The Mystery Fly Rod

Back in the early spring when I had started my bluegill quest I was fishing with one fly rod most of the time; that rod being my 9 ft. 3 wt Greys XF2 Streamflex. I have mention this fly rod a few times in some of my post as being the best fly rod I have ever place in my hand, and it still is, but after losing some huge Shellcrackers in the spring with it I decided I needed something with a bit more backbone. I didn’t really want something with too much overkill but a fly rod that would handle the big Shellcrackers and a couple pound spot. I knew that a medium action 9 ft in 4 wt would be close to my 3 wt so I opted for a fast action fly rod. I had fished fast action rods before in spinning gear but not in a fly rod. At first I had trouble getting use to the fast taper and the somewhat stiff butt section but after a few outings I really got accustomed to the feel of the rod; and now it is my go to fly rod when I know or can sense that there could be something bigger on that rock wall. So I know you are asking what is the name of this mystery rod, well I know some of you guys have fished the St. Croix series rods and the Imperial 9ft. 4 wt is the one I finally choose. Aside from the action of the rod the lightness was the other deciding factor. This fly rod weights in at 2.9 oz. in a two piece, which for me is perfect for a half day trip. When I am fishing from my boat I always carry two fly rods and both have to be extremely light for me to keep fishing on up into the day. You young guys out there will understand the lightness factor as you get older; some of you may have discovered it already. I didn’t pay full price for this rod which was 180.00, I decided to trade my last Temple Fork 8 ft. 4 wt in for the St Croix. I used Anglers Habitat to close the deal at a cost of 95.00.  I really like this site because you can trade in and save on a new purchase.

One of my favorite runs below the dam.  I hope to get a good drift there next week that will produce a few rainbow.     

Jigger Pole Fishing on Smith Lake for Catfish

Guys today’s post is a little off the beaten path for me. I went to the lake the other day with one of my fishing buddies to fish for catfish. Yes, I said catfish, not bluegill, bass, or even trout, but catfish. The game plan was to use our crappie jigger poles as catfish rods to land channel cat off the many rock walls on Smith Lake. I got to say it worked to perfection and was really a lot of fun. I must admit this was something new to me as far as fishing for catfish with an 11 ft fishing rod. I have caught catfish back in the day by setting hooks from the bank or using a trotline. I had even landed catfish with my son-in-law and daughter before they got married using the microlight rods, but this technique was a bit different. With the 11 ft. jigger pole you are limited with you amount of line you used and the play of the fish becomes paramount in you landing your prey. If you hear the drag go off then you know you have a nice size fish and have to be extra careful bringing the fish to hand because it can pop a 6 or 8 test line in a heartbeat. I found out right quick if you didn’t have your glob of chicken liver right next to the wall you wouldn’t get a hit. This is a really simple technique all we did was to move the boat about a foot away from the wall and slowly troll paralleling it as we adjusted the deep of the bait while we moved. Sometimes you were fishing in depths of 30 to 40 ft and other times you would reel in line to adjust to the bottom at 20 ft deep. There was no mistaking the hit, sometimes the tip of the rod would submerge in the water and all you had to do was to set the hook and the fight was on. We lost some fish that was just too much for the 6/8 lb test line to handle and the ones we got out were a tussle. I will try anything when it comes to catching fish and today was surely an exciting way to try something new when it comes to fishing.
A side note here: my wife and I have been in Tennessee for the better part of this week welcoming our new granddaughter into the world. Pops (this is what Bryson our grandson calls me) has to do a little bragging here but I would say she is absolutely the prettiest little baby girl I have ever seen. In fact, she is the image of her mother at that age. This is why I have been behind on my blogging this week and for good reason!!

 

These were the winners and yes they were all dressed for 4 to 5 meals. There were lots of fillets here with this bunch

I had to show you guys this image of the one and only trolley rail on the lake equip with the sitting deck at the top of the track. Some of these walls are so high it isn't feasible to try to build stairs.

Why it is Important to Buy Fly Fishing Gear Made in America

Back in December 2011 I did a post on buying American made goods, and how it would help our economy here in the United States. Well recently I came across an article that was written about this very issue at the Perfect Fly. The article was written by James Marsh with what I think is a very in depth view of why we as individuals should buy American made products. This article really touched me to the point I just had to share it with you guys.

Fly Fishing Gear Made In America?The other day a friend of mine said something like "I wouldn't have such and such -
it isn't made in America". It reminded me of an annoying automobile insurance
company TV ad and I said in response, "have you been living under a rock'? I
wasn't sure he caught on to that so I added "Get your head out of the sand, Sam
- fly fishing gear isn't made in America".I reminded him of the last trip I made to Bentonville Arkansas to deal with the
sporting goods buyer for Walmart. She said, "Mr. Marsh, you are lucky to get an
appointment with me - I'm in China most of the time". If you took everything made in
China out of the nation's largest retail stores of Walmart, there wouldn't be anything
left but the girls that cut hair in the beauty salon and most of them are probably from
Asia.

