Fall Tenkara Fallfish

[DanMarino]

Hit the local flow for a quick trip last weekend. Great weather. Solitude on the water. Plenty of hungry fallfish were found that wanted this crayfish imitation. However, I am convinced fallfish eat anything and everything.

[bignose]

Forty plus years ago, I was starting out as a trout fisherman, having used my fly rod previously only in small ponds for Sunfish and Bass.
I didn't know squat, and headed up to a stream that I heard had been stocked
.
I waded upstream, and saw what I assumed was a school of "trout" and tossed a small grasshopper imitation towards the fish.
A fish rose and aggressively took the fly, and I promptly set the hook and launched the fish over my shoulder.

It was a 12 " Fallfish, my first experience with stream fishing. Lol

[DanMarino]

Good story Stu. Thank goodness for fallfish. They keep me from getting skunked on the flows near home. They are the dominant species in all of the branches of the Patuxent near me. I prefer to catch sunfish or smallmouth bass, but the fallfish are plentiful and put up a respectable fight for their size.

[Mark]

Tom,

You have a nice location for your outings.

As Stu noted, they will hit surface flies. The last one I caught hit a bass popper while I was fly fishing for smallmouth in the Juniata. I was surprised. I thought they were bottom feeders.

[dsaavedra]

Fallfis are fun. It's been a long time since I've caught one but I used to enjoy catching them on ultralight spinning gear when I lived closer to some of the upper reaches of the Patuxent.

Stu, that story is too funny haha

[DanMarino]

Fallfish are only OK in my book. I'd rather catch fallfish than catch no fish. Yup, fallfish eat anything and everything. I've caught them on the bottom, middle, and on top. They don't care. I haven't found a fly they won't eat. Plus the stretches of Patuxent I'm fishing are waist to ankle deep, so they don't really have to move far to eat any surface flies or poppers. What I need to figure out is where do all the sunfish, bluegills, and smallmouth go in the cold water? I need to give that some serious scouting trips this winter. I find it hard to believe that the fish would migrate miles up or down the river, so they must be tucked into deeper pools someplace. Bends in the river? Undercut boulders? Log jams with deep sections in front or behind them?

[DanMarino]

Wanted to add that I went to the same section of river last Saturday and fished from 4PM until 5PM. I think I caught 5 fallfish. I spooked some fish that I am guessing were fallfish.

In the summer I always see schools of striped fish that seem to be hugging the bottom. I'm guessing they are some type of chub. They always get spooked from me and they never go after the flies I'm tossing.

Besides that, I catch green sunfish, red breasted sunfish, bluegills, and smallmouth bass. Smallmouth are the treasured species I want to catch, but their numbers are few. So far the smallmouth definitely prefer the rocky areas more than the sandy/silty areas.

I'm guessing there are carp and catfish too, but I never see them.

[DanMarino]

Sorry to keep posting messages, but I wanted to add that the main reasons I like fishing these flows close to home is the solitude, beauty, and the location. I can usually be on the water and catching fish within 15 minutes of leaving my home. I honestly don't have a ton of time for fishing trips, so this scratches the itch pretty well. This area has suburban development, some farm land, and some park land. The places I go never have any fishing competition. The fishing isn't amazing, but there are plenty of fish. It can be difficult to cast a fly without getting snagged in overhanging trees, bushes, or thorns though. So I usually need to stand in the middle of the river. So I'm sure I end up spooking a bunch of fish because of that. It is super rewarding whenever I catch a smallmouth bass. They are usually tiny, but just catching one is such a highlight.

I need to eventually move more up stream and try for trout. I've hooked into a couple of stocked rainbows over the years, but never landed them. Those fish were always caught in the spring and were always accidental.

[Mark]

Tom,

I think the sunfish and bass (which are sunfish too) head to deeper areas when the water temperature drops in fall and winter.

[DanMarino]

I was thinking that too Mark. Deep could be 4 feet though in this section.