Last night I had one of my favorite stream fishing experiences.
We were fishing the river out back and, as usual, I was using a spinner – a Panther Martin in this case. I caught both a brookie and an atlantic while fishing faster water and keeping my spinner near bottom. Eventually I changed it up and started using a small spoon which got me a couple of bites, including a big buck brookie with magnificent colours that shook the hooks free right as I was about to lift him out of the water. All-in-all a good little fishing trip.
The really fun part, however, was watching what happened when Darrell tied on a little white tube jig. For some reason I rarely toss tubes for brookies but after last night I may change that. On Darrell’s second cast with the tube a bullet launched itself at the lure and Darrell pulled in a nice brookie. He released the fish and before the tube even hit the water on the next cast there was another brookie launching out of the water and inhaling it. I have never seen anything like it. What an awesome site to see this fish so eager to take the bait that he flew out of the water!
Our shouts of “Did you see that?” and “that was insane!” followed by a lot of laughter on my part seemed to turn the fish the off in that hole so we moved on down the river.
After hitting a few more holes we stopped by our favorite spot. This hole is deep, with lots of structure thanks to a downed tree, and the current is always swift. We’ve caught many large fish out of this hole but never before have I seen what happened last night. Darrell tossed the tube in and on his first couple of retrieves brought it back slowly with no results. Then he fished it fast and on top of the water and…holy flying brookies!
The fish were flying out of the water to hit the tube. As long as the retrieve was quick and the tube was at the top in fast water these little guys were all over it. I watched as they kept coming out of the water at the tube and while none of them were brought in, apparently you need a good hookset with the tube, it was an awesome sight.
The sun had disappeared behind the trees by the time we left the river, but tripping over everything on the way back home was worth it for having that experience. What a blast!
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If you’re looking for some entertainment today, watch the weigh-in for the Pride of Georgia Bassmaster Elite event at 3:15pm EST. After day three Ish Munroe is in the lead with KVD and Edwin Evers right behind him. It looks to be wide open heading into the final day of the event. You can find updates all day long at www.bassmaster.com.
