If you live in northern states, there may be enough safe ice for some ice fishing opportunities. If you’ve never tried it, this is an odd activity, braving the cold and sitting on a bucket, peering down a hole… but it can be FUN. However, before venturing out, consider these tips regarding exposure to cold air.
For the Anglers
Start Warm. There is an old saying, “start warm, stay warm.” If you are already shivering in the truck, your patience will be lacking and so will the fun level. Layers. Dress in many layers. A couple pairs of wool socks, long-underwear, t-shirt, hooded sweat shirt, … that works. The air space between layers serves as more insulation and you can adjust your comfort level to prevent the hazard of sweating. Shelter. On warm(ish) days, ice fishing can be accomplished exposed (accomplished or exposed?) to the elements. However, for serious cold and wind chill issues, a shanty or hut of some sort can make the ice fishing experience almost cozy. Almost. Ashley Rae, year-round angler, writer, and TV host ice fishes in Canada in temperatures as cold as -20 degrees F. “When people say ice fishing is cold it's because they're not doing it right. Most of the time, I'm fishing in a portable shelter with a propane heater going. Jacket and gloves are off, I like to be comfortable!”
For the Fish
The colder it is, the faster you must work if releasing. Staying inside a heated shanty buys you a little more time. “On the very cold days,” Ashley shared, “I don't take fish outside of my shelter as not to risk freezing.” Have the right tools. Professional angler and muskie expert, Pete Maina, recommends having a pair of forceps, jaw spreaders, and standard long-nosed pliers handy if you are fishing a lake inhabited by toothy pike or muskellunge. Keep the fish wet. A bit trickier when ice fishing, but neoprene gloves will help protect both you and the fish. Have a spare bucket or cooler of water ready to help get a safe photo of the two of you.
When the temperature is well below freezing, not only do anglers need to plan for the danger of cold air exposure but if you are practicing catch and release, you need to be prepared to avoid releasing an injured fish. Frozen gills or eyes can occur in seconds. Check here for more ice fishing safety tips.
I love freshwater fishing in the fall because in a lot of ways I am similar to the fish. I eat more in anticipation of the cold winter. Football was my #1 sport, and the cooler temperatures made me more aggressive. And there is a shot at catching a big fish, which resembles me after I pack on some extra pounds. Some fall fishing tips to catch more fish when the leaves start to change:
Go big. Trout in rivers know they need extra calories, so they'll find them in high-fat bugs and in big mouthfuls. Hoppers along a field work well as do big streamers in a pool and big stoneflies around the rocks.
Move around. Ponds and lakes are turning over so finding the right strata when fishing in the fall is critical to success. Probe the water column until you find their level. Knowing exactly where to fish in the fall takes practice so...start practicing.
Rig up. Fall fish hit hard, so the same small diameter monofilament that you used during clear, low-water levels in the summer won't work now. You'll pop fish off, so increase your leader's strength to put more fish in the net.
Bouncing barometers. Winds shift back and forth from the South to the North, and they can gust pretty good. When fishing in fall, match the wind and current directions to find the edges where the fish will hold.
Noreasters bring rain, and they fill up the rivers that feed into ponds and lakes. After a good, soaking rain, head to the inflows and outflows to find concentrations of fish.
Bring a camera. Fall fish change colors and they'll be among the prettiest of the year. A few pictures taken while fishing in the fall will carry you through the winter, and you can stare at them when you're in a shanty on the ice.
If you've had a tough time catching 'em this summer then get after it by fishing in fall. The fish will be less spooky and easier to catch, and you'll end your freshwater fall fishing season on a high note
Are you wondering what it means to have good fly fishing etiquette? Fishing aside, your parents probably corrected your dining etiquette dozens of times when you were growing up. You know not to put your elbows on the dinner table or talk with your mouth full to this day, but if you're not sure what constitutes good fly fishing etiquette, keep reading. While I'm no expert on this topic, I do have a few suggestions on how to practice good fly fishing etiquette based on my recent fly fishing adventures.
Keep the noise level down. Whether you are fishing alone or with a group, remember to keep the noise level down. Many fish species that are targeted on fly, such as a brown trout in a freshwater stream or bonefish on a saltwater flat, have a tendency to be particularly skittish. By staying quiet, you are being respectful of other anglers in the area, and you can avoid scaring off a potential catch. Besides, most anglers go fishing not only to experience the joy of catching, but also for the solitude and relaxation in between bites.
Know the fishing regulations and follow them. This guideline goes for any type of fishing. It's easy to find the fishing regulations for your state. Read the regulations and practice proper catch and release on any species that are not within the current regulations.
When fly fishing on a stream or small river, work upstream while leaving plenty of water space between you and any other anglers. If you see another angler casting in a spot that you were hoping to fish, find another section of the waterway and start there. Before you make your first cast, make sure there is plenty of open space.
Be conscious of splashing and shadows if you are wading. Splashing can make it much more difficult to sight-cast to feeding fish, and shadows can spook any fish in the area.
Leave no litter behind. This is another etiquette guideline that applies to any type of fishing. Better yet, if you do see litter, pick it up and leave the waterway a little better than it was when you found it.
Now that you know the basics of good fly fishing etiquette, find a great new spot to fly fish in your area using the Places to Boat and Fish Map. Put proper fly fishing etiquette into practice on the water.
Mexico Bass Fishing Trip Planning Q & A with MLF Commissioner Don Rucks
The U.S. is dotted with epic bass fishing destinations, but sometimes the grass is greener across the border; if bass fishing Mexico is on your bucket list, heed the advice from a man who has been there,
done that, and continues to go back
Mexico Bass Fishing Trip Planning Q & A with MLF Commissioner Don Rucks
MLF commissioner Don Rucks shows off a nice largemouth bass ' one of many ' he caught on a bass fishing trip to Mexico with outfitter Ron Speed Jr.'s Adventures. (Photo courtesy of Don Rucks)
In the world of bass fishing, there may be no better major-league destination on the planet than the red-hot action found south of the Rio Grande River in old Mexico. Starting many years ago with the fish-every-cast action found on storied Lake Guerrero, bass catching opportunities in Mexico have steadily expanded to include a number of fabled lakes offering mind-boggling numbers, double-digit weights, stunningly gorgeous waters, and the warm, delicious food and hospitality found south of the border. Long a fan of the tremendous bass-catching action found in Mexico, Major League Fishing commissioner Don Rucks recently toured the region again and found the fishing to be as spectacular as ever. MajorLeagueFishing.com: How many Mexico bass fishing trips have you been on over the years? Commissioner Rucks: I’ve been really fortunate to have experienced the excellent bass fishing Mexico offers on at least a dozen different week-long trips over the last 20 years. My most recent trip took place in January 2016. MajorLeagueFishing.com: With a number of good U.S. fisheries, why travel all the way to Mexico to go bass fishing? Commissioner Rucks: Bass fishing just doesn’t get any better in the world than it is in Mexico. Period. MajorLeagueFishing.com: What is the largest bass you have ever caught in Mexico? Read the rest of the Q & A at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Lufkin angler catches ShareLunker 564 - thanks to a crappie - from Sam Rayburn Reservoir
Texas Kicks off ShareLunker Season with 13.2-pound Largemouth
Roy Euper of Lufkin caught Toyota ShareLunker 564 from Sam Rayburn Reservoir November 2. The fish weighed 13.2 pounds and was 25.5 inches long and 22 inches in girth. (TPWD/Reese Sparrow photo)
ATHENS, Texas — Roy Euper of Lufkin caught the first Toyota ShareLunker of the season from Sam Rayburn Reservoir Monday afternoon. The fish weighed 13.2 pounds, qualifying it to become ShareLunker 564.
