Natchez Trace,Little Jewel,Branch Streams

I spent last weekend in Mississippi visiting my brother and his wife. Thank goodness this trip occurred before my fall at the gym on the following Monday.
My brother wanted to spend Saturday revising some of the boyhood places we fished in Choctaw County, Mississippi which is where we were born. We find as we get older we like going back in time and reliving those moments in our lives. Our main objective this trip was to connect with some of the streams we fished years ago and hopefully find new ones that could be fished with the fly rod. Sorry to say we didn’t find any small stream that a fly rod would work well on; so on to our backup plan which enabled us to use our low-grade Tenkara rods. When I say low grade that doesn’t mean this rod is cheap in the form of performance but cheap in the wallet. We paid ten bucks each for our Little Jewel telescopic 10 ft. bream poles on clearance last year. These little light rods were the perfect match for the small streams we found throughout the afternoon.  

Fast water drops off into a nice pool here, which had numerous shiners that inhaled our wax worms. The Little Jewel was rigged with a 4lb test line tagged with a trout indicator float and a bb shot above a tiny bream hook. We were hoping to land some colorful sunfish, but none were present in this pool.

The wax worm doubles as a wasp grub; making these shiners take notice. One big drawback to using wax worms is temperature, they need to be kept in the refrigerator when not being used; they die when exposed to warm temps for 4 to 5 hours.

Some of the roadways are lined with creek channels which overflow across the gavel roads during the rainy season.

Nice hole in the bend of Hamrick Branch, which is located right off the Natchez Trace Parkway; fun using the Little Jewel in this pool. Even small shiners can put a bend in this pole.

Another scenic stream off the Natchez Trace Parkway, which probably could have been fished with the fly rod, but at the end of the day I just choose to stay with my newfound Tenkara.

This stream is located just off the parkway with easy access to its sandbars along its banks. Today’s road trip was not about landing a bunch of fish; it was more about time well spent exploring and finding future fishing streams along the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway. As we headed back home we both agreed that today’s outing would have been an excellent field trip for young kids to get in touch with nature.   

Thanks to all you guys for giving me encouragement after my fall last week, the ankle is getting better.

Fishing Deep Slow Runs

Cold fronts, rain, and high winds have kept me off the lakes for the past week so the Sipsey was my go-to fishing fix. The deep runs of the Sipsey were my target for the afternoon trip. With my 9 ft. 3 weight Streamflex in hand I proceeded to wade up the gorge towards the deep channel of the Sipsey.  I was rigged with my dry dropper, in the form of an Adam with a size 18 Midge.  

Boulders and logs dot the bottom in this deep run providing an excellent ambush area for trout to feed.

A hungry midge feeder

Lots of patience and a slow drift was the key to get takes today. The trout were not interested in the dry and were hitting the midge light. At times the take was so light I missed numerous hook sets.

The midge bite slowed so the bead-head nymph took over at the end of the trip. The partial gill plate didn’t stop this bow from attacking the nymph as it floated over a submerged log.

I am thankful I made this trip last week because I had a mishap at the gym Monday that will keep me off the tailrace for some time. I fell leaving the platform area where I walk on the treadmills. I wasn’t watching what I was doing and missed the last step on the platform and turned my ankle and sprained my wrist; both are kind of black and blue. The trainer told me I would not be able to walk on the treadmill for weeks, so staying off this ankle is going to be a boring experience for me. He said the less walking I can do the faster the ankle will heal; really a stupid thing I did, but I have realized I need to pay closer attention to steps from now on.

Restoring Antique Furniture---A Rare Find!!

Antiques have always fascinated Cathey and me. We started collecting antique furniture right after we were married, mainly because we couldn’t afford the high prices of new furniture at the time. We would visit flea markets and find a piece that needed some work and refinishing, bring it home and turn it into a treasure for our house. We were told early on by antique dealers if we changed the cosmetics of the pieces that it would decrease the value of the furniture. The decrease in value didn’t bother us because we wanted something that looked nice and could be restored close to its original appearance. At times we would find a gem in antique shops that needed work and get it at a reasonable price; which was the case of the chester drawers we found in a Murfreesboro Tennessee antique shop back in December of 2015.

