I got an earlier than normal start this morning. The idea was to beat the heat and maybe take advantage of a thunderstorm that came through last night. I had the trail to myself and I think I was the first person to hike it. The reason I think this is because I went through about 100 spider webs that crossed the trail. It was annoying and at first, I would stop to brush myself off and look for hitchhikers. I tried to use my rod as a web breaker while walking the trail. I still found a few. This was a section I had never fished before and I was really hoping to catch a Roanoke Bass. They've eluded me for along time. The advice I was told is look for rocks.
That's what I did. I tried to work pools where the end of a riffle would slow down. The water was so clear I could watch the action of my fly and see how the fish were reacting. In no time I had the most abundant fish on the Eno.
This river is the perfect habitat for sunfish and they thrive. Almost every eddy and pool has panfish in it. The great thing about the Eno is the variety. I saw a few large mouth bass while going from pool to pool. The bass were the biggest I had seen on the Eno. Some looked to be near 4-5lbs. I had a few bass rise to my fly like a submarine surfacing from the depths. They would get close enough to touch the fly to their lip then they'd veer off. The sunfish were so active it was hard to target big bass with them hitting the fly as soon as it hits the water. While working under the trees close to the bank I caught the biggest green sunfish I have ever caught.
The coloring on the fish was unbelievable. My favorite thing about these fish is blue lightning on their gill flaps.
The fish was fat obviously eating well. As the day went on I caught more of the same. The greens were really tight to shore.
I continued to catch sunfish and bream and started to work my way back. I started to just hike and take in the views.
There was a small waterfall that I passed earlier but on my way back I had to throw a cast in. I was rewarded with probably the prettiest sunfish of the day.
The walk back to the car was filled with nature watching. There were families swimming in the river and playing. People walking their dogs and running. It seems everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful day. The skinks were out in force too.
The colors on those fish are brilliant.... wonderful to look at.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Wow those fish are beautiful. I especially like that second one. Glad to hear the heat didn't get the best of you. Nice pics and great fish. Tight Lines..
ReplyDeletearent those warmouth
ReplyDeleteCreek, the top and bottom fish are red breast sunfish the others are green sunfish. What makes the green sunfish stand out is the white and bright orange on the tail and anal fins. Warmouth do not have bright colors like that. Usually they are very plain looking and the coloring is splotchy. The overall shape of both the warmouth and green sunfish are pretty similar.
ReplyDeleteSunfish are a fantastic species, especially since there are so many types, all of which are brilliantly colored, not to mention the great fight they put up--aggressive hit-and-runs. Your photographs really show the beauty of the fish and area. Thanks for Phishing.
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