Camera "Malfunction" Fishing the Caney Friday

The title of this post pretty much sums up the mishap that occurred while landing lots of stocker size trout early Friday morning. In fact, today’s trip was my best this year for the trout count on the Caney-------but a minus count when it came to camera work.

 I dropped my camera in the water while trying to take a picture of one of the rainbows I landed. I knew it was gone when I couldn’t get it to turn back on, needless to say, I lost all the images of today’s trip.

 A short recount of the morning trip, arriving early at 6:30 and was met by lots of other fishermen and a super cloud of fog on the water. I started fishing with size 20 midge using an indicator in 2 to 3 ft. -depths. I got to touch a few rainbows, using the tiny fly, but as usual, I kept losing too many to continue fishing with it. So mid-morning I decided to go with 18 size midge. The 18 sizes proved to be my success ticket. I landed numbers of trout standing on a shallow sandbar and letting the midge drift into two seams, one to the left of the sandbar and the other flowing in at an angle; where the two deeper seams meet was the sweet spot. I know I landed at least a dozen trout in that one spot.
 I would land a few more browns and rainbows fishing small pockets closer to where my truck was parked before the generator forced me to leave. All the trout today was not anything larger than 12” but lots of fun to land using my 4 wt. 9 ft. Redington.

 So I’m looking for a new waterproof camera, any suggestions??? 

Previewing The Contour Roam 2 Video Camera

No fishing here for the past couple of weeks due to heavy rains just about every day. Rivers are out of their banks and the lakes are 2 to 3 feet above full pool. Reading, watching Contour Roam 2 videos and thinking about fishing has consumed most of my time during this monsoon period. I decided to purchase the camera yesterday. I’m looking forward to putting it to good use in the coming weeks. I won’t go into the buying and returning the GoPro I thought I wanted to use. I'll just say the Contour is leaps and bounds ahead of the GoPro when being used as a helmet camera, because of its low profile. I can actually use the Contour attached to one of my caps, without movement. LET THE RAIN STOP!!


Side Note: This is my second Roam 2 Contour I’ve purchased. I decided in 2015 I wanted to film some of my fishing trips so the Contour was my choice of cameras then as it is now. My nephew is enjoying using my first camera.

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 is a bit more important than it was 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 upstream 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 easily 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 bead-head 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 of time in the deep holes of the Sipsey causing it to have a 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. I hope you guys have a great week!

The Treehouse

The grandkids have been after me since we moved into our house to build them a treehouse. So being the devoted Pops; I started the project last week with the layout for a 5 ft. X 8ft. treehouse 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 floorboards, 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 generations at the tailrace. 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.

When in Need of a Fishing Fix

It’s been weeks since I wet a fly mainly because of chores and my bi-annual sinus infection. Two of those are standard for me a year one in the spring and one in the fall, but this year I’ve added my second one since January, so I’m due for another in the fall.

 Enough of that; today I picked a state park to fish in Dickens, Tennessee, which is about an hour from where we live. Cathey and I had visited the park three weeks ago just to scout the place out.  While there I found what I was really looking for which was the clear spring-fed 40-acre lake beside the hotel and restaurant. The Park Ranger told me that not many people fished the lake because they just never caught many fish there. I knew then after that statement I would be back, so today I returned for my trail and error trip.

Since moving here last July I haven’t really found any lakes that can live up to where I fished in Alabama. Well, today I found one at Montgomery Bell State Park. I’ve been in need of a good fishing fix ever since we moved here; today I got the fix in the form of lots of bluegill all coming on top. All these fish had completed their first spawn cycle and was roaming the banks in search of food.

 The old Jerry Reed song kept coming to mind today “When you’re hot you’re hot” well I was hot and sweaty and the fly I was using was even hotter. I learn today like on previous bluegill trips if one fly pattern isn’t working then keep trying poppers and flies until you find something that does. The little fly that did it for me today was Mel’s Foam Krystal Beetle. He sent me three the other day. I left the lake today with one left in my fly box. The other two are still in two bluegills mouths and hopefully will come lose and both fish will survive to fight again. I think the fish thought it was a live beetle or a black cricket and they didn’t want it anywhere near them. They continually annihilated this little fly all afternoon. I was so impressed with the way it sits on the water high and realistic like. No movement was necessary, just a light touch on the water surface got the smacking sound, you guys are familiar with who bluegill fish.  Thanks, Mel for tying this fantastic little fly that made my trip today!!!---------oh forgot to mention I need more!! 

Very few bluegills had this little beetle on the outside of their mouth, this one was an exception---a ton of fun on the 2/3 weight!!!

Sorry for the poor quality image, but this is the way most all treated the beetle, in the throat and ready to shallow. I tried a couple small poppers, but the beetle outperformed those three to one----proving to me bluegills can be picky when it comes to surface flies.

This is one beautiful lake and I know I will visit this place many times before I hang the fly rod up.

Fishing the Feather Light 2 Weight

For those of you who follow my blog know that I am a huge fan of Redington Fly rods; mainly because of their lightness and most important their purchase price. In my opinion, there isn’t a better quality fly rod for a reasonable price on the market than their classic series. I decided a few weeks ago to purchase their 2 weight Classic Trout mainly to fish some of the small streams in the Smokey Mountains.

 I found out last week that it matches well with the rainbow on the Sipsey Tailrace in Alabama. I knew I would be landing trout in the 10 to 12-inch range and the 7 ½ ft. moderate action graphic rod got quite a workout that afternoon. I found this 2 weight to be a bit more forgiving than my 3 or 4 weight fly rods I fish with. I was surprised with the degree of stiffness it had which helped it handled a couple 12” rainbow I landed that afternoon quite well. True I didn’t horse that size trout in quickly using it but with a bit of patience I brought both to hand. I did lose numerous trout that day mainly because of a hook set and slow reaction time. Fishing a lighter fly rod could have contributed to the hook set issue. I kept forgetting I wasn’t fishing with a moderate fast action fly rod. The rod proved what I already knew when it came to placement and presentation of the fly using a 6X tippet. As most of you know the lighter the fly touches the surface film the better chance for a take; this fly rod meets that test. The slight breeze that afternoon didn’t affect my casting but I could see problems in moderate or heavy winds.

A lot of the bluegill I have caught on Laura Hill Lake in Lawrenceburg is smaller than what I am used to landing, so this 2 weight will compliment those well. The total weight of the Redington 2/3 reel and the Redington rod weights less than 4.6 ounces; my kind of combo for sure!!