[VFB] Fishing Wednesday long

[Tony Spezio]

Dean and I decided to hit Crooked Creek Wednesday afternoon. Temps were 
in the high 90's.  He came by to pick me up at 1:30 and we headed to the 
creek. We were on the water before 2 pm and it was stifling hot with no 
air stirring. Water temp was 82* in the pool we started out at. The 
water was kind of cloudy too. We fished the hole for over two hours or 
better yielding 9 brim between the two of us. I was fishing a RED A-- in 
the mid water column, he was fishing an orange and black River Witch on 
the bottom. I suggested we move up to the faster water as it might be a 
bit cooler. I had noticed the few fish I caught had their mouths full of 
real small larvae that looked like mini damsel fly larvae. I decided I 
would change over to a brown soft hackle. It was a sz 14 hook with brown 
floss body and black thread rib. The hackle was a black splotched brown 
JV hen hackle. I use JV hen for 99% of my soft hackles. Dean changed 
over to a Chili Pepper.
We put the rods in the back of the pickup,  going under some low hanging 
branches my line caught a branch. Made a stop, got it loose and placed 
the loose line in the truck bed. When we got to the faster water, Dean 
got his rod and started wading. I found my leader and tippet was a 
tangled mess. Before I could get it all untangled, Dean had caught 
several fish. I finally got on the water and made my first cast, hook 
up. A nice gill. Second cast the same thing. I got eight gills in a row.
That soft hackle was talking to them. A few casts with no hits, moved up 
a few yards and made another cast. Another three or four hookups in a 
row. Some were good size panfish and some were small. A fish on a fly is 
a fish on a fly.
I caught over ten gills from one spot casting right up against the bank 
that had some growth on it when the action quit. I was ready to move up 
a few yards when the water exploded, a small mouth came out like a 
rocket, flipped in the air and hit the water on it's side making a big 
splash.
I changed over to a white Clouser type fly, made a cast and had a good 
hit. Did not connect. Not sure it was the smallmouth. I fished the fly 
for a while yielding some slab gills. The action finally quit at that 
spot so I moved up a few yards. Dean headed up the creek to a deep hole 
where some nice sized carp lay. I did not hear from him till we started 
back.  I kept fishing the larger white clouser type fly for a while, it 
was not producing like I would like. A few more casts with it  and a hookup.
It was a real nice fat Rock Bass, When I removed the fly from it's mouth 
there were two crawdad claws sticking out of it's mouth, They were still 
moving. A glutton I would say.
After a few more casts I switched back to the soft hackle. I kept taking 
several fish in a row then move up several yards and do it again. I had 
noticed some activity in a small cove so I put the White fly back on. To 
make a long story short, I had a hid and broke off and lost the fly. 
Tied on the soft hackle once again and  got a few more fish. By now it 
was getting late and Dean was heading back down the creek. We were 
fishing back down to where the truck was parked and I told Dean about 
the big smallie that came out of the water earlier. We were right at the 
spot. Dean had a Black Nose dace streamer on and made a cast to the 
spot. Hook up, the lone sang and then slack, he broke off. That fish 
will be there for another day. We felt it was time to reel in and call 
it a day, we drove off at 7:01. I accounted for 52 fish and Dean lost 
count. Most of my fish were gills ant that type with a few Rock bass, 
Dean did get three smallmouths on the Chili Pepper along with a bunch of 
brim.
I am very fortunate to have this section of creek to fish in. It is 
private, belongs to my doctor and not fished very much. I can take a 
friend or two with me providing they stick to the rules. No keeping 
fish, no littering, and you know the drill.
Seems that the White will be giving us a few hours fishing in the 
mornings. Will get back to trout fishing.
Tony