Any angler who catches a 13-pound largemouth bass can be considered lucky, but Euper may be the luckiest of all. The official weight for the fish was taken at Jackson Hill Park Marina, an official Toyota ShareLunker weigh and holding station. After the fish arrived at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, it regurgitated a crappie that weighed 0.3 pounds.
Had the fish not eaten that crappie, or if it had spit it up before being weighed, it would not have weighed the 13 pounds necessary to qualify as a ShareLunker.
Euper was fishing in 30 feet of water with a crankbait when the fish bit about 3 p.m. The fish was 25.5 inches long and 22 inches in girth.
The catch moved Sam Rayburn into sole possession of second place among Texas lakes for number of ShareLunkers caught. Anglers have caught 26 largemouth bass weighing 13 pounds or more from the lake. Only Lake Fork, with 257 entries, has produced more. Lakes O.H. Ivie and Alan Henry have each produced 25.
Last season Sam Rayburn sent two ShareLunkers to Athens. Both were caught on the same day, March 7. More ShareLunkers are caught in March than in any other month. Euper’s fish is only the twelfth in the 30-year history of the ShareLunker program to be caught in November.
Anyone legally catching a 13-pound or bigger largemouth bass from Texas waters, public or private, between October 1 and April 30 may submit the fish to the Toyota ShareLunker program. Fish will be picked up by TPWD personnel within 12 hours.
Anglers entering fish into the Toyota ShareLunker program receive a free replica of their fish, a certificate and ShareLunker clothing and are recognized at a banquet at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. The person who catches the season’s largest entry will be named Angler of the Year and will receive a prize package from G. Loomis of a top-of-the-line rod, Shimano reel, PowerPro line and G. Loomis hat. If the Angler of the Year is a Texas resident, that person will also receive a lifetime Texas fishing license.
ShareLunker catches can be reported 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the season, by calling (903) 681-0550. If poor cellphone service prevents use of the voice number, anglers can leave a phone number (including area code) at (888) 784-0600. That number is also monitored 24/7 during the season
Video showing the Livetarget Baitball Yearling lure on the West River, Nova Scotia. Ambassador Donnie Cooke describes his technique and set-up while fishing out of his pontoon boat for stripers.
Pickups in Stickups and Other Ways to Score on Transition Bass
Pickups in Stickups and Other Ways to Score on Transition Bass
Fishing gently sloping flats with stickup timber like this is a good way to nail bass during the summer-to-fall transition. (Keith Sutton photo)
In autumn, anglers have a chance to catch their biggest largemouth bass of the year, maybe a lifetime. Veteran bassers look forward to this season, but many weekend anglers dread it because they haven’t yet learned how to locate and catch bass that may be deep one day and shallow the next.
If you’re in this latter group, the following facts could help alleviate autumn anxiety.
Things to Try as Autumn Begins
Changing weather conditions as autumn begins trigger good fall fishing. You should especially watch for cold fronts that drive temperatures in the shallows back down into the 70s. This “shakes up” water conditions, and bass that refused to feed during the monotonously hot weather of late summer may take on a much more positive attitude to food and lures. Bass still stay close to deep summer haunts, but now, with much better water conditions, they’ll begin making forays to the shallows for at least a few hours each day.
Fish near dawn and dusk if you can, as action tends to be better then during the early part of the season. Remain flexible in your tactics. On a 100-acre lake, there could be 10 bass patterns going on at the same time; in a large reservoir, even more. Keep moving, casting and experimenting until you find at least one pattern that works for you.
One tactic that may help you pinpoint bass is fishing gradually sloping, stickup-covered flats in 10-20 feet of water near channel breaks. These areas provide largemouths the security of deep water nearby, and when the fish want to hang around in mid-depths, as they often do this time of year, they can still move vertically in the water column while relating to the woody cover. On some days, they’ll suspend; other times, they’ll be near the top of a stickup, or closer to its bottom. One day they’ll be closer to the channel break; the next might find them on the flat’s shallowest edge. Whatever the case, you’ve narrowed the scope of your search somewhat, and by working various portions of the flat using lures most suited to the depth you’re searching at a given moment, you should eventually get some “pickups in the stickups.”
Use sonar to pinpoint the outer channel first, then work stickups on the edge by casting jigs or vibrating crankbaits and working them at different depths with different retrieves. Next, move to mid-portions of the flat and work the water column top to bottom with shallow-diving, suspending and deep-diving crankbaits. Bass on the flat’s shallow side often hit plastic worms/lizards crawled across the bottom, or spinnerbaits allowed to “helicopter” down beside timber. Be patient, and work the flat methodically, and you’ll eventually get “pickups in the stickups” that make the effort worthwhile.
Tips for Turnover Time
Turnover time occurs in mid- to late fall, depending on the latitude, when previously stratified water “mixes” and the temperature evens out top to bottom. It’s caused in part by cooling winds that pound waves against shorelines and chill surface waters to make them heavier. (Water is heaviest at 39.2 degrees.) When surface waters heavy up, they sink beneath the warmer, lighter waters below, which rise to the surface and replace the entire upper realm. Thus the logical term “turnover.”
Big bass sense this oncoming annual period and instinctively respond. Seasoned lunkers sense that food soon will be scarce, so they eat and lay on extra fat to tide them over the period of lean rations ahead. They also must conserve energy, however, so exertions are held to a minimum.
Catching these bass requires the angler to develop two mind-sets. First, imagine cruising bass looking for a school of oversize minnows or shad. Then picture bass in seclusion after getting a belly full of prey.
For cruising bass, think deep. Look for dark drop-offs around old creek channels, bluffs, steep points, cliffs and bridge pilings. This calls for lures designed to work at deepest depths. Probe dark shores with deep-running crankbaits, covering a lot of territory to cross paths with feasting hawgs. That failing, try weighted sinking lures such as jigheads with various soft plastic or hair bodies. Walk them down steep shorelines, nudging bottom all the way to your boat. Also, bring them in at all levels to see if bass are hanging at certain depths for reasons known only to them.
Look for secluded bass in dense weeds, lily pads, brush or other heavy cover abutting dark water, and think “s-l-o-w.” This calls for lures with “do-nothing” appeal because a bass with its belly full won’t chase them. Try vertical jigging. Rig a soft-plastic crawfish body on a 1/2-ounce jighead. Move quietly along deep shoreline covers with a vertical line suspending the lure. Lift and lower it gently, s-l-o-w-l-y, temptingly, to trigger instinctive slurps from inactive lunkers. Keep your eyes on the line where it kisses the surface, and at the slightest change in tension, loose or taut, set the hook.
Late Fall
When water temperatures dip below 55 degrees, bass take to deep water. You’ll notice them moving farther from shore with each degree drop in water temperature. Fall’s frenzied feeding slows now, and the fish’s instinctually move to deeper haunts where they’ll settle in for the winter.
