Too Darn Kold

[turkeyhawk2005]

wow i tried the other day ,freakin cold to out there in waders ....i am so bitin at the bit ...never seen the water this clear .....am lookin for any fly fisher that long rod the Elk ,Sugar,Indian;i live on "v" hiway in mac county ...stomppin grounds are penetenary bend ,cyclone and over behind caseys in anderson and lanagan.....if any persons are around just yell i always wear a desert bonnie hat ..have long hair (1/2native)and lookin for new buddies does any know about if mako still exsist? take care stay warm and return some tights lines michael

[Danimal]

I love fishin the Elk w/both fly and spinning gear. I'd really like to give Indian Creek a try. Maybe we could meet up when it warms up a little. Keep me posted. Dan-o

[turkeyhawk2005]

oh yea! that would be great !!!!lookin for fellow fly persons ...know of 2-3 diffrent places on indian an would love to try over by mcnatt

[chub minnow]

I fly fished Big Sugar from the canoe yesterday. Things were slow on the fly, and I needed to hurry up due to the rain so I switched over to the spinning rod. Tried a green bitsy tube and trick worm to no avail, but once I switched to the mustard bitsy tube it was on. I caught a little smallie in the straight stretch just before Owl's Nest that put up a pretty good fight. I fished the big hole for a long time with both the mustard tube and a similarly colored fly on the 6wt. As I was getting ready to portage around a strainer at the end of the hole and reeling the tube back to the boat -WHAM! a nice 12" largemouth nailed the tube, and proceeded to put up no resistance coming to the boat.

Just before the boat launch area at Owl's Nest I threw under a big tree onto what would appear to be a bed (lighter colored gravel). Before the tube even hit bottom, my line went tight and the fight was on. I was using a medium light spinning rod with 6# Fireline with 4' of 4x tippet on the end. I was very concerned that this fish was going to break off considering that he was spooling line off the reel pretty quick. I did finally manage to get him turned back towards me with the current and things started going my way. After two nice jumps his was in the canoe and we were all in a snarl of overhanging limbs that threatened to tip us over. Once I extracated us from the snarl I measured the little guy at just short of 16" and sent him back to his bankside lair.

The stretch from there to the Big Rock hole is a little scary to navigate by yourself right now, so I didn't do much fishing until I reached the hole. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I put the fly rod away for good. No fish were caught in the Big Rock hole, and I was pretty sure the river was starting to come up. I basically just fished really prime looking spots as I floated by from there on out.

The last fish I caught was maybe the most fun. A couple was driving by in one of the many areas that the creek runs right by the road. They slowed down and eventually stopped. She asked if I was having any luck and I replied "a little bit." She asked another question I could not understand, and at that moment -BAM- my line goes tight and I exclaimed, "There you go!". As they photographed me, I landed a nice little smallie.

From there I booked it back to the takeout before my wife called out the rescue party. I did manage to hook into one more right before the takeout that was either huge or wrapped me around something. Either way I'll have to go back to get a look at that one.

All in all it was a great day of fishing in completely miserable conditions. I would love to have some company in the future, maybe even a smallmouth fly tournament? Indian or Sugar would be great for this.

[turkeyhawk2005]

wow !sounds like you had a great time ...fly tourny huh?well maybe ....i do like the idea ...but would be after the spawn..i wonder if mcclellean fly shop down in fayetteville would like that or help in that idea?or tims or southtown in joplini . i have been tying a ball chain worm .green chenelle ,i patterned it out of a mag. called fly fish america.the free one at fly shops (lol)...i also think them smallies are just starving (lol)maybe try a bead head yellow wolly my mind is just thinking now .....lol sounds like you had a ball ....mike

[creek wader]

I fly fished Big Sugar from the canoe yesterday. Things were slow on the fly, and I needed to hurry up due to the rain so I switched over to the spinning rod. Tried a green bitsy tube and trick worm to no avail, but once I switched to the mustard bitsy tube it was on. I caught a little smallie in the straight stretch just before Owl's Nest that put up a pretty good fight. I fished the big hole for a long time with both the mustard tube and a similarly colored fly on the 6wt. As I was getting ready to portage around a strainer at the end of the hole and reeling the tube back to the boat -WHAM! a nice 12" largemouth nailed the tube, and proceeded to put up no resistance coming to the boat.

Just before the boat launch area at Owl's Nest I threw under a big tree onto what would appear to be a bed (lighter colored gravel). Before the tube even hit bottom, my line went tight and the fight was on. I was using a medium light spinning rod with 6# Fireline with 4' of 4x tippet on the end. I was very concerned that this fish was going to break off considering that he was spooling line off the reel pretty quick. I did finally manage to get him turned back towards me with the current and things started going my way. After two nice jumps his was in the canoe and we were all in a snarl of overhanging limbs that threatened to tip us over. Once I extracated us from the snarl I measured the little guy at just short of 16" and sent him back to his bankside lair.

The stretch from there to the Big Rock hole is a little scary to navigate by yourself right now, so I didn't do much fishing until I reached the hole. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I put the fly rod away for good. No fish were caught in the Big Rock hole, and I was pretty sure the river was starting to come up. I basically just fished really prime looking spots as I floated by from there on out.

The last fish I caught was maybe the most fun. A couple was driving by in one of the many areas that the creek runs right by the road. They slowed down and eventually stopped. She asked if I was having any luck and I replied "a little bit." She asked another question I could not understand, and at that moment -BAM- my line goes tight and I exclaimed, "There you go!". As they photographed me, I landed a nice little smallie.

From there I booked it back to the takeout before my wife called out the rescue party. I did manage to hook into one more right before the takeout that was either huge or wrapped me around something. Either way I'll have to go back to get a look at that one.

All in all it was a great day of fishing in completely miserable conditions. I would love to have some company in the future, maybe even a smallmouth fly tournament? Indian or Sugar would be great for this.

Nice report, all you early birds are giving me the fever. We still had 10" of snow on the ground with the streams froze up. Then got another 6" of snow on top of it yesterday. It was 10 degreees with a 35mph substained wind and gust to 50mph, last night. I'm tired of this. I'll have to fish vicariously through you guys. Thanks for the light reading. ... Wader