Creek Bass Results

[JohnF]

Not that I've had a lot of fishing time of late due to work obligations but I have been out a bit and here's what I've noticed -

1. In the morning the river Smallmouths like plastic worms, wacky rigged and just sinking or laying on the bottom. The fish seem disinterested in hard baits then.

2. In the late afternoon the worms aren't working but hard baits are.

3. 3" & 3.5" AC Shiners (yellow back) have been good retrieved gently or just as they hit the water. I even just let one trail behind me as I wade back to the exit point of the creek.

4. A 2.5" skinny little Daiwa minnow (silver with bluish back) on an easy retrieve seems to be working better than the old faithful Rapala original minnows. Got me a nice SMB last night on the third cast to a fresh pool. Surprised the heck outa me hitting the minnow at the end of the retrieve about 6' in front of me. I was watching for the minnow to appear out of the depths and instead a 14-16" shows up, bursting with energy

5. A Heddon Baby Torpedo that I just picked up drew a nice little smally on the second cast to a large pool last night, but that was all it caught. And this was after about an hour of chucking worms, spinners and minnows to no avail. Given the frugal nature of the pool I'm not sure if I caught the only fish in it or if the noise of the little propellor scared the other bass away after the initial curiosity was over. The prop wasn't turning easily so I tried wake baiting with it but nothing after the initial catch. I did have something come up and bang it once but all I saw was the swirl and splash. Might even have been a carp.

6. Regarding the Torpedo, I bent the prop blades a bit this morning and tested it in my pool. It works much better. The prop goes round with almost no forward momentum. I expect that's how it's supposed to work.

 

My questions:

1. In a creek pool do you think the Torpedo is too noisy?

2. With AC Shiners should they have a split ring or not? I'm pretty sure they're supposed to, or at least be tied on a loop rather than a tight knot. Perhaps I've answered my own question as I think the action is better when loosely tied.

 

Thanks

JF

[tbayboy]

Can't answer your questions JF but thanks a bunch for sharing all the details. Posts like that are why I love this board!

[forrest]

My questions:

1. In a creek pool do you think the Torpedo is too noisy?

2. With AC Shiners should they have a split ring or not? I'm pretty sure they're supposed to, or at least be tied on a loop rather than a tight knot. Perhaps I've answered my own question as I think the action is better when loosely tied.

 

Thanks

JF

 

1. Yes: Torpedo with a prop....too noisy. Make it one of the last thing you throw.

2. AC Shiners look like rapalas....looped/rapala knot if you want big action.

 

How do those ACs compare to rapala's?

 

 

 

forrest

Edited September 22, 2008 by forrest

[JohnF]

How do those ACs compare to rapala's?

forrest

 

Better.

 

JF

[OhioFisherman]

I don`t like tying the line directly to the lure on lures like Rapalas AC shiners, I use a duo lock snap but there is the Rapala knot. Baby torpedo is small I also use tiny torpedoes, small pool a fish caught on the surface may spook the rest, may start competition for food.

 

Haven`t fished streams for a long time but generally the river smallies averaged a smaller size here 1 to 2 pounds, just down sized my lures.

[singingdog]

The torpedo is a great stream-smallie lure. Too noisy....not by a long shot. I fish buzzbaits in small streams on a regular basis with very good luck. I have caught enough smallmouth on small stickbaits and tubes right after a buzzbait to believe that the noise does not turn them off.

 

Let the fish tell you whether or not to use a loop/ring on your baits. Sometimes the tight wobble is what they want, sometimes the wider action. I would start with the wider action...if that isn't turning them on, tie directly to the eye and see if that helps.

 

Try a suspending stick-bait this time of year. The Xrap8 is good in small streams. Jerk, pause, jerk, pause repeat.

[JohnF]

The torpedo is a great stream-smallie lure. Too noisy....not by a long shot. I fish buzzbaits in small streams on a regular basis with very good luck. I have caught enough smallmouth on small stickbaits and tubes right after a buzzbait to believe that the noise does not turn them off.

 

Let the fish tell you whether or not to use a loop/ring on your baits. Sometimes the tight wobble is what they want, sometimes the wider action. I would start with the wider action...if that isn't turning them on, tie directly to the eye and see if that helps.

 

Try a suspending stick-bait this time of year. The Xrap8 is good in small streams. Jerk, pause, jerk, pause repeat.

 

Thanks, and I haven't forgotten your bass flies. My problem has been that at first I wanted to be certain there were actually fish about, and since I found the fish the weather has sucked. If the rain hasn't turned the river to chocolate milk, the wind is too much even for light plastic, let alone feathers and fur. I carry the flyrod on every visit to the river but the wind is always howling out there. Saturday evening the baby Torpedo would blow over a good 20-30' from the target and the line would have a huge belly. I was literally aiming up on shore to hit the weedline. The return trip for the Torpedo was more of a semicircle following the line. Fortunately the wind was across the pool so I could go both up and downstream. I would have had no distance at all casting into that wind.

 

JF