Your best bet now may be working the mid- to deep levels beside rocks bluffs and steep points toward the lake’s deeper end. The points, in particular, may offer one last chance to win the “lunker lottery.” Just about the time everybody thinks the fishing has gone to pot, a school of big bass often moves up for one more crack at food. Likely as not, they’ll come up on a steep point directly adjacent to some of the deepest water in the lake. They normally move up no deeper than the middle depths, and your lure—a long-billed crankbait bounced across the bottom, or perhaps a jig-and-pig or lipless vibrator like the Cordell Spot—must be worked painfully slow to entice them.
Cold weather is the norm when late fall arrives, and it may take the constitution of a polar bear to be out there when strikes are typically few and far between. This is probably your best chance, however, to hang a real trophy before next spring’s thaw
Topwater plugs like the Heddon Zara Spook can be used to entice explosive strikes from fall largemouths. (Keith Sutton photo)
Topwater bassin’ fanatics have a saying: “Catching one bass on a topwater lure is worth 10 on anything else.” It’s true. Seeing the drama makes topwater fishing special. You watch the wake of a bass homing in on your lure. You see the fish boil beneath the bait. You witness the hook-set. Your eyes are glued on the bass as it jumps. Fishing doesn’t get any better than that, and during autumn, topwater fishing is at its best.
Topwater lures come in many varieties, and some terrific tricks can increase your catch rate when fishing each type. Here are three to try this season.
The Lure: Popper
Poppers are productive, fun-to-fish bass lures. Each has a face scooped-out, grooved or otherwise designed to catch water. The lure makes a chugging sound when jerked. Examples include Rebel’s Pop-R, Creek Chub’s Super Knuckle-Head and Cabela’s Top Popper.
The Trick: Raking Weeds
On sunny fall days, add a rake to your fishing gear. Bass often lurk in heavily matted weeds when the sun is high this season. Run your boat into the weeds and use the rake to clear a 6-foot hole. Rake out a slot to open water, too. Leave for one hour. Bass soon forget you were there as they gorge on baitfish eating plankton stirred up by your raking. When you return, launch a popper into the hole from a distance. Count to 10, then twitch the lure so it spits. If this doesn’t garner a strike, jerk the popper hard so it makes a deep bloomp sound, and keep it coming. Detonating!
The Lure: Stickbait
Stickbaits have no propellers, lips or built-in action. But skilled anglers can animate them with short, sharp jerks that produce a left-right-left action known as “walking the dog.” Heddon’s Zara Spook, Sebile’s Topwater Stick Shadd and Rapala’s Skitter Walk are among the makes.
The Trick: Head Nod
Stickbaits create a commotion when walked quickly over the surface, but at times, persnickety bass prefer quiet lures, and the fact that stickbaits have no sound-producing features makes them very effective. Cast near cover, and wait a few seconds. Then, gently twitch your rod tip to make the lure nod its head. Repeat, nodding and reeling so the stickbait dimples the water every couple of inches. Bass rarely see lures do this, and few can resist.
The Lure: Prop Bait
A small propeller on one or both ends of the lure body characterizes this group of artificials. On retrieve, water twirls the propellers, causing the lure to sputter like a trolling motor tilted too high. Venerable names include the Smithwick Devil’s Horse, Luhr-Jensen’s Nip-I-Diddee and the Heddon Torpedo.
The Trick: Doodlesocking
For the ultimate in topwater excitement in autumn, try doodlesocking with a prop bait. This old-fashioned bassing method employs a 12- to 16-foot fiberglass or graphite/composite jigging pole instead of a rod and reel. On the end, tie a prop bait with a 24-inch length of heavy braided line. The lure is fished in pockets in shoreline cover. Work it back and forth very quickly with short sweeps of the pole, making as much noise as you can. When a bass hits, it’s like someone set off a depth charge
Catching autumn crappie may require anglers to use tactics like wade fishing that differ considerably from slab-hooking methods during other seasons. (Keith Sutton photo)
Autumn is a golden season for crappie fishing fans. Summer’s crowds have vanished. Lakes, ponds and rivers shimmer beneath canopies of vermilion and amber leaves. Summer-fattened crappie are ravenous and in prime condition, offering exciting possibilities for action-hungry anglers.
This season offers some of the year’s best crappie angling if you learn some tips that will help you find and tempt these silvery panfish. Read on, and you will.
Shallow Water Wading
Crappie often move to extreme shallows, water barely deep enough to cover them, as the water temperature cools in fall. You may catch more if you don a set of waders and carefully make your way to edge areas fringed with inundated brush, willows or grass. Use a 12- to 14-foot jigging pole, pull the jig to the tip, then after positioning the jig over a hole in the cover, lower the jig into the crappie hideout.
Trolling Jigs
Try trolling with jigs to find often-scattered schools of autumn crappie. This tactic works best if you periodically change your trolling speed and the size of jig you use. Start with a 1/32-ounce jig and a fast trolling speed. This will find crappie in shallow water. If that doesn’t work, try a 1/16-ounce jig and a medium trolling speed to look for crappie in mid-depths. If necessary, change again, to a 1/8-ounce jig and a medium-slow speed, then a 1/8-ounce jig and a very slow speed.
Trolling Crankbaits
Autumn crappie often suspend in open water near tributary mouths. To find them, watch for schooling fish that show up as “boomerangs” on your sonar. To catch them, troll crankbaits instead of jigs. Use a 1/4- to 1/8-ounce shad-imitation diver. Silver works great on sunny days and in clear water. If the sky is overcast, or the water is murky, switch to hot colors such as chartreuse.
Back Out With the Fish
When fishing a reservoir that has current caused by power generation, it pays to observe changes in the amount of current. Crappie may be in as little as 4 to 5 feet of water when current is minimal, but when power generation increases and current is high, crappie will move out to structures 10 to 20 feet deep. In the latter situation, work offshore cover, positioning your boat directly above and dropping minnows straight down. Or back off and cast 1/8-ounce jigs dressed with curly-tailed grubs or tubes.
Get to the Point
If the water level starts dropping fast due to power generation, try fishing points using small in-line or safety-pin spinners. Retrieve the lure with an up-and-down “yo-yo” motion, or buzz it along the surface and allow it to fall or “die” right beside the cover. Position your boat in deep water and cast toward the shallow part of the point, or vice versa.
Sliders for Stumps
Stump fields in mid-depths are prime holding areas for fall crappie, but stumps often gobble up so many tube jigs that you’re doing more tying than fishing. In this situation, try a weedless jig such as Charlie Brewer’s Weedless Crappie Slider. Cast past the stumps, let the lure settle, then retrieve the lure slow and steady. If you hit wood before catching a crappie, continue your retrieve, allowing the jig to bump over the wood. Most times, you’ll be able to work the lure in this fashion without hang-ups to catch more fish.
Hot Combo
If you pinpoint feeding crappie near schools of surface-running shad, a common occurrence in fall, try casting a 1/32-ounce jig tied above a 1/8-ounce jig with a small safety-pin spinner. The heavier jig stays well beneath the upper lure at a level where larger crappie are often holding. Double hookups are common.
Fish Windward Shores
Wind can be an important factor in determining where you’re most likely to find early fall crappie. Wind pushes tiny invertebrates that minnows and other baitfish eat. If there’s a westerly wind for a couple of days, an east-shore area could hold the most fish, or vice versa. Consequently, you should always give wind-hit areas your full attention.
