Fish Pictures

[DFoster 0]

I finally got back to the river I mentioned in my post above with the smallie fry.  This time with a box of streamers in my vest to see if the small mouth were actually back.  I hooked one on the first drift, three in total but only this one made it to the net.  Still I couldn't be happier, this opens up a whole bunch of local river fishing options for me during the summer months.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Good to see. Smallies are a blast on the fly. Glad you have a new option for summer fishing 😎

[niveker 0]

20 hours ago, DFoster said:

this opens up a whole bunch of local river fishing options for me

Nice fish. 

Be careful, Smallies on the fly can be addicting - great fighters, even the small ones, lotsa fun.  

I have had a few old timers mention a certain local river close to you as being a great Smallmouth fishery also, but there's pretty good rivers for that closer to me so haven't fish it yet.      

[DFoster 0]

On 6/30/2023 at 10:41 AM, niveker said:

 

Be careful, Smallies on the fly can be addicting - great fighters, even the small ones, lotsa fun.  

    

 

On 6/29/2023 at 2:46 PM, Steeldrifter said:

Good to see. Smallies are a blast on the fly. 

Guys you ain't joking - Smallie fishing is a blast!  Kevin as you know locally the river flows have been pretty much unfishable for the past week due to the rain we've had.  I finally found a nice wide area on my Smallie river where the flow dropped just enough to be safely fished.  I got these two there yesterday after work.  The Small Mouth gave me the fight of the year so far. Just an incredibly strong fish for it's size.  I got him on a generic #6 minnow streamer on the downstream swing. I used straight mono as the leader instead of my usual 5X and I'm glad I did.  This fish fought so hard and given the flow he was in I'm not sure I would have been able to land him on 5X.

This Rainbow was a surprise and caught on the exact same fly as the Small Mouth and in the same hole.  I  thought I had a 2nd Smallie.  With water temps in the low 70's I wasn't targeting trout.  Because of the warm water It took a while to revive her but eventually she gave a good  solid kick and was on her way.

[niveker 0]

Nice Dean, had a similar experience two week-ends ago, caught 2 fat rainbows while targeting small-mouth.  Wish I had been prepared, I would have kept them for the smoker, as they won't survive the summer where I was fishing. 

Speaking of full waters - Quaboag Pond in Brookfield yesterday, all docks submerged.  Water was probably covering the road the day before. 

 

 

[DFoster 0]

On 7/7/2023 at 10:45 AM, niveker said:

Nice Dean, had a similar experience two week-ends ago, caught 2 fat rainbows while targeting small-mouth.  Wish I had been prepared, I would have kept them for the smoker, as they won't survive the summer where I was fishing. 

Speaking of full waters - Quaboag Pond in Brookfield yesterday, all docks submerged.  Water was probably covering the road the day before. 

 

 

Rainbows are always a nice surprise.  

Speaking of surprises, I was out there yesterday morning, swinging steamers on a long line.  I hooked something reasonably good size but lost it on a jump that landed in fast water and snapped the tippet.  I'm not sure what it was.  60' away and I only saw it for a second but it looked for all the world like the land locked salmon I catch on the Still Water.  About 18" and light in color.   I really wish I could have landed it just to know what it was. Right now my best guess is a light colored Brown Trout.

[mikechell 0]

Well, "clipchamp" is a waste of time.  I put together a video of several small sunfish caught at Newport News Park.  When I hit the "export" button, it started saving the video like "Max Headroom" on a bad day.  I've never seen video stutter like that. 

So, no video on my YouTube.

 

 

 

 

[mikechell 0]

Yesterday was a disappointing trip.  I hooked a large bass, who then spit the lure back at me.  I hooked 4 fish at the bases of some Cypress trees, lost every one to line breaks.  Also lost a few more to the weeds, when they hit my lure being dragged across surface cover.  I'm blaming my old line for most of the lost fish.

Today, with new line on ... I finally boated one of those fish.

 

[DFoster 0]

22 hours ago, mikechell said:

Yesterday was a disappointing trip.  I hooked a large bass, who then spit the lure back at me.  I hooked 4 fish at the bases of some Cypress trees, lost every one to line breaks.  Also lost a few more to the weeds, when they hit my lure being dragged across surface cover.  I'm blaming my old line for most of the lost fish.

Today, with new line on ... I finally boated one of those fish.

 

That's a beauty Mike!   

[Steeldrifter 0]

Nice largemouth Mike.

[feathers5 0]

Beautiful largemouth.

[DFoster 0]

This little Small Mouth put up an incredible fight- Had I lost him I would have driven home convinced it was a 3 pound fish.  It's amazing how hard Smallies can pull,  great fun on light tackle.

 

 

 

 

[niveker 0]

👍

[feathers5 0]

Smallies are a great game fish. From 12 inches and up you can't beat the excitement.

[mikechell 0]

11 hours ago, DFoster said:

Had I lost him I would have driven home convinced it was a 3 pound fish.  

 

Any fish I see and lose, I don't lie about and estimate its weight as closely as I can.  Any fish I don't see and lose was a gar.  Pure and simple, I lost a big gar.