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3. Some really nice brookies...and a LARGEMOUTH???

So today I decided that, instead of hitting the pond I posted the pictures from yesterday, I would go hit the Pine instead just to see how the water conditions were doing, if there were any flies, and if there were any danged tourists. Well, I went to my "usual" spot (though I've only been there three times so far) and there were two cars parked at the bridge. Forget it, I won't catch diddly if I have to follow two other guys up this stream! Good thing, too, because I went to the next access spot upstream and found nobody! A couple of people had already told me, "Man, you have to check out [REDACTED], it's just full of trout!" So, here I was at [REDACTED] and it looked really nice. I first tied on a dry (Hendrickson) but upon coming to this pool I decided it was streamer-swingin' time, so on went an olive (grizzly marabou), peacock (body), and natural grizzly (hackle) Woolly Bugger, size 10, which got me a little 10" brown on the Rifle last weekend. After swinging it through the fast part of the current in the center of the pool and getting no attention, I decided to shoot it upstream along the outer edge of the current. BANG!! Up comes an 11" brookie! Then a few minutes later, BANG again! Up comes a spunky little 7" rainbow. Then not 5 minutes later BANG a third time! And up comes...a foot-long LARGEMOUTH BASS????? "What the heck are YOU doing in here, isn't it a little cold for you??" All of these fish hit within less than 10 minutes, and then the pool went dead. After another hour of nothing, I headed upstream from the dam and tied on one of my original silver & grey KBFs in size 10. Dropping it near the bank upstream from a log, I got a hit! Then another and another and another on successive casts, and finally a 10" brookie ended up stuck on it. I guess the KBF isn't just for bass anymore! I did see some mayflies, a few Hennies, Red Quills, and something else paler, plus some caddis flitting about, but only two random rises and they wouldn't hit my dry. I guess all of that streamer swinging I did for smallies on the Huron downstate is paying off!

Well, I've seen largemouth and rainbows sharing the same waters in Missouri and Georgia (rainbows & bluegills too, even rainbows & crappie in GA). But a largemouth in brookie waters in Michigan?? The water was all of 56 F too. I'm surprised that bass wasn't blue!

This bass on flies thing is just getting rediculous - even when I go looking for trout and FIND them, I'm STILL catching bass!

Jonathon

P.S. Saw some beautiful wildflowers and my second bald eagle of the year!

Nice fish sounds like a wonderful day!

Nice pictures! I would guess that bass probably washed out of a warmwater pond or lake somewhere upstream.

I suppose that's possible - I think I might have seen an old dam on aerial/satellite photography of the drainage and I'm going to have to take a closer look. The Pine also runs downstream into Van Etten Lake, a warmwater body that then drains down to the lower Au Sable (which runs behind my place). However, this location is many miles from either, not to mention that every danged book says that largemnouth bass prefer areas with "little or no current". Which is BS in my opinion, I've pulled them out of some streams in Missouri, Georgia, and Texas (San Marcos River especially - NOT a slow stream!) with pretty decent currents. The books say the same thing about bluegill and yet I've gotten plenty of all sizes (up to 7.5") out of the Huron downstate and it's pretty swift too, full of smallies.

The other amazing thing is that, in spite of 56 F water, the bass fought pretty hard! I was expecting to be pulling up a brown trout...

Jonathon

Thanks for the report. You've got a pretty little creek there! A

I've found largemouth bass in crazy places. Sometimes I am convinced that the entire surface of the earth is covered with largemouth bass eggs that hatch whenever they come in contact with water... I have found them in Adirondack brookie ponds, Montauk State Park on the headwaters Current River here in Missouri, which rarely if ever gets above 65 degrees even in August, and in a Northwestern Montana lake where they swam alongside rainbow and cutthroat trout. They have the ability to survive in such a wide range of habitats, more than any other game fish I can think of off-hand.

Hopefully when he gets big he won't start eating the brookies though:)

Maybe you're right MO - they're the "universal North American fish species". Too bad it doesn't work the other way around - I'd love to be freaked out by an occasional trout in the bass waters that I fish!

Jonathon

P.S. Maybe when he hits legal length (14" here in MI) I should take him home and eat him. Coming out of that cold water he might taste pretty good! At least, better than the ones that come out of the scummy waters at the Marsh - those will always live to fight again another day...

Absolutely gorgeous photos!! You're lucky to have been to such a beautiful place!!

Thanks, Adirman. Yes, this part of northern lower MI is particularly beautiful, and loaded with fisheries. And I feel like I "paid my dues" from living in the city (downstate) and suffering through not only unemployment (though I'm not exactly busy right now) and even having to move back in with my folks for over 2 years! So, I feel like I'm finally getting rewarded for putting up with a lot of frustration and depression. The only frustration I'm experiencing here is the clouds of mosquitos that now follow me around...but if it weren't for them, this place would probably be overrun with humanity and not nearly as beautiful.

Jonathon

I haven't seen any in Alaska... yet.

I would hope not!

Beware, Jason - global warming might change that...but as MO says, let's hope not.

Jonathon

Great pics! thanks for sharing.