The Quest for Bronze

I had a problem.  I haven't spent nearly enough time in the rivers and creeks this year.  I hadn't caught a decent smallmouth bass yet in 2013 and the weather was getting cooler.  Plans were made to wade.

Dave caught the trip's first fish; a decent little smallmouth on a worm. I'd get the next smallie on a minnow.  A better fish.

Then another again on a minnow.

Dave realized the fish were preferring minnows today and scored a nicer fish after making the switch.

I saw the copper flash of the side of the fish as it hit my next cast.  I thought it was another decent smallmouth.

It wasn't. It was a decent rock bass.  Time for a rock bass selfie.  (at least I'm not doing the duck-face)

Cast after cast, minnow after minnow we'd pull bronze out of each hole we fished.  The morning was a success in numbers and in quality fish landed.  We knew we'd be happy if we had to call it quits right then but one more hole looked so inviting we had to cast at it.

More quality smallmouth came up for a photo.  Dave had his rod tucked into his wading belt.  His float ten feet from our position.  He asked me to help get a Plano box of floats out of the back pocket of his wading vest when I noticed his float was down.  I grabbed his rod and line between the reel seat and the big sripper guide and pulled tight to set the hook.  Dave took over and reeled in the best fish of the day; 16.5" long 9" girth calculated to 2.25# of bronze!

Dave and I were both happy with the quality of fish today and the excitement of the last catch hadn't worn off before my float went down.

Dave set the tone for my fight when he said "Holy $hi+, that's a GOOD ONE!!"  The fish made two runs.  I used my 7' custom Micro-Wave spinning rod as leverage to steer the fish away from a fallen log.  The fish jumped but I saw the #4 Gamakatsu Octopus-Circle hook was set firmly in it's lip. 

Bronze!  Big bronze!  18" long, 10.5" girth would calculate to 2.75#. WOW!  My biggest smallmouth of 2013 and a little smaller than my personal best.

I was complaining earlier this week I hadn't gotten out and caught my favorite species of fish.  I was complaining I hadn't put on my waders much and walked in moving water this season.  I decided to change that today and I'm glad that I did.  

I was on a Quest for Bronze, and bronze was what I got.

First Cast Creek

Dave and I try to go fishing every Sunday.  Schedules don't always permit but this Sunday we decided we wanted to wade.  I haven't been wading much this year.  This would be the third time out to walk in water and I wanted to check on a body of water I hadn't fished yet this year.

The creek looked inviting.  I'd never waded this stretch but it looked promising from the word go. In the photo above see how you can see the brown bottom in the foreground that is about a foot to a foot and a half deep.  Notice how the water takes on a blue-green color as you move closer to the far bank.  That's at least three feet deep.  I know because I set my float at least three feet down while I fished this spot from shore.  This is where we'd enter the creek.  

Unless the spot where you enter a moving body of water is exceedingly shallow it's a good idea to fish it from the bank before you walk through it.  Dave was faster getting baited up and pulled off a first cast fish; a nice, clean channel catfish.

I'm encouraged by the sign of life and quickly finish setting up my split-shot weights and nose hook a fathead minnow.  My first cast didn't go where I wanted it to.  Not close enough to the far side of the creek.  Adjustments were made to the float and my stance and by my third cast I hooked a big rock bass.

Full of hope we step into the creek and begin working our way upstream.  Dave has always been quite the bluegill angler where creeks are concerned.  He can always seem to find them.  Today was no different.  

Any bluegill you can lip is a good bluegill.  We'd catch bluegills and catfish until about 8:30 AM. Every time I fish this creek it takes until about 8:30 before the smallmouth start biting.  I guess they enjoy sleeping in.  No matter, four ate my minnows in four successive casts.  

The average size was 10 inches or so.  Not huge but fun to catch.  Dave caught a smallmouth with a beautiful color pattern.

Very white belly, dark bronze spots and bars by the eye; a gorgeous example of a juvenile smallmouth.  It, and all other fish caught today were released to grow larger.  I'll come back and catch them in a year or two.  They can have time to fatten up and grow.  

When all was said and done Dave caught six species of fish and I got five, missing only the venerable creek chub.  We could have caught many more depending  on what species had come up the creek to spawn and decided to stay.

We finally decided to call it a day and began our walk back to our entry point and car.  In total Dave and I each landed a dozen smallmouth, a largemouth or two, some channel catfish, a handfull of bluegills, different sized rock bass, and Dave bested me by catching a sixth species; a creek chub.

It was a good Sunday walk in the water.  A good time out with an old friend.  This creek is a good one.  I've fished other stretches and it can produce some excellent sized fish.  Today nothing over 12" was caught but we enjoyed every minute of it.  

A creek doesn't have to be a small body of water but most around here are.  We have to walk and cross many yards of unproductive water to get to the deeper holes that the fish live in.  Once we find the holes we sometimes have to work them from many angles and drift our bait past many times before we get bit.  

Today we knew it was going to be a good day early on because Dave caught first cast.  It doesn't always happen that way but of any place I've fished I'd bet this creek to produce a first cast fish before most others.  It's a special place away from the stresses of our lives.  Surrounded by the beauty of nature we bait, cast, catch, release, snag, break off, retie, and adjust our floats.  These motions become fluid and practiced and routine with time.  What doesn't become routine is the creek; it's natural beauty and ever changing landscape make it a challenge to wade and a challenge to fish.

To call it my happy place is an understatement.  To call it by name is forbidden.  From now on I may call it by my own made up name; I may start calling it First Cast Creek.   Today it was, and may it stay that way!

