# Sick as a dog - went out anyway!



## meisjedog (Oct 4, 2010)

I caught this cold coming back from Maui over the holiday. I can't breathe, coughing, my nose is running like a hose and have a slight fever. Looked at today's forecast and tomorrows and said the heck with it ...there are some things a man will do even when he is hacking up a lung - fishing is at the top of my list! 

In the past, I would start fishing this creek in the spring and catch Browns and Smallmouth out of the same hole all summer long. It is quite a workout due to the sandy/ silt/ quicksand bottom, but once you get off the beaten path in certain spots, I would see some big 18"+ multi-year browns in there. I could catch smaller 12"-15" browns, but the big ones were just too smart for me - that and the fact that they would swim within about 4' of me in crystal clear water! In order to get that big, they were surviving the hot water and some of those floods. I guess it was determined that they were not making it and it appears they switched to rainbows.

Got out around noon, 57 degrees, sunny - beautiful! Although I like to trailblaze, the fever was hitting me pretty hard, so after tripping over a few twigs, I figured it was smart to stay close to the pull-off. A lot of water to fish, but they appeared to be stacked in this 3'x3' slack water pool located on a seam just after a quick riffle and would not hit anywhere else. I've been trying out this idea with my "indicator" by attaching it to my leader with a clasp - so it slips ...bumps the bottom(in theory anyway). Fished a beaded black bugger tipped with a small bit of red rubber band dangling off the end ...heh it works! Caught 5 bows and 2 chubs in about an hour and a half. Still rigged with a saltwater line, 30lb. leader, 15lb. tippet - these fish don't seem to care. All fish were 12"+ and fairly spunky when compared to the browns - not nearly as pretty though! Left around 2:30 when the wind and rain started.

What is the thought behind switching to rainbows as they typically can't handle the heat as well as the browns? Not sure what the limit is as I don't keep them, but it appears this is a short term/ stock and take fishery. Cheaper? More fish for the money? Those browns were in there in numbers, they just seemed to migrate to areas that were difficult access. I always figured it was the flooding that washed them out.















View attachment 288725


----------



## hailtothethief (Jan 18, 2017)

One of the ten commandments of fishing - NEVER SKIP FISHING DUE TO ILLNESS


----------



## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Beautiful ! Hope you're feeling better soon.
Good luck and good fishing


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

If it's where I think it is, all I can give you is my opinion. It's not based on facts or inside knowledge, just my opinion. I don't believe there were enough holdover browns to justify stocking those little browns anymore. Were there some, I'm sure. I know a guy who swears he saw a 20"er a few years back. That stream gets so low and so warm in the summer I'm not sure it matters which species of trout is in there. I fish it a handful of times a year because I live fairly close, not right by it but it's a reasonable drive. If the fingerling browns weren't really thriving, why not put larger rainbows in and treat it as put and take? To me, it makes a lot more sense to put rainbows like that in there vs in a mudhole lake, which the DNR does a lot. It also makes more sense to me to put fingerling browns into a stream where they stand a better chance of living. 

That's my $.02. Nice fish, I hope to make it back out there over the winter at some point.


----------



## meisjedog (Oct 4, 2010)

Yes, It is where you are thinking - just don't want to spoonfeed the bucket brigade

There were Brown holdovers as of spring of 2018 that ranged in size from 19-12" to 2(two) fish that appeared to be going through the motions of spawning - not possible from what I understand. This male and female brown were large in the 17"+ range and were guarding what appeared to be a nest. I caught several 12" fish from some undercut brush at the same location. I've waded the entire legal length and I can tell you they are in there - maybe still? I figured the floods and the fact that there is a population of a certain predatory fish in a few of the deeper holes that were simply feeding on them. I went out yesterday and hiked up to this certain hole thinking the trout would naturally move upstream...? Apparently not? I caught several chubs, no trout, and missed two large predators due to the small hook size(seemed slip through) and the fact that the position I was standing in made it difficult to set the hook. It was getting late as well. 

I don't fish when it gets hot down there because it turns into a rainforest and no amount of deet seems to keep those prehistoric mosquitos from biting my fingers, eyelids, and whatever else is exposed. It is rather treacherous to wade several miles in a day as the substrate can be like quicksand or worse as well.


----------



## UNCLEMIKE (Jul 23, 2014)

meisjedog said:


> Yes, It is where you are thinking - just don't want to spoonfeed the bucket brigade
> 
> There were Brown holdovers as of spring of 2018 that ranged in size from 19-12" to 2(two) fish that appeared to be going through the motions of spawning - not possible from what I understand. This male and female brown were large in the 17"+ range and were guarding what appeared to be a nest. I caught several 12" fish from some undercut brush at the same location. I've waded the entire legal length and I can tell you they are in there - maybe still? I figured the floods and the fact that there is a population of a certain predatory fish in a few of the deeper holes that were simply feeding on them. I went out yesterday and hiked up to this certain hole thinking the trout would naturally move upstream...? Apparently not? I caught several chubs, no trout, and missed two large predators due to the small hook size(seemed slip through) and the fact that the position I was standing in made it difficult to set the hook. It was getting late as well.
> 
> I don't fish when it gets hot down there because it turns into a rainforest and no amount of deet seems to keep those prehistoric mosquitos from biting my fingers, eyelids, and whatever else is exposed. It is rather treacherous to wade several miles in a day as the substrate can be like quicksand or worse as well.


Off topic but what did you think of Maui. I went last fall. Once in a lifetime experience!


----------

