Missing my Goal to Land 100 Super Size Bream

Sorry to say I missed my quest again this year to land 100 supersize bluegills during the spawning period. I ended the quest at 78. I thought I would make it this year but there were other fishermen going after the gills especially when they went on the beds. I landed the majority of my big bluegills really early before they ever went on the beds. I found during the months of March and early April the bigger bluegills are cursing the banks to select areas they are going to fan out for beds. This is a prime time to catch them because no one else is actually fishing for bluegills during this time. Once they go on the beds you better get there early or else you lose out on the best size fish. Walker County Lake is the one place I landed some monsters this past year early. I did catch some counters on Smith, but the really bigger bluegills are going to be in lakes that are managed properly to grow that size fish, and Walker is really blessed with the big fish. So I would say I was lucky to have landed the 78 I brought to hand and I am going to look forward to next year’s quest.

What Would be Your Top Five Fly Patterns to Use Nationwide

After Tuesday’s outing, I was wondering on the way home; what would be the top five flies that most trout fishermen would pick to fish anywhere in the United States, regardless of the hatch? My top five would be  a mixture starting with: 

My number one choice for going down under would have to be the tungsten bead head Zebra Midge in sizes 18 and smaller.

The Pheasant Tail is my second choice in size 14 and 16, again tungsten bead head

My third fly would have to be the Griffiths Gnat, this little jewel works for me when nothing else is happening on top---size 18 and smaller

 The famous Mayfly in size 14 and 16 is an awesome dry for me on the Caney Fork in Tennessee and has also produced on the Sipsey tailrace

My last is another awesome dry pattern called the Bomber. This fly resembles the Parachute Adams, but has more hackle and stays afloat longer. This fly is tied by Alan at Small Stream Reflections, he has landed lots of brook trout with this one pattern.

A Work in Progress Using The Bomber Dry Pattern

This post is dedicated to rest of the summer and into the fall fishing. I am referring to the tailrace fishing below Smith Lake. For the rest of the summer and late September I will be trout fishing the tailrace below Smith Lake. I will forgo the lake fishing until fall. The lake this time of year is extremely slow due to the tremendous generation and extreme heat and humidity. One can just take a look at the parking lots on the lake and figure out right quick that there is very little action.

The tailrace fishing will give me a chance to hone my skills for trout and at the same time learn more about some of the different areas on the Sipsey. I am going to devote more time to fishing the extremely slow water below the pump station where bigger rainbow have been spotted. Those trout are extremely weary and harder to land due the constant pressure in that part of the tailrace. Streamers are the choice of flies there and it will present a challenge for me to fish this pattern because I seldom ever fish a streamer. My trip Tuesday proved to be another work in progress as the images below will show.

I arrived with the usual fog and mist on the surface due to the tremendous amount of humidity in the air meeting the cool water surface of the tailrace--really a peaceful view early

My first rainbow of the morning using Alan's Bomber, I am sooooo impressed with this pattern

One of many log jams in the fog one has to encounter while either wading or walking the banks. Some of the larger rainbow hang out right below this structure. A dry works best in and around these logs because you can't get much of drift here with a nymph.

This flower is native to this area, I don't know what it is called but I wanted to see if I could get a good image in the flower mode---better than I expected

The Bomber comes through right before I called it quits. I never landed a fish all morning on nymphs.

Drift wood everywhere in this place--did you guys know people pay big bucks for a chuck of wood like this?

Looking up hill from down below only a few feet from the cool waters edge. Once you descend down into the gorge the temps drop 15 degrees. This is what makes coming to place really nice especially in the hot humid days of August.

