Exploration

During the past several years, I have become addicted to small stream bass.  While most anglers flock to larger flows with easy access points, a friend and I have been sampling some different stretches of smaller flows with good populations of spotted and largemouth bass that require a lot more work and effort to reach.  Typically, this effort is handsomely rewarded with fish who rarely, if ever, see other anglers.  Last week, on Memorial Day, I tried to hit a new stretch I located on Google Earth, but was quickly let down when I reached the stream and saw it in this condition: mocha.

Unfortunately, this is one stream near me that does not have an online USGS gauge for flow and height.  I guessed, based on recent weather, and guessed wrong.  I let it rest about a week without rain and returned to find it much more agreeable in terms of water clarity and flow.  It wasn't perfect, but it was fishable for the first time for me this year.  The trek to get there is not overly long, but does lead through the middle of nowhere on a single lane gravel road.

Getting there is the easy part.  The hard part is trekking through thick weeds, old flood debris, and various unseen (probably for the best) woodland critters to reach the water.  The banks of these streams are typically coated in what I call death mud.  You don't sink in it, but you go down in a hurry if you make a bad foot placement on it.  Sometimes the creeks are wade-able, sometimes there are deep stretches that have to be walked around.  But the "paths" along the streams almost always look like this. 

I found gorgeous water with depth, cover, and light current flow.  The scenery was good, everything looked perfect, but the bass did not want to cooperate at all.  Well, the spots and largemouths, anyway.  The rock bass were attacking the fly with reckless abandon.  I think I caught more rock bass in 3 hours that morning than I have caught in the last 3 years combined.  Some of the rock bass were fairly large, also.  Here's a glimpse at what the water looked like in the new stretch.

The popular fly on the outing was the HD Craw in both black/blue and brown. Getting the fly near any cover with a little depth produced rock bass all morning.  I did manage 2 largemouths on the trip, but both were very small.  My assumption is that the bass were not cooperating due to the recent water conditions and potentially being in a post-spawn pattern.  Given the cover, depth, and the presence of other species, I think the bass had to be there, as well.

I'll definitely be returning to this stretch in a few weeks or later into the summer.  It's very rewarding to battle through the cover, mosquitoes, and other hazards to reach waters that don't see much attention and have the place all to yourself.  I came back cut and bruised thanks to all the trail blazing that had to be done, but I feel it's going to be worth the effort to get back in there and find a big spot that will make the 3wt Moonlit glass buckle and beg for mercy.