Fishing The Soft Hackle During a Feeding Frenzy

A quick Saturday morning trip to the Sipsey proved to be productive using the soft hackle. I was not in any big hurry to get on the tailrace this Saturday, because the humidity and fog were heavy. I forgot to mention the crowds. Generators were scheduled to be running at 1 PM so the 2 hours I had needed to be spent wisely. My plan was to spend all my time in two areas right above the pump station. Both spots always have trout and today were no exception. As usual, the trout were in a subsurface feeding mode and feeding on tiny brown midge flies. As I stood there and watched the feeding frenzy I notice other anglers casting above and below me. My little area only covered roughly 100 ft. so I staked the area out and stayed put. Needless to say there were a lot of anglers on the Sipsey today.

I got somewhat irritated with the canoes, kayaks, and even an aluminum boat floating in all the areas that everyone was trying to fish. I’ve never seen any watercraft during the weekdays, I guess that tells me something???

I always get pumped when I can get some action on the dries, so with the size 18 Gnat I gave the dries their due, but to no avail. My first strange-looking wide-body trout of the morning, in fact, I thought I had landed a small skipjack.

The real reason for this Saturday morning trip was to fish some of the soft hackles Alan tied for me a couple of weeks ago. I know I could have waited until the weekdays with less traffic, but I was like a kid with a new toy I just had to play. Even a Geezer can still be a kid at heart!!!

  Structure slowed the midge drift down and that was the area where the heavy feeding was occurring.

Another rainbow which couldn’t resist the silver hackle; this morning the trout was taking the hackle a little different as opposed to previous trips. No drift takes today, all the hits occurred as I was working the soft hackle back across the feeding area. No indicator, just a slow retrieve tight lining. Numerous rainbows landed today using the 3 weight.

One beat up fly pattern after a mornings work. As I’ve said many times the Sipsey is pressured every day with lots of fly fishermen especially on weekends; so when one finds a pattern that will produce they better guard it. I found that pattern this morning in Alan’s soft hackle

 

Filling my Bucket List

This past Friday my buddy Charles and I fished the Elk River near Winchester Tennessee with David Perry our guide. It was a stellar day to say the least. We had perfect weather with hardy any humidity and very little sunlight keeping the temps in the low eighties all day. We started the drift boat trip at the dam and 9 miles later we took out at Turkey Launch. Neither of us had ever fished the Elk and was so impressed with its beauty and the amount of trout in the river. It is stocked every month with rainbow and browns, which thrive in the nutrient rich waters.
I have fished numerous times with David over the past years and have come to realize when one fishes with him; they can expect to land lots of trout. Well Friday was no exception, Charles and I landed an insane number of browns and rainbow during our 8 to 9 hour excursion.   



You can see the dam in the background. We shoved the drift boat off from the gravel flats and spent the next 8 to 9 hours getting out trout fix!

One of many healthy rainbows that inhaled our nymphs throughout the day.

  This brown was the largest trout Charles ever landed—talk about excitement!!

Landing my best brown of the day, using my 9 ft. 5 weight; I loss numerous trout at the beginning of the float, because I was using my 4 weight, which didn’t have the backbone to handle the better trout. My catch ratio improved after I starting casting my 5 weight.

 The end result!!

