Comparing Two Tailraces the Sipsey Verses the Caney

Before my wife and I moved to Spring Hill Tennessee this year 99% of all my trout fishing was on the Sipsey Tailrace below Smith Lake Dam in Jasper Alabama. The Sip as the locals called it was not the place that sparked my interest in trout fishing, but it was the place that taught me many of the variables that go into learning the sport. I had spent the past twelve years fishing the only tailrace in Alabama before we moved. I will miss this narrow tailrace, super clear water, unique runs, small pockets holes, tight seams, and dry fly action. In other words, trout was easy to find and catch, if you knew the fly patterns that brought success; I did! Come Spring I will apply what I learned over the years on the Sipsey to the tailrace on the Caney, located a little over an hour east of our house towards Knoxville. The Caney can be a challenge to fish, mainly because of the tremendous fishing pressure it receives throughout the year. I will need to adjust to a wider tailrace, much more water to read, fishing tiny nymphs as opposed to dries, different feeding patterns of the trout, and most of all learning the areas where the trout hold. I knew exactly where those places were on the Sipsey and in time will find those places on the Caney. 

I still remember the first trip I made to the Caney with my son-in-law right after he and my daughter got married twelve years ago. That was the first time I had fished for trout using the fly rod. The trip was memorable not for the number of trout landed that day but for the challenge. I spent most of the afternoon learning how to get the correct drift, fly presentation, reading the water, bug hatches, feeding patterns and through it all landing a few stocker browns and rainbows. I was really intrigued by all the factors that had to come into play to land a few colorful trout. I still remember that first rainbow landed that day, and admiring its brilliant colors. The drift, presentation, fly pattern, playing the trout once hooked, all had to come into play for me to hold that beauty for a few seconds before its release. That one trip convinced me that I would spend the rest of my fishing days fly fishing.

An area of the Caney near the dam, where most of the wading takes place; the Caney is much wider and longer than the Sipsey. I made two trips there while we were living with our daughter, one in August with my son-in-law and this one the last of September.

Fun on the 3 wt. ----landed a few more stockers fishing between a lot of other guys that morning. I have some work to do on this tailrace!!

The Finished Product

I did a post in April of this year concerning refinishing furniture, especially antique furniture. The piece I am referring to is the Chester Drawers Cathey and I purchased in an antique shop in Tennessee that was in horrible condition at that time; well the piece is fully restored and is used in the foyer of our house now. I wish I had an image of what this Chester Drawers looked like before I restored it to its original state.

We purchased it for our son to use one day in his house, but in the meantime, we will keep it safe here with us.

To get the full picture of the transformation of the Chester Drawers you will need to check out the April post link:

When working with different wood species, open and close wood grain can display different shades when stained; which gives antique pieces character. 

Open and close wood grain with the top and bottom panels verses the middle section.

Solid poplar top

The finished product with new solid glass knobs and brass key plates!!

The mirror above was purchased at a flea market for ten bucks and refinished to accent the Chester Drawers. Cathey did a fantastic job of staining and varnishing this piece. My job is to get the piece ready for the stain and varnish. In other words, I do the sanding and the removal of the old varnish on the pieces we refinish. 



We Finally Moved In!!!!

It’s good to be back with you guys after a four-month break. Cathey and I moved into our new home, three weeks ago, and we finally have everything in place inside the house. We completed all the landscaping in the front and sides of the house a couple of days ago but still have a lot more landscaping ahead of us. The back is still a work in progress while we wait for rain to pack the fill dirt so the fence post will whole must better. The lot that the house is built on is backed up against property owned by General Motors and will never be developed. We see deer and turkey daily in the woods behind the house. 

We lived upstairs with our daughter’s family for 16 weeks while we were in the building process. Between constructing our house and painting all the rooms in our daughter’s house gave little time for fishing. I did make a couple of trips to the Caney Fork that I will report on later, but no fishing from the boat was possible, too hot and too busy every day. Tennessee has some fantastic small lakes near home and of course, the Caney is close as well; spring can’t get here faster enough for me!!!

Wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving Day       

The Uni-Thread Leader-Quite a Find!!

Rain, sleet, and a light dusting of snow have kept me inside most of the week with the exception of my gym time a couple of mornings. This time of year I am on the computer a lot watching fly fishing videos and doing some research involving fly fishing equipment and accessories. One of the accessories that got my attention this week was the Uni-Thread Furled Leader. It’s not that I had never heard of a furled leader but I wanted to learn more about this leader before I purchased a couple. The main reason I want to try a furled leader is drag problems I encounter at times fishing the mono leader especially on downstream drifts. I hope this leader will aid in eliminating some of the drag I experience when fishing a dry. What’s your take on the furled leader?

A Break From Blogging For Now

I can’t believe it has been 5 weeks since I wet a fly on the Sipsey. The bluegill quest has cut into my trout fishing time there. I had a couple of hours today to fish the lower section of the tailrace. This area has the big logs submerged and some nice pocket holes, where I landed my best trout ever back in May. Today was a complete reversal; where the water was very low, no hatch or surface activity at all, and fishing behind a cool spell. I went through the usual patterns that general work on those slow days on the Sipsey, all proved unproductive today. The trout were in the sipping mode, but not as aggressive as I have seen on some of my former trips. I lost a number of trout today and had only one to touch my hand, which slipped from my grip before I could get the image. Just being in the cold water and fishing the Sip today was enough to get my trout fix.

 My blogging buddy Mel, surprise me the other day with some nice looking flies that he tied up for me to use on future trips. Thanks, Mel I will put all too good use. I have started collecting different fly patterns and a couple of Mel’s flies will go in my collection.

Cathey and I were glad to sign a contract on our house Thursday. We will be moving the last of July or the first week in August to Spring Hill Tennessee. We will move in with our daughter and her family, and live upstairs for the months of August, September and October. Our house will be ready to move into the last week in October. No fishing from the boats, but a little fishing on the Caney will be my fishing fix while we live there. Very little blogging will be accomplished while we are in this transition, packing, moving, and adjusting to living with our daughter and her family. I will be checking on you guys from time to time and may do a post from when time permits on how things are going with me and the family. So guys keep wetting those flies for me until I get back on the circuit!!!!

Pushing the Redington 3 Weight Landing a Huge Spotted Bass

As most of you know this time of the year is when I concentrate on my yearly bluegill quest. Tuesday I continued that tradition on beautiful Smith Lake. My fishing companion for the early morning outing was Ivan who I consider a great fly fisherman. He started fly fishing in his teens and has never fish any other way. Now in the early eighties, he is still very proficient with the combo. The daylight launch found us leaving the boat dock with no humidity, some cloud cover, and the most important factor a full moon. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in a post how important it is to fish 3 to 4 days before the full moon and 3 to 4 days after the full moon. As stated in that post this is when the fish are most active. I wanted to use today’s trip as a test concerning the full moon theory. The plan was to fish the mouth of nooks and the rock ledges on each side of the nooks. Both of these areas yielded numbers of quality bluegills. Bluegills on Smith usually spawn in water 8 to 10 feet deep in the super clear water. After the sun came up we could see the bluegill swimming up from the depths to take the Bar Nunn poppers; talk about excitement. Today was the best trip Ivan and I have had fishing during a full moon cycle.

This rock wall point which is submerged here was very productive the bluegills were nailing the poppers near the wall and around cover extending out from the wall.

The white and yellow Bar Nunn was the magic popper that attracted numerous gills during the morning.

The best of the best for me today, all of these nice gills will be prepared for future table fare. These five will go towards my count for the quest. I am now 30 away from reaching my goal for this year. 

This beautiful Mimosa tree was in full bloom located at the water's edge, but what was found under it really got my attention!!!

My yellow popper found this 3lb. 8oz. spot resting under the Mimosa. Little did I know that this fish was this big until it did a tail ballet a few feet from the base of the tree? The 3 weight got quite a workout landing this brut; lucky I had Ivan to net him. I hope I get my 4 weight back tomorrow so I can replace the 3 weight on my next outing. After today’s trip, it needs a rest!