I knew this piece was old but didn’t realize the age range until I got it home and did some research through Google. Sorry, I don’t have an image of the appearance of the chester drawers when we bought it. The structure of this piece was good, but the dark aged varnish, broken pieces of veneer on the top and drawer fronts, really turned customers off. This is what it looks like now after I sanded it back to its original wood at the time it was built.

Some work had to be done to get the drawers to fit back flush around the drawer rims, but that was minor compared to getting all the broken veneer off the piece.

Lots of wood species were used back in the early days of furniture building. Poplar, pine, ash, and maple were the woods that were used together to construct a piece of furniture in the early days. As is the case here in this piece, pine was used for the drawer fronts, and poplar was used for the top, sides, legs, and drawers rims for this piece. Walnut, oak, mahogany, and cherry were seldom used together in the construction of furniture in the early days. Those woods were rare and not as plentiful as the ordinary woods. If one found antique furniture in the rare woods you could expect to pay much more money for those pieces. 

I didn’t realize the beauty of the top until I removed all the dark varnish. It was solid popular in excellent condition, now back to its original appearance at construction.

What really attracted me to this chester drawers in the antique shop were the joints used for the construction of the drawers? I knew these dovetail joints were used in early furniture construction but didn’t realize they dated back to the late 1700s. This is not your common dovetail joint which was commonly used throughout the 1800s and even in today’s furniture construction. This dovetail joint was the first used in furniture construction back in colonial days; quite a find for fifty bucks!!!

Stay tuned for its progress as Cathey will apply the stain and varnish to finish it. 

 Image of the same type dovetail joint of a drawer constructed in the 1700s

Testing The Furled Leader

Today I was back on the Sipsey to continue evaluating the furled leader. It passed the test last week as I used it high sticking pocket water. The main characteristic of the leader that really got my attention was its low memory. Once you remove it from the package and give it a slight stretch it is ready to fish without any coiling as opposed to a mono leader. I also noticed that I could control the placement of the tippet much better with this leader mainly because of the added weight of the strands that make up the leader. Also, the grey color of the leader helps me know exactly where my tippet was during the drift through the pocket water; superb leader for high sticking.

For today’s trip, I wanted to see how it would react when nymphing and dries were added to the mix. I arrived late today and had a couple of hours to give it a try. With no hatch occurring I decided to wade into position and let a nymph drift through a small run I hadn’t fished since last year. I was using a size 14 beadhead nymph and begin working it through the run. What I notice almost immediately was how much slower the drift was with this leader. The light 6X tippet stayed in front of the leader throughout the drift. Very little mending was needed because I was just letting the leader/tippet drift with the current. As I made cast after cast I would set the leader/tippet in position at the top of the run and the rest of the way it was on its own drift. I did notice at times the leader would overtake the tippet and fly in the fast sections of the run, but after a quick mend, it would correct itself and continue the drift.

Today was one of those outings that caused me to try numerous nymph patterns until I finally connected with a bow. This was my nymph trout for the day that help prove that this unconventional drift method really worked. Two other trout were missed that helped boost my confidence level.

I moved to another area of the tailrace to cast the leader using a dry fly. There was a small midge hatch occurring in a shaded deep run close to the opposite bank. The trout were surface feeding, but not what I would call aggressively. The midges were tiny so I tied on a size 20 Renegade. The white hackle on the Renegade helped me see the tiny fly much better. I was downstream from the hatch activity and casting upstream into the feeding zone. In other words, I wanted to see how the leader performed on a downstream drift coming back to me. As I made numerous cast upstream, I kept noticing how light the tiny little fly would touch the water. As the fly touched the water I would watch as the dry would float back above the leader/tippet without any mending, this I liked. The takes were always close to the spot where the trout were feeding. Using a 4 ½ ft. tippet enable me to get the fly in the feeding area without the furled leader being noticed; I was spot casting. I discovered this technique while watching videos from Jonathan Barnes, who uses the furled leader for all his fly fishing techniques. This downstream drift was my favorite technique I tried today and is one I will continue to use on future trips.



