Fishing Kevin's Soft Hackle Fly

It is hard to believe that this past Wednesday in Jasper was a warm 72 degrees. This meant only one thing for Charles and me, which was wetting a fly on the upper section of the tailrace. Upon arrival we noticed a number of vehicles and one Alabama Power truck, so we knew we would have company. The guys with Alabama Power told us that the generators would not be running for the day; because of work they would be doing on the last installment of the metal steps they were completing.  With no worries of generators we headed to the first hole of the day.  

Charles waded across and fished an area down from a section I chose to fish above in some faster water. I had landed trout here before, but the task at hand was getting to the place. No one fishes this area, because one has to wade some distance over some very slippery moss covered rocks to get into position to even make the first cast. Once there you need to establish a good foot position, on the bottom of the stream to keep your balance in the fast current. I never wade now without a wading staff and it is an absolute must in places like this. The trout are always here because of the deep fast run that extends at least 75 feet. It’s difficult to fish here with an indicator, because of the rapid water causing the indicator to float up and under fast. I have always fished this run either swinging a nymph or dead drifting a nymph. I was using the soft hackle that Kevin at Feather Chucker tied for me a while back. He mailed some other patterns that I will give a try later on in the spring. The soft hackle beadhead really got my attention, so it got the first try in this fast water.  After a number of misses I got my first solid hit. I knew this was a good trout and not your average stocker, because I could feel the head shake and for a few seconds I thought I had the trout coming my way, but that wasn’t going to happen on this day. As I was trying to maneuver the trout out of the run it promptly snapped the 5x tippet and carried the soft hackle with it. Sorry to say this was the only soft hackle Kevin gave me in this pattern style. I tied on another nymph pattern and continued to cast through the run without another hit. As I left the run I knew I would be back here again to try to redeem myself, hopefully with another soft hackle Kevin might tie for me in the near future.

Landing this trout made me feel somewhat better after losing what I think was probably my best on the upper tailrace. I landed 3 other rainbow in this same area. Two went airborne trying to throw the tiny shrimp pattern, which just adds to the excitement of landing one of these rainbows.

I seldom ever use anything but a 3 weight when fishing this section of the tailrace. I think using anything heavier would be overkill. The majority of trout landed here are all stocker fish, with the exception of a larger trout such as the one I lost today. The stocker trout in the 10” to 12” range can be a blast on a 3 wt.