tributaries south of St. Louis. It was my first time at this section of creek, and since access wasn't all that easy I was hoping the fishing would be great. While it didn't quite turn out that way, it was still worth the trip. I fished downstream about 1.5 miles with a Zara Spook Boyo. Caught a few dinks and then a good one that fought like a maniac with a handful of cartwheeling leaps. A little ways downstream I worked the lure around some exposed tree roots and got another explosive strike. This fish was fighting just like the last one, but it soon turned to dead weight. As I hauled it to the bank I saw that there were TWO nice fish on the Spook. Apparently a following fish had tried to steal the lure out of the first one's mouth. I've caught two fish at a time before, but never two good ones. Also, the difference in color between the two was dramatic. At first glance I would have thought the lighter one was a smallmouth, but given the contrast I suppose it was a hybrid. Anyway that was the last of the action on the downstream leg. Plenty of pools looked like honey holes but if there were any fish they weren’t interested in the Spook.

On the way back upstream I switched to a wacky rigged 4” Yum Dinger. Immediately I started catching more dinks. A little further upstream there were a few stretches that were lined with weeds, and they were thick with largemouths. These fish had snubbed the Spook but were more than happy to inhale the wacky worm. While I’d rather catch smallies than largemouth, I’d rather catch largemouth than nothing. There’s a tributary of my favorite creek that has similar habitat and I can’t wait to try the wacky there as I bet it will do well. In the meantime I'm looking forward to exploring other sections of this creek.

[FishnDave]

Nice trip!  Both are Smallmouth.  

[Ik314]

Awesome, looks like a great outing!!!! The double is always such a weird feeling but also super exciting, and not easy to land!! 

[FishnDave]

Super rare for me to have more than a single hook on the fly rods...but back before I decided to switch, doubles happened.  No smallies that way, though, that I recall.  So both you guys definitely got one up on me!  

 

[Ik314]

Hey two white bass at once is probably pretty fun! I had the insulting double of a creek Chub with a tiny wild rainbow on the fly rod  with a hopper and dropper setup when doing the trout slam lol 

[Hawg]

//

[Hawg]

On 8/24/2023 at 8:11 AM, Lloyd said:

On Sunday I waded one of the Mississippi River tributaries south of St. Louis. It was my first time at this section of creek, and since access wasn't all that easy I was hoping the fishing would be great. While it didn't quite turn out that way, it was still worth the trip. I fished downstream about 1.5 miles with a Zara Spook Boyo. Caught a few dinks and then a good one that fought like a maniac with a handful of cartwheeling leaps. A little ways downstream I worked the lure around some exposed tree roots and got another explosive strike. This fish was fighting just like the last one, but it soon turned to dead weight. As I hauled it to the bank I saw that there were TWO nice fish on the Spook. Apparently a following fish had tried to steal the lure out of the first one's mouth. I've caught two fish at a time before, but never two good ones. Also, the difference in color between the two was dramatic. At first glance I would have thought the lighter one was a smallmouth, but given the contrast I suppose it was a hybrid. Anyway that was the last of the action on the downstream leg. Plenty of pools looked like honey holes but if there were any fish they weren’t interested in the Spook.

On the way back upstream I switched to a wacky rigged 4” Yum Dinger. Immediately I started catching more dinks. A little further upstream there were a few stretches that were lined with weeds, and they were thick with largemouths. These fish had snubbed the Spook but were more than happy to inhale the wacky worm. While I’d rather catch smallies than largemouth, I’d rather catch largemouth than nothing. There’s a tributary of my favorite creek that has similar habitat and I can’t wait to try the wacky there as I bet it will do well. In the meantime I'm looking forward to exploring other sections of this creek.

Great report.

How did you get those two bass to lay flat next to each other without being tethered to something..

Did they die?

[Al Agnew]

My best double of many over the years...the larger one was a bit over 18 inches.

[Lloyd]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:25 PM, Hawg said:

Great report.

How did you get those two bass to lay flat next to each other without being tethered to something..

Did they die?

Fair question. They were flopping around at first, but I tried to keep them in the water until they settled down which took about 10 seconds. After the pictures both fish swam away looking good.

[Flysmallie]

On 8/28/2023 at 11:41 AM, Lloyd said:

Fair question. 

I don't think it was but you answered it well. Congrats on the catch.