When things start to warm up in the Spring, I get the itch to start fishing the creeks again. One lunch break in late February of this year I got out and had a pretty fun time catching a variety of different fish – none of which were the original target fish. Early Spring is when the sacalait start to move shallow and I had it in my mind they may be doing that in this creek that runs through a park not far from my old workplace. It seems all the other species were active however and I’m pretty good at making lemons from lemonade.

The white woolly bugger was my sacalait fly of choice, but I soon switched to a smaller fly that David Rogers had given me, a golden retriever. Very similar to a woolly bugger, this one was a bit smaller though than what I had been throwing and I think that size turned out to be just the ticket. Or maybe it was the pattern, I don’t know, either way I was knocking out Jambalaya Challenge species early with a green sunfish, redspotted sunfish, warmouth, and longear sunfish turning up. I’d soon have the opportunity to level up so to speak when I caught a glimpse of a big largemouth cruising the same waters as the other fish. I made a few casts into the depths of a deep spot hoping he’d chase my fly and eat or at least come into a position where I could sight fish him. It just so happened that after one of my casts he appeared in a perfect position for me to strip my fly in a fleeing run away from him and that triggered a lunging strike! After a short fight I slipped down the creek bank and dragged him to my feet – it was the nicest creek bass I’ve caught in a while and a great fish to start the Spring fishing season!