They’re late this spring, perhaps due to the weird oscillations in temperatures this year, but for the past several days good sized fish ( 11 ~ 15 inches I’d guess) have been invading the creek that runs along the south side of my yard. Unfortunately I think they’re Red Horse and not much interested in taking flies. Though I think one did several years ago in a nearby river. It was a big fish whatever it was, but I didn’t land it. There were many large submerged stones in the river. Trying to guide him away from one stone allowed him closer to another. After half dozen going left right, he got under one cutting the tippet.
Anyway, nice fish. I may get to head out before end of the month to our camp, four hours away, where the rivers provide better fishing than near home.
David. I am not sure if it helps but the one sucker i caught was on an unweighed nymph pattern.
Chris Stewart has noted catching red horse. Perhaps you can message him about it and what he used.
Perhaps you could even do some keiryu for them.
The white sucker i hooked hands down was the strongest fighting fish i have hooked to date. It had me chasing after it…up and down river. If i had red horse in my back yard i would try to figure out how to get them to feed.
Well maybe they’re more motivated to take a fly than I assumed. A couple of years ago a guy purchased the land on the south side of the creek. For some reason he keeps digging out the creek east of my house. Creating a pool that is deep and maybe 30 feet long. I think there were 14 or more of them in that pool a couple of days ago when walked down to check it out. Most of them about 14 inches. They also like to gather under a couple of nearby bridges.
If I recall correctly the one I hooked was taken on an oversized bushy brown soft hackle kebari. If they haven’t finished their mission and moved back down stream to the river maybe I will give it a go. But it’s raining today.
As the below link states. The appearance of spawning red horse is a clear sign spring has arrived to stay.
Anyway, from now until June I usually have good luck catching brook trout in the Greenbrier River before most of them migrate back into the shadier areas like Leatherback Run and other small feeder streams after it gets hotter. I can find a lot of brookies on Leatherbark Run in the summer, but it’s very bushy. I spend more time replacing kebari lost to tree branches than fishing. It’s a good place to go if my fly box has become overcrowded. And more often than not, they are in small pools with tree branches or tree roots growing only a foot or so above the water, almost impossible to drop a fly near them, and once spooked they stay hidden longer than I have patience waiting for them to come back out. Or the endurance to tolerate being lunch for biting insects as there is little wind to blow them away.
Leatherbark Run’s claim to fame is it is the highest stream in WV.
There were a couple of pools that were both crystal clear and well lit. I could see 2-3" brookies distinctly tracking and pecking at my fly. I could tell they were brookies by their fins. Little white lines on the leading edge of their fins. I had to laugh and on reflection it is so wonderful to be in a truly wild stream with clear signs of reproduction. Pretty killer.
The other thing was how this small water stunts ifs inhabitants. I am sure there may have been bigger spookier fish around but the biggest of the day was around 6". Sort of amazing that these fish can grown in the right environment to 24". I have never seen one , but the state notes stocking some that size in some ponds. They must be total beasts when they get that big on their own in the wild.
