Beautiful Sunrise Fishing With Jason on Smith Lake

Some of my best fishing trips are with my wife, son, son-in-law, daughter, and grandchildren. Today I spent some quality time fishing Smith Lake with my son Jason, who is home for a week. 

We left the house at 4:30 AM and started casting the big size 4 Boggle Bug popper close to 5 AM. At this time of day, there is practically no humidity and no heat. In fact, the air was a cool 75 degrees. Daylight fishing is the norm for me this time of the year mainly because of the heat and humidity. 

A beautiful sunrise was one of the rewards that we encountered as we left the launch at 5 AM. The other reward was the banner morning we had to land some quality Spotted Bass along the huge rock walls located on the lake.

This Largemouth Bass was the only one that was landed during the early morning trip. The largemouth will not hit the popper as aggressively as the Spotted Bass. There is a big difference in the fighting power of the Largemouth Bass versus the Spotted Bass. The Spotted Bass is one heroic fighter!!! The Spotted Bass is Jason's favorite to land on Smith. 

One of many Spotted Bass which exploded time after time on the Boggle as Jason worked the popper inches away from one of the many rock walls we fished early. The face of this popper makes a popping sound that really gets the attention of feeding bass. Jason was using a bass bug line on his 6 weight fast taper 9 ft. Sage fly rod. The bass bug line made casting the big popper a breeze. 

The bluegill didn’t get left out on this outing. The Wiggle Tail nymph was used to land this nice size female gill. In fact, all four colors of the Wiggle Tail got the attention of the bulls and females. I didn’t count any the bluegill on this trip, because Jason landed most of the counters. This is the same nymph that Jason used to hook the trout he landed on Fuller Lake. Tightlines until we make another memorable trip!

Jason Fishing Fuller Lake, Tahoe National Forest



Thought I would share a fishing trip my son Jason made a couple of days ago fishing Fuller Lake located in the Tahoe National Forest near Nevada California. The lake is one of many small lakes located in the Tahoe National Forest.

The Game and Fish Division stocks the lake with rainbow, browns and it also has a population of wild trout. Water flows into the lake on the north end through underground pipes from Bowman Lake, which provides a decent current flow for a lake that is roughly 80 areas in size.

Numerous rainbows landed during the 4-hour trip fishing 6 to 7 feet deep in the super clear 54 degree water.

Jason’s Hobie kayak is the perfect vessel to navigate the lake, mainly because of the quietness of the fiberglass hull. He has it equipped with all the latest accessories that make fishing from it a breeze. The last accessory added were the wheels.

A beautiful rainbow took within 5 feet from the Kayak; it was assumed the trout was thinking the kayak was a large floating log.

The Wiggle Tail Tungsten bead head was the fly pattern that got all the attention for the afternoon. Jason retrieving the Wiggle Tail slowly with short jerks was the action the trout wanted. A lot of fun using his 5 weight spooled with a sink-tip line.

Cash Wounded Finger + Father’s Day

Cathey and I spent a few days last week with our daughter’s family in Tennessee helping with one of the wounded. Cash our youngest grandchild almost lost his pinky when his older brother Bryson accidentally close a heavy glass door on his little hand. The hall door leads to all the children’s bedrooms. Bryson didn’t notice Cash had his little fingers in the door opening. Jenny our daughter sent us a text telling us they were in the emergency room getting his pinky snitched. The procedure took 10 snitches extremely painful for Cash who went into a rage during the procedure. B.T. and Jenny were beside themselves to see their little one in such grief. Happy to report that Cash will be getting the snitches out in a couple of weeks and he will be able to play again like a normal 4-year-old.

One happy little boy with one of the nurses at the emergency room----notice the Popsicle.

While we were there I decided to take Bryson and Laelyn to Harvey Park one of their favorites. The reason they like this park so well is the beautiful creek that flows close to the playground. The kids love to wade in the creeks shallow waters. Sorry, we had to sneak off without Cash but his Mom didn’t want him to get his bandage wet in the creek water.

Bryson and Laelyn spent quite a while using their Dollar Tree nets trying to net some of the small minnows that call this creek their home.

This tiny little minnow along with a few mosquitos’ bites were the catch of the day, which was enough fun to satisfy Bryson, Laelyn, and Pops.

I hope all you Dad’s and Grandpa’s have a wonderful Father’s Day!!!

Fishing the Grasshopper

Terrestrials are some of my favorite flies to cast in the summer and fall. I put the grasshopper to the test today fishing Ryan Creek on Smith Lake. I couldn’t have asked for a better morning with low humidity, no wind to speak of, and cloudy skies. The first spawn is winding down, causing the big gills to move to deeper water. That deeper water is where I was casting the hopper today against the huge rock walls on the lake. The walls are my favorite place to fish for the bigger fish during the down spawn time.

This bluegill exploded on the hopper just as I moved it inches off one of the many walls I fished today. All fish today were landed in water depths of 20 to 30 feet deep off the walls. One has got to love landing these beauties using the 4 or 5 weight fly rods.

I fished the brown hopper all morning because it was so hot with the hits. I’ll give the green hopper a try on my next outing. Both of these hoppers are so realistic and durable.  

Cathey and I will share these four for lunch with hushpuppies, french fries, slaw, and fresh tomatoes.