The same thing is true of the so-called sporting good box stores. If Bass Pro Shop
gear was made in America, Jamie McMurray would watch Saturday's Bristol Nascar
race from his couch instead of the #1 Bass Pro car. There has to be a White River
in Asia.

If Cabelas fly fishing gear was made in America, Dick Cabela would probably still be
selling "hand tied flies" by mail order from his kitchen table. Well, I take that back.
He's a very smart man. He would have probably developed the world's first machine
that ties flies but for now, I think Cabelas gets their flies from Kenya.Oh, I almost completely forgot about the few remaining Mom and Pop fly
shops. They all would feature "Retail Space for Lease" signs except for those that
still had a few pairs of Simms waders and patch kits remaining in their "Going out of
business sale".

I can't think of any other waders made in America. Everything sold by Patagonia, for
example, sure wasn't made in California. All the other items Simms sells, or
soft-goods such as their fly fishing bags and other accessories come from China
unless I'm badly mistaken.

By the way, check the shoes on your own two feet. Where did they come from?
Where did the computer monitor your reading this article on come from? Do you
have an American made TV? If so, please let the rest of the world know who
manufactured it. What about your cell phone - was it made in America? If you have,
a fishfinder or GPS receiver on your boat, was it made in America? If you're going to
pretend to buy America, you better crawl under your couch and do it. Well, maybe
not the couch. If it's fairly new and the entire sofa didn't come from a foreign
country, the material it's made of probably did. By the way, the flies in the fly box on
the coffee table - the ones you just purchased from your local Mon and Pop fly shop
- they most likely came from Indonesia.

Oh, please excuse me. I almost forgot the American fly fishing icon - Orvis.
They still assemble their high end fly rods in Vermont - but not the low priced ones -
they come from China along with all of their fly reels and most everything
else they sell. If Orvis product was made in American, they have a Guinness Book
of World records - the world's smallest factory. The only Orvis factory I've seen isn't
much larger than an average automobile tire shop.

Now you may be one of those highly sophisticated anglers. You may buy from Hardy of Great Britain? They almost have a complete line of fly fishing tackle.
That's just fine with me as long as you realize everything the sell is made in
China.There are still a few fly rods made in America but I guess as a matter of survival,
companies like Winston and Saint Croix now have their low-end rods made in China.

Loomis Rods is owned by Shimano of Japan. They are certainly not made in
America.

Even the age old icon of an American rod company Sage, now owns Redington.
Everything Redington sells is made in China unless I am bad wrong and I don't think
so. Well, some of the parts may come from other foreign countries.

I'll give Scott Rod Company credit. They are still all made in America as far as I
know. Notice they no longer make an entry level rod. I wonder why?

Not everything is seemingly non-American. When you get away from the small
markets like fly fishing, you have to consider that many of our large, good old
American companies such as Bank of American and General Motors are still
going strong, or at least they seem to be doing well. I'm glad they are because like
most of you, some of the income tax I paid went towards the money the
federal government loaned them back when they were bankrupt and year
or two ago.Opps, let me get back to fly fishing. I almost forgot the newest, hottest fly rods on
the market - Temple Fork. They are good old made in Texas fly rods - right?
No, Wrong. Temple Fork fly rods are made in Korea. Yes, even though 75% or
more of the people that own a Temple Fork fly rod are unaware of it, their rods were
made in Korea. Yes, I'm sorry but this is true even though the fly fishing American
Icon himself, Mr. Lefty Craig, praises them enough to put his name on some of
them. He's the X Mr. Sage fly rod man, remember?

By the way, I own a Temple Fork fly rod. They are very good rods for the money.
They are more than that. They are proof of the real problem that exist on a much,
much larger scale. They are proof that fly rods made in America cost a lot
more for very little more.Just in case you are wondering, writing this is making me sick at my stomach
because I don't like anything about what I have written.. China and other
countries are rapidly replacing what made America and for my grand
children's sake, I'm very concerned about it. One reason this is happening, is the
general public is mostly unaware of just how big this problem is. The average
person is not aware of just how fast we are losing out to other countries and what
that means to the security of this country.

I am writing this for information to make sure none of the thousand plus people that
read my daily articles on this website are not living under a rock like my buddy Sam.
If you did the numbers, you would find less than 10% of all fly fishing tackle,
gear and flies are made in the United States.If every citizen n the United States was aware of just how much of the product they
use came from foreign soil, they would likely be just as upset as I am. It's not just the
small items like electronics and fishing gear. It's not just the furniture, clothes,
shoes, etc. It's not just a part of the automobile industry. Nowadays, it's even most
of what a high-rise building is constructed of. It's almost everything we need or use.
It's almost everything but the soil we live on.