“See” Edges that are Out of Sight
Fall crappie often hold along creek channel drop-offs and other edge areas. You’ll be able to fish such a location better if you mark it with a several buoys. Locate the drop-off with sonar, then slowly follow the edge. Throw out a marker buoy each time you cross a certain depth—10 feet, for instance. Continue placing the buoys, about 20 feet apart, until you’ve used them all. Now you have a visible image of the edge, and can fish it more thoroughly for crappie.
Be Persistent
“Don’t give up on a previously productive fishing spot too quick,” a crappie guide once told me. He noted that autumn crappie are often finicky, and just want something different. Try changing jig colors or body styles. Use minnows instead of jigs, or vice versa. Try a fast retrieve instead of a slow one. Switch to lighter line. “If the structure you’re fishing has given up some nice slabs on previous trips during the same season,” the guide said, “it should do so again if you can determine the best fishing pattern
When the water temperature drops, look for winter crappie in deep cover or structure
Catching Crappie in the Cold
You may have to bundle up in extra clothes to stay warm, but winter days can be good times to go fishing if you're a crappie fan. (Keith Sutton photo)
The air was icy when we left the ramp, but when we arrived at our fishing hole, calm air and warm sun made the morning pleasant despite the 25-degree temperature. My son Josh and I, bundled up like Eskimos, basked like turtles while waiting for a bite.
We didn’t wait long.
“One on red!” our friend Jerry Blake snapped.
Each of us was watching “color-coded” bobbers above our minnow baits. Josh had a red bobber and a white bobber. I had green and yellow. Jerry had black and blue. Josh’s red bobber had sunk slowly out of sight, indicating a bite.
“Dadgummit!” Josh exclaimed as he snapped his pole upward without hooking a fish.
“One on green!” Jerry said.
Red was back under, too, and Jerry had a hit on the black bobber. Fortunately, we managed to land three fish.
“They feel like ice,” I said, feeling the sides of the crappie I caught. “I don’t know how they can be so lively and so cold.”
Lively they were, though. Although most crappie we caught barely wiggled our bobbers, each fought hard when hooked. And plenty were hooked.
Catching winter crappie can be challenging. If the water temperature falls extremely low, crappie become lethargic. Those feeding may bite so gingerly they are almost undetectable. Nevertheless, crappie are commonly caught in winter by those who know tips for success.
Most winter crappie hold on deep cover and structure, but they can be pinpointed on brushpiles, fish attractors, creek channel edges and other hotspots using a fish-finder.
The depth at which the crappie are holding may vary from one location to another. Some crappie may be 15 feet deep, others 25 feet. But if you use the rigs we use, adjustments are easy.
Each rig consists of a live minnow fished on a No. 6 Tru-Turn bronze Aberdeen panfish hook beneath a Thill pencil-style slip float. On the line above the float is a bobber stop. Moving the bobber stop up or down is all it takes to change the bait’s depth. A split shot to sink the bait completes each rig.
Many winter crappie anglers also fish with jigs. Each should be tied so it hangs perpendicular to the line. The lure then is lowered to the depth crappie are holding and is held almost motionless until a fish strikes. Tipping the jig hook with a live minnow or a small piece of minnow increases the lure’s attractiveness to crappie.
Although in frigid water, the crappie we caught that day were hungry and hitting hard. I usually miss as many as I hook, but that day, lots of crappie were hooking themselves. Before lunch, Josh, Jerry and I had put 53 in the livewell, including a few that exceeded 2 pounds.
Winter fishing isn’t for everybody. For most of us, a warm fireplace is much more attractive than a frigid outing on a cold lake.
If the fishing itch gets too intense to bear, though, give winter crappie a try. Fishing for these sassy panfish is a sure remedy for what ails you
Tips for Fishing Small Streams for Cold-Weather Panfish
Casting upstream and fishing from the shallow side of the shore can lead you to bigger catches
Tips for Fishing Small Streams for Cold-Weather Panfish
When the vagaries of fall turnover make fishing more difficult in lakes and ponds, fishing small streams may be the best way to catch a mess of rock bass or other panfish. (Keith Sutton photo)
Late autumn brings cooler water temperatures, and as fall turnover begins, panfish in lakes and ponds scatter, making schools more difficult to pinpoint. Some are shallow, others deep, and anglers must keep moving to pick up numbers of fish.
Fishing streams eliminates these problems. These flowing environments aren’t subject to the vagaries of turnover, so fish can still be found in familiar haunts.
The word “stream” can describe practically any body of flowing water, from a tiny creek to a river the size of the Mississippi. Here, we’ll confine our discussion to small flowages—streams small enough you’d have no trouble tossing a pebble from one side to the other. One beauty of these little gems is their usually convenient location. Small streams are found throughout the U.S., sometimes several to the mile, and each may be home to several species of panfish including rock bass, bluegills, redbreasts, longear sunfish, crappie and others. All these waters have something special to offer the adventurous angler.
Fishing for small-stream panfish is like hunting with a rod. Many creatures would eagerly devour these fish, so they are a nervous and wary lot, ready to streak for cover at the slightest intrusion. The silhouette of an angler standing upright will put them under rocks, brushpiles and cutbanks in short order, so like a hunter, you must slip up on the prey unannounced and do your work with extreme stealth.
Any decent cover in a foot or more of water is a potential panfish hideout. Cast upstream or quartering upstream to fallen trees, boulders, brushpiles and ledges adjacent deep water; along the edges of coontail, willow shoots and other vegetation; under overhangs, root wads and logs along the banks; and any place where the water drops into a pool or run. The best of these spots will be in or near long, deep pools, so when you encounter a big hole or long stretch of deeper water, work it methodically. Drop successive casts about a foot apart, covering a variety of depths until fish are found.
One technique that elicits smashing strikes is to cast up on the rocks or the bank and jump the bait or lure into the water. Panfish get a bit crazy when a popping bug or cricket behaves in this manner, or when a tiny spinner leaps from the bank and starts swimming away.
Any bait or lure you use elsewhere will work here as well, but the best bait might be right under your feet. Tiny crayfish, nymphs, scuds, leeches and insect larvae can often be collected by carefully rolling over rocks in the stream. Worms get lots of attention during or after a rain and can sometimes be found by kicking through leaf litter along the shore. Impaled on a small hook and drifted through a deep hole, any of these baits can entice a hefty bluegill, bullhead or other panfish when your favorite artificials aren’t paying off.
When stream fishing, remember these additional guidelines that will lead you to bigger catches:
Cast upstream whenever possible, allowing your bait or lure to ride with the current in a natural manner.
When walking the shore, always fish from the shallow side, entering the water only when necessary. Should you enter the water, do so below the hole you plan to fish, so the moving current will carry your vibrations away from the fish.
Stay as far back from the bank as cover will allow. Move quietly.
Use small baits and lures and the lightest line feasible for the type of cover you’re fishing.
Though you can fish most small streams by wading or walking the banks, a canoe or other boat can be much more productive than going afoot. You’ll cover more territory and be able to fish locations inaccessible by wading. Belly boats, or float tubes, are useful for covering short stretches. And for a special taste of panfishing fun, try an overnight campout/fishing expedition when the trees are ablaze with the reds and golds of autumn. Pan-fried fish never smell or taste better than they do when cooked over a streamside fire.
