It’s my good fortune to have “double-header” rivers nearby. These are streams fed by large springs that are cool enough to support trout, while other sections of the same rivers host a variety of warmwater species. Most anglers are attracted to the trout water, while I prefer pursuing several sunfish species, crappie, and bass to include largemouth, smallmouth, and rock bass in the more temperate sections. A 5-wt. rod and a reel spooled with slow-sinking intermediate line accompanied a hike across an over-grown pasture to a rocky pool with a gravel bottom. I theorized that the rapidly cooling water would invigorate the appetites of the bass population into seeking a substantial meal. I knotted a size-8 olive/copper Mini Minnie streamer to a 3X tippet, so down-and-across coasts enabled the fly to sink among the rocks before I stripped it toward the rod. I expected smallmouth bass had located just downstream of the rocks, but it appeared that they were not. Frustrated, I continued to wade downstream and finally came to a pool fed by a four-foot-wide spring branch. The first strip of the streamer was met by a firm tug that elicited a bent-rod hook-set, and eventually I landed a 13-inch largemouth. Nine more fish (Green Sunfish and Rock Bass) were brought to hand in that one location. Summer’s cool spring water had become late autumn’s warm water.
Fishing the Warm Branch
