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Float and Fly Smallmouth High Water Dinkfest 1/23/10

Hit a creek at about 1800 CFS. The hope was this incredibly slow thaw would hold back the silt from the streams so the fish could see my baits and the smallmouth would be packed in tight along the banks. When I got to the stream it was high and fast, maybe 2' over summer flow. Visibility seemed to my eye to be about 6-8" but the water did have a green tinge to it. Hard to tell with the 14 straight day without sun. We've had how many straight days of 35-45F temps and the ground is still mostly frozen! Today the lack of sun was a favor, as the rivers surely would be a torrent of chocolate milk with any kind of heat from the sun.

The first two spots produced nothing; in fact, there was just too much flow for smallies to hold there. Moved downstream and mostly lost lures. Tried dragging a tube, but they hung up on roots and were lost. Curse the 8lbs mono. My tube jigs were used up, I'd have to make do with FnF in 8" of visibility. Went downstream for a couple more holes, but again the flow was too much, this time bramble kept me from fishing parallel to the bank.

Discouraged, I was about to leave, it was nearly 2 o'clock. It had been 22 days since the last smallmouth, so figured I try some wider pools. The first is shallow bedrock flat below some shelves where the stream forms a couple of riffles. I found a couple of years ago smallies will congregate to one side below the riffle during high water, especially with some turbidity. After about 20 minutes, my float dunked and I landed a 12"er. Stuck with the spot for 3 more from dink to about 13.5". Ok, this was good. Patience I can have, if I know the fish can see.


Somehow, I was able to cross at 'shallow' areas to get to the other winter holes. The water was up 18-24" and class II-III. Thanks be to felted boots!

At the next spot, a sycamore and minor clump of log jam to one side create a nice current deflection leaving slow water to one side. With the river up, the slow area was 1/3 the size. I caught 4 more SMB dink to 13" and a Goog all close to root cover near the bank.

Really surprised at the lack of decent size bass. They must have eaten yesterday. Time to bring a tube rod with braid; I'll not be losing three tubes like that again.

Going tomorrow, need to get a big'un or two. I bet if the sun was shining, visibility might have been 1'+

8 SMB 1 Goggle eye

Average rainfall by month for Indianapolis, IN

Here is the average rainfall by month for Indianapolis:



How does this affect the fishing around Indy? Do any of the totals surprise?

Seems a common complaint in June to complain about rain and not being able to fish.

Check your area and plan accordingly. Amount of water changes the fishing drastically.

2010 Indiana on the Fly show- Internet

One thing I love to to do is talk to people as excited about the resource as I am. The 2010 Indiana on the Fly show had that in spades. Maybe its the group of guys that makes up the INSA board at this point in time, maybe it is the clear desire of a lot of Indiana flyfisherman to get after something that swims statewide. There definately was a lot of good will and enthusiasm flying around the booth all day.

I can remember a few short years ago, when I was on the other side of getting into the awesome hobby of chasing stream bass. I know what it is like to have a bit of a fever, but be confused on where to quench it. Guides perform a good service, but that comes at a price. So how is a novice flyfrother or gear chucker to churn the right waters? Social Networking.

The Indiana Smallmouth Alliance is for the new fisherman, intermediate, and the seasoned vet alike. Questions about stream smallmouth fishing? Looking for someone to share a float? Want to learn more about fishing streams in kayaks?

Don't be a wallflower, get started here: INSA Message boards

Got so caught up in that excitement, I hardly got to peek around the hall until the show was almost over. Apologize to those I didn't have time to chat with.

Note to self: Several pairs of socks and cushiony shoes are a MUST on concrete floors. That concrete was worse than any river bottom.

2009, I hardly knew you.

2009 has gone. In many ways, a great year for me. In many ways bitter sweet. Here are the final results. Black is a all time low. Blue is my personal best. Started counting in 2007.

Click to enlarge:



59 smallmouth 18"'s or bigger is my best. As is the percent of 18-20+"% bass caught.

Down are total bass, bass per hour, numbers of 16-17.99" smallies, and % of 16"+.

Indiana on the Fly 1/09/2010!

This coming Saturday, the Indiana Smallmouth Alliance will be running their display booth at the Indiana on the Fly show at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. I will be there from 9am until 2pm manning the booth.

Feel free to stop by and chat the state of smallmouth bass in our streams. You can also join renew INSA membership. We are offering a free tackle pack/fly pack for renewals new members alike at this show only. Details below. Don't miss it, Patty Beasley and the gang do an outstanding job promoting and entertaining at the event! See you all there. Whether you flyfish or not, good time during a gray winter.

Indiana on the Fly





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We will also be selling tickets for our yearly dinner/auction/fundraiser in Zionsville on March 6th. Tickets will be 20$, don't miss it! More soon!

New Year's Nut Freeze

2010 is here, so what better to do than relax, watch TV, eat all day in the warmth of home with in laws and such? :o

Psprowler and I had the same idea to see if any of the frozen smallies would be recovered from their libations enough to eat on hairy fly jig.

Gearing up along the highway in 15 mph winds, it was cold. No wait...COLD. Armed with children's bobbers, crappie flies, smokes, breathable waders, warm head and hand gear, and the best Spiderman unders, we hit water around 11:15. The river looked perfect, visibility about 2' with a nice green tint, nice warm sun; enough flow to push fish into eddies. The temp was 16 F.

Quick walk to the first hole where two river channels criss crossed, we got 4 fish hopping the Float and Fly on the bottom, moving it a few inches at a time. The sun warmed us good in that spot but we would be moving on. Another fish on the walk to the next large pool, where the wind greeted us with hatred. We got 4-5 fish out of the big pool. Matt got the largest, this 16"+ SMB.