Remember, catching fish is a big part of stream fishing, but catching a limit of memories is the bigger part. Share the joys with family and friends
Tips for Catching Popsicle Pond Cats Despite popular misconceptions, channel cats feed actively throughout winter and even put up a fight when the water is frozen over
Tips for Catching Popsicle Pond Cats
Many catfish fans confine their fishing activity to warm months, but it's easy to load a stringer with good-eating channel cats when fishing farm ponds on cold winter days. (Keith Sutton photo)
Do catfish contain antifreeze? That question crossed my mind as I lifted my tenth big channel catfish over the transom. It was a polar afternoon during Christmas break. The high temperature that day soared to near 30 degrees. My friend Alex Hinson and I were catfishing in a small farm pond owned by one of Alex’s neighbors. To say the fish were cooperative is an understatement. We’d cast a bait into deep water by the pond’s dam, and before it hit bottom, a sassy channel cat would have it. Alex caught a 5-pounder, then its twin. I caught several 2- to 4-pounders. We caught a total of 23 before our fishing trip ended. What surprised me most was how icy-cold the fish were. Each fought like the dickens, and we took great care that we didn’t get soaked with freezing water when one splashed alongside the boat. Yet when you touched one of the catfish fresh out of the water, it felt like a Popsicle. How, I wondered, can a cold-blooded creature put up such a fight when its body temperature is barely above freezing? Antifreeze, perhaps? Despite what many anglers think, channel cats feed actively throughout winter, as the experience outlined above shows. Alex and I make several winter fishing forays each year, and we’ve never failed to catch plenty of cats for a fish fry back home. Even more amazing is the fact that channel cats are now common targets for ice-fishermen in northern states. Despite popular misconceptions, they don’t lie in the mud and sulk when it’s cold. They actively hunt for food and bite readily even when all the water is frozen over. Many rivers and lakes serve up excellent cold-weather catfishing, but almost invariably I head for the nearest farm pond when fishing in December, January and February. Most ponds are stocked with channel cats, and I can fish from the bank or a small boat without freezing during a long boat ride on open water. Start by obtaining permission to fish and asking the pond owner to point out the deepest hole in the pond. During cold weather, that’s where most cats will be. Fish from a boat if you can, lowering your bait straight down into the hole. When it reaches the bottom, turn your reel handle a few cranks so the bait is a foot or so above the substrate where cats can better detect it. When bank fishing, adding a small bobber on the line between your hook and sinker accomplishes the same thing. Fresh chicken liver is my favorite winter bait. Cats quickly zero in on the scent and taste of poultry blood dissolving from the tissue. I weave my hook through each piece of liver several times, then put my reel in freespool and let the bait sink straight to the bottom. When bank fishing, a gentle lob keeps the liver from flying off on most casts. Don’t sit in one spot too long. You’ll have a bite before 15 minutes passes if a hungry channel cat is nearby. If you don’t, move a short distance and try again. If luck is with you and the catfish are biting, the action may end abruptly after you’ve caught a few fish. Once again, it’s time to move and try another location. Of course, when you’re fishing for cats in winter, it pays to keep moving anyway, just so you can keep warm. This is not a sport for anglers who detest the cold. You’ll get chilly out there, even when you’re wearing the proper clothing. Your teeth will chatter, and your hands and feet will feel like Popsicles. Nice thing is, when the cats start biting, that frigid feeling disappears. Nothing in the world warms you quicker than battling a rod-bending catfish. Try it yourself and see
Winter Crappie Tips from Professional Angler Brent Chapman
The Major League Fishing pro shares his six-step plan on how to catch big (and tasty) crappie during the wintertime
Winter Crappie Tips from Professional Angler Brent Chapman
Brent Chapman fills his family freezer up by targeting big crappie during the wintertime. (Photo courtesy of Brent Chapman)
For Brent Chapman, bass fishing is all about catch-and-release. So too is his wintertime crappie fishing activities on his home water of Lake Quivira near Kansas City, Kansas. It's just that when it comes to the big sided sac au lait slabs from fat and prime wintertime crappie, the catch-and-release is into a bowl of fishing fry coating and on into a fryer bubbling with hot peanut oil! Winter is great time to catch a mess of prime-time crappie destined for the skillet according to Chapman. "Yeah, it's a great time to fish for them," said the 2012 BASS Angler of the Year. "In fact, it's one of the best times of the year since the fish tend to school up in the winter months better than any other time of the year. "When the bass fishing starts to slow down - and the deer hunting is over for the year - the crappie seem to bite really, really well." And that's why Chapman puts a six-step plan into place as he searches for big crappie to fill up the family freezer. What are those six steps? "The first is that I use bigger baits in order to try and catch bigger fish," said Chapman. "The second is that I use braid with a fluorocarbon leader so they can't see my line. "Third, I'll mark my line with a marker when I find the right depth since depth is critical. Fourth, I'll rely on good electronics to help me find them, a good sonar unit with GPS, side and down view options, and even a pan option. "Fifth, while I love to use jigs, I most often use minnows," he added. "In fact, I'll have one rod rigged with each and I find that I catch a lot more fish by using these two-rod set up with these baits. "And finally, I make sure I dress warmly since you can't really catch fish too effectively if you're cold." Ok, there's the six-steps that Chapman employs in his wintertime search for crappie slabs. But where does he put that plan into practice on a body of water? "My target areas are usually around creek channels, wherever the bait is, it's the key," said Chapman, a multiple winner of GEICO Select Major League Fishing events along with four BASS events. "Typically, what that entails is that the bait gravitates into the creek channels, especially in the bigger creeks and that's most often where you'll find the crappie, is on the edge of the creek channels," he added. While that's the generalized location where Chapman will start his wintertime crappie search, he'll rely on his electronics to fine tune the location of brush piles, submerged timber and such, all that will tend to hold fish. "In the wintertime, crappie don't associate with brush as much on some lakes as they do on others," he cautioned. "Here, they get in the creek channels and follow the shad around." Which is why his electronic sonar is of such great importance. "They are so important, especially in the wintertime since they are literally your eyes under the water," said Chapman. "With the technology available today, you can put your boat in the creek channel, follow it around with the mapping on your sonar, and with a side-view screen, you can even find schools of fish off to the sides of where you are traveling." "When I see a school of fish, I'll idle over, verify that it's crappie with my Garmin sonar and then start fishing," he added. "With Garmin's Pan-Optics feature, I can even see them out in front and that can be huge." Why is that? Because if you don't see crappie - below you, to the side or out in front - Chapman says to keep going and keep searching until you do. "If your electronics are not showing fish, then keep going," he laughed. "When you do find fish, you can easily save the waypoint, which saves so much time in finding them again." And since a pile of slab-sized crappie is valuable Intel - like a Morel mushroom hunting ground in the spring or a big buck hangout in the fall - such modern gadgetry helps an angler keep such a little secret tucked away and hidden from the view of other anglers. "Back in the old days, we'd throw a marker buoy out and hope that someone else didn't find it," laughed Chapman. "About 20 years ago, I think we often found crappie holes by seeing these floating marker buoys. You would see them, idle over them, and sometimes, hammer the crappie since someone was nice enough to share the spot with everyone." However a school of crappie is discovered during the cold months of winter, the good news is that when you catch one big slab, they all tend to be that size. "While it seems like a lot of our lakes around here will cycle - meaning that some years, the crappie are bigger, other years they are smaller - when you locate a school and catch one, then most of the rest tend to be the same size," said Chapman. "And in the summertime, a lot of times, you'll have to weed through a lot of fish to find keepers, but not in the wintertime. If you catch a good, fat pan-size crappie, odds are, you'll usually catch plenty more close to that size." All of which makes for some fast-paced action on big slab-sized crappie. "Honestly, we're spoiled," said Chapman. "If we don't get a limit within a couple of hours, that's a tough trip." And those aren't very plentiful for Chapman, a dedicated bass angler who loves to catch-and-release his wintertime crappie into a deep fryer ready to turn the fillets golden brown. "I love to fish and I love to eat crappie," laughed Chapman. Which is why you'll probably find him all bundled up this winter, looking to pull a pile of good eating slabs from the water that lies virtually outside his backdoor, Lake Quivira