Tailrace Fishing can Really be a Challenge

Fishing trips for me is always a learning experience, especially if the trip doesn’t turn out the way I imagined before I leave the house. The tailrace today was the ultimate learning experience. I left the house with the intention of using a variation of the Mayfly patterns; all reports indicated on the Sipsey Forum that the Mayfly was the success fly. After arriving at the waters edge with a guy from Huntsville tagging along beside me, I made it to my first honey hole, where he moved on up the tailrace about 100 ft. to another great hole that I was going to try if my first choice didn’t work out. ( so much for fishing along this morning) I decided before I ever made a cast that my dry pattern wasn’t going to be successful, no rises. In fact it was kind of strange in that there was absolutely no surface action at all. So being the optimist I made my first cast and as the fly landed in a fairly fast run I thought I just had to get a take on this cast because the drift was so perfect. Just goes to show perfect cast and excellent drifts don’t always produce. I finally gave up on a variety of dries after realizing I was wasting valuable time with a limited amount of shade fading fast. I didn’t move although I wanted to go up and try a couple more holes before the sun got them, but I knew the trout were here. I switched to my go to nymph which was the Zebra Midge using an indicator on a 5X tippet. I made a couple of cast with no success, and decided to move the indictor up on the leader about 10” to get a little more depth on my midge. I proceeded with another cast and finally got the drift I was looking for and ever so slightly the indicator moved and my first bow of the day was netted. I have to say the trout made its presence known on the 3 wt. I continued to make cast after cast with no more success, so I moved on up to one of my holes near the dam. As I approached the area I was going to fish I notice there was still no rises at all in fact as I walked the bank up to the hole I saw no activity. I continue with the Midge pattern and on the second cast I set the hook on another nice rainbow that went straight down stream. I landed the trout by bringing it to the shore and not using my net, because it was easier and quicker going to the shore as opposed to the net. I can’t explain why the bite was over after this fish but it was like someone turned out the lights and everyone went to bed. Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot of fish to satisfy and today was the case. Just being here was a plus and today’s trip will continue to make me come back here time and again because I want to keep learning about this great sport? 

The Zebra Midge did the trick with this nice rainbow   

Ancestry Report + Trout Fishing the Bomber Dry Fly

Wednesday the 25^th I left for Mississippi to work on our family’s Ancestry tree and got back last night. I am trying to finish up both sides of the tree before fall and then have the information published. Ancestry will proofread and published all the material you have in your tree for an extra charge, but for me, it is worth it. This has been an ongoing project of mine for the past two years. I decided not to research your typical tree diagram where you have endless names of your decedents. I wanted my children and their children to remember what their grandparents and great grandparents were like so I wrote backgrounds and profiles of all the decedents. In other words, I was only interested in the direct descendants of the Trussells and Daves families. To do this I had to talk to individuals who were older than me and get them to tell me what their grandparents were like. The libraries in the different small towns they all live close to had a lot of information telling what life was like back in the early 1800s which was extremely helpful. Former Governor J. P. Coleman researched and wrote a book telling what life was like in the late 1700s and 1800s. This has to be one of the most interesting things I have ever done. I am really glad I started this project because it has given me a chance to see what my decedents went through during that time and how they survived on just the land they lived on. O.K. I have bored you enough-----------------

Now for the trout fishing trip, I made on Tuesday the day before I left. I wanted to make a trip before I left because I knew I wouldn’t have another chance to fish until this next week. I was trying some of the Bomber flies I had Alan to tie for me at Small StreamReflections. I am so impressed with this pattern because of its ability to stay afloat so well and ride high on the surface and two how well it gets the attention of the trout. I arrived at the water’s edge around 7 AM and started casting these little flies a few feet upstream. The water surface still had fog but I could still see the bomber as it floated down a fairly fast run across from me. The very first cast produce a take but I missed the hookset because I wasn’t expecting to connect that fast. On the third cast I managed to set the hook on a nice rainbow. For the next couple of hours, I stayed with the bomber because it was my producing fly for the morning.

The third cast produced this beauty with the Bomber--I missed about as many as I landed. For some reason I was either too late on the set or the trout was missing the fly. I tend to think it was my late hook set.

I think the colors on this stocker trout are less vibrant as opposed to the colors on native trout. Don't get me wrong they are still amazing to view. Sorry for the poor image, I am still in the learning stages.

As I said this pattern has got to be one of the best I have ever fished here. During the week is the best time to fish this area because one has the water to themselves, and today it was just me and my Bomber pattern. Thanks, Alan for making this a great trip.

Gone But You Guys Are Not Forgotten

Hi Guys
Been gone this week and not onto the blog as I should be. I have a number of interesting post coming in the next couple of days. Stay tuned!!!