FFF Day at Deer Creek 9-25-24

[TubeDude]

Couldn’t stay off the water with the stellar weather report.  Figured to get in one last shot on Deer Creek before chasing perch on Willard for the rest of the year.  But unlike my last trip to DC I couldn’t make an easy drive up to the water launch at Charleston.  Hadda do the ramp at the Island. 
 
The good news was that the lake was still high enough that the water was still fairly high up on the ramp. The bad news is that the restaurant/rentals operation has taken over all of the parking near the top of the ramp and I had to park a hundred yards away from the top of the ramp.  Not so bad going down the ramp after parking.  But coming back up the ramp and trudging all the way to the car…after a day of tubing…and at my age…with my infirmities….   I’m guessing I won’t ever launch there again.
 

But…everything else was great.  Air temp a crispy 45…warming to a bit over 70 at noon departure.  Water temp started out at 62 and only made it to 63 when I left.  Glad I wore my waders for the first time since May.  Oh yeah, the colors are starting to pop and the hills around the lake were really purty in the early morning light.  But then, the scenery on Deer Creek is always good…even if the fishing ain’t.  But it usually is.
 

I like any fish that will come out to play.  And, although my primary target for the day would be walleyes, I knew I could probably count on some rainbows to at least provide some tugs.  And I figgered right. 
 
I didn’t even drop a line in until I had motored up past the island and reached “the flats”.  Then, based on recent intel I searched out some 15 foot water and put over a couple of crawler-sweetened flig rigs.  Din’t take long to get a rattlin’ rod.  First “FFF” of the day brung in and released.  By the way, the FFF stands for Footlong Finless Freddie…a recent escapee from a hatchery truck.
 

After that it was a steady procession of bodacious ‘bows.  Most were Freddies…but a lot were already getting a bit of size and girth in the weeks since their planting.  Deer Creek feeds ‘em good.  Got a few about 14 inches and several at 16”.  The bigger ones really bent my stick and stretched my string.  I released all trout except one 16 incher that was bleeding a bit and would likely not have survived a release. 
 

Saw Brookie out dragging for walleyes.  He said he had a couple at that time…although I had yet to find any.  I was still going through my arsenal of lures and rigs…trying to find something the walleyes would hit and the trout wouldn’t.  But seems like the trout hit everything I sent down.  Went through a lot of worms feeding hatchery pets.
 
As I was starting to work my way back in, to get off the water by noon, I ran across an area of 23 to 25 feet of water that had some interesting “anomalies” on sonar.  They looked really “toothy”.  So I slowed down and sent out a chartreuse perch colored SCR (short crawler rig) and almost immediately picked up my first of six small walleyes…”small-eyes”.  They ranged from footlongs to 14 inches.  Didn’t catch any like the 21 incher I caught in July.  I kept only one of the larger ones to go with the single trout…for a “surf and surf” dinner for my wife and I. 
 

Only a very few boats on the water Wednesday.  No skiers or wakeboarders.  All fisherfolk that I could see.  That’s one upside.  The other is that I didn’t take another fall getting out of my float tube.  Hope I got that out of my system.

[Piscophilic]

Thanks for another great report and pictures. It sounds like you had plenty of string stretchin fun! I'm glad you found some that weren't toothless and finless. When Jon and I were ate DC a few weeks ago, we only saw one of the FFF's. I guess we got lucky in that regard.

[TubeDude]

Thanks for another great report and pictures. It sounds like you had plenty of string stretchin fun! I'm glad you found some that weren't toothless and finless. When Jon and I were ate DC a few weeks ago, we only saw one of the FFF's. I guess we got lucky in that regard.

As I recall, you were fishing a different part of the lake.  That can make a difference.  The FFFs are usually stocked at the island boat ramp...usually around the first week or so of September.  It usually takes a while for many of them to scatter around the lake.  And a lot of them tend to stay in the Charleston arm...where the cool waters of the Provo River come into the lake.

Also...you can be lucky, or you can be good.  Best to be good and lucky.