This rainbow along with others landed and lost was brought to the net using the downstream technique. I let this rainbow have the Renegade, which was deep in its throat. I hope it will survive to fight another day.   

High Sticking in Pocket Water

I wanted to try my new furled leader out today, so no generating and off I went to the Sipsey. I forgot it was a holiday weekend, so that explained all the vehicles in the parking area and on the side of the road for a weekday. This didn’t discourage me, because I knew exactly what I was going to do; use the high sticking method on some of the pocket water I normally fish with a mono leader mending technique. 

The video below shows some of the trout I landed using the High Sticking technique in this one particular hole which is about 5 ft. deep. A couple of boulders on both sides of the hole caused fast current in the seam and at the end of the hole, a swirl of back current creates the pocket. By starting the nymph drifting at the mouth of the hole, through the middle and into the back swirl; I got the maximum attention of the trout, which were settled in a depth of 4 to 4 ½ ft. I was using a 6 ft. furl leader with 5 ft. of 6X tippet, the tippet was the part of the leader that got the work. The water was super clear, so the lighter tippet made for more action.

P.S. I am using a new program call Handbrake to increase the volume on my videos now, it works great and I hope this is an improvement from my volume in the filleting video.

I'll use today’s trip as another learning experience in my quest to become a better trout fisherman!!  

Prepping for my 2016 Bluegill Quest

I spent most of the day Tuesday on Walker County Lake trying to land some super size gills. The weather didn’t disappoint with sunny skies warm temps; the only downer was tremendous wind out of the south for the better part of the day. In fact, the wind was so strong I spent the majority of my time fishing up and down the levee where I could avoid the wind gust.

The levee had fish on it in the form of the native Red-Eyed Bass, and some nice bluegill that wouldn’t make the quest but provide some nice table fare.

I was not surprised that there was activity on top in the 62-degree water because last year I landed Red Eye Bass here in 58-degree water. They nailed the Bullet Boogle Bug popper often throughout the day; a lot of fun on the 4 weight.

This is a beautiful lake in the early spring, but it turns nasty and in fact, downright ugly when the fertilizing starts. I only have 4 or 5 weeks to fish it before it turns slim green like pea soup.

This was a colorful gill but it won’t make the cut for the quest. I landed numerous bluegills today but all were too small to count. I did bring home eight for a fish fry. The bluegill above produced four fillets. (A future post on how to get four fillets from a bluegill this size) Notice the rubber legs of the Bullet Boggle sticking out of its mouth. This was the only bluegill on top, all the rest were taken on the Black Gnat. Today was a good start for good things to come from this lake.

How to Fillet an Average Size Bluegill



The following video will explain how I fillet all the bluegills I keep for meals throughout the year. Sorry for the angle on the video, I forgot to check the lens rim before I started filming. It was turned slightly and caused the video to show up with an angle. You can hear the video much better if you use a headset or earplugs; aside from my technical problems, I think I got the message across.

This is the recipe my wife uses to prepare the fillets for a fantastic meal.

1. Mix fillets in yellow mustard. Roll in Zatarain Fish Seasoning mix.
2. Place fillets on a cooking sheet that is sprayed with PAM. Spray the top of fillets with PAM; bake on 450 for about 6-7 minutes. Turn fillets over and spray again with PAM, bake for another 6-7 minutes. Time will vary as to how brown or crispy you want the fish.

How to prepare French Fries
1. Cut up fries and place them on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with PAM. Spray the top of fries with PAM and sprinkle seasoning salt and lemon pepper seasoning. Bake 450 for about 20 minutes. Turn fries over half-way through the cooking and spray again with PAM.

How to prepare Slaw
1. Use a blender to chop the cabbage and carrots. Drain and add mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and a little honey mustard mix and chill before serving.

2. Slice fresh garden tomatoes and slice can elope or banana pepper—all of these items are optional, but they help add a zest to the meal. Of course all fillets can be touched with tartar sauce and fries with ketchup.