A crisp morning on the Fox

The last text I received from Dave Saturday night mentioned the fact the temperature would hit a low of 50 degrees overnight.  It still felt like 50 degrees at 6:00 AM when I pulled into Dave's driveway.

We loaded up the car and headed off to the Fox for some much needed walking in the water.  Our first steps were greeted by smallmouth bass jumping across the river from us. Busting the surface after bugs or minnows or whatever they were interested in.

Dave was drifting crawlers and I was minnow man today.  When a fish busted the surface near me by luck I shot a quick cast to the perfect spot.  My float went down, my hook sank home.  First fish on the board and a healthy 15 inches to boot.

Dave quickly picked up a few channel cats on his worms but didn't feel they were photo worthy so they were released without their photo op.

This 4-5 pounder got the full paparazzi treatment without the TMZ questions.

More cats and a 12" smallie were caught but it was chilly.  The air was still cold and the sunshine at that hour of the morning didn't warm us enough to make us want to stay in the water.

After dropping off Dave I still had over a dozen minnows and some worms left over.  What could I do to get rid of my extra live bait?

Off to the Naperville Riverwalk to fish the DuPage River West Branch.  I scored a few rock bass and this nice smallmouth bass in front of the small groups of people out walking the Riverwalk this crisp morning.

I changed spots and that was when I missed my white whale.  I drifted a minnow down at about a foot and a half when my float went down.  I waited and then pulled to set the circle hook.  It felt heavy, It looked big!  I saw the side of the fish as I pulled it from the weeds by my minnow. It opened it's mouth, let my minnow go, and rolled back under the grasses mid-river.

I threw almost every minnow and crawler I had at the area that fish was in.  That or another fish kept grabbing my minnow or the worm by the body and ripped it off the hook.  I did catch another good sized rock bass but the bait thief didn't stop.

Don't start calling me Ishmael or anything but I spent an hour casting at that one section of river trying to get my hook in that fish.  Color me obsessed; I can live with that.

A chill to the car window and a nip to the air on this early September morning.  Fish were caught and released while the stresses of the work week and a very well fed bait thief drift down the river.

9/9/2012 USGS Fox River 10.87 ft 269 cfs @ Montgomery Gauge

9/9/2012 USGS DuPage River West Branch 7.64 ft 76 cfs @ Warrenville Gauge

Creek wading with Jason and Dave

Sunday morning came around and fishing plans were made to meet.  O'dark-thirty rolled around and we arrived at the spot just in time to see the sun come up.  It was a bit chilly for a day in the middle of August; the air temperature was in the 60s as we made our way down the bank and into the creek.

We got on fish quickly but they were all juvenile largemouth bass.  Time to move out of the first pool and take a walk to the next fishable spot.  

This stretch was full of bluegills and creek chubs.  Dave played the part of the Gillmaster calling out 'Gill' each time he set the hook figuring he was on a bluegill and he usually was.  Time again to walk downstream.

Here some small smallies mixed in with some rock bass and made the catching more interesting.

A downed tree in a deep hole is a great hiding spot for smallmouth bass.  They love rocks, gravel, sand and the like but they love wood too.  All three of us took turns drifting crawler halves past the log.  Finally my float went under, I set the hook, and zzzZZZZZZZzZzzzZzZZZ my drag went crazy.  My heart rate quickened.  I knew I had a larger fish on and I knew that the conditions were right for smallmouth.  It turns out what I hooked was a common carp with broad shoulders, thick through the body like a football.  I'll take it.  That's part of the fun drifting live bait; everything eats it.

More holes and more fish.  Catching was picking up as the sun got higher in the sky.  The smallmouth bite was turning on and aside from a couple of catfish and the occasional rock bass we were mainly catching smallies.

Getting back to the car we took off and stowed our waders, had a good drink of water, and reflected on a nice morning that bled into the afternoon and likely could have kept going until evening.  It was a great day to be outside in August.  We were in a beautiful setting but I find most rivers allow you to lose yourself and forget that civilization is just past the riverbank.  I sure do enjoy creek wading with Jason and Dave.

A SIDE NOTE:  I knew it was getting close but I just checked my stats page and my humble little blog has passed 5000 page views.  Thanks for reading everyone!  I'm enjoying writing about fishing and can't wait to see how long it will take to reach 10k.

Wading With Friends

I needed some time to decompress a bit.  I just got over a viral infection that I'm happy to report to the CDC lasted about the five days they estimated.  That left time after my pre-divorce house duties were complete for wading with friends.

The time we started out is playfully referred to as o-dark-30.  We took our first steps in the creek early and I wondered how long we'd wade before we caught fish.  It didn't take long but I didn't catch the big smallmouth I was hoping for.

Instead I caught a VERY small largemouth.  Hey, it counts so it got a picture.  Some more little largies were caught before we found where the bluegills were camped out along a rocky shore.

I moved down the wall to see if I could score the first smallmouth of the day.  I didn't but I got a big rock bass.

I released it post-picture but had to pause my readying of my own line to run over and play photographer for Jason's first smallie of the day and the most impressive (taped at 15.25") bronzie we would have the pleasure of hooking into.

The fish was thick, healthy, and downright gorgeous.  I do love smallies!

In short order Dave got his first smallmouth, and then another

The second fish was a much better fish but a picture had to be captured of the first smallmouth bass to end up on Dave's hook.

More smallies were caught and released.  Jason has had the pleasure of feeling the smallmouth bass wiggle and tug at the end of his line but Dave got his first taste of it today.  He agreed that they do fight harder and longer than their large mouthed cousins.  Now he's in for it; they're like potato-chips you know. ;-)