4/8/2013, 4/9/2013 Creeks on Fire.

Monday after work I received a text message from Jake, my little brother, asking when I'd be home. I told him when I got off work and met him when I got home, he then asked to borrow a few rods. One thing led to another and we were sitting bankside casting for smallmouth. However the smallmouth were still nowhere to be found. We began on the upstream side of one of the deepest holes we have found in this particular stretch of creek near the house and then proceed to work our way down the riffle and throughout the hole. I managed one small spotted bass, Jake caught a couple small bluegill and Amanda had yet to catch a fish in the riffle. We then jumped down to the head of the hole and I quickly managed a couple more spotted bass from the shoreline. Amanda switched to tossing tube baits and probing the deep ledges. As Jake and I were fishing the backside of the hole Amanda started yelling. We quickly went over to check things out and her rod was bent. We quickly realized after a few slips of drag that she did not have a smallmouth on the end of the line. A short 2 minute battle and we had landed her first flathead catfish of the year.

The flathead went 9lbs and 10oz. As the day went on we managed a few small bluegill and a couple largemouth. We called it quits and decided to finish our trip the next day.

Jake and I took the kayaks out to another local creek with a few dozen minnows to see if we could pick up a few fish. We got in the water at around 2pm and fished until 8pm. Jake managed the first fish of the day, a largemouth bass at 2lbs 0oz. He was pretty happy, I believe it may be his personal best, but he won't admit to that. He doesn't smile much, so that alone tells you how happy he was to have it. 

We drifted along and I managed to pick up a few largemouth and crappie here and there pitching minnows along the bank. About halfway through the trip Jake managed to flip his kayak, he claimed that he was messing in his stern well and he bumped into a log. Either way he was over his head in water, luckily he had a life jacket on because he can't swim. I pulled him into my kayak and dropped him off at the bank to dry off while I went out and gathered his things. We quickly figured out that he lost 2 rods, one of which had a healthy price tag....one that Amanda had bought. So I spent about 45 minutes scouring the area with a treble hook and a down imaging fish finder. I finally got it and we continued fishing, minus one can of skoal, an ultralight rod, and 5 dozen minnows. 

We drifted along and found a good tree that produced a few quick fish so we anchored up and ended up staying there for the rest of the day. We went through all my minnows rather quickly and then started casting small plastics. We caught a fish literally every 2 or 3 minutes. Combined we ended up with 69 crappie and 1 largemouth off of that very spot in a little over an hour and a half. 

Above is a picture of my largest fish of the day, a largemout bass at 14.5" and 1lb 8oz...nothing big, but I was happy none the less. We got out, got wet, got our first sunburns, and caught fish.  I guess if I had to sum up the past weeks of fishing, I'd say that the creeks are on fire right now....and if your not fishing you should be. 

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