~StreamSide Tales~: Muddy Water

Muddy Waters

Persistence Pays Off

6/15/2021

He exploded out of the muddy water at my popper like a crocodile out of muddy water after a young zebra!

I got tired of casting the 6 weight Winston rod for the past week and decided to take the 5 weight Allen Icon rod. I still used the mid arbor 6 weight reel/line because it already had heavier leader on it. What a world of difference in weight it made casting all day.

The Clarion River was still high and muddy from the storm the afternoon before. Maybe the visibility was a foot or so below the surface near shore but I definitely couldn’t see any submerged boulders or hazards out in the main flow. The only way to tell of the hazards was by the small riffles that would appear as the water flowed over them. Even so, I came camping along the river to fish and not sit around all day and pout. I figured I’d give it a try wade fishing and using surface poppers that the noise might bring a fish to the surface.

To make a long story short after about 4 hours and 3 different parts of the river I only raised one out of the muddy water and it surprised me. I missed the hook set. I did try streamers a few times but didn’t have any takers so I headed back to the camper. I wasn’t frustrated though. I figured with the dirty water it would be tough going. A few cigars and the quietness of the forest kept me content.

It was about 2:30 when I got back to the camper. I decided to wade and fish from the camper down river to some point. The water had cleared up a little but it didn’t appear the water level was dropping much.

As I fished down river I waded out far enough to just about thigh high water. This was so I could cast towards the far bank as possible which really wasn’t even close. I spent about a half hour casting poppers and streamers without a strike. It was a fruitless adventure so far like going out to the orchard and not seeing any fruit whats-so-ever, just buds. I lit another Backwoods, knotted on a popper and continued on.

Each cast I gurgled the popper strongly as soon as it hit the water a couple times or so. I would let it drift in the slow current some and then pop it again a couple of times. Near the end of the drift I would strip it back towards me with long strips and do it all over again as I waded down river.

I stopped and stood up to my crotch in the river casting to both sides and down river. I was in an area I had made a few smallmouth rise the past week before the water got muddy. I had a little more hope where I was and decided to stay put for a longer time. I made a long cast to my left and down river some. As soon as the popper hit the surface I gave it a couple of hard gurgles and let it drift. A couple more gurgles and WHAM!! A smallmouth exploded up out of the muddy water at my popper like a crocodile out of muddy water after a young zebra. The bass came clear out of the water. His fat belly was quite noticeable in the air and looked as if he just came from the Chinese buffet and I was offering dessert. He barreled back into the water with an audible entrance and water sprayed in all directions. I didn’t know if he had gotten my popper but I dropped the rod tip and then yanked the rod up and back. The fly line shot out of the water and tight lined towards the fish. He took the popper deep and hastily swam down river like a croc taking its catch deep to drown and kill it. Fly line sped through the guides and the mid arbor clicked rapidly as the spool spun. I held onto the cork handle with two hands keeping the rod high trying to keep as much fly line out of the water as possible. I wasn’t sure where the bass was taking my dessert but he wasn’t stopping. I looked down at the spool now and then just to see if it was down to my backing. After he did slow down he turned up river and slowly, tugging some, started to swim up towards the far bank. I started to reel in line, under tension some, but quickly let him take line at will. I was using 2x leader and 3x tippet so I wasn’t worried too much about my leader/tippet breaking. He evidently had a good hold of my popper by the force he put on the hook set when he took off down river. All I had to do now was get him to me but I knew it wasn’t going to be any time soon.

He was still quite a distance away down to my left and out a ways when he turned down river again. Not with the speed he swam with when I first hooked him but with enough force he took tensioned line from the reel. He swam straight down river from me and gave a few yanks to make sure I was still hanging on. I gave a few yanks back to let him know I was! He started to swim to my right keeping his distance but I was able to reel in some line.

About 20 yards to my right, and back a few, was a thick branched limb sticking up out of the water. I wasn’t sure if it was attached to a tree trunk or how far it extended underneath but I didn’t want the bass anywhere near it. As he was swimming up to my right I waded down river some to get further away from the limb. I could see my leader out of the water now so I knew he must be in shallower depth. I kept the rod facing down river though the top section was bowed down to my right. He didn’t swim much further before he turned down river with the current. I could feel in my grip he was coasting with the current then actually swimming with speed faster than the current. He was a weighty fish to try to turn so I let him swim with the current keeping the rod up and under pressure. He didn’t try to distance himself from me and just swam in an arc straight down from me. With that I could tell he wasn’t as forceful and I felt I could start bringing him in. I moved the arcing rod to my left and kept pressure on him not giving him any line. I had the butt in my gut and started to slowly reel in line. He kept a good distance from me but I was gaining leverage and he started to come nearer. Out a ways I saw a glimpse of him just below the surface. His dark olive body looked stretched out a ways to his wide tail. He looked as if he was in cruising mode. I moved the rod to put more side pressure on him and he evidently didn’t like that and turned down river but I didn’t give him much line. He turned again towards me and I thought he was going to run into me. I had my net out already and he was moving so swiftly I thought we were going to get tangled up. I lifted the rod as high as I could and couldn’t reel in line because I was holding the net. I didn’t want to let go of the net cause I had to keep it from getting snagged on the leader. He swam to my right and I swung in his direction. I thought he was going to go around me but he swiftly turned and even came closer on my right but deep enough I wasn’t sure where he was except for looking at the leader. I kept my net out of the way and he swam down from me and to my left as I turned looking down river. He kept deep and I kept an eye on the leader to kind of tell where he was. If someone was watching it probably looked like we were doing some kind of square dancing. He finally got tired of being so close and swam away a bit as I lowered the rod without giving him line. My arm was getting sore anyhow keeping it up so long and under a lot of pressure. I turned to face the far bank and extended the rod out towards it. He swam accordingly. I had the net dangling in the water from my belt so I was able to take in some line without holding the rod way up in the air before I needed to. I had enough line in that only a foot of the fly line still extended out of the tip top of the 9 foot rod. I had the rod angled slightly up from the water and grabbed my net. As I lifted the rod, gripping the line tightly between my finger and cork, he drew closer and closer. When he got near he surfaced with some splashes. This caused less pressure from him being in the stronger undercurrent and I took the chance to guide him across the surface and into the net. Mission accomplished.!!!

The popper was embedded inside his mouth. It didn’t take very long to get the hook out once I got the hemostats positioned. He even was cooperative and didn’t fuss much while I was examining and extracting the hook.

I lipped him and released him into the muddy water and he swam away freely.

I looked at my watch and it was near 3:00. I spit out the Backwoods and lit up a much better cigar. I nipped off the cap with the cigar cutter I have attached to the lanyard around my neck and took a quick whiff of the outer wrap of the Sancho Panza Valiente before lighting it up.

I fished for another half hour out in the river before I saw a few fish rising near the mouth of a creek. I waded out and walked back to the camper to get my trout stuff. I changed reels to my 5 weight and went back to the mouth of the creek. It wasn’t easy getting the trout to cooperate but with a couple of convincing dries, a wet fly and an emerger I did manage to net a few.