Nice smallmouth hiding out in "Carp" water.

There's a stream I like in Frederick county that is usually a sure bet for carp.  It's a medium size stream with heavy silt deposits.  The silt is so bad in spots that the thought of anything else but carp living there wouldn't even cross my mind.  I guess the last time I fished it was last year in mid July and it was full of carp, just like the first few times I fished it in June.  and these carp, being that they are in a stream setting with some riffles but mostly runs and pools, feed rather well and will readily take a fly.  Buggers and damsel flies mostly for me.  Okay, so two Saturdays ago I hit the stream in the evening.  I knew the light wouldn't be great to sight fish but I went anyway.  I didn't see the first carp, not a one when in a 30 foot wide pool last year there were probably 50 carp averaging 5 pounds or more.  Okay, never been there in August before.  Oh well.  But, this one pool, the largest in the area with great habitat of a criss crossing fallen tree up against a large boulder with excellent depth, had some decent bass.  From what I could tell they were 10 inch largemouth which I have caught a few in that stream before.  So, I switched to a heavy CK crawfish pattern and lobbed it into the depth.  Sure enough I saw three or four impressive bass instantly come out of the woodwork and chase my fly.  I lost sight of the fish and my fly but saw my fly line twitch so I set the hook.  What happened next surprised the heck out of me.  An enormous smallmouth was hooked up and he had about 4 other friends close to his size following him.  A SMALLMOUTH? In slow, retarded carp water?  Yep.  It took more than a few seconds, maybe minutes to pull him out of all those snags too but somehow I did it.  I think I had on 4 pound tippet, not x anything, just 4 pound mono from a filler spool.  It did the job and I landed one of my better fly rod caught smallies.  And like most small streams, from that moment on all the fish in that pool were educated.  I may have caught a few more bluegill and green sunfish but I could see at least another half dozen bass that wanted nothing to do with my fly again.  Why do they get like that?  But I've seen it time and time again in small streams that the fish that were retards during the first few casts become PHD educated immediately after they watch one of their buddies get yanked from the stream. 

I didn't catch anything else from that pool or a few others I tried either.  So off to the Monocacy afterwards in hopes of finding a hex hatch.  Sure enough, they came out in the evening with a few dinky fish rising from time to time.  Near that magic time just before dark I heard a large truck in the vicinity of where I parked and I was worried I was getting towed. I may have parked a little illegally but had no other choice near a road closed sign. I high tailed it out of there right when I should have been fishing but I did give an honest effort of over an hour and was completely skunked.  Not even a bluegill or chub.  Oh well.  That smally I caught earlier sure made the trip well worth it though. 

Yellow Breeches White Fly August 19, 2012

August 19, 2012 Yellow Breeches White Fly Hatch

I’m sure many of you want to know what’s going on.  Well my usual fishing partner in crime John, his father and Par and I made a trip to the Breeches yesterday.  Of course it was pouring with rain back home all day and neither of us even bothered to check the weather.  The rain was relentless back home but I just figured it was a quick summer storm.  Well, it kept falling but we had it planned and rolled out in blinding rain from Gaithersburg around 1:30pm.  Made it to Yellow Breeches outfitters to buy licenses, they couldn’t sell out of state licenses so we had to go to the Getty up the road.  But I needed some flies even though I tie some of my own and John always ties hundreds and knows the stream better than anyone I know being that he went to college practically on the stream some 15 years ago or whatever it was. This was kind of a last second trip and in the end, John didn’t have a decent selection with him and neither did yellow breeches.  They were out of anything smaller than #12 for both the spinners and the duns and no emergers of the white fly.  Oh well, bigger is what I bought, 12 will have to do.  The shop said the peak had passed and it was slowing down, even got a report that it was “not good”.  But then opportunism turned that report into well, in the rain last week it was good.  Supposedly last Sunday through Wednesday was the time and afterwards saw noticeable slow down?  But the hex’s were out well and I really wanted to play with them more than anything.  The weather ended up being beautiful while we were there with the sun coming about around 3:30, cool, probably high 70’s air temp with some over cast.  Just ideal I thought.

