AL trout bum
Senior Member
In continuing my quest to catch all of the different redeye bass species, the Black Warrior drainage was next. I met up with ShoalBandit who has been instrumental in my planning for fishing for all these species. Good fishing buddies are hard to find, so I appreciate someone like Jason.
In any of the drainages, I try to find the rockiest and cleanest water I can. That's usually where redeyes are found. This can sometimes require some backwoods driving.
The longear sunfish were spawning, so they were colored up nicely.
It didn't take long to find what I came for. Micropterus warriorensis is checked off the list. These fish have all the usual redeye bass characteristics, but differ from all others in that they don't have a tooth patch (or if they do it's very small) and have an orange-tint to the dorsal, anal and caudal fins.
This water was prime redeye habitat, and it was definitely full of them.
Smaller specimen:
The stream got rockier and rockier. And the fishing improved considerably.
Especially when I came to this.
My 3wt was perfect for this stream and especially spots like this.
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k534/mrl0004/P6180865_zpssoisgbmj.jpg[img]
After one cast next to a big boulder, a couple of pops, and BAM! Nicest one of the day and definitely made the trip worthwhile.
[img]http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k534/mrl0004/P6180818_zpshqgkha3b.jpg
Streamside sights...
Edible? Thought they might be red chanterelles, but wasn't sure. I left them alone.
This little guy just landed on my reel.
Finished off the day with a local brew:
And some Korean:
This day goes down as one of my all-time favorite redeye bass outings. I'll definitely be back! But first, I have 2-3 more species to check off the list!
In any of the drainages, I try to find the rockiest and cleanest water I can. That's usually where redeyes are found. This can sometimes require some backwoods driving.
The longear sunfish were spawning, so they were colored up nicely.
It didn't take long to find what I came for. Micropterus warriorensis is checked off the list. These fish have all the usual redeye bass characteristics, but differ from all others in that they don't have a tooth patch (or if they do it's very small) and have an orange-tint to the dorsal, anal and caudal fins.
This water was prime redeye habitat, and it was definitely full of them.
Smaller specimen:
The stream got rockier and rockier. And the fishing improved considerably.
Especially when I came to this.
My 3wt was perfect for this stream and especially spots like this.
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k534/mrl0004/P6180865_zpssoisgbmj.jpg[img]
After one cast next to a big boulder, a couple of pops, and BAM! Nicest one of the day and definitely made the trip worthwhile.
[img]http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k534/mrl0004/P6180818_zpshqgkha3b.jpg
Streamside sights...
Edible? Thought they might be red chanterelles, but wasn't sure. I left them alone.
This little guy just landed on my reel.
Finished off the day with a local brew:
And some Korean:
This day goes down as one of my all-time favorite redeye bass outings. I'll definitely be back! But first, I have 2-3 more species to check off the list!
Beautiful creek, and beautiful fish! I'm copying this to the fly fishing forum.
