Blue River Trout

...and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. For me, with regard to trout, it had been much longer, since March, but Hemingway understood. Fall 2010 trout season began for me around 2:00. First thing I decided to take a page from Donny Carter's playbook...not the EHC, but wading wet. It was approaching 80 and my thoughts were to travel light: two tiny flyboxes, two tippet spools, an extra leader, nippers and a Ketchum Release tethered to my shirt.

Snapshots don't always turn out well at 65 mph, but I thought these weren't so bad.

Passed up the western-most parking area that leads to the C&R area...
Wheeled into the west parking area nearest the river. There were two vehicles here and two more in the parking area directly south. Didn't bother crossing the bridge to see what was happening on the east side of the river.
Passed up several occupied spots before arriving here. Water clarity seemed very good and the water temp was a suprising 63 degrees...that will surely change with the coming weather, but it was very nice wading today. No takers. Kept moving.

Arrived at another spot and soon tangled with my first bow of the season. Lame, I know, but I really thought I had several better shots than this one. WRONG!

Continued on and fished a lot of pockets. Missed far too many fish, but hey, what did I expect? Released 18 B-E-A-utiful bows in about 1.5 hours of fishing. I was especially glad to see that the fish had managed to disperse as well as they had despite the low water level.Anyway, a great day. Thanksgiving came early...

Redear

Shellcrackers...redear are called this since they feed on, among other things, snails. They have pharyngeal teeth in their throat that allow them to crush shells. Like many, I find myself searching for these "bream with shoulders" each spring when they are considered easiest to find and catch, and this spring was no exception.

Some of my hot spots were already occupied when I reached the lake, but fortunately my favorite location was unmolested. In my Outcast Super Fat Cat I slowly made my way from the boat ramp across the lake in hopes of tempting some of these brutes. Kicking furiously, I managed to arrive near enough to my favorite locale that a newly arriving fishing tandem graciously chose not to muscle in.

Honestly, it is really one of those places that most will overlook, or, fortunately for me, decide it is too small and shallow to consider fishing. Even though the area is small and shallow, the underwater highway the fish use is a small creek channel, almost a ditch, that winds it's way from the back of the pool to the deeper channel of the cove. I've yet to be disappointed in this general area when the lake level is near normal pool. If the water level is higher...it's good. If the lake is three or more feet below normal...fuhgeddaboudit.

This year taught me something that I had either overlooked in the past, or was just unique to this day...I'm eager to return to the lake a time or two before the full moon Thursday the 27th to test this theory. I found that the redear brought to hand almost always came on the first bump of the cast. If I missed the first bump, but managed a hook-up on a second, third, etc., bump, all but one of the fish were bluegill or some other sunfish. So, the rule of the day appeared to be "lay down your best cast and be ready for that first lick if you want to do the dance with the redear".

In two hours, give or take, I tangled with 25+ bream, 2 largemouth bass, 2 drum, 1 spotted bass, and at least 13 redear. Three or four were rather small in the 4-5 inch range. The others, however, were really nice fish in the 8-11 inch range. All fish brought to hand were admired briefly and then returned to their watery abode and are hopefully preparing to do the deed that will keep me coming back.

The Fountain of Youth

Went to Blue River, located north of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, for what was just my second warm water foray of the 2010 season. Overcast most of the afternoon, about 80 degrees, southerly winds with late thunderstorms forecast...conditions just to my liking.

After a ten minute bike ride into the Catch & Release area, I walked to the river's edge performing recon while joining and threading my fly rod. Visibility at 2-3 feet, no fish. Nothing rising, nothing holding around visible cover, nothing making any kind of flash in feeding lanes...nothing, but I have faith.

After hearing reports of some late season trout being caught, I decide a rust colored #6 bead head woolly bugger might be something that would entice both smallmouth and holdover rainbows. I was not disappointed. Today turned out to be one of those days when you remember what it was like to be a kid fishing a favorite piece of water. Heck, today I became a kid again.

Drifting the bugger along a seam in the deepest water in the area, I managed the first bite of the day. A hard take, I immediately thought I had a nice smallmouth. After two pretty strong runs and a lot of violent head shaking, the fish came close enough to the surface for a broadside view. Still too deep for me to be absolutely certain, it appeared too large to be a smallmouth putting up this fight. Making another hard run into deeper water, the fish quickly changed directions and vaulted from the water with a vibrant flash of pink and silver. Uh-huh, like I thought. After releasing the 16" bow, I had another hard hit in the same spot, but no hook-up.

The next hook-up was a feisty 10" smallmouth that cartwheeled until wearing itself out, followed by a Kentucky with eyes bigger than it's stomach. Another nice smallie was brought to hand just before having a nice rainbow sluggishly roll on the bugger without connecting.

Before heading downstream I returned to the scene of the first fish with a silver bead head bugger in black with silver wrap and strands of crystal flash...same result. A carbon copy of the first bow quickly accepted my offering.

New spot, similar results...another voracious smallmouth. Plucking vegetation from the leader-tippet connection with the black bugger dangling over the small falls a chunky bluegill took advantage.

Change of location...last stop, an area that has produced nice bows as well as frisky smallies during their respective seasons. Fishing time's running out, but I continue to drift the black bugger through riffles letting it swing in front of and just beyond some promising underwater rocks. The bugger stops...I lift the rod...the fish is there! Fish of the day! Several moments of strong runs, fighting the fish and the current, identity revealed as it rolls on the surface...and rolls, and rolls, and rolls! A 20" channel cat is my final reward.

There've been days when I've caught more fish, but rarely have I been so unsure of what'll bite next. Today took me back to a time when I marveled at what "might" be lurking beneath the surface. Perspective...it's all about perspective.

If you haven't been fishing lately...it's time. Time to grab your rod and search for your fountain of youth.