We started in the run and played with some fish, each catching a couple.  We had two rookies with us too and rigged them up with egg flies or nymphs and they did very well on browns and rainbows.  But that’s not why I came.  So I worked down on foot away from our little crowd.  The stream below the run only had a few guys all the way to Allenberry, but from the damn down was where all the people were, just below the dam and the next two hundred yards or more.  Probably 15 guys in that stretch, all fishing the deeper water on River right, the warmer water.  There was a distinct temperature difference that I noticed while wet wading starting about mid river.  The river right (Facing downstream) was far warmer than the left.  So the fish should be on the left right?  According to john that’s the case.  I saw plenty of rises to midges around 4-6pm in the slow stuff above allenberry, but like usual they are difficult.  I had prime water near the mouth of the run but left it to join the crowds?  Why?  My crew later drove the car to Allenberry and were working mediocre water below the crowds.  Very shallow riffles.  But when this hatch happens you can do well in a 5 inch riffle.  Or flat water.

We finally set up all the way at the bottom on the last bend.  There were a few guys working the deep flat stuff below us but we had the bottom of the bend pool with quite a few fish working the surface below a caterpillar nest.  Believe it or not but John noticed there was a squirrel in this one tree where the caterpillar nest was and it shook the tree from time to time and knocked caterpillars into the water.  Sure enough the fish responded.  If we threw something brown, it got attention.  We ended up cutting the legs and wings off of a brown hopper pattern and first three casts got a take with two landings of decent browns.  One of those rising browns on the far bank was well proportioned too, it was a very nice fish, no takes from him though. 

So now it’s 7pm or so and the hex’s first showed up.  We didn’t have the riffle section just above the pool because another gentlemen was there, I think he lived in the house behind us.  He was in the prime spot and sure enough was getting bit well when things started getting interesting with hex’s flying everywhere.  These guys were HUGE too.  I forgot how exciting it was just to see these flies dance over head with the anticipation that when one of these humming birds lands in the water, a swimming log in the form of hold over brown measured in pounds is going to explode on the thing.  Wishful thinking but I’m a fishermen and that’s what we do.  I started using a white wulf fly around 7pm and ended up cutting off some of the deer hair to thin it out some.  It got bit even when there were not many white flies around.  The guy above us was throwing a hex and was getting plenty of attention but kept missing the fish.  Sometime just before dark the white flies were everywhere, along with the hex’s and the guy above us said “it looks like they switched over to the white fly now.”  I had caught a few fish, all small 9 inch browns on white flies long before he said that.  But he got countless takes on the hex in the riffle prior to that.  I think only landing a couple but they were exploding on his fly all evening long.  A little frustrating.  But by now it was hot and heavy.  Mating pairs flying everywhere, fish rising everywhere too, slow water, fast water but mostly in the riffles/runs and we were in the pool more or less.  IF you could dance your fly and literally skip it on the surface, it got more attention.  My rookie friend fishing with me did well in the run previously but was having a hard time during the hatch.  No takes for him for some reason and we were all using basically the same fly, except maybe he didn’t trim is size 12 or 14 dry like I did.  It pays to keep it small like #16 if you can.  But I got more takes on a white wulff pattern with no anal antennae, just deer hair than I did with a realistic spinner pattern with two long anal antennae for whatever reason. 

We fished well, well past dark too.  Mostly because I’ve always had the understanding that hex’s don’t actually fall into the water until well past dark.  My Pere Marquette education from last year taught me that and years of studying the insect in my spare time.  Because they also hatch on the Monocacy this time of year.  They show up about a half hour before sunset but don’t come near the water till almost dark.  Most of the time barley bouncing on the surface.  But the true spinner fall?  When does that happen?  My thoughts were well after dark so I was hoping for bubba.  He never showed.  I even threw a mouse pattern around 9:00pm hoping for the unicorn fish of a lifetime.  OH well.  We did okay, saw plenty of rises but didn’t set the world on fire and I didn’t catch more fish than I could count with one hand.  The shop and my fishing buddy john said it was nowhere near its best.  The shop reporting past its peak.  But John says he usually does well from August 15^th to as late as September 1.  Looks like we missed the peak but I personally thought it was  spectacular hatch with plenty of bugs.  You just have to be in the right place with the right fly and right time.  I never did see anything of any size caught except a 15 incher from the guy above us and another 15inch from my rookie friend on a nymph in the run.  But it was still enjoyable, just wish I could take my education from yesterday and apply it on the water today.  But work and life got in the way and now I’m wasting my whole lunch hour reporting it to you.  It’s been a while since I’ve written a decent fishing report so here it is.  Get up there now is my advice.  Bring small white flies, even a mating pair pattern if you can.  Don’t’ forget the hexes.  Check out a picture I took of a two hexes that were caught in a spider web I found around 6pm.  Not sure if they were yesterday’s bugs or today’s but one was still alive just barley handing on to the thread a few feet over the water, above a perfect looking riffle that I never should have left. 