If you think there's not anything you can do about it, your wrong. The only one that
can do anything about this is you. That said, buying only American made
product isn't the answer. That's not a feasible solution for anyone. That's probably
even impossible. Like it or not, we live in a global economy.I think the answer lies in electing leaders who first of all are able to grasp and
understand the problems involved and who will strive to do the things that are in the
best interest of the United States of America.

The Episode of The Leaky Wader

A couple of weeks ago I made my first trip in a while to our local tailrace to check out the progress of the access points and of course to cast for the rain bow. While there I experienced what all wading fly fishermen experience from time to time and that is a leaky wader. In this case it was a small slit at the top of my right foot stocking. One doesn’t have to guess when you have a leak especially if you are in 62 degree water. Not to be outdo I forgot about the leak because this was one of best days on the Sipsey Tailrace and I wasn’t about to leave trout that was clamming for my Zebra Midge. I didn’t realize how bad the leak was until I started back to the truck and kept hearing this gushing sound with every step I made. Upon getting back to the truck I set up my little folding stool, which by the way is a must for all us older guys when pulling of your waders. Why because it is easier for me to remove my waders sitting down as oppose to standing up. So while seated I pulled the leaky right foot wader off and emptied as much as a pint of water out. If anything it held water still inside even if it didn’t hold water from the outside. Now to end this long explanation of the leaky wader episode; I did manage to repair the wader with some exceptional sealant; Aquaseal which actually sealed the seam better than the original. In fact I tried out the leaky wader on Friday right after my bonus day on Thursday and the wader held up to perfection but sorry to report the Sipsey Tailrace brought me back down to reality---only two trout brought to hand, one on the Gnat and the other on the Prince Nymph. Both patterns were size 18. Just goes to show when you think you have a plan and a pattern in place for another day on the water it can all go south; but if every time was a stellar day then we all might get bored with this great sport. 

I thought I would share some shots I took showing the progress of the access points along the Sipsey. These metal steps will last a lifetime. You are only 25 to 30 ft. from the waters edge at seven different locations along a 3 mile stretch. All the metal steps will be equipped with hand rails. One access point will be handicapped accessible.

These concrete pilings 30" in diameter will hold the big metal steps in place. These are being used on all the access points. Our club is working with our local Senator and Representative to introduce legislation in the upcoming session in January to put browns and brooks trout in the tailrace. There is opposition to the move because the powers that be claim the browns will eat the endangered Black Eel in the Sipsey. Our club found out through the Game and Fish that this Eel is no longer in this stretch of the river. So as you can see we are dealing with a bunch of old sore heads in Montgomery. None of these guys fish and certainly don't trout fish.

This access is right at the waters edge

   

The 3 Wt. 9 ft.Hardy Grey Fly Rod Mixed With Bluegills

I hope you guys will bear with me for hopefully a few more weeks on my bluegill quest. Today is yet another update on the progress of my goal to land 100 super bull bluegills before the spawn ends. Saturday was slow as far as the big bluegills were concerned. I did land a lot of average size fish but the bigger ones either were not on the beds or scattered here and there. I manage to lose a nice spot on a size 4 Boggle Bug popper and he still may have it in his mouth somewhere in Rock Creek. Why do you always have to lose the good fish? I have often said don’t let me get the fish on if I have to lose it. Lately my 3 wt 9 ft. Hardy Greys has been my choice to continue to land the bluegills. I really get a rush fighting those bigger bluegills with this rod. It has to be the best fly rod I have ever put in my hands. The ease and the smoothness of the cast is effortless. I have to admit I do lose a few fishing this rod but that is what you expect when you are fishing an inferior fly rod against a superior foe at times.

The white Betts Popper seems to work best Saturday, it was overcast most of the morning and this fly gave the fish a little better chance to see the offering

These four were the ones that made the grade today. This size bluegill in deep water on a 3 wt is a challenge.

