A Hot Creek On A Cool Day

As the song says…you can’t ever go home again; in my case it was my oldest son, Harrison, coming home, from college. Harrison has been attending Lewis University in Chicago…right there with all those yuppies, big buildings, freeways (that aren’t free) and lot of concrete. The cure seemed like a good dose of southern Indiana fishing and that is just what we did on Saturday, May 25^th…he, along with my dad and myself took a drive through the country southward and dropped ourselves into a little creek that I have known and been fishing for the better part of my life.

As we put on our waders, boots, hats, etc….and grabbed a few flies, along with  a pair of 3 weight fly-rods, it was just good to have Harrison home. I know that grandpa was not only enjoying his time with us, but as he usually does, was enjoying his time being out in the very green world…not too far from where he grew up in Hobbieville, Indiana.

We had both debated as to wet wading or to take the time to put on our waders but with an air temperature of mid 50’s and water temperature of low 60’s…I thought it would be best to ‘gear up’. One part of that gear that can’t go be overstated is bug spray; if you haven’t been out this season thus far…then you may not know that in the past couple of weeks we have had an explosion of black gnats. You might think about mosquitoes as being the worse thing out there…but frankly, I would rather deal with ‘skeeters’ than I would the gnats. Our bug spray of choice is a home-made remedy that I picked up a few years back and shared with you last season…one part of pure vanilla and seven parts water. Chuck it all into a spray bottle, give it a shake….and spray it on heavy. Not only will it keep these little black pests away…but it smells a whole lot better than the other brands of mosquito spray, as these sprays simply don’t work on the gnats. My boys always say that following me around through the woods makes them hungry for one of the their grandma’s sugar cookies…all I know is that it works, so give it a try!

I won’t say I make a living on small creeks like this…because I don’t; I will say that I may be on these creeks about as much as anyone and I just don’t know anywhere that you can have this much fun and it not costs hardly a penny. I had set both of us up with a crayfish pattern that I had tied a few weeks earlier; mine was a light or tan brown color and Harrison’s fly was more earthy in color, olive and a dark brown…either way, it was a total success. The smallmouth and our own rock bass were crazy hungry and over the next three hours we leap-frogged each other and caught a pile of fish in each and every little hole.

If you are a creek fisherman, then you know that while small, rock bass really put a ‘pop’ on a lure or fly. I am constantly amazed at the sudden jolt you get from one of these 9 or 10 inch fish. Once hooked, rock bass tend to roll-over, play dead and usually aren’t much for putting up a fight. Smallies on the other hand are Indiana’s version of a rainbow trout and pound for pound will pull, zip, jump and tug with any other fish out there…probably the reason I would rather catch a native born Hoosier Smallmouth as any other fish.

The cool thing about having Harrison along is that he loves to take photos and video of me and all the nature that surrounds us. I am always impressed with his photos and it is one of our favorite things to do when we get back…tee up the material and watch it at home on our big TV. This time he had spent a good part of the day filming me casting, catching and moving throughout the creek and the video he shot was pretty neat to see. (NOTE: You can see it here on this web site or on my YouTube Video Channel). The photo (to the right >>) was snipped from one such video and shows me casting directly into the camera and gives a very neat perspective.

All in all we caught a bunch of fish and had a great time…we even journeyed through the country and wound up at the small Springville Grocery for a lunch-meat sandwich, bottle of pop and a bag of chips. For sure it took me back….back to when dad and I used to do the very same thing. I am always pleased to be out with my boys (all three of them) and no amount of money will ever replace these times together. I hope that you too can set foot into our awesome countryside with a fly-rod, walking stick or camera and make some memories that don’t involve pushing buttons and stress…and I hope I see you along the way as we all Enjoy the Great Outdoors.