I have been working on getting a bamboo rod finished and needed a break,
been working with a student I am teaching to make rods. We have been
hitting it pretty hard for several days. I told my student we would take
a break and go fishing. It was to get up into the 80's, pretty warm for
November.
I wanted to hit Crooked Creek one more time before winter sets in.
We got on the creek about two in the afternoon. The beavers had built a
dam and the area I like to fish was flooded. Water that is normally to
my knees was up to my waist. I tied on a sz 16 rusty brown bugger type
fly that was given to me to try. It is a takeoff in the Chili Pepper.
Mark tied on a surface popper. Mark connected on about his second cast.
It was a 8" smallmouth. I started connecting on my third or fourth cast.
My first fish was a 6" smallmouth. Got into a lot of bluegills and other
types of "bream" as they are called here. I tried to keep count but lost
count after 50 fish. I did catch a couple more smallmouths, one about
12". Mark was doing well on the popper, he caught a bunch of "bream" and
a largemouth about 1 1/2 pounds. I had a good fish on and broke off the
fly I was fishing with. It was the only one I had like it. I tied on a
sz 14 soft hackle and it did not do as well as the fly I had on before.
I did not have any small Chili Peppers with me. If I had, I would of
used it. Things started to slow down in that spot so we decided to move
up the creek to another hole that holds some big carp. Mark handed me a
red foam popper and told me to give it a try. That popper was dynamite.
Hooked up on the first cast. It has been a while since I have fished
poppers and this was a real treat. I can't tell you how much fun it was.
There was a take on about every cast. Some were small fish that would
grab the tail and pull the popper under the surface. I did catch a
couple more smallmouths in the 8" range. We saw a number of large Carp
but I did not try for them. Mark was trying to get them to take a large
Chili Pepper but no luck. The afternoon was getting short of light and
we decided to head back to where the truck was parked. Fished on down
the creek picking a few fish. All told, I know I hit close to a hundred
fish that included a few "Roach". Some gills were as big as my hand and
some were as small as 4" but a fish is a fish. LOL
That was a good way to end the season on Crooked Creek, winter will be
here soon and Crooked Creek will be in it's winter sleep. There will be
plenty of trout fishing on the White should we have a mild winter.
Tony
