Filling Time

 What does one do during the winter months of the fly fishing season.? I have the tailrace to fish for trout during winter, but generation keeps those trips to a minimum. 

Charles and I spent Tuesday on Smith Lake, marking brush on some banks and the back of numerous nooks. We were using his GPS on his boat to know the location of the brush once the lake reached full pool, the last of April. 

Once the lake fills in early Spring, small bait fish will move into the tangled branches of all these brush piles. The bass and crappie will feed on the bait fish during Spring, Summer, and early fall; find the brush you find the fish. I've known where a lot of these spots are on Smith. Each year I find a few new ones in case someone else is fishing the same areas I'm fishing. Casting a popper in the vicinity of any submerged tree tops will get a reaction from a spotted bass or largemouth at daylight. Getting the fish away from the brush and in open water is a must if you want to touch it!  

The Clouser Marabou Minnows is one streamer that will get some attention from the crappie. The crawfish and leech streamers are streamers I've never tried on Smith. I will connect with some spotted bass and largemouth using both of these streamers. I hope to share a favorable report in the coming months. as to their progress.

Monday will be the only day next week suitable for fishing. The rest of the week is a wash with wind gusts and rain. The surface temp on the lake will be close to 50 degrees which is what it was this past Tuesday. I will be surprised if there will be any surface action, so streamers will be the fly pattern Charles and I will cast. 

 

  

Making the Most Out of Time Well Spent

I couldn’t have asked for a better day to fish the Sipsey this past Friday. The temperature was in the low seventies with overcast skies most of the day. You notice I said most of the day, which meant I was going to give it my best today for the six hours I was given. I feel every time I visit this place I am making up for the lost time in trout fishing. As most of you know I only started fly fishing for trout some ten years ago on the Caney Fork in Tennessee with my son-in-law. Little did I know on this one trip that my fishing perspective would change forever for me? The fly rod now consumes 95% of my fishing experience. The trout on the Sipsey get all my attention now during the late fall and winter months, where in years past I would be fishing for bass on Smith Lake.

I have said this before but I will reiterate it again how I wish I had found the fly fishing passion when I was younger. So every day I am “GIVEN” now is time well spent landing trout like this beauty with its colors all aglow for Christmas.

The water today was high when I arrived at mid-morning. As the day unfolded it begin to reseed. Two generators would be running about an hour before I would leave late afternoon. I’ve learned especially for us older anglers that one doesn’t need to stand an entire wading trip. Snack breaks, fly changes, and a pause just to soak up the beautiful scenery can be excuse enough to find a seat. On the Sipsey those seats come in the form of numerous large boulders scattered up and down the gouge.

This image explains why we as trout fishermen love this sport so much. I could still see vivid colors on its gill plate as it swims back into the fast run it was taken from.

A complete contrast in the color scheme here with this healthy bow; it inhaled the nymph so hard I thought I had hooked a rock. The current was the key to today’s trip; the trout were holding in small seams where there was structure such as rocks and fallen timber. One never knows how the trout will react from day to day on the Sipsey. Today numerous trout were in the mood to inhale a number of patterns I cast their way, which made the day special!!   

Landing Rainbow in Logjams on the Sipsey

I finally made it back to the Sipsey Tuesday to connect with the new stockers that were released in the tailrace a couple of weeks ago. I was met this morning with a slight mist and cooler temperatures in the high 40’s, which is a drastic contrast from the hot humid weather I face here in the summer.

As I was suiting up I was wondering if I should wait to tie on a fly before seeing if there was any type of hatch occurring. I do love to land trout here on top and lately that hasn’t been the case, but that little voice kept telling me to suit up, and fish the nymph. My last outing here had me fishing high water and today was supposed to be different with no generating and the guys at the dam held true to their word, generators off all day.

I begin casting today at a set of logjams that span 30 to 40 yards in fairly deep water up the gorge. The water was super clear making it easy to see my prey with my polarized glasses. This area is not fished heavy, simply because most like to fish in shallower water here. This area has depths of 5 to 6 ft. The trout like to use the logs as cover and dart out and nail a fly pattern as it passes over.

Dead drifting nymphs over the logjams and letting it drop produced this dark-colored rainbow.

