Four Fantastic Streamer Patterns

Alan over at Small Stream Reflections was having a contest back in December involving naming a streamer he had tied. The person who submitted the best name won the streamer. I was lucky to win because there were so many great names submitted. The name that won it for me was “The Red Baron”. I was really excited to win it because it was a streamer I thought I would try in the spring on the tailrace. I couldn’t believe how fantastic this fly looked up close after I received it in the mail. In fact, I will never fish it; instead, I emailed Alan and ask him if he would tie me three more of his streamers that he has shown on his blog. I thought these four streamers under glass would be the perfect Christmas gift for my son who is an avid fly fisherman. Needless to say, he was blown away when he opened the package on Christmas morning.

 Alan was kind enough to include a printed list of all the materials used to create each streamer. My photography does not do these streamers' justice. Jason said he is going to have all of the streamers framed under glass. I will have to post an image when the flies are framed. Alan is not only a superb fly fisherman but excellent at tying flies.   

Just wanted to share with you guys an image of the HUGE 3" snow we got this Thursday

To Fish With or Without a Guide

I was reading Kevin Frank’s great post from Feather Chucker the other day about fishing with his buddy Lance who is a professional fly fishing guide in North Carolina. It got me to thinking about guide fishing in general. My closest encounter with a fly fishing guide has been on the Internet and the owner of our local fly shop below our tailrace. I have often thought about using a guide when I am fishing the Caney Fork in Cartridge Tennessee. It is really a pressured tailrace with bank, wading fisherman, canoe, and kayak fishermen on the water daily. There is a number of guides who frequent the area and stay quick busy throughout the year. I know I would probably land more trout and learn a lot more about this tailrace if I had a guide. So to convince me I need a little guidance in unfamiliar streams and tailraces, I have listed a few advantages of fishing with a guide.

Become familiar with the hatch stages where I am fishing and what patterns work best during a particular time of day and month.

Learn to read the water, as to where the different species of trout hold

Since most of the feeding by trout is down under, learn to fish the nymph pattern better

Learn how to use the streamer more effectively in fast water versus slow water

Recognize hot spots and never forget where they are on a particular stream you might be fishing

And last—realize that a guided fishing trip for me is not all about landing a lot of trout, but more of a learning experience—in other words, think of the outing as a day spent in an outdoor classroom.
Feel free to list your own advantages

Relating the Prolific Bluegill With my Childhood

 I was reading the local newspaper yesterday about the bluegill, probably the most underrated fish that swims in warm water. The bluegill is the fish I started out fishing for when I was a little tot no more than four years old. My Mom would tell my brother and me to watch the cork and then pull up on the cane pole to set the hook and then retrieve the fish. We were landing some of the larger ones in a creek channel that feed into our small pond below our house. We were excited little boys, to say the least watching that cork go under and then playing the fish to the bank. Another fun part of the trip was catching the green and brown grasshoppers we used as bait. This same scenario would play out on weekends when my Dad was home and not working. As I get older I find myself reliving those days more often. This spring my Grandson Bryson’s will go on his first fishing trip with me and I plan to use the same tactics that my Dad and Mom used with me and my brother when were little. He will be 4 years old and ready for the outing. Of course, it will not be all fishing we will have to do a little exploring too. He loves the outdoors.

 As most of you know I have been challenging myself for the past two years to land 100 supersize bluegills during the spawning season. Well, this year I am going to add a new twist to the quest; I am starting my challenge early in March and ending it the last of June. This early start will give me the chance to land some monster bulls before they ever spawn. No one in the area fishes for these fish until they go on the bed, so the early start will give me the edge. I will be using nymphs in the form of wet flies and weighted nymphs. This means fishing much deeper water as oppose to the spawning depths. The rod weights will also have to be altered as well to compliment the nymphs. I like to use at least a 5 weight when I am going down under and a 4 weight when I am fishing the dries and poppers. I intend to use more dries this year along with the tiny poppers, especially in the clear waters of Smith. I feel the dries will help attract the bigger gills off the rock walls early with all the insect activity happening there.