The bluegills or crappie fillets have no bones left in them. One thing I like to do with the fillets before they are either frozen or baked is to let them set in saltwater overnight. I have found that this will soak all the blood out of the meat and it gives the fillets a fresher taste. The fillets the next day are snow white. At this time you can either freeze the fillets in a ziplock bag with water or prepare for a meal. The water is added to the fillets to give them a fresh taste.

Fishing  for me would not be nearly as much fun if my wife and I didn’t enjoy eating some of the fish I catch. Give the fillets a try I think you will be surprised how well you will like the baked versus the fried. By the way for an added kick add a Coors Light to wash them down.

What's for supper Grandpa???

Landing Super Size Gills Using Tiny Poppers Fishing with Jason



My son Jason and I spent Friday afternoon fishing size 14 mini poppers on Walker County Lake. That was the norm all afternoon fishing tiny poppers in super clear water landing some nice size gills. All were worthy of keeping for table fare.

Even the Red Eye Bass were into the tiny poppers. I really enjoy landing these fish on a 3 weight. They never stop with the acrobatic stunts

Good size for the fillet knife; Jason’s 3 weight got quite a workout for the afternoon landing numbers in this size. He will be leaving Sunday morning flying back to Sacramento for work Monday. Tomorrow will be his trip to the Sipsey. He won’t make it back to Jasper again until Christmas. What a joy it is for me to get to fish with one of our children when they are home; brings back so many fond memories.

 

The little chartreuse popper was perfect in the clear water, because of its delicate landing on the water surface. We tried larger poppers, but they would scare the fish as soon as they landed on the surface. The fishing pressure on this lake is heavy, making the fish extremely weary.

Spring is here for sure as this pine tree can attest to!!!

Guys believe it or not but there is an Eagle in that mass of pine needles; we tried to get closer but as we did it when airborne.

What a thrill to see our first Eagle on Walker County Lake; a great way to end a successful bluegill outing.

Battling Gusting Winds on the Sipsey

I have fished in windy conditions a number of times on the Sipsey but this past Wednesday had to be the worst. I met Jay at the Pump Station parking lot around 10:30. I have followed his blog “The Naturalist’s Angle” for a number of years. It was good to see him again and get to fish with someone who loves fly fishing as much as I do. The water level on the Sipsey has been up and down for the past months, and today we knew we would be fishing high water. In fact, we waited for a half-hour to get to fish at a suitable level.

The wind was blowing so strong out of the south that it was difficult to get a good drift at times. We did see some limited midge action after lunch in some calm water closer to the banks that proved productive using smaller dries.

Jay landed the first rainbow dead drifting a size 18 beadhead midge pattern in somewhat calm water. All the trout taken today were in the stocker size, which was a lot of fun on our 3 weights. One can really diminish the excitement of landing smaller fish on the Sipsey if they are using anything above a 3 weight. Most of the trout caught here are 12” and under; one very seldom lands trout in the 15” range and above. 13” to 15” are considered special here.

I started the topwater action midafternoon after seeing a small hatch in some calm water just off the opposite bank from me. This rainbow nailed the size 20 dry in fast action. We both lost numerous trout during the afternoon because of a slow hook set; these trout were fast!!! We continued to land trout on top right up to the horn sounding telling us it was time to leave. This was the first time Jay has had the opportunity to fish the Sipsey up close and have success. Do you think he might be coming back???

    

Using Your Chest Pack as a Rod Holder

Every time I’m on the tailrace I keep reminding myself I need to share my latest find with you guys. I know some of you may already know about using your chest pack as a rod holder; when you are standing in waist or knee-deep water trying to change flies or even changing out tippets. I have been fishing in knee-deep water many times wanting to change flies but didn’t want to move and disturb the water I was fishing. I discovered last year the chest pack I was using was much more than an accessory pack.

The fly rod will rest in a perfect horizontal position when it is positioned behind the neck strap connected to the pack and pushed down behind the pack touching your chest. 

I changed from the fly fishing vest to the chest pack a few years ago. I found that I really didn’t need to carry the store in the vest with me to fish for three or four hours. I wanted something lighter and compact so the chest pack became my go-to storage bag.