Take a break from the slopes and visit these Colorado streams for some wintertime trout fly fishing
Winter a Great Time to Chase Ski Country Rainbows and Browns
Colorado has lots of great fishing opportunities, even during the winter months. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Burkhead)
Many years, the wintertime snows enveloping the Colorado high country has found the family Suburban packed down with the usual array of parkas, sweaters and mittens. And – much to my wife's chagrin, I think – a fly rod tube containing a graphite trout stick, a fly reel or two, a box of wintertime flies and my Simms waders and wading boots. Why? Because as much as I love to ski, I also love to fly fish for rainbow trout and their brown trout cousins – even in the dead of wintertime. And believe it or not, the fishing is surprisingly good when the snow flies at a several locations around the Centennial State. With that in mind, here's a sample of the action that Ski Country enthusiasts can find across the state if they're willing to take a day off from the slopes: Aspen & Snowmass / Frying Pan River To try and point out a Colorado epicenter of both skiing and fly fishing would be about as dangerous – for me anyway – as trying to descend down a double black diamond chute on an icy morning. But as I found out a few years back, the slopes at Aspen and Snowmass - and the nearby Frying Pan River tailwater (not to mention the freestone Roaring Fork River) would be a pretty good candidate. Why? In addition to the legendary slopes that get buried in champagne powder, the Pan offers anglers a chance to hook some true-blue piscatorial pigs. In fact, the Frying Pan’s famous trout can tip the scales in the double-digits thanks to the ample supply of protein-rich Mysis shrimp spilling through the bowels of Reudi Dam and into the 40-degree river. Want my advice? Leave the glitz and glimmer of Aspen behind with a fly box full of midges and Mysis shrimp imitations – you will not be disappointed. Crested Butte / Taylor River It’s a tough decision for a ski/trout bum when you arrive in the town of Gunnison, one of my favorite places on earth. In one of the prettiest parts of Ski Country, a part of the world where a ski bum can either head on up the road to Crested Butte…or can make a detour for the Taylor Reservoir and the Mysis shrimp tailwater paradise that lies below it, the Taylor River. Like the Frying Pan, the Taylor River’s trout are legendary for their size, thanks again, to a steady diet of freshwater shrimp cocktail. Anglers who venture from the slopes at the nearby Butte with a supply of shrimp patterns in their fly box can expect to see a good number of solid rainbows – including some double-digit lunkers big enough to make an angler famous on the cover of a fly fishing magazine! This brown trout was caught while fly fishing in ice water. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Burkhead) Purgatory / Animas River After the news headlines last August trumpeted the spilling of more than three million gallons of toxic mining waste into the Animas River near Durango, I'd have to admit that I'm a bit hesitant to include this river in the mix. Especially after all of the media reports about the incident showed photos of orange water filled – made that way from toxic sludge and waste spilled in the Gold King Mine disaster – flowing through this stunningly beautiful southwestern Colorado town. But despite the spill, many reports seem to indicate that the river seems to be fishing similar to its old self this fall and early winter, meaning that along with spending a few days shredding the slopes at the Purgatory Ski Area this winter, a visit to the Animas River should also be on one's agenda. Even as winter sets up shop in the region and appears ready to stay for a while. "It’s cold," writes Andy McKinley of Durangler Flies and Supplies in his online Animas Lunch Report blog a few days ago in mid-December. "Snow is dropping and wind is blowing," he added. "The weather outside is frightful…or at least mildly unpleasant. "We get it, fishing may be one of the last things on your mind. (Skiing may be first). With dropping temps, make sure to layer up and have a good jacket to keep you warm on the water or when digging your vehicle out of a foot of snow." Obviously, that means that the early season skiing conditions are good at Purgatory. But it also means that Animas trout are looking up at midges according to McKinley. Because of that, he suggests a dry-dropper-midge set-up for anglers trading in a day of slope side action for a visit to the river. Interested in visiting the Animas? Then see McKinley's list of suggested wintertime flies. Monarch Ski Area / Arkansas River One of the most difficult drives for me to make in the entire state of Colorado is west out of Canon City to Salida along Route 50. Why? Well, it’s hard to concentrate on the highway surface while paralleling one of the state’s most beautiful stretches of trout water. Most Colorado anglers know all about the Arkansas River during the legendary Mother’s Day caddis hatch in the warmer months of spring. But winter isn’t too bad either according to Bill Edrington, for many years the shop proprietor of Royal Gorge Anglers in Canon City (the shop is now owned and operated by Bill's son, Taylor). That’s especially true when the first few BWO hatches begin to appear in late February and March, at times when a rare mix of a 50 degree air temperature, low cloud cover and light snow occurs. "That sounds strange, but you can have that in the Southern Rockies at (that) time of the year," Edrington has told me. "The air at the surface is warm, but above you, the air can be so cold that you can still get light snow. Those heavy, wet (early) spring conditions where you have a high moisture content in the air, that’s what they (BWOs) love. "I love the snow because it traps them (BWOs) in the water in the surface film. The fish go completely crazy when those bugs get trapped in the surface film and can’t get away. Usually, I get one day like that a year." And on that one day of the year, you won't be sorry at all for ditching the slopes at nearby Monarch Ski area - and the unparalleled view of snow covered "Fourteener Peaks" along the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass either - when the wintertime fun is traded for a day of fly fishing on the amazing Arkansas River. Summit County/ Blue River Summit County certainly makes a bid for being the capitol of Colorado’s Ski Country USA with its quartet of ski resorts – Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone to be exact. But the area is also home to one of the state’s top wintertime tailwater angling opportunities, the Blue River spilling below Lake Dillon. While the Mysis shrimp rich trout stream can run low and clear, making for spooky fish, the payoff is piggish rainbows up to 10-pounds slurping a freshwater shrimp cocktail in downtown Silverthorne as the semi-trucks thunder overhead on I-70. While the window of fishing opportunity is admittedly small – primarily during the warmest part of mid-day hours during the so-called "Banker's Hours" stretch of daylight – a visit to the Blue can result in some great fly fishing memories and photographs capturing a day of superb wintertime angling. As long as you can get the rumbling sound out of your head of semi-trucks noisily pounding the Interstate 70 pavement a few feet away as the serpentine highway descends to the west of Eisenhower Tunnel. And while a foot of fresh wintertime powder covers the nearby slopes of the Colorado high country. But the height of ski season or not, it's worth the effort to visit the Blue - and the other Colorado trout streams mentioned in this piece - since some great fishing action awaits. As long as your wife will let you pack the fly rod into the back of the Suburban, that is
With a love of angling that runs deep Mark Berg is an angler, producer, film maker, and photographer who’s driven by the thrill of fishing, and the unadulterated joy of sharing it with people of any age, gender, or profession.