The other promising and noteworthy event of the trip was that we were still able to sit down at the bar in Allenberry after fishing, well after dark.  We didn’t get there till probably 9:30pm and were still able to order delicious burgers and soup, plus a few adult beverages amongst friends to relive the experience.  The bar staff were so polite and happy to see us that they said anytime we were fishing late, just call them in advance and they would stay open as late as we wanted them to from what I understood.  That could get interesting some nights.  But who knows when I’ll be back.  I think John didn’t catch enough fish yesterday and saw a promising enough hatch that he’s heading back up today.  I would if I could, that’s for sure. 

The below brown was caught around 4:30pm in the run on a #16 PT nymph by my friend Par. 

August 8, 2012

It's hot, damn hot.  Everywhere is just about dry, barren or dead.  Just about the worst time of year to be a fishermen... unless I suppose you're an opportunistic fishermen.  Let's see... what have I been up to?  Lot's of wetland delineation field work, plus I'm starting a new job next week so I've been a little busy..... but never busy enough to not go fishing. 

First, the one fish that could careless about a heat wave, low dissolved oxygen or even food supply is the lonely "prince of mud" or common carp.  They have invaded just about every body of water from the tundra to the Everglades.  Find a shallow, silty lake or stream with good access to a larger body of water and you've got yourself a match made in heaven this time of year.  Back during one hot July afternoon I passed by an urban public lake that has recently undergone a face life. The entire forebay of Lake Needwood, or that shallow confluence area of Rock Creek as it enters the lake to the north of Needwood road has been dredged, fish habitat has been installed and it's a gold mine to fish.  It always had its carp back there, actually they were easier to cast to before the lake improvements but there was far less habitat and far fewer fish.  Well, it's not difficult to see a sunning or "mudding" carp in the lake but it sure is difficult to convince one to take a fly.  I can't tell you how many times I've been skunked while trying to sight cast to a carp with a fly rod. But that one in one hundred time when you don't spook the 30+ inch carp on the cast and it actually changes course by 30 degrees towards your fly, well.... I think you'll understand the excitement. 

During this one afternoon during yet another record breaking heat wave I decided to start with a hopper/dropper pattern.  I was told somewhere that carp often will rise to a large hopper pattern.  Well, sure, why not.  I tied on one from last summer that I got from fishing on the Pere Marquette in Michigan. Except this hopper still had a small #16 pheasant tail nymph attached to the shank of the hook with a long leader of 6x tippet.  A popular method I deploy for picky trout. Trout that might spook from a traditional strike indicator and for an area where the trout might actually ignore the nymph and take the hopper.  Much for fun that way. well, who would have thought but the carp took the dropper... and I landed it!  At or very near 30 inches too.  Can't complain there.  I had a few more refusals on later trips in the same lake.  But the other pleasant surprise is that the bass fishing there is also excellent now because of the lake improvements.  There seems to have been a population explosion of life to the lake.  Minnows and YOY bluegill litter the shore.  Bass can been seen chasing schools of bait fish and damsel flies even in the dead middle of the highest sun.  I've done quite well there in an hours effort while fishing claw dads and poppers in mid afternoon for a measly hour of fishing to and from a job site every week.  So, you may want to do yourself a favor and give old Needwood a try sometime.

The next fish that likes warm, hot, useless water is the ever sporty, top water junky, invasive northern Snakehead.  This fish is bad ass.  It's got teeth like a musky with an attitude to match and best of all, this fish likes to look up.  Almost all day long too.  Frogs are always on the menu for these guys and shallow, warm, putrid water should not be overlooked. In fact, the silty, lifeless looking water furthest back in a bay where only a largemouth would dare travel after dark is where you want to start looking for these back yard brawlers, and even in the dead middle of the day.  Check out one Diego and I scored the other day.  Top water frog up against the spatter dock (Sp?)  We missed a few more that day fishing inside the airport plus found the highest concentration of quality largemouth I've fished over in a long, long time.  So, don't give up just yet.  I know it's tough out there right now.  I didn't have enough callus on my fingers to report all my skunks as of late.  We can't all be professionals but we all should be able to capitalize on over looked fisheries with a little intuition, determination and opportunism.