Fishing The Sink Tip Line for Spotted Bass

I have to admit that this hasn’t been a bumper year for popper action on Smith Lake for me. I realize a number of factors have affected the top action, such as dropping water levels, cold fronts, and of course the angler himself. Every time I go on the water I wonder if I’m using the right fly pattern or am I working that pattern well enough to get a hit. Sometimes anglers including me want the fish to hit what they perceive as the best fly for them to take at a particular time, place, and season.  I think that is one of the reasons why my catch ratio has gone down this year on Smith. I assume every time I launch the boat on Smith at daylight that the fish are going to nail the popper, why because I love to see the fish blow up on the popper. If the fish are chasing shad a cream-colored popper will get their attention, but if there is no surface activity at all then the best option is working a pattern down under. That pattern could be something that resembles the actual shad that the bass is feeding on. The slow top action on Smith this season has driven me to work harder at analyzing what the fish really want. Could it be a bead head nymph, streamer, or a variation of a popper? To fish all these different patterns and poppers, one really needs an extra fly rod aboard; 5 to 6 weight for poppers and nymphs and a 7 weight for streamers. Keep in mind most of the time on Smith, if one is using the fly rod to fish for bass the spot is the fish that is going to nail their offering. This fish is a ferocious fighter and the heavier the fly rod the better, so two fly rods one in 6 weight and the other being a 7 weight. I seldom fish the lake without a 3 or 4 weight to handle the light patterns that will produce when nothing else is working. In fact, I am always armed with 3 fly rods every time I fish Smith Lake. My latest daylight trip on Smith a few days ago enabled me to apply all the above tactics.

A mouth full of beadhead nymph, which this spot just couldn’t resist.

Posing for a side view image; this spot put up quite a fight on the 5 weight. I usually fish the sink tip either with my 5 or 6 weight 9 ft. fly rod. This size spot can make you think he is much bigger as he makes numerous runs to try to break free. I have started fishing the sink tip with a 5 ft. piece of mono usually 8 lb. test. I get a fairly quick sink with the light line and bead-head nymph attached.

This was one greedy spot, with his belly full of shad he just had to have one more, which was his undoing. The cream bugger got his attention.

I couldn’t leave the lake without trying to land a few bull gills on the popper which is always a blast. My bluegill goal is lost for this season,  but there is always another season to give it a try.

A lot of residents on the lake like to use platform decks to view all the activity; this is one of many that can be found up and down the waterway.

No need for the gym, working your way up these steps to the top of the rock wall is exercise enough

 

Nymphing Swirling Pocket Water



I was back on the Sipsey today trying to improve on my skunk trip this past week. The first half hour had me thinking that I was in for another non fish trip.

I decided I would start today’s outing at access 7 which is the last access located at the mouth of the dam. One can get a good work out walking from where your truck is parked at access 5 to 7. As I walked down the long metal walk way and approached the bottom of gouge I notice that Brandon owner of the Riverside Fly shop had a guide trip under way. They were in the area where I was going to start fishing, so after spending less than half hour in the shallow runs above them fishing my nymph with no success, I moved on down the gouge.

 While moving down the gouge I decided to tight line the nymph in some pocket water located in the faster section of the tailrace some distance below where I first encountered the guide trip. I haven’t work the pocket water this season as much as last year, so today I would give it a try. I had to do some careful wading using my wading staff (I never go on the water now without my wading staff) to get to my first spot because of all the moss covered rocks. Once there I used my 9 ft. Streamflex rod to high stick the first swirling pocket. I felt I could detect the take much better if I was in direct contact with the trout through tight lining as oppose to using the indicator. I was letting the nymph drift into the deep area of the pocket where it was only visible for a few seconds, to the trout before it was rushed on down stream. A few seconds is all it took to connect with my first rainbow of the morning. As luck would have it this one little hole was stacked with trout to the tune of 5 landed and that many lost for me in a very short time spent in this area.

Numerous trout landed for the morning using the high sticking method. I loss more trout than I landed today, mainly because I was late setting the hook.

My 3 weight Greys Streamflex paired with my Orvis 2/3 weight reel got quite a work out today. This combo works well here with the indicator/nymph combo and the dry, but could be a little light for the high stick method. I feel if I had been using my 9 ft. 4 weight the catch ratio would have increased. My next outing will include the 4 weight.

 

Indicators What’s Your Favorite

Indicators where do I begin; there are bunches on the market, that work to perfection while others need some more work. With most of us using the indicator nymph combo on a lot of our fishing trips; I thought I would share with you guys some of the latest ones to hit the market and some that have been around for a while.