One of my Better Trips on The Sipsey Tailrace

I have been waiting for a chance to fish the tailrace below Smith Dam for some rainbow. According to our local Fly Shop Thursday is the best day to wet a fly so Thursday it was. First off before I begin the fishing post I have to explain why it’s been so long since I fished the tailrace. Alabama Power has been working on seven access areas at different intervals along a 4-mile stretch. They have been pouring pilings that will hold all the concrete steps in place at each access point, so the constant flow has been stopped, making it a still water situation when trying to fish for the trout. This has been the trend for the past year. So when there is an opening and water is moving then everybody flocks to the tailrace including me. So as I said Thursday was my day, I arrived at the Pump Station around 8:30 AM and was really surprised to see no vehicles. So immediately I thought the flow was zero or word had spread the trout had lockjaw. Not to be discouraged I suited up and tie on size 18 Griffiths Gnat. I really like this dry because to me it is the equal to the Parachute Adams. Both of these flies are the dries I go to when in doubt about the hatch. As I approached the water I was right no hatch and very little takes on top. The water was moving and to my surprise, I had the entire tailrace to myself. I moved no more than 50 ft. from the access point and starting casting the Gnat. I thought I would get some takes but after half-hour of fishing the Gant and ending with the PA, I give up on the dries. I decided to go with a bead head Zebra Midge size 18.  While still standing in the same area I made a 30 ft. cast in a small run, did one mend and the indicator went under. I promptly landed an 11” rainbow. I really got a good fight from the bow with my 7 ½ ft. 3 wt. I continued working in the same area with the Midge and watching the indicator ever so carefully. Sometimes the take would occur with just a tiny movement of the indicator. As I stood there watching the indicator intently for takes I remembered a statement the River Damsel made in a  post on indicator/nymph fishing some weeks ago. She said when in doubt assume it is a fish, even if you set the hook on the bottom sometimes. As the morning wound down I manage to land the most trout I have ever landed on our local tailrace using RD's simple nymph rule. Thanks to River Damsel for teaching me a lesson I won't soon forget.

My first of the morning still with the midge in tack--this midge lasted through the first 5 rainbows before it came apart

Another nice bow from the same access area, in fact, I never moved from this place during the hour and a half I was able to fish

This was the area I was fishing which had somewhat of a slow flow, this help make my nymph lesson easier to learn. The depth below the indicator was roughly 4 1/2 ft. As I stated in the post the takes were very subtle, so I really had to pay close attention to the indicator

Kind of off the wall image here but I was in a hurry to get the midge back in the water--this was one of my better trout of the day pushing the 12" mark. I ended the trip with a count of 15 or 16 which was by far the best day ever on the Sipsey Tailrace for me.

Right below the access point---I feel I learn something on every fishing trip and today was no exception, can't wait for next Thursday's trip

Landing Huge Crappie Using the Spider Fishing System

I got back into the Spider Fishing this week at Legion Lake in Winona Mississippi, my brother's home lake. This lake is roughly 80 acres super clear and has a lot of slab crappie. We worked around thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday with periods of on and off crappie bites. My brother managed to land the largest crappie ever using the Spider set-up system. When the fish are scattered and the bite is off you need every advantage one can get. The Spider system will give you that edge. It enables you to cover large amounts of water at different depths using different jigs. We found out early on that the best color for the past two days was an orange/chartreuse tube jig tipped with a white or chartreuse nibblet. We were using six 11 ft. jigger poles and two 9 ft. rods which enabled us to cover a lot of water. Numbers were not the winner on this trip but rather quality fish made the difference. As always the food was a winner as well, featuring homemade peach cobbler, chicken pot pie, baked chicken, and of course homemade rolls and cornbread from the local buffet line in the local supermarket.

Working all those jigger poles

The tube jig even landed a large Shellcracker not to mention numbers of bluegills

Bobby with the largest slab of the day a little over 2 lbs--this type of fishing is sooooooo easy it makes you feel sorry for the fish!!

The Super Light 8 ft. Micro Light Spinning Rod by Daiwa

From time to time I come across some great fishing equipment and accessories I like to share with you with guys. As most of you know I not only fly fish but I am an avid Micro Light fisherman. When I say Micro Light I am referring to spinning tackle in the 2 to 4 lb test range. The spinning rods that fall into this category are 6 ft. to 9 ½ ft. Landing fish on these long rods is like using a fly rod. The two companies that actually started manufacturing Micro Lights rods first were Bass Pro and Daiwa. The Bass Pro rods start with a 5 ½ ft. traveling pack to the 9 ½ ft. float and fly medium action Micro Light. Daiwa has the same type rods but with a little more finesse than the Bass Pro version. Their guides are smaller and the rods are lighter than the Bass Pro series. Their 8 ft. version is the one that is really caught my attention, because of the reviews and the lightness. This rod paired with the Quantum Optix Spinning Reel is a killer for pan fish, trout and yes it even has the backbone for larger fish. The reel will spool 125 yards of 4 lb test line and 150 yards of 2 lb test line. In my opinion it is the ultimate in Micro Light fishing. The complete combo is priced under 70.00 bucks and that is a bargain when it comes to Micro Light fishing. Bass Pro has basically the same rod but with a price tag of 55.00 plus tax. The Bass Pro version has a little more weight and the guides are larger. When it comes to Micro fishing I like finesse and the 8 ft. Spinmatic by Daiwa fits the bill. For that fisherman out there that has not mastered the fly rod or wants to mimic fly fishing then this is the combo for you. Check it out you might be surprised how close you come to fly fishing when using this combo.