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



Back on Smith Lake for Some Boogle Bug Action

Guys sorry I am a little behind on posting, but I have been on the water for the past couple of days. Thursday was a wash out for my son and me at Walker County Lake. I forgot when I scheduled our trip for Monday that it is Spring Holidays here in the state and the lake was covered up. When you have 20 plus boats on a 160 acre lake and all the bank fishermen to boot, then you have too many fishermen per area. My son manage to land four small bluegills and a small bass and that was the extent of the trip. Dad didn’t even score. We left after a couple of hours.

Now for today’s trip on Smith; the Boogle Bugs as usual were the choice for the 9 ft. 5 wt Redington. One of my fishing buddies went with me today and we landed some nice Spots and one nice largemouth. The bass were hitting light in water temps around 68. The number 6 Boogle Bugs are the best weapon right now to get the attention of the slow hitters. It was a great morning for both of using the fly rods.

Nice Spot on the Olive Boogle Bug--these fish are awesome on the fly rod--they just don't know when to quite fighting. We ended the morning with 10 Spots and 1 Largemouth.

Charles with the best Spot he ever landed with the fly rod. It is really enjoyable to fish with someone who loves to fish with the same equipment as you---meanng the fly rod.

I am back on the lake again Thursday with more top water action coming your way

Using The Micro Lights Rods and Jigger Poles For Super Size Crappie

In most parts of the country, Dogwoods blooming triggers crappie season. Crappie usually starts the spawn when the water temps reach the upper 60’s. This is when the fish start to move into the shallow areas of a lake. These areas could be the back of nooks or even flats next to the water's edge. They seem to prefer areas with cover such as submerged brush or anything that will hold cover for them to feed on small baitfish while the spawn is occurring.  One of my crappie fishing buddies went with me yesterday on Smith Lake. I had a couple of my microlights in the 7 ½ ft. lengths with 4 lb test line rigged. I also had my long jigger pole in the 11 ft. length with me. This length rod works well when you want to put the jig right in the face of the fish. Another great advantage with this rod is the vertical fishing one can do, meaning raising the jig up and down. Sometime the crappie will hit the jig on the downfall, especially when the bite is really slow. I like to use the microlight rods to search for the fish and once the bite slows using the microlights, then switch to the long rods so you can bring the lure even closer to their mouth. Crappie has a tendency to bite really well for 15 to 20 minutes and then turn off. When this occurs the fish usually retrieved back into the cover where they were holding when you first located them. Placing the jig using the long rods right in their face at this time will continue to help you get hits. I will discuss the types of reels, jig, lures, and rod brands in future post.

First Crappie of the day using a white curly tail jig --a lot of fun on the microlight rod. Notice the dark colors

Different colored jig --we manage to land 6 along with a number of bass and a couple of bluegills--all on curly tail jigs. I kept all the crappie, because they are beyond good when deep-fried. I know it would have been a better day for the crappie if it had not been for the crappie tournament they were having on the lake. It felt like we were picking up the last few in each nook that the tournament fisherman had either overlook or missed.