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!!

Going Light on The Sipsey

I’ve been waiting about a week to make today’s trip to the Sipsey because my game plan was to go super light using my new 7 ½ ft. 2 weight. I purchase the fly rod mainly to fish in the Smokies, but I decided I would use it today to break it in on the Sipsey rainbow. June of last year was the last time that I wet a fly in the Sipsey since we moved to Tennessee.  

Upon arrival, I found one other truck, so I knew I would have the place pretty much to myself most of the afternoon. The skies were a crystal blue with a slight breeze out of the northeast most of the afternoon. I entered the gorge at access six and saw no surface movement, so most of the afternoon was spent fishing nymphs. I did manage to take a few trout on top but I think the trout were annoyed with the presence of the fly as opposed to really eating the fly. The drift had to be near perfect to get a take on any pattern. I’m really glad I had numerous boulders to sit on because I did a lot of experimenting with different patterns most of the afternoon. A lot of fun takes and a lot of trout lost today.

This was the size trout today that broke the 2 weight in on its first outing. I kept wondering on the way home why I missed a lot of takes today; could be slow reflex and learning to fish a lighter fly rod. Whatever it was I enjoyed the afternoon on one of my favorite tailraces.

Special!!

Childhood Memories

Cathey and I made a trip a few weeks ago that really brought back a lot of childhood memories. We were in Bryson City North Carolina getting ready to ride the Great Smoky Mountain Train Express through parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains. The scenery on the train ride was spectacular along the Nantahala River, but what really got my attention was the huge Lionel Train display in Bryson City. The display was a theme recreation of the ’50s and 60’s complete with a working drive-in theater and numerous other displays that were present in those early years. I spent over an hour filming and talking to the conductor of the six trains that were running and viewing the hundreds of models that Lionel has on display there. The little model train sets my brother and I played with back in the day were not on this level. 



Exploring Another New Lake

The Shellcracker Lake near Columbia was my target lake this past Tuesday to explore. One drawback to this lake is no grass area to slide the Pelican into the water. Lots of concrete including the launch ramp; lucky for me there were a lot of fishermen there to help me get it launched. The polyurethane material this boat is made of will not take concrete slides often.

This is a 75-acre lake nestled in a deep wide valley with a huge dam holding back a flood of water. After getting on the water I counted 16 other boats scattered around the banks. I found out really quick that the majority of fishermen were fishing for the spawning bluegill. The big difference between me and them was the fishing technique. Again I was the only one using the fly rod, while the rest were using the crickets and worms. The live bait fishermen were landing lots of bluegill and catfish. I did manage to find one small spawning group of gills located near the base of some small maple trees that were willing to give the 3 weight a workout. Bluegill will sometimes spawn in very unlikely places and this group was located under the overhanging branches of the trees; presenting a bait of any kind was a challenge for any angler. Using a low side cast help me connect with the fish. I counted four orange corks tangled in the branches that didn’t make the connection.

I landed a couple of small bass holding in the back of this nook. Other boats were waiting in the wings to give the area a try.

Blooming dogwoods signals crappie season in the south!

I worked hard to land this bluegill from under the maple branches. In fact, I was impressed with my placement of the popper to attract a strike. Time after time the Bar Nunn popper hit its mark to hook up with this group of spawning bluegills. This is a good bull bluegill, but I’m still looking for the really big gills. I hope I can land a few before the spawning season is over.

Making up for Lost Time

I can’t believe it’s been nearly seven months since I’ve fished from my Pelican boat. Too many things too mention have kept me off the water, with moving and relocating to a new town and house as being the major obstacle.

This past Wednesday was my day for me to relax and take in the beauty of Laura Hill Lake in Lawrenceburg. I spent the better part of five hours reacquainting myself with my Redington and exploring areas that I know will hold fish in the coming months. Simply put; it was good to just be back on the water after a long hiatus. 

Laura Hill is surrounded by rolling hills and numerous nooks loaded with subsurface fallen trees; which is the ultimate fish attractor. I got some strange looks today using the fly rod. The lake caretaker told me no one fished the lake with the fly rod. That bit of information really got my attention.

I landed numerous gills this size today; all were taken using the Barr Nunn popper around the fallen trees in water 55 degrees. The bigger bluegills were still in the deeper water and won’t move into the shallows until the water temps reach the low sixties. A good workout for the 3 wt. 9 ft. and the guy who was placing the popper!! 

Fishing McCutcheon Creek for Rainbow

Fishing McCutcheon Creek near our home in Spring Hill last week brought back memories of fishing some of the warm water streams in Mississippi years ago as a boy. Those early years found me using a cane pole and worms landing sunfish and catfish in a lot of the streams I fished there. Last week I was armed with my 3 weight Redington; ready to land a few stocker rainbows. I notice I was the only one using a fly rod. There were a lot of eager fishermen waiting with a spinning rod and reel ready to “clean plow” fishing the small stream. The majority of the 150 trout that were stocked on that Friday were all caught and taken home for a meal by the fishermen at the end of the day.

