North Fork of Elkhorn Creek

I can only manage the long drive down to Burkesville for trout fishing about once a week. I'd like to hit the water more often than that, so I thought I'd give the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek a try.  It's only about a 45 minute drive from my house.  The North Fork is slow-current, warm water fishing.  It's got some bass and panfish in it.  I've caught a few of both on spinning tackle using plastic worms and small crankbaits.  This time I brought my 7 weight fly rod with the sink-tip line and some small flies and poppers -- the same setup I use for fresh water fishing in Florida.  My expectations were pretty low for this trip.  But it was a beautiful afternoon and it's  a  short drive to the boat ramp (compared to Bukesville), so I decided to give it a try.

I started out throwing a San Juan Worm, which is a small plastic wormy-type fly normally used in trout streams.  It was still on my leader from my last trip to the Cumberland.  I thought maybe the bass and panfish in the North Fork would think it looked like a caterpillar fallen from a tree.

Well, after about twenty minutes not much was happening, so I switched to one of the tiny green popper flies I had such good luck with in Florida.  I had reached a shady section of the creek where the bank was steep and strewn with rocks.  I caught a small bluegill almost immediately and then another one a cast or two later.  As I worked my way down that shady bank I picked up more small fish every half dozen casts or so.  I'm not kidding about "small."  Some of these fish would have made a good live bait to throw with a spinning outfit.  I hadn't brought anything but my 7 weight, so I just kept casting the TGP and catching fish.  I even got a largemouth bass to grab it.

I fished from 2 until 5 p.m. and caught about 15 fish altogether, so it was one of those trips that turn out much better than expected.

Getting my Gheenoe re-trailered at the boat ramp was tricky.  The ramp, though made of grooved cement, is covered in moss and is about the slipperiest thing I've ever tried to stand on.  I did manage to get my boat back on the trailer without falling on my butt, mainly because I kept myself upright by holding onto either the trailer or the boat itself for balance.

Video of the trip is here:

http://youtu.be/-s8fT0m4Ku4