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Stories
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Written by Rex Lengacher
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Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:51 |
 With all the things we know about the habits of the various species of fish that we fly anglers pursue there are still a lot more mysteries than known facts. For instance, why will a brown trout, holding in a feeding lane, move to a size 16 bead head blood midge and let it pass twice, three times, even possibly a fourth time, and when shown a size 18 offering of the same description gobble it like a dip of ice cream? Why, in a murky river will a bass show no interest in a fly dressed in black, yet go wild on a dark brown fly of the same pattern? Good questions without sound answers, other than..because.
One such mystery that has plagued me for some time involves a stream close to my home. Cedar Creek is a typical mid-western stream which meanders for 20 or more miles from it’s beginnings as small drainage depressions in farm ground to a mid-sized, fairly rapidly flowing creek by the time it empties into the Saint Joseph river a few miles upstream from Fort Wayne. Also typical of this type of waterway, it is plagued by the troubles inherent in streams that drain farm ground, namely siltation and off colored water, which varies from almost clear in periods of dry conditions, to cream laced coffee after a heavy rainfall. While the Creek hosts an abundance of the species typical of this kind of water, namely suckers, small bluegill and Rock Bass, and of course, Carp. It also holds Smallmouth Bass, which tweaks the interest of fly fishermen. At least fly fishermen like me. I first heard that there were quite a few Smallmouth in Cedar Creek several years before I ever got curious enough to find out for myself.
After casually inquiring amongst some of the local outdoorsmen who all seemed to have stories of catching “ a bunch of ‘em” at this spot or that, I sorted through the data and decided to give it a try. It is a pretty stream after all, and by far the closest thing to a nice river to wade and fish in my area. So off I went one bright, early August morning with a 4 weight rod and a box of streamers. I caught a couple of small suckers very early on in the adventure, which met my criteria for a successful trip, I didn’t get skunked. After wading upstream for a hundred yards or so from the bridge where I parked I came to one of the few “deep” holes in this Creek. Deep in this case means maybe 4 or 5 feet, on normal water, to deep enough to float your hat after a good rain. A couple of casts quartering upstream later I was rewarded with an entheusiastic strike and strong pull on the line. I fought the fish for several minutes and was elated to see, once I managed to get him close enough to get a good look, a Smallmouth of 15 inches on my line. I landed the fish and took a few pictures before returning him to the Creek. I cast and waded for another half hour, then turned around and fished back downstream to the truck without another strike. Nothing terribly unusual about the experience, in fact I considered it very encouraging that all the stories I had heard from the locals seemed to be credible.
I didn’t get a chance to fish Cedar Creek again that summer, but about a year later I went back to the same stretch and caught nothing but a few of the small suckers one will catch just about every time out. I decided to try another area of the Creek which runs through a County Park a couple of miles downstream from the previous spot. After fishing downstream for a couple of hundred yards, and finding another “deep” hole, I was rather amazed to be rewarded with another 15” Smallmouth, nearly identical to the fish I had caught the summer before. And again, it was the only Smallie I caught in Cedar Creek, even after several trips that summer.
The mystery I am confronted with about these two fish is this. Why would a fisherman catch only two fish, of pretty decent size, without hooking any other specimens of that species? It would seem obvious to me that a body of water that held two 15” fish should hold any number of smaller ones. It would seem reasonable to me that these fish reproduce in this creek and that they would congregate in the deeper pools in at least modest numbers. So why only these two fish, of what has to be considered trophy size for this creek, separated by 2 or 3 miles of water, without ever raising a juvenile Smallmouth in numerous attempts?
I even had the opportunity to ask that question of one of the icons of Smallmouth fishing in our time, Bob Clouser. The club I belong to hired Mr. Clouser to give a presentation on tying the fly that is his claim to fame, fishing the Clouser Minnow, and fly fishing in general. Being a member of the board of our club at the time I was invited to join Bob for dinner before the meeting and taxied him to the venue after our meal. I showed him the pictures of the two fish and gave him the short version of the synopsys I have presented here. When I asked him why I was given a shrug of the shoulders and a very sincere, “I don’t know”.
In my experiences on a couple of much more productive Smallmouth rivers in Southern Michigan, just the opposite of this scenario is true. You will catch 15 or 20 Smallmouth of 9 to 12 inches for every 14 or 15 inch fish you catch, and in fact you might fish for several seasons in many stretches of some rivers and never catch a 15 inch specimen. Were these two fish just bullies? Have they run all the smaller fish off to the safety of the bigger St. Joe river another couple of miles downstream? Are they carnivorous demons who have eaten all the smaller of their kindred?
I guess after several attempts to figure this whole mess out I have decided to chalk this one up to mystery. It’s one of those things that will most likely go unanswered forever. Just to test this theory I went back to the scene of the original successful trip after I began writing this chapter and made sure I had covered all the bases. All my favorite smallmouth flies, same rod as the previous trips, same leader configuration, held my mouth the same way, everything. Not even a bump. I got skunked!! Why? It’s a mystery to me. But like so many other mysteries I confront, I’ll probably keep trying to figure it out anyway, after all, it is a pretty stream, close to home, and there’s always that slim chance……….
© Rex Lengacher 2008 About the Author... Rex Lengacher, aka Satchel, is a very near 50 guy who's been married to the same woman for half his life. He is a Registered Nurse and works in the operating room. He has a couple of teenage daughters who are for sale to the highest bidder on any given day. He has been seriously back into fly fishing for the last 10 years or so and also enjoys bird hunting and other ways of fishing too. He owns an over/under shotgun, a couple of extremetly accurate rifles, and a few handguns, and knows how to use all of them. He likes single malt scotch, bourbon, and beer. He als ties flies and builds rods. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 April 2008 10:55 )
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