The Memories This 60 Year Old Cypress Boat Holds

Every once in awhile someone, something, or an event brings back some great memories. This week was one of those times when I made a visit to my brothers and his wife in Mississippi. That something was a boat that my brother designed and built with the help of his older brother over 60 years ago. My brother has been restoring this boat for the past year, repairing the bottom and the ends which had deteriorated over the years. The boat was still in use just over 10 years ago, but the leaks got so bad that he finally stored it in his shop until he had time to restore it. This past week was the finished date. If this boat could only talk; the stories, the amount of fish pulled over its side, the places it was launched and the waters it has floated would fill hundreds of pages. Now the boat will be passed down to the next generation when my brother’s son will inherit it to use with his fly rod on some of the small streams and lakes in the Tupelo Mississippi area. The work that my brother has put into this boat is amazing and the result is a unique solid wood vessel that can not be duplicated. I know my Nephew will take care of the boat and in turn, pass it down to one of his sons. 

The ends are solid popular with 1/2" western cedar inlaid over the popular on both ends

The sides are solid 1" by 12" cypress 12 ft. long
All the rids inside the boat are popular

The two paddles are the original paddles that were used with the boat when it was built. The cypress seats rest perfectly on the two side stabilizers which are white oak

We launched the boat on Legion Lake late Thursday afternoon and not a leak anywhere. The catwalk in the bottom of the boat is the original 1/2" white oak strips--in fact, all the wood is original except for the ends which rotted away over the years.

The boat has three stabilizers strips on the bottom which is attached with brass screws. The bottom is 1/4" marine plywood which is original. The stabilizers help keep the boat more stable on the surface of the water. An original for sure and a boat that will still be creating memories for years to come. 

Chasing Trout With the 3 Wt. in Alabama

The Tailrace has finally got to the point where the average trout fisherman can wet a fly. Notice I said average or intermediate that is what I still consider myself as far as trout fishing in concerned. In my opinion I want make it to the advance stage until I can master nymph fishing much better. For today’s outing I tied on my favorite dry for this area which is the Griffiths Gnat in size 18 or 20. This little fly seems to always produce because most of the time the hatch is similar to its pattern. With a little floatant applied it will float high for quick a while. I arrived around 9 AM to find half dozen vehicles at the parking lot. After suiting up and pulling on my new Korkers wading boots I proceeded to the walk-in area and to my surprise there was no one to be seen. I just stood there for a few minutes and view the beauty of the place. The sounds of the birds, the scent of the forest, and the beauty of the moss on the rock beneath the water made me realize I am lucky to have a place like this in Alabama to fish. In fact it is the only place in the State to trout fish. I was using my 9 ft. 3 wt. Streamflex for the first time for trout and I was looking forward to least a hook up. There was no activity on top in the area so I move up stream until I saw some trout rising on the far bank. I fish the area for about 10 minuets and lost a couple of bows I should have landed, simple because I was late on hook set. I move close to the dam itself and finally connected with a bow on the Griffiths. It was my first trout with the 3 wt. and well worth the effort. The top action diminished shortly after I landed the bow and I switched to a size 18 scud  nymhing with little success. The guys I talk to on the way up to the dam area were either landing none or had landed one or two. I did notice that the flow was not as fast as it usually is and we all agreed if there had been more current the fishing would have been better. For me it was a good for me to be back on the tailrace for a few hours even with limited success.  

The lack of current with the glass surface made it difficult to connect--really needed some flow to cut down on glare.

Glad to bring this one to hand--hope things will improve as far as flow is concerned next trip--I am still working on image quality as you can see even if I didn't take the picture

Walking the Banks in Pursue of Super Size Bluegills

Today was supposed to be a trip on Smith fishing for the Spots and Largemouth bass but the weather took over at daybreak and washed the trip out. So the next thing to do was to keep to my schedule and go to the gym and wait and see if the weather cleared so I could at least get a quickie trip in the afternoon. As it worked out there were scattered showers most of the day and into the afternoon, and I hate to be on the water in a boat when it thunders and lighting. I did go, but with limited resources, such as my boat, which is a big factor on Smith when it comes to landing fish.  I decided I would try something I have never done at Smith, fish from the bank, with the fly rod and one of my blogger poppers. It proved to be effective landing some of the monster bluegills in the spillway area of the lake. Placing the number 8 popper against the rock walls brought some nice hits. The bluegills were scattered and the hit would come after the popper had sit motionless for at least 15 to 30 seconds. I know that it takes patience to wait this long for the hit but I realized I was fishing in water at least 40 ft. deep and the fish had to have time to see the offering. As luck would have it my patience paid off and I did get in about hour of fishing before the rain set in again. By the way this is will add to my total of 100 bluegills in a 6 week spawning period. I am now 83 away from reaching my goal.

 These four will add to my total--lots of fun on the 9ft. 3wt. Streamflex, notice the size of the gill in the center

This is the bluegill in the center of the image above. I forgot my camera so all these images were taken after I got back home from the spillway--really frustrating forgetting the camera