President Carter a Fly Fisherman??

Cathey and I and our good friends Clyde and Gloria decided to make a trip to Plains Georgia this past weekend to attend Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school class. He usually conducts a class a few times a month at his small church just off the main highway going through Plains. He is still a very active former President at age 90.

This picture was taken just outside the church right after the service was concluded. There was quite a line of individuals waiting to have their picture taken with Mr. Jimmy as some call him there in Plains. It's not everyday one gets to shake the hand of a former President. We all felt really honored to be in his presence.

Maranatha Baptist Church is packed on Sundays when the former President is in attendance.

The family home where Mr. Jimmy spent his early years

Air condition in the winter and plenty of heat in the summer

Chicken House

Family store ran by Mr. Jimmy’s father

 

Main Street of Plains with all the stores restored to their original state. President Carter helped restore all the buildings with generous donations over the years.

One of the many freestone streams located in the mountains of Ellijay Georgia where the former President and his wife own a cabin. He still fly fishes in the area and he stills ties his own flies. I asked to see some of his flies in one of the stores we visited but I was told by the individual behind the counter that all his flies are auctioned off and not on display. Most of his flies go at auction for as much as 200.00 or more and all the money goes to the needy in the community of Plains.

 

Mr. Jimmy is also an accomplished woodworker, in fact, he has built a lot of the furniture that is in their modest ranch-style home in Plains.  He and Rosalynn are still active in Habitat for Humanity, which helps individuals in need of shelter because of natural disasters.

I will end this post by saying after meeting the former President, I feel there is still hope for all of use older guys who feel we may be over the hill; at 90 this man is truly remarkable!!!

Fishing with my Mico- Light Spinning Rod to Land Catfish!!

For those of you who haven’t try fishing a microlight spinning rod then you are missing out on some fantastic ultra-light action. I have been using these type of rods for years, when I use them to land crappie and bluegill some ten years ago. Of course, that was before I started using the fly rod, which all you know has taken precedence over all my other reels and rods.

I have to admit there are times though that I stray away from the fly rod, and this past week was one of those times. I decided to use my microlight spinning rods to go after some of the channel and blue catfish on Smith my home lake. Fishing the rock walls during the late summer and into the fall can be an excellent time to land some quality catfish. The catfish on Smith tend to feed early and late in the evening, so my trip this past week was a daylight outing fishing nothing but the rock walls tight-lining at depths of 20 to 30 feet down.

Find a rock wall like the one in the above image and most of the time you find catfish, especially if the wall has an overhanging muscadine vine near it, the catfish devour those when they are in season.

A healthy channel cat using my 7 ½ ft. microlight.

My 7 ½ ft. microlight spinning rod paired with the Pflueger President XT spinning reel which spools 4 to 6 lb. test line. Today I was using my 6 lb. test extra spool which came with the reel. The balance on this combo parallels the balance I go for on my fly rod combos, super light, and sensitive.

Gulp catfish chunks split into and served up on a size 12 true turn hook; I know most everyone fishes for catfish using heavier equipment, but I prefer the challenge and fight that this fish will give one using an inferior combo and in this case the microlight works to perfection for me. In fact, it is the closest I can get to my fly rod on trips like today.

Every once in awhile a spot will nail the gulp chunk which is another challenge for the microlight that it passes. I ended the morning with 5 catfish all basically the same size as my post image and the one spot. The spot got its freedom, but the catfish were not so lucky. My wife and I seldom eat fried meals, but we make an exception when it comes to fresh catfish fillets.