While Mark’s job as the presenter of the Fishing Addiction television series sees him travel to some of Australia’s most exotic locations it’s his humble beginnings in southern New South Wales chasing bread and butter species where he cut his angling teeth and developed his love for fishing.
Exposed to fishing by his commercial fishing uncle and grandfather at a very young age, one fish grabbed the 41-year-old Thirroul local’s attention as a child, whiting. Abundant in Lake Illawarra where he regularly fished as a child, whiting fueled his angling habit in many ways, none more so than through the local Chinese restaurant that traded him money for his whiting. This exchange funded his appetite to go fishing, and funded his burgeoning appetite for fishing tackle and fishing magazines.
While Mark’s uncle and grandfather were instrumental in his early exposure to fishing, one person stands alone as his major influence, Rex Hunt. Infectious in his love and passion for angling Rex lit a fire within Mark, a fire that would see him feverishly watch every show, and analyze and take notes on each segment to make himself a better angler. Enamored by the fact that each episode was an adventure, it was the excitement and the thrill of this adventure that Mark dreamed of one day emulating, a dream that he would eventually realize with his Fishing Addiction television show.
The exhilaration of the adventure was always there for Mark, even as a young child there was nothing more exciting to him than trekking down to his local creek with his fishing rod taped to his BMX. The thrill of the hunt and anticipation of the adventure, nothing made him happier than the excitement of catching a big fish.
One fish sticks firmly in his mind and holds pride of place in his memory. It was the first fish to give him that addictive rush you get from catching a truly big fish. A prehistoric old bream that fought like nothing he’d ever caught before infixed in Mark the desire to feel the angling rush again and again. Thirty years later Mark still fishes for that same rush. Mark’s fishing has evolved since the early days of riding his BMX to the local creek, and while it’s become more technical and advanced in many ways it’s still the thrill of the strike, and new challenges, locations, and species that excites him the most.
Outwardly expressive of his love for angling many things fuel Mark’s passion for fishing, and none more so than the pleasure it brings him to simply be on the water. Beyond this underlying and very pure motivation it’s his ability to be able to share with viewers the scream of the reel, the beauty of an exotic location, and the emotion of an angling moment, that he finds truly satisfying. To be able to capture these precious moments and deliver them into someone’s lounge room is something Mark finds incredibly rewarding
Looking through some files the other day, I came across one of my favorite fishing photos of all-time. One of me holding up a decent largemouth bass caught on the fly ... all the while as huge desert mountains towered above and behind me along the lake's shoreline. No, I wasn't fishing at a reservoir somewhere in the American West. Instead, I was south of the border in Mexico fishing on a writer's trip to Lake Huites, one of the most stunningly beautiful bass waters in the world. With several companies like Yum, XCalibur, Booyah Baits, Bomber Baits, Shakespeare Fishing, All-Star rods and Pflueger reels sponsoring the trip, I had cautiously asked Jeff Samsel (then the PR director for Pradco Fishing, now one of the nation's best overall fishing writers) if he minded me bringing along my fly gear. As it turns out, Samsel said he didn't mind at all. Leading me to pack an Orvis fly reel and a couple of Temple Fork fly rods along with my conventional gear. A combination that drew a strange look or two when I landed at the Los Mochis airport, loaded up into the Trophy Bass Lodge van and took my seat as we prepared to start our adventurous trek. A couple of hours into our journey, the dry and dusty – not to mention surprisingly vertical – terrain not far from Mexico's famed Copper Canyon led me to make an observation. “This looks like the greatest snipe hunt in history,” I said to no one in particular. That off-hand comment caused a chuckle or two and broke the silence in the van as our group of traveling Don Quixote anglers continued to climb up a road that would do any mountain biker proud. Venturing into the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in the Mexican state of Sinaloa near the town of Choix, our view eventually gave way to occasional glimpses of the sparkling 30,000-acre oasis below, one of the big bass capitols of Mexico. As we traveled through ample Etcho cactus stands and brushy tropical and deciduous forest that blanketed the slopes of these steep desert mountains (approaching and exceeding 8,000 feet in places), my hopes began to change as I saw the lake. Eventually we reached the summit of our mountainous journey and began to wind down towards the end of the 17-mile-long road into the lodge. After arriving and stowing our gear – and being warmly greeted by our host David Fields (www.fishinexpeditions.com) – I ventured to the water’s edge with an eight-weight fly rod in hand to see what Huites looked like up close and personal. While I could coax no bass to strike my popper that evening, I went to sleep hopeful that the lake would live up to its reputation. The next morning, it did. After a chilly late March boat ride up one of Huites' lengthy canyon arms with our guide and Mike Rice, then a senior product manager for Shakespeare Fishing, it took only five casts before a bass decided to smash my popper. Within short order, as parrots flew overhead and rain drops dotted the surface while far away thunder rumbled off steep desert canyon walls, I had landed five more largemouth in the 2- to 3-pound range while Rice landed similar numbers on a Zara Spook. None were the pescado grandes that we had come seeking – the lake record back then was a 15.12-pound brute caught by the late Wild Bill Skinner – but on a lake as magical as Huites, you keep casting because you never know when a double-digit bass is lurking below. Later that afternoon, heeding Field’s lunchtime advice that a Texas-rigged 10-inch Yum Ribbontail plastic worm in watermelon seed was the current ticket on the lake, I switched to conventional gear and made a cast from the back deck of the Carolina skiff. When that T-Rig landed in less than a foot of water off a small rocky point, what looked like a diminutive version of Orca – a pound and a half largemouth – arched over the ripples marking the resting spot of my plastic worm. As I sat there trying to figure out what had just happened, a tell-tale “tap-tap” vibrated up my All-Star graphite rod, tripping my synaptic responses and causing me to set the hook. When the bass broke the surface, Rice and I instantly thought it was an 8-pound or better fish. After a solid, fierce struggle, I finally wrestled the big bass into the net. With Huites' bass a month or two ahead of their U.S. counterparts, this spawned-out, lengthy native-strain female tipped the scales at around 6 pounds, leaving me to wonder if my guessing or the scale’s weighing abilities were off.
