Sucker Run Starting to Taper. (4-30-2008)

Drove by and had a look at my number 1 sucker spot and I am not sure if it is the cooler weather the last week or what but the numbers seemed to be down. I did not have time to fish today but plan on hitting them hard one more time tomorrow. I have a new fly pattern to try and if it works out I'll post it up.

I just can't resist

Fished the suckers again on Tuesday. I thought by now the run would be starting to run down. I was wrong. The fish were stacked up in the riffles more today than in the weeks past. I drifted a weighted bugger down and had one on just about every cast. The fish were also more aggressive as the water temp has increased about 7 degrees in the past couple of weeks. I stopped fishing after 40 landed. The biggest was a 24 inch buck that took me downstream into a large pool. I was fishing by myself and landing the fish was a chore even on 3x and a 6wt rod.

On the downside, there were a couple of bait fisherman that observed me slaying the suckers and I fear this spawning hole may be out of the closet. Oh well, they at least have to have waders to get to where I was... so maybe I can stretch one more week out of this particular run. I have others in reserve if this one is over-run. That is the great thing about the sucker run... low pressure.

Sucker Run Part II

Hit the sucker run again today and the fish did not disappoint. We caught about 10 in thirty minutes or so. I took a friend with me today and all he had was a three weight as we had started the day fishing small streams. It was a trip to see him try to cast a weighted bugger with that thing.. and then land suckers that almost bent the little rod double. Man some good fun was had.

Southern Salmon Run (Suckers)

The suckers have been running the last week in good numbers on a local warm water stream. I noticed them arriving last Thursday and caught a few. I had not expected them and to tell you the truth this is the first time I have targeted them. What a blast they are. Most of the fish I caught were 18-24" and fight great on a 5wt or 6wt. Tried them again Saturday and they were swarming the shallows. I caught about 30 before I broke off my tippet section and noticed I did not have anything on me bigger than 7x to use on my furled leader. Oh well.

So this morning I hit them about 11am with a full spool of 3x and a six pack of freshly tied large heavy olive buggers. This seems to be the best fly I have tried. The first day I was using small clouser type baitfish flies trying for white bass. I then switched to some large nymphs but the most effective seems to be plain ol' buggers drifted right in their face.