One can fork out quite a bit of money for chest packs and vests. The pack I am using is the White River brand on sale now for 18.00 bucks for the large size and 15.00 bucks for the small size.

Big rains here today will continue to keep me off the tailrace for weeks.  

Ledasink Leader Sinkant

Rain, rain and more rain for the past couple of days has pushed the water level on Smith Lake up 5 feet. Trout fishing will be put on whole and crappie fishing will have to take its place if the weather cooperators for next week. In the meantime I will continue to do a few yard chores, gym time, blogging with you guys and watching fly fishing videos.

Some time ago I did a post that featured one of Jonathan Barnes videos, at that time I told you guys that I had become a huge fan of his fly fishing videos. I don’ want you all to think I am getting free fly fishing merchandise from his website for plugging his video's I am not. I just want to share his expertise in fly fishing with you, mainly because he conveys a lot of information in each segment. If you are interested in hearing background music in his videos you will probably have to look elsewhere. Nature and water sounds along with him adding his take about the segment his wife is what you will get.

I’m going to give the Ledasink leader sinkant a try that Jonathan was using in this segment to sink his tippet tip while fishing the CDC pattern; anything to improve one’s catch ratio is worth trying. Hope you enjoy In The Ring of The Fire

This video below shows how to fish pocket water where fish whole behind small boulders. The Sipsey and the Canery have this same cover as many of the waters you guys fish.

For much stronger video sound use earplugs  



First Trout For 2016

Finally, I get to fish the Sipsey again; December the 15^th.  2015 was my last trip. We had 2” of rain in Jasper Monday and I figured that the generators would be running full blast all week. Wow, was I surprised when I checked the generating schedule Wednesday. Thursday and Friday would be free of generation. I picked Friday, 70 degrees a little overcast and a slight wind would hopefully trigger some activity for me.
Apparently everyone else thought Friday was the day too; didn’t make me no never mind, I was going to fish!!

I was anxious to try out my new Prestige Plus fly line from Cabelas. I also want to see how effective the furled leader works fishing it on a downstream retrieve. I’ve never fished this type of leader, and understand from information I’ve read it really enhances a dry flies drift. I was ready to accept the fact that I would be changing leaders to fish the nymph and dry throughout the afternoon. I won’t complain if it improves my catch ratio.

Nymphs are my go-to pattern on the Sip, so the nymph was tied on and I was off to access 5. All the heavy rains had changed the color of the water to aqua green.

Numerous stockers were brought to hand this afternoon using my 9 ft. 3 weight StreamFlex which made me think at times I was landing 12” trout. I talk to one guy who was landing the stockers using a 6 weight----way OVERKILL!!

A guide trip in progress right below me, four fly fishermen above me and more on up the gorge; plenty of company.

This fatty put up quite a fight before I finally netted it. I thought I was going to lose this fish, because I kept thinking my 6X was going to break with each hard run it would make. 

Unusual markings on this little guy---I am wondering if this is a rainbow, what do you guys think??

The only downer for this trip were the coils I kept experiencing all afternoon forming at my feet; I am going to assume I spooled the line on wrong. I kept hoping I would get a chance to try out my new furled leader but no surface activity was present the entire afternoon. I was told by one guy that the hatch occurred early morning, so guess when I will be back? --------as if I needed a reason to come back!!!

Revisiting my Big Bluegill Site

I know many of you save your favorite sites especially those that deal with fishing. I have numerous fishing sites that I have saved over the years. Every so often usually once a year I update the sites and discard the ones I don’t visit anymore and revisit a few that catches my attention. While organizing yesterday, I found my old bluegill site that I created back in 2010 on Big Bluegill Website. I noticed while visiting the site they had given it a new look but still keep the same format. The site now shows the number of individuals who are visiting while you are logged in which I like.

I decided I would reacquaint myself with the group so I did a short post on my Pelican Boat I purchased in 2014. I also updated all of my images. The website is similar to a fishing forum and the closest I will ever get to a Face book type page. One can just post an image with a comment similar to Face book and get a quick comment.

I hope to post a few of my bluegill outings there this season which begins in a few weeks.