(Lynn Burkhead photo)
Since I’m married to a junior high school teacher who specializes in math, you be the judge. The rest of the afternoon, Rice schooled me in the art of fishing an XCalibur lipless crankbait, boating several quality fish in the 4- to 6-pound range and losing a couple more that appeared even bigger. After dinner at the lodge and a good night of sleep, the next couple of mornings I found myself in a skiff with Samsel. During those two days time, he would throw a combination of baits including a 1-ounce Booyah double-willow leaf spinnerbait, a Booyah Boogee bait and a 3-inch Bomber Long A jerkbait in colors imitating the lake’s abundant threadfin shad, sunfish and tilapia forage base. Like Rice had done, it wasn't long before Samsel was educating me on how to slow roll a big spinnerbait over deep main lake points, picking up several 4-pound plus bass in the process. As we moved down the lake and began fishing tighter to visible cover along the rocky shoreline, Jeff used the Long A to coax bass after bass out of their post-spawn funk. While a great majority of Samsel’s fish on the jerkbait were in the 2- to 3-pound range, a venture up one gnarly creek produced not one, but two 5-plus-pound fish. Meanwhile, I kept at it with my eight-weight fly rod, tossing poppers, big Clouser Minnows and sizable Lefty's Deceiver patterns early and late. In between, as the sun rose high into the blue sky, I would trade for conventional gear and follow the lead of Samsel. During one of those days, a highlight of the trip occurred when we were treated to a traditional Mexican style shore lunch where we passed around freshly baked tortillas while trading big fish tales. Dan Hernandez, the Los Angeles-based host of the Sportfishing with Dan Hernandez television show had a tale of a 7-pound largemouth that had smashed a shad patterned Bill Dance Fat Free Shad deep-diving crankbait. What’s more, Hernandez had the video to prove his fish tale. Meanwhile, Mark Davis – now an Outdoor Channel television show host and then the marketing director for Shakespeare Fishing – was teaming up with Texas-based television show host Keith Warren to tame the big bass suspending on Huites’ considerable deep-water structure. Using sizable swimbaits, deep-diving Fat Free Shad and hefty Booyah spinnerbaits, Davis and Warren landed some 50 or so bass in the 5- to 9-pound range. Again, with the video evidence – enough for two television shows – to prove it. They also had the footage to back up claims of a 10-pound giant lost at the boat and a double-digit behemoth that struck Warren’s swimbait, turned the Carolina skiff around and then stripped out much of the Pflueger reel's line supply. It was last seen heading for Mexico City when the connection broke deep into the fight. On the fourth and final morning – with a brief window of early fishing opportunity before traveling to Los Mochis for a plane ride back to the States – I got in the boat with Rice and Brett Graham, a seasoned tournament bass angler from Sherman, Texas. I’m not sure what I enjoyed more – the spectacular sunrise over God’s rugged creation, the laugh-a-minute antics of the comedic Graham or the 8.1-pound bass that was the subject of numerous early morning photos.
(Lynn Burkhead photo)
What I do know is this: On the climbing, twisting ride out later that day, I quietly reflected on my first bass fishing adventure south of the border. Those thoughts included my own fishing success that produced some 45 bass on the fly rod in three and a half days of fishing, not to mention many more on conventional tackle. Having seen numerous fish over 5 pounds caught, more than I might see in a year's worth of fishing north of the border, I realized that the stories I had heard for years about Mexico's incredible bass fisheries were no Chamber of Commerce hype. Even with a fly rod in hand. Leading me to a final conclusion: This might have been my first time to fish Mexico's fabled bass waters, but I left hoping that it would not be my last, snipe hunt or not.
Legendary country crooner Charlie Daniels once spun the musical tale of a how the devil went down to Georgia, looking for a soul to steal.
By the song’s end, a passion-filled Peach State lad had turned the tables on Lucifer, dusting off the fiddle-playing demon with some sizzling music of his own.
Several years ago, well-known fly fisherman and television personality Flip Pallot ventured into the wilderness of South Texas to discover a similar tale of redemption, except this time with a fly rod in hand.
While fishing with Rick Pope, founder and president of the Dallas-based Temple Fork Outfitters Fly Rod company, Pallot discovered a devil of a river in Texas, a harsh stream that was – and still is – home to some of the state's most heavenly smallmouth bass fishing action.
Before they were done fishing the difficult to access stream in southwestern Texas, Pope and Pallot hooked and landed nearly 75 bronzeback bass from the Devils River.
Not included in the count was one huge, demon of a fish that came unbuttoned at the very end of the adventure ... on film, no less.
“The best fish, which could have been (one of) my best ever at about 5 pounds, I lost, right at the camera,” Pope once told concerning the trip. “It’s not uncommon to catch 5-pound smallmouth there.”
Pope's enthusiasm for the Devil's River is strong, no matter the difficulty in reaching and fishing the ultra-clear stream that feeds into Lake Amistad north of Del Rio.
And that's saying something since the highly likable fly rod man from Big D has fished on some of the nation’s best smallmouth waters from the Penobscot River in Maine to the John Day River in Oregon.
What’s really saying something, however, is the simple fact that the chance to hook a smallmouth bass – typically regarded as a northern fish – even exists in the high desert plateau stream found deep in the heart of Texas.
In fact, the scenic stream is so wild and wooly that it is difficult to access and fish as it transforms itself from flat currents to near Class 3 rapids falling through limestone walled canyons on its journey southward towards the Rio Grande River.
“It pops up out of the ground about 40 miles north of Lake Amistad near Del Rio,” said Pope. “As I understand it, the smallmouths were stocked in Lake Amistad when it was built back in the 1960s. They love the river (since) it's very cold.”
Cold due to the springs that well up and feed the stream on its journey southward through the Lone Star State, a rugged landscape filled with a variety of wildlife including white-tailed deer, Rio Grande turkeys, and, of course, the western diamondback rattlesnake.
If the smallmouths seem out of place on the Devil's River, there is one South Texas critter that seems right at home in what Pope dubbed as the “Bat Cave.”
Minus the caped Crusader, of course.
“There is a cave across the river up on top of this plateau called “Fern Cave,” Pope explained. “It has what (has been) purported to be 1.2 million Mexican freetailed bats.”
While fishing along a 15-mile-long stretch of river frontage on a tract of Nature Conservancy land, Pope and Pallot sat near the cave one evening and found out first hand if those numbers were accurate or not.
“I think everyone of them flew in front of the camera lens as we sat down and watched,” said Pope. “It was phenomenal watching the bat cave. In fact, you could have done a show just from that alone.”
If the flora and fauna where the Texas Hill Country, the South Texas Brush Country and the Chihuahuan Desert collide is unique, then the fly fishing action is nothing short of heavenly.
Even on one of the most devilishly unique waters to be found anywhere in the U.S.
Using 9-foot long 4-, 5-, and 6-weight Temple Fork fly rods coupled with floating lines and 9-foot long 1X leaders, there were ample hook-ups on Clouser minnows and a Pallot-tied variation of the Clouser, something dubbed the “Bushwood” fly.
“It’s named after the name of the country club in Caddyshack,” Pope laughed. “The brown version of the “Bushwood” looks like the little brown gopher in Caddyshack.”
While smallmouth bass are famous for their explosive takes of topwater poppers in other parts of the country, Pope and Pallot found most of their Devils River smallmouths lurking in the cracks and crevasses of the river’s limestone bottom.
“Most of the fish were caught sweeping a Clouser at or near the bottom down into these finger seams and cuts and rivulets (deeper) in the water,” said Pope. “It was a lot more like trout fishing, which has not really been the case in my previous smallmouth trips.” What was similar to the fly rod manufacturing guru’s previous smallmouth bass fishing experiences was the ferocious struggle that bronzebacks put up when hooked.
“Size (for) size, a smallmouth will drag a largemouth all over creation,” said Pope. “It’s about as neat and tough a fly rod fish as there is. If I could only pick one fly rod fish to fish for forever, that would be a serious candidate.”
Why such a selection?
Simple – look at the best qualities found in many other game fish and they all seem to find a home in the smallmouth bass.
“They have the stamina of a steelhead with the (powerful and explosive) take of a northern pike or a largemouth bass,” said Pope. “They have both ends of the spectrum very well covered.”
“For all around performance and fight, they're among the very best I've ever fished for,” he added. “They’re neat little guys.”
Actually, they’re neat little piscatorial devils.
Especially when they're at the end of a fly line being fished deep in the heart of Texas
