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Slummin' it Around Town

2193 Views 12 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Dylar, 
Dylar
2
I just got back from several days with my folks in Charlotte. I had intended to get in some time chasing small stream Piedmont largemouth, but things just didn't work out from a scheduling perspective. I didn't feel like doing anything real involved this morning, so I ended up cutting out to the Swannanoa in town. It's not exactly scenic, and really more than a little gross, but it's got fish in it, it's running reasonably clear, and it's 10 minutes from my front door. I was hoping to catch a few bream and ideally a little bass or two; I ended up unexpectedly hammering smallies. Most of the fish took a chartreuse/white clouser with a drift and twitch presentation. A couple of the bigger specimens laid real stress tests on the 3wt.



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R
Those smallies had to have been an unexpected treat, and should have been a blast on your 3 wt.
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Fish_Fiend
Piggies for a 3wt! Good work man!
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Dylar
RouseD said:
Those smallies had to have been an unexpected treat, and should have been a blast on your 3 wt.
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I wasn't really surprised by the smallies; they were what I was hoping to catch. What did catch me off guard was the bigger fish. There were several in the 15-17" range, and the typical Swannanoa smallie is more like 10-12" (at that size, they're a perfect match for the 3wt). I'm kinda wondering if some bigger fish pushed up out of the French Broad because of weeks of high and stained water.
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Fish_Fiend
Cant hurt the fishery to introduce some new genetics.
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Dylar
Fish_Fiend said:
Cant hurt the fishery to introduce some new genetics.
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I don't think there's a genetic difference between the fish in the Swannanoa and the FB fish; I suspect that the forage base of a relatively small stream like the Swannanoa isn't big enough to support a large population of bigger fish and/or the Swannanoa acts as something of a 'nursery' for juvenile and sub-adult bass, who drop down to the FB once they mature.
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Fish_Fiend
Makes sense.
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G
Have you ever seen a smallmouth above the old dam at Rec Park?

I've never seen one in the "upper" river so I suspect the fish in the Swannanoa come up out of the French Broad during high water
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Dylar
gambusia said:
Have you ever seen a smallmouth above the old dam at Rec Park?

I've never seen one in the "upper" river so I suspect the fish in the Swannanoa come up out of the French Broad during high water
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I caught a small one up behind Fortress Ingles just a couple of weeks ago. He looked pretty lost.
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M
I've caught smb in drainages as small as 15 sq. miles. They should be up at least as far as the NF.
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Dylar
The finger healing up for you? ;)
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M
Dylar said:
The finger healing up for you? ;)
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Non issue. I'm still ill over having leave the river. I live 400 yds from the river and this is the first time I've fished it in 2 years due to high water.
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Dylar
FB's been basically out of action for smallmouth season the last two years, too. I don't remember what it looks like when it isn't orange.
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