[obifishkenobi]

Couldn’t stay off the water with the stellar weather report.  Figured to get in one last shot on Deer Creek before chasing perch on Willard for the rest of the year.  But unlike my last trip to DC I couldn’t make an easy drive up to the water launch at Charleston.  Hadda do the ramp at the Island. 
 
The good news was that the lake was still high enough that the water was still fairly high up on the ramp. The bad news is that the restaurant/rentals operation has taken over all of the parking near the top of the ramp and I had to park a hundred yards away from the top of the ramp.  Not so bad going down the ramp after parking.  But coming back up the ramp and trudging all the way to the car…after a day of tubing…and at my age…with my infirmities….   I’m guessing I won’t ever launch there again.
 

But…everything else was great.  Air temp a crispy 45…warming to a bit over 70 at noon departure.  Water temp started out at 62 and only made it to 63 when I left.  Glad I wore my waders for the first time since May.  Oh yeah, the colors are starting to pop and the hills around the lake were really purty in the early morning light.  But then, the scenery on Deer Creek is always good…even if the fishing ain’t.  But it usually is.
 

I like any fish that will come out to play.  And, although my primary target for the day would be walleyes, I knew I could probably count on some rainbows to at least provide some tugs.  And I figgered right. 
 
I didn’t even drop a line in until I had motored up past the island and reached “the flats”.  Then, based on recent intel I searched out some 15 foot water and put over a couple of crawler-sweetened flig rigs.  Din’t take long to get a rattlin’ rod.  First “FFF” of the day brung in and released.  By the way, the FFF stands for Footlong Finless Freddie…a recent escapee from a hatchery truck.
 

After that it was a steady procession of bodacious ‘bows.  Most were Freddies…but a lot were already getting a bit of size and girth in the weeks since their planting.  Deer Creek feeds ‘em good.  Got a few about 14 inches and several at 16”.  The bigger ones really bent my stick and stretched my string.  I released all trout except one 16 incher that was bleeding a bit and would likely not have survived a release. 
 

Saw Brookie out dragging for walleyes.  He said he had a couple at that time…although I had yet to find any.  I was still going through my arsenal of lures and rigs…trying to find something the walleyes would hit and the trout wouldn’t.  But seems like the trout hit everything I sent down.  Went through a lot of worms feeding hatchery pets.
 
As I was starting to work my way back in, to get off the water by noon, I ran across an area of 23 to 25 feet of water that had some interesting “anomalies” on sonar.  They looked really “toothy”.  So I slowed down and sent out a chartreuse perch colored SCR (short crawler rig) and almost immediately picked up my first of six small walleyes…”small-eyes”.  They ranged from footlongs to 14 inches.  Didn’t catch any like the 21 incher I caught in July.  I kept only one of the larger ones to go with the single trout…for a “surf and surf” dinner for my wife and I. 
 

Only a very few boats on the water Wednesday.  No skiers or wakeboarders.  All fisherfolk that I could see.  That’s one upside.  The other is that I didn’t take another fall getting out of my float tube.  Hope I got that out of my system.

Great report, the images showing your set up has given me inspiration to copy you. I know what I'm going to do with my whirley fligs that have lost or mangled hooks. I'm going to repurpose the hardware into worm harnesses for Walleyes.

[Freakyfisherman]

Couldn’t stay off the water with the stellar weather report.  Figured to get in one last shot on Deer Creek before chasing perch on Willard for the rest of the year.  But unlike my last trip to DC I couldn’t make an easy drive up to the water launch at Charleston.  Hadda do the ramp at the Island. 
 
The good news was that the lake was still high enough that the water was still fairly high up on the ramp. The bad news is that the restaurant/rentals operation has taken over all of the parking near the top of the ramp and I had to park a hundred yards away from the top of the ramp.  Not so bad going down the ramp after parking.  But coming back up the ramp and trudging all the way to the car…after a day of tubing…and at my age…with my infirmities….   I’m guessing I won’t ever launch there again.
 

But…everything else was great.  Air temp a crispy 45…warming to a bit over 70 at noon departure.  Water temp started out at 62 and only made it to 63 when I left.  Glad I wore my waders for the first time since May.  Oh yeah, the colors are starting to pop and the hills around the lake were really purty in the early morning light.  But then, the scenery on Deer Creek is always good…even if the fishing ain’t.  But it usually is.
 

