I can’t believe it’s been nearly seven months since I’ve
fished from my Pelican boat. Too many things too mention have kept me off the
water, with moving and relocating to a new town and house as being the major
obstacle.
This past Wednesday was my day for me to relax and take
in the beauty of LauraHillLake in Lawrenceburg.
I spent the better part of five hours reacquainting myself with my Redington
and exploring areas that I know will hold fish in the coming months. Simply
put; it was good to just be back on the water after a long hiatus.
Laura Hill is surrounded by rolling hills and numerous nooks
loaded with subsurface fallen trees; which is the ultimate fish attractor. I
got some strange looks today using the fly rod. The lake caretaker told me no
one fished the lake with the fly rod. That bit of information really got my
attention.
I landed numerous gills this size today; all were taken using
the Barr Nunn popper around the fallen trees in water 55 degrees. The bigger bluegills were still in the deeper water and won’t move into the shallows until the water
temps reach the low sixties. A good workout for the 3 wt. 9 ft. and the guy who
was placing the popper!!
Fishing McCutcheon Creek near our home in Spring
Hill last week brought back memories of fishing some of the warm water streams
in Mississippi years ago as a boy. Those early years found me using a cane pole and
worms landing sunfish and catfish in a lot of the streams I fished there. Last
week I was armed with my 3 weight Redington; ready to land a few stocker
rainbows. I notice I was the only one using a fly rod. There were a lot of eager
fishermen waiting with a spinning rod and reel ready to “clean plow” fishing the
small stream. The majority of the 150 trout that were stocked on that Friday
were all caught and taken home for a meal by the fishermen at the end of the day.
The trout were released in 2 to 3 ft. depths
Nothing like seeing the thrill on a child's face once they land a fish
Colton with his first rainbow on the fly rod---congrats Colton on a job well done!!
Colton help me land numbers of rainbow this size, all were release for other kids to enjoy
Colton with his Dad Wesley after they landed this huge rainbow using the spinning reel and a crappie nibblet as bait. Colton's dad told me he had never fished for trout before. We watched it swim away after a hero shot.
Ken, the Hatchery director told me when they arrived that he bought 10 of these big fish for the young kids to land. What made me really sick was seeing 4 of these big trout in metal nets dead caught by adults. A lot of metal nets were filled with trout before I left for lunch. The practice of catch and release was not in place on this day!!!
Cathey and I recently spent an afternoon in the little
community of Flintville Tennessee.It’s an area in Tennessee
with beautiful rolling hills, deep ravines, and small clear streams. All of the
above characteristics in this little community contribute to one of the oldest
fish hatcheries in the state of Tennessee.
Numerous clear springs are located at the bottom of the ravines, which provide
the cold water to keep all the rainbow trout alive in the Flintville Trout
Hatchery. The director told us that the water is harness from nine springs and pumped
through the indoor tanks and outdoor concrete trays. The indoor tanks whole the
smaller trout from ¾” to 3” fingerlings: while 300 yards of concrete trays 6
ft. wide 2 to 3 ft. deep outdoors house the largest trout. The outdoor trout
range from 4” to 12” in size. Once the trout reach the 12” size then they are
transferred to Tim’s Ford tailrace and warm water streams in a 100-mile radius
of the hatchery. There are numerous warm water streams in middle Tennessee
that receive rainbow trout during the months of December, January, February,
and March. During those months the water temp is cold enough to sustain life
for the hundreds of rainbow that are release in the streams. Very few trout survive
after April once the water temps move into the upper 60’s. In fact, most are
caught before the temperature takes a toll on them.
This is my second
trip to a fish hatchery and today’s visit was the better of the two. The
director made the visit very informative and interesting during the hour tour.
I am sure most of you have toured a hatchery before, but for those of you who
haven’t, it is worth the time spent.
Numerous indoor tanks containing the smaller rainbow
Sorry for the reflection--thousands of tiny rainbow, most still have the egg yoke attach to their stomach--these tiny trout will be twelve inches in a year
Quite a find, a smaller tank inside with albino trout
Yards of outdoor concrete trays containing larger trout--a lot of these trays had screens on them
Feeding time, quite a frenzy!!!
This trip really got me pumped for the coming season; this post is part one. In the coming weeks, I will share with you'll part 2 fishing McCutcheon Creek in Spring Hill where some of the trout was stocked today. I live about four miles from the warm water stream.
I enjoy looking at outdoor pictures, especially
those posted by fellow bloggers. Howard at Windknots and Tangled Lines has shared
some great blog images from his recent post. In his response to my comment
about the post, he suggested that everyone should do a post like his image
post. So I’m going to be the first blogger to fulfill his suggestion. I hope the rest of you guys will submit an “image post” in the coming days as well.
Beautiful rainbow was taken from the crystal clear waters of
the Sipsey, I will miss fishing this outstanding tailrace.
Charles and I at our last Troutfest
Kyle was one of my former students, who love to fly fish
Viewing the set of Dances With Wolves out west a couple of summers ago. This western in my opinion was the greatest western ever made; as most of you know I am a HUGE western fan!!
My fishing buddy Ivan; love to watch him make those roll cast under the many overhanging branches on Smith Lake
Our first snow in Spring Hill this year---I've recorded 16 different bird species feeding at my feeders
Blogger David Knapp on the Caney enjoyed my day fishing with David
Monster bull bluegill was taken last year
Vintage cypress boat, built by my older brothers, one who is no longer with us, but still in memory in this boat
How could I forget Jenny's big catfish
What can I say!!
I still remember this spotted bass
B.T. with one of his best bows from the Caney last year
So many memories from this little pond; located a short distance from our house where my family lived. This little pond is where my brother and I learned to fish catching large bluegill using redworms and grasshoppers for bait.
Jason home for a short time, a couple of years ago, he loved to fish Smith
The Crystal Mill located in Carbondale west of Denver
Special Grandchildren!!
The bluegill hunter will soon be on the water
Jason and I fishing the Caney a couple of years ago
My older brother who is in bad health now and will never make any more fishing trips--this image was taken from one of many trips I made with him crappie fishing on his home lake in Winona Miss.
Guys I had a lot of fun sorting through hundreds of images from my hard drive to put this post together, brought back a lot of memories
Just wondering how many of you guys are concerned about good
footwear. When I was young wearing comfortable shoes or tennis shoes wasn’t
that important to me. I was only concerned about the style then, but now I am
looking for comfort as well as style. Anyone who is into hiking, hunting,
running, walking or fishing; I assume would want a pair of shoes that will not
cause leg and foot discomfort during the day. I like athletic shoes that
will absorb the pounding your feet and legs take during a day’s activity. Cathey and I recently
spent a day at Epcot from 9 AM to 9PM walking or standing most of the day. The
memory foam shoe by Skechers helps make that day much more enjoyable, simply because
of the cushion foam that helps eliminate leg and foot cramps during the day. This post probably sounds like an
advertisement, if it does so be it, but this shoe is the real deal. For you
Geezers and the rest of you guys this might be a shoe you need to try on. We
purchased our Skechers at Academy Sports or you can go online and purchase with
free shipping.
I liked my Skechers so well that I went back to Academy and bought another pair for 30.00 bucks quite a bargain. You even get two colors of shoestrings, I stayed with the grey color.