Before you begin each two minute preview, let me explain why I am even doing this post: on my last outing I had a hell of a time removing the pinch on style indicator from my line. After the ordeal with the pinch on I placed the standard stick/football indicator on and wasn’t impressed with it either. The stick swells in the water making it difficult to remove once you are ready to fish a dry. My inner thoughts that day and days before kept telling me there has to be a simpler way to us an indicator, and I found it by doing a little research. Just curious, what is your favorite indicator and why?

This is one indictor I haven’t heard of the “ Fish Pimp”

 

The Yarn Indicator

 

BioStrike Indicator

Insta Set

Frog Hair

Pinch On indicators---the video shows how to remove the indicator from you tippet; a light tippet will break using this removal method

Tear Drop Slip Foam Indicator

Still Water Indicator

Famous Thingabobber

 

After finishing the research I have to admit the  Fish Pimp and the

Insta Set are my two favorites. I will give both try.

 

 

 

A Big Reality Check!!!

An early morning walk along the road running parallel to the tailrace had me anticipating numerous hookups with the recently stocked rainbow a few weeks ago. In fact, I was so confident that had tied on my favorite nymph I usually fish early in the morning here with great success. Low humidity and a slight breeze made it seem a little like the approaching fall, which is some months away, but it doesn’t hurt to wish.

As I approached the water's edge I stopped to survey the area and notice as usual there was no surface activity to have me wishing I had tied on a dry. I begin working my usual spots with no success, so time to start experimenting with other patterns. I don’t know about you guys but after about 15 to 20 minutes of one pattern with no success, I change flies and tactics. It is now 9:30 and no takes after over an hour of fishing numerous patterns. I continue to work my way up the gouge, fishing some familiar places and some I haven’t tried this season. I kept noticing a few rainbows every 15 to 20 minutes breaking the surface but not actually feeding on top. I had seen this before here and knew that the nymph and dry were not the flies I needed to use to make a connection. So what next, I am now well into my second hour with no trout landed and still trying to beat the skunk. I knew I had to go with a pattern that would just break the surface and at the same time stay up high in the water column. My logical choice was a red soft hackle fly size 12. I don’t know the exact name of the pattern, but I had fished it in similar situations here before and had success. It is getting close to lunch and with more confidence and my new red hackle fly, I begin casting upstream and letting the fly slowly drift back over trout I continue to see feed subsurface. A few missed takes made me work even harder to touch my first trout. Some of you may see where this is going, and say he found the magic fly that finally proved to be the charmer, not so. I gave the fly it’s more than fair share of making a connection but to no avail. I’m one to never give up on solving the lockjaw problem of fish on certain days, so I had one last thing I wanted to try before the generations were turned on and I had to call it a morning.

 With an occasional trout still feeding subsurface, I decided I would tie on another soft hackle pattern size 18 brown color.  I started working the fly but was having trouble getting the fly to touch the water in a delicate mode, so I changed tippets to a 7X which gave me a much better presentation. Not to panic, but a glance at my watch showed me I only had roughly 20 minutes left before the generators would start gushing walls of water down the gouge. With the generation time schedule on my mind, I begin working the little brown hackle above a couple of trout that was still in subsurface mode. I figured if I was lucky enough to land my elusive trout today I had at least 250 yards of space between me and the huge wall of water that might take me under.  As time ticked away I kept trying to land my one trout that would keep the skunk off my back for the first time on the Sipsey. With ten minutes left I saw another trout come up and barely break the surface. I had to move a little downstream to make a cast that would give me a decent drift that hopefully would get its attention. I made a long cast that sent the fly across the tailrace waters. As the fly drifted over the area where the trout had broken the surface total silence from the trout below. A few more cast left I assumed before the horn sounded; surely one more cast would get me my lone trout for the trip. It was not to be, the horn sounded and sent me moving out of the water and to safety up the bank.

 Today was my first skunk day on the Sipsey, and I’m sure a few of you guys have experienced the same type of trip. As I walked back to my truck I kept wondering what I could have done differently to land just one trout. So I thought I would put the question to you guys, what pattern would you have used on a day with subsurface feeding, clear blue skies, and a slight wind coming from all directions at times?