Pennington Creek and The Blue were both a little high, but fish were caught though all were small. Catching is better than not, and given the rough work week a lot of hiking and a decent amount of fish caught and lost, it was a nice outing.
I started my excursion south of the hatchery seeing some nice rises from the local inhabitants and almost stepping a huge Koi that I wish I had seen in the high water. Unfortunately the wading south was getting tough and high so I had to turn back to north where I had been before.
While getting above these falls I took a nice flip and crashed down on my new Sage Smallmouth Rod. I almost cried as this rod is becoming my favorite rod, and while not all the casts are pretty, you can do some crazy things with the rod, and for up close and personal settings it is deadly accurate. The rod was fine but the cheap Sage reel I bought to go on it is not and has a nice tick sound as the spool catches on the frame. Since the spools are cheap I will try to throw one on it and see what happens, but if not I will chalk this up to why I like my more pricey not-cast reels as they have taken lots of similar spills and only came out with battle scars.
There are a few nice holes that were made nicer by the higher water and I there was lots of water to fish. In the whole where I caught my first smallmouth I also caught my first catfish on the fly.
Little did I know that I would follow up this one with a few more in this hole and a ton more on my way hiking out. The Near Nuff Crayfish I was throwing them must have been like candy. A few small largemouth and gorgeous bluegill that I really should have snapped a pic of were released as well. I went home defeated as I wanted to reacquaint with the smallmouth from last fall from the same pool as the catfish, but it was not to be.
After a nice lunch and some rest at the family get together I set in for a long hike into the southern wilderness area of the Blue. Perhaps it was the heat and higher water, but I only caught one small smallmouth and the Blue’s nasty rocks claimed several of the flies I had tied less than 24 hours before. Hopefully when the Blue is down and I hit it in the morning instead of heat of the day I will get my first Blue smallmouth. I love all this warmwater fishing and the crazy amount of miles I am covering finding good water, but I long for the cool water of a trout stream with my 4wt in hand.
June 8th, 2008
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