My Second Home Lake

 This post was supposed to be about learning the Euro Nymph fishing technique fishing the Sipsey Tailrace. That trip got washed away with heavy generation occurring on the tailrace below the dam on Smith Lake. This time of the year is a tuff time to try to fish the tailrace or the lake because of generation. So I loaded the Pelican Boat in the back of my truck and headed for Walker Lake. I seldom fish this lake with my Bass Tracker because it's much easier to navigate the small nooks that make up the body of the lake. My fishing season always starts each year on Walker Lake because its waters warm up much quicker than a large lake the size of Smith. 

Cold and clear lake water was what I was going to be fishing for today. The water temp was 55 degrees, which is the coldest I've ever fished here. The county is still recovering from the 12 to 15-degree temps we experienced the week earlier. I knew today was going to be a challenge but I was up for the task and just glad to be on the water!

A quality bass on the Yellow Gant, which was the last one I had in my fly box. This fly brings back a lot of memories because it is a fly my brother, who passed away a couple of years ago had tied for him and me some years ago. He also had the same pattern tied in black and red. I've written posts concerning this fly over the years. I like to fish the Gnat using a slow retrieve while watching for line movement. Even in the cold water, this bass put up quite a fight against my 7 1/2 ft. Redington 2wt.

A better view of the fly with red added as an attractor. 

The bass and this Shellcracker are two fish I seldom catch on this lake, but today I got to touch both species. I got my best fight of the day from this fish. As quick as it hit the Gnat he headed for deep water making me think I had a large bass or one of the big carps that roam the lake. The poppers didn't work on this day all they wanted was something slow and easy to latch onto. 

A Little Frustration Mixed With Landing a Few Rainbows

 

I didn't think I was going to make the Sipsey trip today, because of numerous distractions in the form of few jobs. Once at the tailrace I suited up and enter the gorge at access 5. I was joined by 5 other fly fishermen fishing access six and seven. I was actually glad they were quite a distance from me because I was really having trouble learning the Euro Nymphing technique. I've been reading and watching videos centering around Euro Nymphing for the past couple of weeks and I thought I had the technique under control. After a few casts, I realize I need MORE time to learn how to master Euro Nymphing. I won't go into the details but to put it mildly, my patience ran OUT!! I will cover the experience in another post. 

There was no surface activity at all on the smooth super clear water surface. So I went deep for the trout today using my 10 ft. fly rod intended for the Euro experience----I found out it lands trout just as well as my 9 ft. 

The first trout that touched the net in the 2 1/2 hours I had to fish the Sipsey this afternoon.

An excellent seam located at the entrance of access five where I started my Euro Nymphing technique. I could see trout below the high boulder, but no luck in getting a take. The time spent in this area will hopefully help me correct some of my mistakes in future trips.

I've noticed that the stock trout from Dale Hollow are not as colorful as some of the other hatchery trout that are stocked here. There was no mistaking the takes from the trout I landed today, in other words, jarring hits!! 

The last trout of the evening that escaped an aerial attack or a down under creature swimming in the tailrace. It did have a little more color. I lost one other trout in the same run where I caught this trout. At times I was fishing with weights to get the nymphs down to the trout's level. 

I remember reading a short essay by George Daniel this week, where he stated that most of the time it's not the flies you are using that attract a take it's the depth you're fishing. That statement proved true for me this afternoon!

The Finished Blog to Book!!

My blog to book project is finally finished. I started the project back in 2020 during some of the worst periods of this horrible virus we are dealing with. At the time Cathey and I were in complete lockdown only leaving the house when it was absolutely necessary. 

A big decision before starting the book was trying to decide which post to feature in the book which was time-consuming. I finally settled on 140 posts out of 587 posts to use in the book. I had a lot of time on my hands during the lockdown, so what a better time to work on this project.  

After countless hours of searching the internet and reading reviews of the different blog to book companies, I settled on blogtoprint.  I was impressed with how easy it was to personalize your book using the book content links featured in the companies software. Viewing a sample book to get some idea of how your book will look and easy communication with their tech support team was a big plus. I could go on and on about this company but showing you some of the image content, front and back covers says it all!

There are countless images to choose from for your soft or hardback covers on your book. Notice I used my favorite rock wall on Smith as my front image cover. The books come in different sizes, I choose the 8 1/2"X 11" the images are a little larger in that size. I was so impressed with the quality of all the images and how thick the pages were! 

Some of the companies I reviewed didn't have the ability to arrange the text with the images and make each page look exactly like the content in my blog. This company was able to accomplish that. 

This page is from one of the 10 photo pages I created in the back of the book. You can use different templates to arrange images to fit two to four images per page. I never realized I had the number of images throughout the blog spanning eleven years. Seeing these images and reading some of my posts eleven years ago really brought back some fond memories. 

I am glad I did the book because our blogs are not guaranteed to stay on the internet forever. An example of what I am referring to is my Ancestry book I created through a book company linked with Ancestry some years ago. Two weeks ago it was lost when the book company was sold to another company. This incident made me glad I had created a written copy of the online book right after I finished my Ancestry research. 

I know I will continue to blog but these 140 posts in this book will be hard for me to duplicate in years to come. In other words, these posts in this book are the heart and soul of Fishing Through Life. Like most other bloggers, you have noticed blogging is not what it once was when a lot of us started. But, with that said I still like to communicate with fly fishermen through my blog and as I get older it helps me stay engaged and also keeps the mind active.  I hope everyone continues to stay SAFE!!

Laelyn and Bryson Learning How to use the Fly Rod

 Cathey and I spent a few days this past week visiting B.T. Jenny and the grandchildren in Springhill, Tennessee. I've been carrying a couple of my fly rods along on some of the trips to teach Laelyn and Bryson how to use the fly rod. Both are making progress with their casting and placement of the fly, starting with a short cast and adding distance as they get accustomed to the feel of the reel and rod. I am hoping they will be ready by late Spring to land a few bluegills in a park pond located near our home. We're going to use the pond to learn how to play a fish and land it. Hopefully, by the time they visit in the Summer, they will be ready to fish Smith from the boat. We are looking forward to seeing them land some of the Spotted Bass that roam the waters of Smith, which should merit their fly fishing diploma. I thought I would share some of their progress this past week. Their younger brother, Cash is still a work in progress??

 

I hope Cash can use the fly rod soon as well as he plays flag football. He is their scat-back and the fastest player on his team. No 25

I have given this 2wt. 7 1/2 ft. Redingon Trout Classic fly rod and Orvis 2/3 wt fly reel to Laelyn, but there are rules that come with the gift. She can only use it when she is with her Dad or me and the fly rod stays at Meme and Pops house until I feel she is big enough to take care of the combo. The same rules apply to Bryson as well. 

This is Bryson's 3 wt paired with the older version of the 3wt. Orvis reel. The fly rod is the Redington Trout Classic 7 1/2 ft.-----We're all looking forward to the start of the season, which is getting closer by the day!