Thursday morning I received a call from friend and guide Brian Wise wondering if I had time to go chase some White Bass over on Bryant Creek that afternoon. We have been trying to put together a trip like this for years so I said sure and hopped on the mower to quickly finish up the remainder of this weeks mowing. A 1:00 rendezvous brought me to Tecumseh where Brian met me, leaving his truck and trailer at the ramp and hopping in for the ride back up to his boat. We arrived at Cook's Landing and after loading the boat and drinking a beer we warmed up our casting arms briefly before setting off for more productive waters. A drift through the mill pond rewarded us with a few carp and walleye sightings but no takers. We eventually floated down through a hole or two and after switching up streamers Brian found the one they had been looking for. Naturally it was one of a kind, and the only one we had so I proceeded to watch him catch several keeper whites and a nice largemouth before we jumped back in the boat and headed downstream. Being the gentleman Brian is he lent me his rod as we drifted through the next hole and I was finally able to get the skunk off with the smallest white of the day. Proceeding downstream we witnessed groups of whites spawning in the shoals but those fish were interested in only one thing and it wasn't eating. Below the spawning shoal we found the fish that were willing to bite staging up in a short run and Brian pulled several fish out while I managed one on a white zonker and one on a prototype streamer that may end up in production later in the year. With a nice stringer of fish in the boat we set out toward the forks as the sun sank towards the horizon. We rounded the bend toward Tecumseh and saw fish breaking the surface near the bank. I masterfully delivered the perfect cast (not hard with splashing white bass all around) and was rewarded with a nice sow to end the day. This was the first time I had pursued whites without my spinning gear along as a crutch and I must say it was much more rewarding than throwing swimming minnows at them. Thanks mainly to Brian I ended up taking home ten nice fly rod whites some of which were fried last night with fresh morels, and a few which made a wonderful fish sandwich for today's lunch.
Sounds like a great time Justin , those whites are a blast on the flyrod. And man that's some good looking fish! I'm sitting here at work and just thinking about fresh fish with morels is enough to make me salivate....Jeff
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