A deep cut on the gill plate of this trout tells me that there is more than trout swimming in this tailrace.

 I wish I had been using my video camera for this particular rainbow; lots of air jumps. No way was this trout going to let me whole it for the picture, but it did manage to stay still long enough for me to get this water image shot before it swims away to freedom. I landed a number of trout today, but what really frustrated me was losing so many fish on this outing. I guess it may be time to change from my 3 weight and go with my 4 weight on my next trip.  

Beaver Dams the Hidden Fishing Jewel

Beaver Dams play an important part in the environment we live in. They add to the fish habitat weather it’s in a lake setting, river or small stream.

 This particular beaver dam is a prime obstacle across the spillway in the upper Legion Lake in Montgomery County Mississippi. Any narrow stretch of fast water in a creek, river, or in this case spillway will attract beavers to set up home.

This beaver dam serves not only as a home for a beaver family, but acts as an aquatic food chain for large and small fish. The smaller fish used the dam as a refuge from the larger fish which are always on the prowl for an easy meal. This particular dam has helped to keep the “Stumpy Side” water level, which is what the locals have named the lake, up during the drier summer months. The stumpy side name is derived from the mass of trees that was in the area when it was flooded years ago. All that is left of the trees today on the lake is the actual stumps sticking above the water surface. Thanks to the beavers for keeping this part of Legion a fishing bonanza for lots of crappie, bluegill and monster largemouth?  

My brother and I actually spotted an Eagle on the Legion Lake road one day last year on our way to fish the upper lake. We felt that the eagle was not there by accident; so my brother did some exploring a couple days later and found three huge nests off the banks of the Lake. We hope the majestic birds show up again this year to replenish those nests.

These are huge nest, which got me to wondering if the eagles use the same nest year after year. After doing a little research I found they do use the same nest under certain circumstances.
 

How Important is Fishing Structure

For the past two weeks my buddy and I have been on water, but it was not for the fishing, but it was for the picture taking and marking. When I say marking I mean selecting the great spots for next years fishing spots and knowing the fish will show up for the taking. Ask any lake fisherman and they will tell you that the number thing they look for when fishing is structure. Structure that is marked and with a description is the very best. I have come up with some exceptional structured areas that I think will be hot in the spring. The places I was looking for were down trees with heavy limb structure 4 to 6 ft. high when under water. I don’t need a GPS to do this because all the spots can be marked with a bank reference. I have found that the best way to create a structure folder is to take a picture of the spot when it is exposed on the bank and label it as mark A or # 1 and so on in sequence. I like to type a brief description of the area as to the height of the structure and how far it is off the bank and at what depth the it will be when the lake is at full pool. Take your typed description and tape it on the back of the picture that way you know what it looks like and you also know a little about the area. You need to remember at full pool the lake is going to look completely different as opposed to 12 to 15 ft. below full pool. So all the information you can have at your finger tips when you start to fish in the spring is useful in making a slow trip into a superb trip. All of these marked areas will hold unbelievable amounts of prey fish not to mention the large amounts of feeding fish. This is where the big boys hang out for all their meals. I know that other fisherman may mark these same areas, but I have the advantage over most of those guys. I can go anytime and fish these areas while the other guys are working during the week and only have the weekends to fish. That is the advantage of being retire and free to fish any day of the week. And with 35 to 40 marked locations to fish, I know I am going to hit on at least half with those mean spots ready to kill that fly in the spring. The following pics can you get you some idea of what I look for in structure.

 Huge amount of fallen trees line this bank

excellent area

This tree can be seen when at full pool by the stump on the bank--still good area because of the high limbs

 Again this tree stump can be seen from the bank but it has the potential to produce some quaility fish in the spring

A bonanza here with this boat house completely under water, who know what can be found here---JAWS

I not only like the structure but the sand bars are really good in the spring and summer because of the spawning areas they can produce. These areas are the ones that the big gills seek out to bed on. Keep in mind that the majority of the these fish will come from depths of 10 to 12 ft. up to hit the fly--but in this lake that is not a problem, because you can see 10 to 12 ft. down. I would say that this lake is the clearest in the South.