Creek crawlin' 7/20

[Hookmanski]

Instead of hitting a reservoir like I had planned, I decided to fish the creek behind my house that I've been fishing for almost 13 years now. It never ceases to amaze me! You feel very isolated and engrossed by nature even though you aren't far from town. I had my sister drop.me off downstream and I walked up in a pair of old boots and shorts. A great way to keep cool on this sorcher of a day!

The first two holes I passed had a bunch of fish in them, but nothing was bititng. But as a lifelong trout fisherman this stream is a dream. The next hole I caught 2 nice rainbows, both 12 inches or more, and a surprise smallmouth bass! A dinky one, but I have never caught or seen a smallmouth in this creek before, so I was pretty stoked.

Onto the next hole. Got hooked up to 4 different trout, was only able to land one of them though. After deciding to move on I went up on the bank and looked down into that hole and saw a monster trout, so I stayed and tries for another 20 minutes without a bite. I'll be back for him though.

The last spot is one of my favorites, and although I didn't catch any trout I did catch a personal new species. I believe it was a juvenile creek chubsucker, but I'm not positive (Mark B.?). I included a few pictures of some of the catches including this one in the link at the bottom of this post. There were easily over 75 of these guys swimming up and down a slow moving run.

Everything was caught on a white and silver blade roostertail, except the chubsucker which was on a trout magnet, and my go to 4'6" Fenwick HMG UL and Mitchell Outback reel.

I climbed out of the river, called my brother to come pick me up, and home I went, extremely satisfied. A beautiful day of fishing, catching and wading. Tight lines to all and to all a good day!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/147680405@N08/shares/m743t7

[23cardinal]

Nice man! Yea with the heat, walking a river sounds nice. Broiler in the boat today .

Did the mystery fish have soft lips?kinda down turned?

[Hookmanski]

Nice man! Yea with the heat, walking a river sounds nice. Broiler in the boat today .

Did the mystery fish have soft lips?kinda down turned?

Yes exactly, with a brown lateral lone from the face to the tail! There's a picture of it in the link if you wanna check it out.

[Esox Luciano]

One of the best ways to beat the heat right there brother. Plus noone bothers you!
Looks like a little creek chub to me. I'm still new to the whole trout game, but I think that both chubs & trout need the same kind of fresh water to survive in..find one find the other type situation I guess.?

[thmyorke1]

I think that both chubs & trout need the same kind of fresh water to survive in

Ive seen chubs in much warmer water. The state actually posted some study online about the "if this fish is in the water it means trout are likely to be there" data thing.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/cwfmp/33-52.pdf

(glad I found it again thanks for reminding me :D)

[thmyorke1]

Btw I envy not only do you have a fishable stream in your backyard, but it also holding trout. :cool: cool

Based off the article, Seems like creek chubs are a good sign of trout maintenance but not a sure thing.

today I learned carp and yellow perch dislike trout. Odd since I've seen yellow perch in natirar park,which is TM I think.

[bigfishy]

Gr8 report and pics!!! any idea what the water temps were????

[JDTuna]

Awesome multispecies trip!

[Fred E. Goose]

Walking distance, you can't beat that man! Nice job.

[Hookmanski]

Btw I envy not only do you have a fishable stream in your backyard, but it also holding trout. :cool: cool

Based off the article, Seems like creek chubs are a good sign of trout maintenance but not a sure thing.

today I learned carp and yellow perch dislike trout. Odd since I've seen yellow perch in natirar park,which is TM I think.


Gr8 report and pics!!! any idea what the water temps were????

I'm a pretty lucky guy! The stream is beautiful and always on the colder side, not positive on the temperature though. It's almost entirely lined with trees and is very shallow and fast moving in a lot of places, which helps keep the temp down and oxygen levels up.

ALSO! After further investigation I am 95% sure the mystery fish was actually an eastern blacknose dace! After looking at that article I noticed dace numbers were much higher than either chub or chubsucker, and looking at a picture of one they look almost identical.

Thanks for all the kind words fellas! Hopefully I'm gonna hit this same stream again this week.

[bigfishy]

gr8 plan!!! pls invest in a stream thermometer ....You can find them as cheap as ten bucks er so and they can be quite helpful in telling you what the fish might be doing and even where they mite be holding....It could even tell you if the water is warm enough to be fatal to the fish after a stressfull cp&r....

Can't wait fer that report!!! nice job

[Hookmanski]

gr8 plan!!! pls invest in a stream thermometer ....You can find them as cheap as ten bucks er so and they can be quite helpful in telling you what the fish might be doing and even where they mite be holding....It could even tell you if the water is warm enough to be fatal to the fish after a stressfull cp&r....

Can't wait fer that report!!! nice job

Noted! I'm going to have to pick one up. This stream holds trout year-round, so this would be very handy for me. By the way, I forgot to mention, all fish mentioned in this report were released and swam off for someone else to enjoy! But then again, not too many people know about my secret spots..... so maybe I'll enjoy them a second time with a stream thermometer in hand!! :D

[bigfishy]

Noted! I'm going to have to pick one up. This stream holds trout year-round, so this would be very handy for me. By the way, I forgot to mention, all fish mentioned in this report were released and swam off for someone else to enjoy! But then again, not too many people know about my secret spots..... so maybe I'll enjoy them a second time with a stream thermometer in hand!! :D

Its awesome to here that you have a positive attitude towards a stream thermometer !!!!It should be important to every river fisherman, no matter what species they target....Think about it....Boat fisherman including myself keep on eye on water temps throughout the yr...yes its easy with a fish finder but water temps control fish movement and habits quite a bit ALL yr....The same with river fishing....I personally use it early in the spring just to know how close i am to the smallie spawn.....they get lockjaw round that time , at least in the river...so by looking at water temp i know about when to switch it to another body of water and or boat fishing other species....

Its the first question i ask anybody when talking about a recent trip, followed by how deep?

[Hookmanski]

Its awesome to here that you have a positive attitude towards a stream thermometer !!!!It should be important to every river fisherman, no matter what species they target....Think about it....Boat fisherman including myself keep on eye on water temps throughout the yr...yes its easy with a fish finder but water temps control fish movement and habits quite a bit ALL yr....The same with river fishing....I personally use it early in the spring just to know how close i am to the smallie spawn.....they get lockjaw round that time , at least in the river...so by looking at water temp i know about when to switch it to another body of water and or boat fishing other species....

Its the first question i ask anybody when talking about a recent trip, followed by how deep?

I'm very passionate about the well being of our waterways, so if a stream thermometer can help me understand it better I'm all for it!

As for the depth question, the deepest hole i fished in couldnt be more than 3-4 feet, however most of the river is more like a foot deep.

[23cardinal]

I have a spare meat thermometer I use. Even a weatherproof or wirelsss one is cheaper.

But +100
U d be surprised how different areas differ.