 One of the best nymphs to use off the deep banks early is the famous bugger

 The black bugger is deadly

 How could I do this post on bluegills and not mention the Black Gnat, as I have said many times the best-wet fly I have ever used for gills-sorry the company that tied this pattern has gone out of business, I bought all he had left, which was close to 50 flies.

 The Humpy will be one of my go-to dries throughout the spawn this year, this fly should be a killer is size 10 or 8

 The Muddler Minnow is another excellent surface fly that will get results

 The Bett's Popper in chartreuse, white and black all three are productive

This little popper is one of the best Betts poppers that I use. I especially like the black/white leg pattern.

Just one of the big bulls I landed last year--10 weeks to go before the quest begins!!

92---5 Star Rating on Cabela's Dryplus Waders

Guys I got two fly fishing reviews that I want to share with you. I am in the hunt for a new pair of waders, which don’t cost through the roof, but yet will take the wear of a day’s fishing. I think I found the wader in Cabela’s Dryplus Prem Chest Waders. I was really impressed with triple layer knees and the fact that they don’t fit loose to the point where they are baggy. The review on these waders are astounding with 144 reviews resulting in 92 –5 star---36 –4 star—6—3 star and only 6 ---1 star.

 Another item some you guys might be interested in is the new Tenkara Temple Fork Fly Rod in 10 and 11 ft. I recently had a chance to actually get a feel for this rod the other day when I was visiting Riverside Fly Shop located off the tailrace at Smith. It was the first chance for me to pick one up and I have to say I was impressed. The lightness and the sensitivity of these rods are astounding. I am still in the thought stage as to purchasing one.

The generators are running continuous at the lake now and fishing below the tailrace is too dangerous for wading. Randy at Riverside told me the other day that there were 1500 rainbow ranging from 12 to 15” released in the tailrace the other day, so I may get to connect with one soon, once the water levels get back to normal. One of my main objectives this year is to fish the tailrace much more as opposed to last year.

Fly Fishing Streams in Mississippi

I use to fish sparingly with the fly rod back during my early days in Mississippi. I was too busy fishing my bait casting combo for largemouth bass mostly from my small aluminum boat. Little did I know that when I lived there that there were 100’s of small streams in the state that was a fly fisherman's dream. This fact really hit home the other day when I was reading the Outdoor Sports section of the Clarion Ledger the largest newspaper in Mississippi. Rex Jones a documentary film maker at Ole Miss had put together a fantastic piece on fly fishing streams in Mississippi. The documentary features David Frazier an avid warm water fly fisherman who has fished some of the best streams in the state for bluegill, spotted bass and largemouth bass. After watching the video, I discovered I missed out on some great stream fishing using the fly rod in Mississippi when I lived there. Hope you enjoy the video much as I did; it is worth the watch.

 

 

 

Interchanging Fly Line Weights With Fly Rod Weight

 

I started experimenting towards the end of the fishing season last year with interchanging different line weights with the fly rod weight. I did this because at times fishing the tailrace I experienced lots of wind in some of the narrow areas. I started using a 5 weight line with my 4 wt fly rod to help cut through the wind a little better. I found the exchange made it much easier to cast and place the fly with more accuracy. I also discovered that with the wind ripples on the surface I didn’t need the longer leader in the 9 -10ft. range; I could actually fish a 7 ½ ft. leader and get even more accuracy. So hopefully I have the wind problem solved when it is whipping down the gorge at break neck sped.

 After trying the “wind scenario” and it proving to be successful; my next experimental pairing will be to use 2 or 3 weight line with my 4 wt 8 ½ ft. fly rod. With this pairing I still have the power in the rod, but I am getting a much softer and lighter presentation of the fly as it touches the surface. Using a 9 to 10 ft leader/tippet size will cause even less disturbance on the surface. The trout here experience a lot of fishing pressure and I feel the lighter the better for me when it comes to producing a take on a tiny dry or nymph. This will be my first set-up I will be experiment with when I get back on the water. I know a lot you guys have interchanged lines with rod weights; what’s your take on line weight verses rod weight?

 

Hope all you guys have a great Christmas!!!