A Mixture

 

The grandkids have been after me since we moved into our house to build them a tree house. So being the devoted Pops; I started the project last week with the layout for a 5 ft. X 8ft. tree house which needed to be this big for all three children to have room to play. One of the hardest parts of building the house was climbing up the 7 ½ ft. ladder steps to get to the floor to add floor boards, and sides. Another good workout constructing this project was digging the 2 ft. deep holes the 4 X 4 post was set in; thank goodness for gym time.

 





I finally worked a trip in today to the Caney Fork between all the generation. The schedule on the website showed no generation from 8 AM to 1 PM. Surprise, surprise generators turned on at 11:30 disappointing a lot of fishermen.

Lots of trout could be seen at every logical place I fished, telling me the tailrace had recently been stocked.

This stocker brown trout was one of many I brought to the net in the 2 hours I had to fish, before high fast moving water caused me to leave. When the horn sounds at this place indicating generation, you need to leave the water. Don’t wait to make that last cast. The midge was the hot fly the trout were taking during the short stay. I don’t like to fish tiny flies, but the size 20 and 22 got their attention.



I always enjoy sharing fly fishing with others who want to learn more about the sport. Tate who is an employee at the boat dock at Montgomery Bell State Park joined me in the Pelican recently for a day of casting the 2/3 weight fly rods. He had fished the lake with his 5 weight but had never fished really light fly rods there. I think it’s safe to say he will be purchasing a 3 weight very soon. He landed numbers of bluegill that day using the light tackle. Thanks Tate for reminding me that fly fishing is alive and well for the young.    

A Capital “P” for Persistence Thursday on the Sipsey

As I drove the 145 miles Thursday to fish the Sipsey, I was thinking how easy it once was to drive the 12 miles from our house in Jasper. The trip now comes with a bit more importance than it did back then.

Partly cloudy skies keep the sun from penetrating the crystal clear waters of the area I was going to fish this day. The water level was somewhat low which makes the Sipsey more difficult to fish, and as always the pressure from other fly fishermen adds to the challenge.

 

This section is where my wading boots got the most use, fishing small pocket holes throughout the stretch. No surface activity at all caused me to stay down under with nymphs changing back and forth from tight lining to the indicator. I was using a furl leader today casting up stream and letting the nymphs drift slowly back to me. I choose to do this because of the super clear low water levels I encountered. The trout spook easy in these conditions and they had been hammered all morning by other fishermen.

I landed my first rainbow of the afternoon using a long 6X fluorocarbon tippet tipped with a size 20 tungsten beadhead midge.  My eyes had to strain a bit even with my magnifying glasses to thread the line through the eyelet of the fly. I seldom fish a fly this small but it was producing and I couldn’t complain.



The 4 weight today enabled me to get a little more backbone in the hook set, which I needed fishing those tiny nymphs. I wondered if this trout had spent a lot time in the deep holes of the Sipsey causing it to have very little color, but still beautiful. Persistence kept me focused this day through long periods of no takes.  A couple more rainbows would touch the net this afternoon, before I headed back home. 

I noticed this turkey hen in our backyard the other morning and ran and got my camera and took the shot through the window. I knew if I stepped outside on our porch it would spook. Not the best picture, which continues to make me search for a better quality camera. Hope you guys have a great week!!