Gunrunner26

Then I would be happy with just a nice Erie SM. I can't imagine what a 7 pounder would even look like, much less how it would fight.

Hmmm. I must be missing something here. So a 5# Lake Erie SM weighs less than a 5# Wheeler Dam SM?

I fish relatively small creeks here in IN, and the water is low now and gin clear. When I am catching a decent-sized one there are often two-five similar sized ones trying to take the lure from the hooked one. After releasing the hooked one, I can usually catch one or more of the followers. Last week I caught five 12-15 inchers on consecutive casts so they don't spook each other, but they were sure trying to get the lure out of the hooked one. Does anyone know why they do this?

I'm with RW. If they don't jump, what's the use! I might as well be catfishing.

I do pretty much the same here in IN on smaller streams. Fly first then UL spinning if they are not hitting the fly, but for me the fly is always a streamer. They seem to be particularly good in large rock strewn stretches where a Rapala or grub is hard to present. White, yellow and chartreuse color streamers in that order work best for me.

Well, Big Pine does it again. I landed 43 in an 8 hour float. My buddy landed probably another 35. Two biggest were 17.5" with lots of jumps. Really a great day in the rain.

Same up here in Warren County, IN on Big Pine Creek. Fishing back in the 60's with a Zebco 66 reel that took me months to save up for. The smallies are still there, but now I canoe it to get away from the bridges. If you don't get at least on 15", it was not a good trip, but usually get 25-40 on a 6 hour float.

I usually fish a small creek (~200 cfs) here in Indiana with UL or light spinning tackle and F7 Rapalas. I just started fly fishing with streamers. What patterns would be best and would poppers or equal be good?