The trout were released in 2 to 3 ft. depths

Nothing like seeing the thrill  on a child's face once they land a fish

Colton with his first rainbow on the fly rod---congrats Colton on a job well done!!

Colton help me land numbers of rainbow this size, all were release for other kids to enjoy

Colton with his Dad Wesley after they landed this huge rainbow using the spinning reel and a crappie nibblet as bait. Colton's dad told me he had never fished for trout before. We watched it swim away after a hero shot.

Ken, the Hatchery director told me when they arrived that he bought 10 of these big fish for the young kids to land. What made me really sick was seeing 4 of these big trout in metal nets dead caught by adults. A lot of metal nets were filled with trout before I left for lunch. The practice of catch and release was not in place on this day!!! 

McCutcheon Creek

Cathey and I at Flintville Hatchery

Cathey and I recently spent an afternoon in the little community of Flintville Tennessee.  It’s an area in Tennessee with beautiful rolling hills, deep ravines, and small clear streams. All of the above characteristics in this little community contribute to one of the oldest fish hatcheries in the state of Tennessee. Numerous clear springs are located at the bottom of the ravines, which provide the cold water to keep all the rainbow trout alive in the Flintville Trout Hatchery. The director told us that the water is harness from nine springs and pumped through the indoor tanks and outdoor concrete trays. The indoor tanks whole the smaller trout from ¾” to 3” fingerlings: while 300 yards of concrete trays 6 ft. wide 2 to 3 ft. deep outdoors house the largest trout. The outdoor trout range from 4” to 12” in size. Once the trout reach the 12” size then they are transferred to Tim’s Ford tailrace and warm water streams in a 100-mile radius of the hatchery. There are numerous warm water streams in middle Tennessee that receive rainbow trout during the months of December, January, February, and March. During those months the water temp is cold enough to sustain life for the hundreds of rainbow that are release in the streams. Very few trout survive after April once the water temps move into the upper 60’s. In fact, most are caught before the temperature takes a toll on them.

  This is my second trip to a fish hatchery and today’s visit was the better of the two. The director made the visit very informative and interesting during the hour tour. I am sure most of you have toured a hatchery before, but for those of you who haven’t, it is worth the time spent. 

Numerous indoor tanks containing the smaller rainbow

Sorry for the reflection--thousands of tiny rainbow, most still have the egg yoke attach to their stomach--these tiny trout will be twelve inches in a year

Quite a find, a smaller tank inside with albino trout

Yards of outdoor concrete trays containing larger trout--a lot of these trays had screens on them

  Feeding time, quite a frenzy!!!

This trip really got me pumped for the coming season; this post is part one. In the coming weeks, I will share with you'll part 2 fishing McCutcheon Creek in Spring Hill where some of the trout was stocked today. I live about four miles from the warm water stream.

Fulfilling a Request

I enjoy looking at outdoor pictures, especially those posted by fellow bloggers. Howard at Windknots and Tangled Lines has shared some great blog images from his recent post. In his response to my comment about the post, he suggested that everyone should do a post like his image post. So I’m going to be the first blogger to fulfill his suggestion. I hope the rest of you guys will submit an “image post” in the coming days as well.

Beautiful rainbow was taken from the crystal clear waters of the Sipsey, I will miss fishing this outstanding tailrace.

Charles and I at our last Troutfest

Kyle was one of my former students, who love to fly fish

Viewing the set of Dances With Wolves out west a couple of summers ago. This western in my opinion was the greatest western ever made; as most of you know I am a HUGE western fan!!

My fishing buddy Ivan; love to watch him make those roll cast under the many overhanging branches on Smith Lake

Our first snow in Spring Hill this year---I've recorded 16 different bird species feeding at my feeders

Blogger David Knapp on the Caney enjoyed my day fishing with David 

Monster bull bluegill was taken last year

Vintage cypress boat, built by my older brothers, one who is no longer with us, but still in memory in this boat

How could I forget Jenny's big catfish

What can I say!!

I still remember this spotted bass

B.T. with one of his best bows from the Caney last year

So many memories from this little pond; located a short distance from our house where my family lived. This little pond is where my brother and I learned to fish catching large bluegill using redworms and grasshoppers for bait. 

Jason home for a short time, a couple of years ago, he loved to fish Smith

The Crystal Mill located in Carbondale west of Denver

Special Grandchildren!!

The bluegill hunter will soon be on the water

Jason and I fishing the Caney a couple of years ago

My older brother who is in bad health now and will never make any more fishing trips--this image was taken from one of many trips I made with him crappie fishing on his home lake in Winona Miss.

Guys I had a lot of fun sorting through hundreds of images from my hard drive to put this post together, brought back a lot of memories

Got to Admire This Little Guy!!

This video proves why it is so important to take a child fishing!!!