Adding a Little Variety to The Fly Fishing Mix

I have always been a fly fisherman who changes flies often if the bite is slow. On Wednesday I had a chance to put the fly flipping process into practice after the sun appeared. I was fishing Smith trying to improve on my bluegill quest for this season. Daylight is the best time to land all species of fish on Smith; after the sun comes up I start experimenting with different poppers sizes and colors. I guess the appearance of the sun on Smith is a signal to the better fish to go deep and wait for an unusual fly pattern to light on the surface to get their attention.

This bull is the first of the morning headed for the baking pan. Four fillets coming from this fish with the fixings are an awesome meal. He fell prey to the Bar Nunn popper which worked really well before the sun appeared. I landed this fish on my 5 weight which was the backup to my broken 4 weight. I hope to have the 4 back next week.

This early morning gill nailed the white Bar Nunn popper right before the sun appeared over the treetops.  

Where do the bluegills go after they spawn? Deepwater and the ones on Smith hang out around the rock walls such as those in the image above. They spend more time on the rock walls than they do on the spawning beds throughout the year. I have caught big bluegill that regurgitated small shrimp while landing them. Those shrimp are located in the cracks of the big rocks and boulders located on the rock walls. The freshwater shrimp is the magnet that draws the bluegill to the rocks.

 In the Deep South, the bluegill spawn occurs at least 5 times from April through August. The full moon is the indicator for the spawn for each month during a given year. The bluegills are most active four days before the full moon and four days after the full moon. They will eat anything that is placed near their spawning beds during those 8 to 10 days. Cold fronts will drive the fish off the beds during the early spring months, but they reappear after a few days of warm weather. Knowing the full moon phases is critical during the bluegill spawning time. The rock wall above is one of my favorite walls to fish when the spawn is inactive.

When the white popper faded, the yellow landed a few; patience is the key when fishing the walls, sometimes the popper would sit motionless for 15 to 20 seconds before a light hit occurred.

After the sun appears expect smaller gills, such as this colorful sunfish, that took the Muddler Moth; an obvious throwback to catch next year.

Alan’s dry was also in use, with the 3 weight as the casting tool.

A few bass were hitting the dries as well as the bluegill. This spot put up quite a fight pulling against the 3 weight. Numerous dries and poppers were used this morning, some produced and others didn't work on this outing. Those that didn't work today may prove to be winners next time out. I didn't count any bluegill today for the quest.

  A Side Note: My wife and I put our house on the market last week with a local real-estate agency here in Jasper. We will be moving to Springhill Tennessee as soon as it sells. Hopefully, it will sell before school starts on August 1^st.

We want to be closer to our grandchildren and watch them grow up. They are at that fun age now of 7, 5, and 2. Our daughter and son-in-law have been wanting us to move closer to them for the past 3 years, so we have decided it is time; neither of us is getting any younger. I have already checked out the fishing spots in the area and there are many. The Caney Fork is near, which I intend to fish often over the coming years.

Landing Rainbow on the Caney Fork

Fishing the Caney Fork Tailrace is the ultimate in tailrace fishing, because of its beauty and of course the amount of rainbow and browns one can land during an outing. I got to experience its beauty and its quality trout on Wednesday of this week, fishing with one of my blogging buddies David Knapp. A big thank you to David for helping me learn the tailrace much better and what fly patterns worked best this time of the year. I wanted to learn how to effectively read the productive water and eliminate the so-called dead water; mission accomplished.

A quality rainbow that put quite a bend in my 4 wt. 9 ft. My 4 weight took a beating, breaking off 2 inches at the tip. I was trying to set the hook and the nymph flew back and hit the tip of the rod and broke the tip. Something that probably happens 1 in 10000 times, really weird. Redington will replace the rod for free.

  One of the better rainbows of the day that inhaled the nymph; of the four tailraces, I have fished since I started trout fishing the Caney is my favorite. The gravel bottom makes for easy wading and super clear water lets you know where the trout are feeding.

  

The Pond---Boyhood Memories

I have often wondered at times what hobby I would have taken up if my Dad and yes my Mom hadn’t shown my brothers and me the joy of fishing. When I say my Mom, I should explain; I can remember my younger brother and I fishing with our Mom in the three-acre pond located near our house. I was six and my brother was four and we love the outdoors especially when it involved fishing. My Dad would cut cane poles from the cane break located below the dam of the pond each year for us to fish with. By the end of the fall, we had broken the tips off of one or sometimes both poles, so we would use Mother’s cane pole to finish the season. These were not your ordinary cane poles; they were designed to withstand a heavy catfish and sometimes a stocky largemouth bass. Dad would use a piece of tape to attach the end of a mono light from the midsection of the pole and wrap it around the pole all the way to the end leaving at least 10 ft. of mono to fish with. The tape was wrapped every foot to whole the line in place on the pole. Dad would tell us that the tape served as the guides, although none were there my brother and I never knew the difference. I can still see the green tape on those poles. With poles in hand, we would follow Mother to the pond at least once a week. That was the highlight of our week getting to go to the pond and catch bluegill and catfish. Our other highlight was getting to go swimming on the weekends with our older brother who worked at my Dad’s sawmill during the week. My Dad had bought him a green 52 Ford Sedan, and he would always carry it to the pond on weekends to wash it and get it spic and span for his Saturday night date. My brother and I would help him wash the car and then get to go swimming with him afterward. The pond is where both of us learn to swim before we were seven.

The swimming was fun but our favorite was the cane pole fishing we did with our Mom and our Dad who would fish with us on some weekends. Owning and operating the local sawmill took up most of his time; so when we got to fish with Dad, it was exceptional because then only then were we allow in the boat. Dad would paddle us around the edge of the pond letting us fish every stump with our cane pole rigged with a grasshopper and bobber. During the boat excursions were when we thought we were fishing on a huge lake; the boat added that imagination for two young boys willing to listen and follow every word Dad was telling us as we meandered around the edge of the pond. The thrill of landing bluegill and catfish around most every stump brought out the excitement in both of us. Those are memories I will never forget because the pond is where I found my life long hobby. It is also where my younger brother who is gone now, but not forgotten found his as well. My Dad and Mom use the pond as a teaching tool not only for fishing time but for quality time spent with the family as well. Numerous picnics, church baptizing, and holiday outings were spent at the pond. No computers, internet, twitter, or television, to entertain just the pond, times were good!!!

This image was taken this past fall showing all that is left of the once large pond, we enjoyed as young boys. Erosion and tree lines have filled in large portions of the water's edge. The spring that feeds the pond is still active and is all that sustains the water level now.