I ended up getting 4 or 5 hours on the water this morning during a family visit. I was ill prepared for chasing warm water species in late October, but I was able to catch my first smallmouth. I am not a very astute warm water fisherman, at least in a river type environment, but I gave the smallmouth on Pennington Creek near Tishomingo, OK a try to see what all the fuss was about. I had hoped to try another nearby creek, but I was unsure of where the public access points are, and Pennington is well known for its smallmouth fishing (granted not many people will tell you where). I was happy with my choice of entry points as it is a beautiful area, but it was one of those days that, when driving away, I knew I missed out on some better fishing.
As I said I am not an astute moving warm water guy so when I stepped into the river I looked upstream and downstream. Upstream I see a riffle. I don’t know what I was thinking, but instead of heading downstream towards the slower moving 2ft deep water, I go to where a trout would be. Did I mention this was warm water and this is known as a smallmouth haunt? There wasn’t too much water to fish upstream, but the scenery was killer. Here is where a nice (well not nice from my fishing camera) picture of a waterfall should be. Instead of carrying a bulky DSLR on the water, at least water I have never fished, I opt for an old digital Elph that refuses to die. However, because I only use it on the water I rarely charge it. It’s generally a trooper, but this time the juice just wasn’t there.
I usually don’t like not having a camera, but i have a bit of a problem where if I bring the nice camera with me I never catch anything worth shooting. Knowing I didn’t have a camera at all meant I was sure to catch my first smallmouth. I made my way through lots of very skinny water to a large pool typical of large natural Oklahoma creeks and rivers in the south east part of the state, a 5 ft waterfall leading into a nice 2-3ft deep 25ftx25ft pool. I tossed my half-assed crayfish patterns and got a nice take, but I was unable to land it. After I lost my poorly tied crayfish pattern, I moved to a cone head bugger. A few casts later I was into a nice 2LB smallmouth which left me grinning ear to ear. I tried in vain to catch another, but only redear could be found. The fact that a 4” redear can take down a number 6 cone head bugger still amazes me. I figure only one nice sized fish could stake up residence in this pool so I moved up above the falls to a huge, endless, slow moving section of the “creek”. I don’t see why Pennington isn’t called a river, but I will look up the geographical semantics later. This particular stretch was at least 150ft across and it was nice to not have roll cast any more. I got in some casting practice and while it was too cold for top water smallmouth I wanted to see how I could toss a bass plug in the wind. With my time growing short I made my way back downstream trying again at the same small holes I fished on the way up, but only for 5 or 6 casts.
I really hate getting skunked, but when I try new things I am not too worried about it as long as I learn something. I finally know why people always talk up smallmouth. I thought I was into a much bigger fish and loved playing the fish more than any large mouth I have ever caught maybe twice the size of the fish I caught. The second thing I learned, unintended, is to think more about basics of what species I am fishing for before deciding which way to go. I am not really sure why I went upstream instead of down, but as I drove off I looked downstream and wished I had more time to spend fishing for smallmouth. I love trout fishing. I love the technicality of drifting and the overall art of trout fishing, but I there is something to this smallmouth thing that I really can see loving. I will be back to Pennington in the summer to confirm my suspicions.
While everyone in the Northern reaches bemoans the closing of trout season we here in Oklahoma welcome the opening of our winter trout fisheries in a week and a half.
October 20th, 2007
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