I like any fish that will come out to play.  And, although my primary target for the day would be walleyes, I knew I could probably count on some rainbows to at least provide some tugs.  And I figgered right. 
 
I didn’t even drop a line in until I had motored up past the island and reached “the flats”.  Then, based on recent intel I searched out some 15 foot water and put over a couple of crawler-sweetened flig rigs.  Din’t take long to get a rattlin’ rod.  First “FFF” of the day brung in and released.  By the way, the FFF stands for Footlong Finless Freddie…a recent escapee from a hatchery truck.
 

After that it was a steady procession of bodacious ‘bows.  Most were Freddies…but a lot were already getting a bit of size and girth in the weeks since their planting.  Deer Creek feeds ‘em good.  Got a few about 14 inches and several at 16”.  The bigger ones really bent my stick and stretched my string.  I released all trout except one 16 incher that was bleeding a bit and would likely not have survived a release. 
 

Saw Brookie out dragging for walleyes.  He said he had a couple at that time…although I had yet to find any.  I was still going through my arsenal of lures and rigs…trying to find something the walleyes would hit and the trout wouldn’t.  But seems like the trout hit everything I sent down.  Went through a lot of worms feeding hatchery pets.
 
As I was starting to work my way back in, to get off the water by noon, I ran across an area of 23 to 25 feet of water that had some interesting “anomalies” on sonar.  They looked really “toothy”.  So I slowed down and sent out a chartreuse perch colored SCR (short crawler rig) and almost immediately picked up my first of six small walleyes…”small-eyes”.  They ranged from footlongs to 14 inches.  Didn’t catch any like the 21 incher I caught in July.  I kept only one of the larger ones to go with the single trout…for a “surf and surf” dinner for my wife and I. 
 

Only a very few boats on the water Wednesday.  No skiers or wakeboarders.  All fisherfolk that I could see.  That’s one upside.  The other is that I didn’t take another fall getting out of my float tube.  Hope I got that out of my system.

Pat
Glad to see you get a toothy fish. I think I just might go to Willard on a perch search hopefully in the near future. If I know I am gonna go I will see if you can meet up. Its hard knowing when I can go for sure. Things will be busy for a while as I have some employees out and their shifts will need coverage. 
Gabe

[TubeDude]

Pat
Glad to see you get a toothy fish. I think I just might go to Willard on a perch search hopefully in the near future. If I know I am gonna go I will see if you can meet up. Its hard knowing when I can go for sure. Things will be busy for a while as I have some employees out and their shifts will need coverage. 
Gabe

Hi Gabe.  Would be happy to do a meetup and gangup on the Willard perchies with ya.  But, from past experience and notes I would say the good action is still a little ways off.  Always a few perch around but the real inshore movement starts after water temps drop below about 55 degrees and the smallest baby shad start dieing off.  

I'm guessing by mid October.  But I'm always up for an exploratory...and there's almost always something to provide some tugs.  Even some good fall bites on walleyes at times.  They cruise the shallows at this time of year too...also foraging on shad.  And white plastics or Gulp Minnows can do well.  I remember you have a couple of spots you have scored them in the past.


My schedule is a lot more flexible than yours.  So give me a PM shout whenever you see a glimmer of light through your window and I will try to show up too.

[TubeDude]

Great report, the images showing your set up has given me inspiration to copy you. I know what I'm going to do with my whirley fligs that have lost or mangled hooks. I'm going to repurpose the hardware into worm harnesses for Walleyes.

Good thinking.  I know the guy who makes these things so I have "reworked" a few into different types.  But I also purposely rig a lot of them as either basic crawler rigs...or "SCRs" (short crawler rigs) while making them up the first time.  I even make some rigs with a "drop back" design...with the whole crawler rig trailing a few inches behind the whirly flig...or the new buzz fligs.  If you know basic snell knotting and crawler rigging it is simple to rework a broken-hook whirly flig into a crawler rig.  I'm guessing you have done a few over the years.