Sootie Grunter in the fresh
100th Post!With the wind forecast to blow all weekend the only option seemed to be to hit the freshwater. So Saturday afternoon Ward, Richard and I headed North to Wards favorite freshwater river. We left about 1.30pm a bit of 4-wheel-driving in Wards new car and we were fishing by about 3pm. Ward and Richard fished fly, and I fished my trusty soft plastics.
The water level was a little low, but it made access to the deep holes and sunken timber a little easier. We threw at several good looking locations, but failed to hook anything. We did spook a few sooties sun baking out in the open, so out hopes were high. We moved on upstream working the timber hard. The water was running pretty quickly, so the lures and flies didn't stay in the strike zone very long each cast. Any fishing was going to have to be pretty quick off the mark. But sure enough, just when I wasn't expecting it, a big hit came from one of the sunken logs. He pealed line off pretty easily from my light Stratic 1000. And I though he was going to bury me. I had forgotten just how hard these little bundles of muscle fight! But he was quicly worked out in the open, into the fast water that is! And after a minute or two he was at the bank. A nice plump fish.
Successive casts in that area produced a follow and a coupe of hits. But no hookups. Time to move to the next snag. On the way we saw a nice patch of deep open water. Worth a cast or two anyway. Richard managed a follow, and I landed a small sootie from here. But a nice patch of snags up stream kept us moving.
These looked good, had to hold a fish or two. Sure enough, a couple of casts in under the overhanging timber and 'wack'. Another small fish. Successive casts into here produced a hit a cast for 10 or more casts. But none would hook up! I think they must have been hitting the long tail of the squidgie. Ward and Richard, who were both still on nil at this stage, gave the fly a shot. But it seems the fish had stopped by this this stage.
It was starting to get dark so we headed back toward the car. One last try at some timber in front of the car. Ward finally managed a fish. And a good one too. There always seems to be a fish to be had in the timber right where the car is parked! It was now getting dark, and we had a long drive home. So off we headed.
The water level was a little low, but it made access to the deep holes and sunken timber a little easier. We threw at several good looking locations, but failed to hook anything. We did spook a few sooties sun baking out in the open, so out hopes were high. We moved on upstream working the timber hard. The water was running pretty quickly, so the lures and flies didn't stay in the strike zone very long each cast. Any fishing was going to have to be pretty quick off the mark. But sure enough, just when I wasn't expecting it, a big hit came from one of the sunken logs. He pealed line off pretty easily from my light Stratic 1000. And I though he was going to bury me. I had forgotten just how hard these little bundles of muscle fight! But he was quicly worked out in the open, into the fast water that is! And after a minute or two he was at the bank. A nice plump fish.
Successive casts in that area produced a follow and a coupe of hits. But no hookups. Time to move to the next snag. On the way we saw a nice patch of deep open water. Worth a cast or two anyway. Richard managed a follow, and I landed a small sootie from here. But a nice patch of snags up stream kept us moving.These looked good, had to hold a fish or two. Sure enough, a couple of casts in under the overhanging timber and 'wack'. Another small fish. Successive casts into here produced a hit a cast for 10 or more casts. But none would hook up! I think they must have been hitting the long tail of the squidgie. Ward and Richard, who were both still on nil at this stage, gave the fly a shot. But it seems the fish had stopped by this this stage.
It was starting to get dark so we headed back toward the car. One last try at some timber in front of the car. Ward finally managed a fish. And a good one too. There always seems to be a fish to be had in the timber right where the car is parked! It was now getting dark, and we had a long drive home. So off we headed.