We hopschotched 4-5 winter holes, catching a few fish in each, then moving up to the next to let it recover, on return it would be "fish on" almost immediately. Perhaps indicating fish swimming circuit.

We had very few actual 'float dunks' all day. Instead, the float would do something 'different' indicating you had a fish on. Your fly had to be on the bottom, an extra foot of line on bottom worked well.

We had 17 Smallies and a Goog in 4.5 hours, most between 12-14", but a handful of nicer 15-16". As long as the wind wasn't on you, it was pretty toasty in all those layers. Disappointed there weren't the usual larger bass, but solid action for the mid 30's water temps.

2010 is here. Happy New Year!

BT

Merry Nickmas from India....na!

I love this:

The Ultimate Guide To Supercold Smallies

This article from ESPN/BASS isn't bad: The Ultimate Guide To Supercold Smallies however, there are a number of things that jump out at me. Super cold water smallmouth bite cutoff being mentioned at 39F, maybe throwing jerkbaits alone (in general), but.... It also seems BASS/ESPN article is behind the times a little. There are more than a few internet smallmouth sites that discuss 'super' cold water fishing in depth these days and on a continual daily basis. Many of the limits the BASS article puts on winter bass fishing are commonly exceeded by regular Joe, winter smallmouth angler.

I don't know exactly how cold the water was pushing ice flows off to sea and catching fish underneath, but I am certain smallies bite very well in 33-38F water. In my experience, it's the weather, direct light, and current height(CFS)that matter most in 'super' cold water.

Example 1, say you have 36F ultra clear water (4'+ vis),low flow, bright sun, and plenty of ledge rock for smallies to hide under. They aren't going to be easy to catch because of the low temps. They'll be hard to catch because the cover allows them to hide under things that prevent any sort of proper presentation. These fish are lethargic and not at all confident in their abilities to hide from percieved predators above! In this situation, I'd fish a winter pool with little cover and enough depth that you cannot fully see bottom.

The same weather with stained water, the same fish are now quite catchable as they are up and moving somewhat in the current of the slow water. Smallmouth are paranoid, light shy, probably never more vulnerable than when their metabolism is so low. The seek the security of darkness/shelter. If they cannot find it, will hunker down. These clear water/bright light situations lead to more 'the fish aren't biting' days than anything. Maybe they are biting, but under undercut banks and such-inaccessable.

Fishing creeks and seeing to what length smallmouth will go to hide from light in low clear water on a small manageable scale (you can eliminate behaviours based on less behavioural options in a smaller stream, (the behaviours at least locally translate on a larger scale)- under sycamore trees- in the hollowed out banks beneath the roots, under those hanging carpets of small roots dangling the stream banks, wedged under rocks, in drain pipes, laying in leaves,etc... smallmouth bass have the complete ability to disapear if they are inclined.

In winter, this all happens still with the caveat the fish have to be able to survive cold high water events. There are more days when the big fish is plum in the middle of a eddie and catchable. That hog is probably limited in it's activity hours compared to warm months when you have a smaller chance of catching it feeding and liklier chance it'll be hid.

It part of what makes them so fascinating to target.

Example 2, medium flow or greater, good green stain, 36F water, snowstorm, and decent water visibility. The color cuts down on the light penetration, Mr Smallmouth feels safe. Uses the slight current of the eddie or slack pool to hover about the circuit looking for an easy meal. Bigger fish have more energy reserves, while small minnows do not. Must be easy pickings. The incoming storm warns the bass that they should feed or risk not having the energy to survive possible high water event to come (storm).

So why do smallmouth diehards fish the Winter bite? The opportunity to learn about stream bass is at its greatest in Winter. We can get a sense of just how much energy a cold blooded stream bass has, another glimpse into how it thinks.

Which leads onward to catching the elusive brown whale.

12/20/09 Float and Fly

Fished a different stream Sunday hoping for more hot action like yesterday. Unfortunately, water was ultra clear had come down considerably in the last couple days. The drive was too long to not give it a try.

This stretch used to be beautiful and filled with fish everywhere just a couple years back. The last two years of floods has changed that significantly. Silt filling in beautiful pools is depressing.

I found a lone fish sitting on an inside seam below a riffle where the water was slightly deeper than the silted in pool. The boulders I had witnessed smallies amongst in the Spring were buried in silt-completely gone.

I tight lined the FnF jig, the fish didn't move for it. I moved it in closer and let the jig sit. Nothing. Must have been 4 or 5 minutes of playing with it when the jig got swept into the fish. I set the hook and the fight was over before it began.



I think this is a female I witnessed spawning in the same spot earlier this year. The fish was in bad shape. One eye blind, a spine wound that looked like a heron stabbed it and some messed up scales, eroded tail, skinny. Clearly on a downward spiral. Here I was witnessing the formerly massive fish's end. It measured well over 20" without a tail pinch. I got the fish back in the water quick. It swam to a new position. Surprised to see it out in the open like that.



The next cleft I hit produced two bites. A miss, then a second float dunk that produced this 18" SMB that fought very well. The title pic at the top of the thread.

I walked another 2-3 miles looking for more spots. No more bites. Definitely concerned with all the silt and two large thin fish. Still, a couple more 18"+. 11th smallie in 2009 over 20".

Walked way too far, which of course made me sweat. A lot. The problem with this stretch has always been the massive distance between good holes. It's worse in the Winter. I maybe fished for an hour today. Walked in the woods for 2-3.

Good to get out and exercise in December. Skyline Chili supplied the refuel after.

2 SMB (20"+, 18")