A Pike on 6lb and Sight Fishing Tailing Bass

Some of the most dynamic and diverse fisheries in the Northeast are freshwater rivers with tidal water at their lowest reaches. Throughout the course of a year these places change so much it is hard to keep up if you aren't making frequent visits. The variety of available species may be different each day. Depending on the particular water one is fishing, black bass, resident brown trout, sea run brook trout, striped bass, giant pickerel, bowfin, northern pike, common carp, channel catfish, and a myriad of other species all can make themselves targets to a fly angler that doesn't discriminate. Though the upper two thirds of a river is often what most fly fishers focus on, because it remains the coldest and generally hold the most trout, the lower third is my favorite part to fish. Aside from just holding a broader variety of warm and cold-water species, the lower third also produces the river's largest fish.

No other type of water around these parts is apt to throw a real surprise at you, either. 

Yesterday, very early in my trip, I cast my streamer up under an overhanging try under which some good sized largemouth had been hiding the last time I was on this stretch of river. Two strips in I saw a big wake come of the accompanying root ball. I sped up my retrieve and the fish took. I set the hook into a quite heavy something, which responded by pushing a lot of water and heading off in the opposite direction. I was now pretty sure it wasn't a bass unless it was one in the 10-12 pound range. It's initial run was very strange. It would go five or six feet then stop dead still for a moment, then shoot forward again and stop again. I started to think it could be a bowfin. I worked it back towards me though and soon could see that it was a pike, only the second I'd ever seen in this river and the only one I'd ever hooked, and I was pretty sure I was going to loose it. My tippet was 6lb test nylon... not the kind of thing a pike would have a hard time cutting through. The battle was tooth an nail... I wanted to land the fish quickly but also knew I shouldn't put too much strain on what I was sure was a compromised tippet. When I landed the fish, I saw how lucky I had gotten.  

My tippet was looped around the end of the fish's maxillary, Preventing it from being moved around inside it's mouth while I fought it. There was severe abrasion to the line the had likely occurred when it ate the fly, but I had fought it carefully enough that it had held.

Though not all that large, this was an especially good looking little pike and a very rare catch in this location. I was very pleased to have become acquainted with this guy.

Esox lucius

I continued on my big black bass mission, all the while catching a steady pick of rock bass and redbreast sunfish. Both were bedded up, though most of those that I caught weren't on beds at the time. I tried to leave the bedded redbreast alone as far as catching them since they are a native species, but I did toy with them a little, dropping the fly right into their bowls so they'd carry it away. It's an amusing thing to watch. One of the bedded redbreast sunfish was a little more ornery, and kept coming off his nest to glare at me. He did not like me at all. 

When I did eventually find some good sized bass, they were doing something I've never seen before. They were in a small back channel, and they were up along the mud bank... tailing. I've probably more species tailing than the average angler. Redfish, sheepshead, pompano, striped bass, bluefish, common carp, grass carp, channel catfish, brown bullhead, brown trout, rainbow trout, and, now, largemouth bass, are all species I've seen tail up in shallow water. This was a unique situation, and I had a pretty good idea of what these fish were doing. A couple different species of burrowing mayfly emerge at this time of year. So I was pretty confident that these fish would take the small offering I already had on. It seems absurd to some angler, but my confidence in subsurface presentations for bigger bass lies mostly in small presentations, so I already had a small fly and light tippet rigged before I'd even seen these fish. I made a quick and low cast that dropped my small streamer about three feet from a group of five bass. They came charging over but didn't seem to be able to find the fly. I picked it up off the bottom and the smallest fish chased. I knew I'd likely have an increasinly worse chance at hooking the next fish with each one I hooked and fought, so I intentionally ripped the fly away from the one chasing and dropped it in front of the biggest fish in the posse. She obliged and sucked in the fly. In less then a foot of water, the fight as an exciting one. I couldn't really keep her from jumping, and when she wasn't jumping she was making long hard runs. This was definitely the best fight I've gotten out of  largemouth, and a mere four and a half pounder at that. 

I changed my presentation for the next fish because I wanted to get the fly tighter to the bank without hanging up in the muck. I tied on a small gurgler. I promptly missed about a two and a half pounder, then hooked a three, which came off mid-fight. I got two more to hand, both of which were small.

I moved around after that spot quieted down and did find more bass, including a couple more in the two-three pound range, but after having a bunch of good sized fish charge my fly in just inches of water, everything else just felt... less cool. After doing some work here at home, I'm headed back out there to see if I can find those tailing fish again. That was wicked! 

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