Week 6: Untested Waters Challenge for Phil Created: Sat, 07/11/2020 - 17:43 Default: No

There is actually quite a bit of untested waters near me because most of them are man made projects done over the past 15 years or so and I have not had a lot of interest to spend time pulling out the sunfish and bass that have been dumped into them.  However, in sticking my nose in deeper I had a great time fishing them and have observed indications that they should not be overlooked or underestimated as far as what species can find their way into these environments.

My first stop was a natural looking pool connected to larger, more manicured  pond (I drew the line on fishing off of mowed/fertilized grass).  I got the usual suspects in rapid fashion but heard some stories from the local nine year old experts that will have me going back there in the future. (great to see kids fishing!)  The second stop was on creek I have grown up near and have lived a stone’s throw from for much of my life at two separate locations – I have spent thousands of hours on this creek but never strayed much from the  limited and familiar haunts within walking distance, or like a migrating fish, my interest was always on following it upstream to find out what was around the next bend towards the source. Thanks to this challenge, the light bulb came on and I finally crossed over the threshold to try a stretch a couple of miles downstream from any spot previously fished.  I found a jaw dropping environment and was able to secure my favorite catch of the challenge by far – a wonderful mottled sculpin!