Not what I wanted, but fun nonetheless....
 

My goal was to catch rock bass, that's right I said rock bass. I have never caught one, but I hear stories that it is the fish that most people can't keep off their hooks. Naturally, that meant I would struggle. Got on the water around 6am, on a Saturday :evil: in hopes that I would beat the redneck crowds to this area. I get to the first spot and find a nice rope swing/ewok village.


I started casting around the submerged structure, bud light cans, old flip flops, and some things I couldn't identify.

Pulled this little guy out pretty quick.


Nothing after that fish. The water is surprisingly cold. The fish are definitely not active. Regardless, I decide to head farther away from the redneck footprint.

I arrive here, to nice water...


Found a nice pool just downstream.


Saw a spotted gar cruising, but he wouldn't play. I kept casting hoping to at least annoy a fish into biting. I see a red flash and I'm hooked up....


I like red breasted sunfish, probably one of my favorite panfish, but I have caught so many in the last year that I wouldn't mind a break from them.

I head back upstream and come to a some shallower water in the sun. Maybe the fish will be more active in there?


Oh, you again..



Please, something other than a redbreasted sunfish hit my fly!

Oh, well, I asked for it.


I see a nice little eddy off to the side that had some foam on top and looked to be deeper than the surrounding water.


Hmmm....well at least I caught something....

I fished down maybe a mile, then made the trek back. Caught another redbreast. :roll:



Any of you amateur botanists know what these two plants are? They were everywhere...



It was a nice morning. I caught fish, can't complain. Maybe I will get into the rock bass when it warms up some. I did see a few mr. no shoulders which made wading through grassy areas a little unnerving. I seem to have bass kryptonite every time I fish creeks or rivers. Panfish however, love me.

Beautiful pictures and fish. Congrats on a nice outing and hopefully soon you wil get yourself a rock bass, just a matter of time when you put in the effort. Glad you got out and caught something, congrats again.

From Rock Bass range maps I have seen - you are right on the extreme southern end of their present range - so you may be a bit too far south for any large populations of them.
I see you are using surface bugs in trying for them. I learned to fly fish catching Rock Bass in the local river when I was a kid and we always used wet flies - usually with a small spinner ahead of it. The flies that worked best were the "Yellow sally" the "Black Gnat" "Red Ibis"
etc. in size #6 or #8. Never had any luck on surface lures with them. They like a bit deeper hole under some brush right tight along the bank and we also found them in not so deep holes in weed pockets where there was a big rock or boulder they could hide around or under. Sometimes - we would get lucky and find a school of real big ones in a relatively small pool full of bigger rocks and boulders. They will also hang out deep around bridge pilings. But when I wanted a good mess to eat - I used a bobber and worms with a sinker on bottom and fished the brush piles along the bank and fished from the bank.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Warren. There seems to be a general consensus that subsurface is better for them. I only use topwater because I like the take and the guy that told me about this place catches plenty on top. There are places with plenty of rockbass around though. They are all over up here, that's why I was surprised not to catch any.

I will check on those flies you mentioned.

Thanks for the help!

Good luck finding them. They are nice little guys and are also pretty good eating. They were the first fish I ever caught in the river back home when I was seven years old. For some reason - we always caught more of them and bigger ones on cloudy days.
They were a good fall back fish. We could always catch a mess of them when the Smallies weren't cooperating. They will eat about anything a Smallie will - they're big on crayfish in the summer and minnows in the late fall.

I guess the crayfish I found on the stream bottom and preceded to play with should have been a clue huh? :poke:

Oh well, next time....

Very cool! Love the way you post your pics and tell the story, always enjoy seeing what ya got!

Please keep us posted, if you ever get them to hit on the surface. I remember catching a few accidentally - on medium sized deer hair bugs I was using for Smalllies. They did seem to like a mouth full. Also - if you are ever inclined to use bait, they love a peeled crayfish tail. We would catch small and medium sized crayfish and break the tails off and peel them, and put them on a hook and float it into the hole - and wham - instant hook up. I know you are a fly fisherman but just thought I would toss that out - in case. I enjoyed fly fishing too - but we learned to use all the methods and they all had their time and place.

Oh they do hit on the surface. The guy I was fishing with caught several that day on a foam spider. This is the first time I have even fished rock bass water and had a completely different bug. There are tons of spiders on this creek, hence the reason my friend has success with them

As for the fly fishing thing, I have caught almost everything under the sun on gear. It's just no longer fun to me. I would say you can be just as effective with a fly rod as you can with standard gear. The two major exceptions being saltwater and big deep lakes. For me, it's not about just catching the fish. It's catching them the way I want to. Which sadly results in some no fish days, or some days when my intended target doesn't play along. Regardless, when it does happen, there is a satisfaction and enjoyment in fishing that I have not had by ANY other method!

Nice pics thanks for sharing them.. It looks like solitude at it's finest.. Good Luck on catching one of those rock bass.. I have never seen a rock bass..