Wednesday on the Water

[TexasTransplant]

I spent most of Wednesday fishing at a place not too far from Poky and thought I'd share my experiences there as a get-to-know-you sort of exercise.

I won't explicitly state where this was, but I'll drop hints along the way; I doubt it will be much of a mystery.

I arrived at, uh ... Location X ... at 8:30 a.m. and started with a spinner. Landed a modest cutt on my fourth or fifth cast but nothing else, so I switched to nightcrawlers. First cast and I immediately had something on. Because of the morning glare, I couldn't see anything. All I knew was it was large and strong.

After several minutes, I finally got it out of the sun and close to shore. My disappointment was palpable--a sucker! Time: 9:01 a.m.



I was shocked because every other sucker I have ever caught surrendered almost immediately. But this guy had no quit and kept pulling my drag out in an effort to stay in the middle of the channel. From the butt end of my ultralight rod to the first ferrule is more than 25 inches, so this fish was at least that long.

Incidentally, some boaters I met later in the day informed me that suckers make the best cut bait for trout. Can anyone confirm this? Also, I returned the sucker because my understanding is they are native. Is this accurate, or am I doing the river a disservice?

The first hole fell silent after that melee, so I retied a spinner and moved to my favorite spot--a confluence of two braids. Four casts into it and I hooked up with another cutt. This one turned out to be a 20-incher with some of the nicest coloring I've seen all year. Time: 9:58 a.m.



The confluence forms a long, wide riffle, and I fished this with no luck for a while before deciding to explore. After much wading and bushwhacking, I stumbled upon a new-to-me hole that yielded pure rainbows on my first three casts, including this 13-inch, football-shaped hen with the second. Time: 11:38 a.m.



I'm told that trout with this body type are typically reservoir fish. Is this true?

I hooked into a couple of more fish but couldn't keep them on. Not being able to work my way any further upstream (Location X is essentially a glorified oxbow of the Snake), I headed back to the confluence, losing a lure along the way. The substitute spinner paid dividends as I reached the point, enticing a long, slender 'bow to take. This one was in the 20-inch neighborhood, as well. Time: 1:02 p.m.



After more exploring, I landed another skinny 'bow as I was fording the channel just downstream from where I'd started the day. This fella measured out at about 18 inches. Time: 2:17 p.m.



I continued to explore for the next two hours, but I didn't land anything of significance--a few planter-sized 'bows, a cutt parr, and a brown not much larger than the lure I used to catch it.

Nevertheless, this was easily the best day I've had at ... Location X . I've fished there many times over the years and the results have always been mixed. I've never caught a lot of fish, but it's relatively big water, so there's always that chance to hook into something heavy.

This was my fourth trip in the past two weeks. I didn't catch many fish on the other trips, but I did land a few lunkers. (Anything 20" and up is big to me; I'd never even caught a 20-incher until this month.) I'll post pics of those if there's interest.
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[flygoddess]

Very cool and nice fish. Arm has got to be hurting.
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[cpierce]

Really nice fat fish! You certainly can't complain about catching those, even the sucker is a lunker.
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[cpierce]

Do you mind if I ask how high the river is? Is it easy to walk along the beach, or are you walking higher along the shore?
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[TexasTransplant]

Don't mind at all, cpierce. However, I'm not sure if I'll be able to give you a very precise answer because I technically wasn't fishing the Snake.

I did manage to wade and bushwhack my way to the Snake at a couple of places, but I didn't actually do any casting there. I was hoping to, but the water wasn't right or was already occupied by boaters. I'm sure there are some places along the river proper where one could walk up and down the shore and cast, but the outlets I came to weren't it.

My "Location X" starts out as a creek but quickly swells to river status because it is directly fed by three braids of the Snake. To get to the snake, I had to ford the "creek," which still isn't easy to do in most places, and then wade or bushwhack up one of the braids to its mouth.

I've heard of a couple of other routes giving access to the Snake, but I haven't tried them yet. I might go again next week and, if I do, I'll let you know what I find.

Hope all that makes sense.
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[cpierce]

Sort of does make sense, and sort of not. You are probably not where I thought you might have been. My bad! I was thinking you were fishing in the Tilden Bridge area. I have thought about trying that area, but have never gotten around to it. I was just wondering if it is possible to walk up river from the bridge area.
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[prvrt]

It is possible to walk upstream from the Tilden bridge when the water is low. I have done it a few times. Getting under the bridge is easy, but just upstream where the old bridge was is a little tricky and a few deep holes. I usually skirt the bank and there is an old fence there that you can creep along and a few trees and brush. This area is only about 60' long. Once past that, you can walk the gravel bars and fish for about a mile or so up stream with no problem. Then you will hit a large bend in the river and I have not gone past this as the banks are steep. Fishing there is like most areas, hit and miss. This is on the west side. If the river is lower like is was a few weeks ago, you can pretty much wade the river just about any where you want. Down stream is quite a bit deeper.
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[cpierce]

Thanks! I was thinking that as fall moves along maybe the river will drop more and it might be fun to try that area.

Sorry, I hijacked the post a little!
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[TexasTransplant]

[quote cpierce]I was thinking you were fishing in the Tilden Bridge area.[/quote]
Haha, well, I do cross Tilden Bridge on the way to Location X. [cool]

Seriously, I have fished that stretch of the Snake just as prvrt describes, but I've yet to do so this year. It crosses my mind every time I'm on my way to, well ... that other place ... because I can't help but stare at those gravel-banked towheads and wonder what lurks nearby.

[quote prvrt]Fishing there is like most areas, hit and miss.[/quote]
For whatever reasons, this seems especially true of big water. It's odd to me because comparable holes in a creek or smaller river will produce countless fish, but in its larger cousin, you might land two or one or none ... and not necessarily any larger.

[quote flygoddess]Arm has got to be hurting.[/quote]
Nawww. Remember: I'm a heretic spin fisherman and, as such, I don't do much false casting. [:p]
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[prvrt]

By the way, your location X is one of my goto places and I usually spend a lot of time fishing there. I just wish the brush was not so bad. I was in that area last saturday and landed 3 rainbows between 19.5" and 21.5". I have also pulled some nice browns out of there. As soon as my house is finished, I will be spending more time out fishing. Saturday was the fish time I have been out since March.
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[flygoddess]

I meant bringing those VW's in. False casting? whats that?[]
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[TexasTransplant]

[quote prvrt]I just wish the brush was not so bad.[/quote]
You and me three, brother. I've been referring to this spot as "Location X," but I could just as easily call it "Willow, uh ... Heck."

[quote prvrt]I have also pulled some nice browns out of there.[/quote]
I know of some folks who have landed some monster browns there, but I've yet to do so. In fact, I've never caught one larger than a juvenile.

A big brown is high on my fish wish list.
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[cpierce]

Might be a good place to do some late evening or night fishing. Plop a mouse or little snake out there and see what monster comes out for dinner!
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[TexasTransplant]

[quote cpierce]Might be a good place to do some late evening or night fishing. Plop a mouse or little snake out there and see what monster comes out for dinner![/quote]
At some of the deeper holes, it's not unusual to find makeshift rod holders (Y-shaped sticks) driven into the gravel from the night before, so I imagine others are thinking the same as you.
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