Fishing High Water on The Sipsey

Fishing a tailrace can always be an adventure especially if you fish one that has unpredictable generation. Tuesday was that day, where I thought I had the generation time exact, but upon arriving at the waters edge I discovered otherwise. I should have known when I drove up to the parking lot and no one was there that something wasn’t right. I never fish this place alone; but this morning I would have the Sipsey all to myself. The water was higher than I have ever fished the Sipsey. No turning back for me today, I was determined to fish and fish I did. 

The road to the first access point was just about covered with the leaves from some of the tress lining the road. It is so beautiful this time of year around the tailrace. We had a light rain the night before and I could still smell the wet leaves.

The food plots along the road are in full growth now and the deer have already started to graze on the clover. I was hoping one would be near the plot but all I saw were some butterflies feeding on the clover blooms.

As I stepped off the last step at access 6 I encountered a foot of water. All the rocks you see in this image are always void of water when the generators are off. The area I was going to fish was the deep channel off the edge of the rocks. There was a fairly fast current in all the rock areas that I waded through to get to all the spots I wanted to fish. No rises, at all so dries were not the option.

If there is a plus for me fishing high water on the Sipsey; it has to be its beauty with the fast ripples, swift current and super clear water. I remember a time last year fishing high water here, and my selection of flies then were nymphs and soft hackles. With the water moving fast I knew I wanted to fish a pattern that would get the attention of the trout quickly, so color was the first choice, forget hatch nothing there on the surface or in the air.

This little gem would be my first choice in a bright orange. I haven’t fished a scud in a while here so today was my chance to see if this bright color could attract. I knew the trout would have only a few seconds to see the fly before it was swept down stream from view. The water in the channel where I was going to fish was actually 5 to 6 feet deep, so I was hoping the trout was closer to the top, than down on the bottom. To drop the fly a little deeper I added a weight 6” above the scud.

My first rainbow of the morning, after endless casting in the fast moving water; this rainbow inhaled the scud and decided to leave the deep channel and head to the shallows. I decided not to use an indicator and just let the fly swing through the current with a slow retrieve. This would be my lone trout this morning, with my new found scud friend. I'm not complaining when one can fish a beautiful place like the Sipsey on a early fall morning. I’m planning on spending a lot of time on the Sipsey in the coming months; I hope you guys don’t get bored with my repeated trips.



Driftwood Abundant on Smith Lake This Time of Year

This is the time of the year on Smith Lake one can find some really nice pieces of driftwood.  The lake is being pulled down now and driftwood is scattered all along its banks. Cathey and I like to place different pieces of wood in our yard. It adds character to areas in the yard that need a little pick me up. We’ve had pieces in our yard for years that hasn’t deteriorated with age.

This huge pine stump was taken from the shoreline on Smith a couple of years ago with the help B.T. my son-in-law. We got some strange looks at the boat dock when we motored up with this thing resting on the back deck of the bass boat. The top of the stump is buried in the ground more than a foot deep.

A different size cypress stump sitting upright

I found this cedar stump a few weeks ago buried in a sandbar along with one of the shorelines. Very unusual to have the inside hollowed out. The tree had been cut years ago.

Using rock alongside the driftwood adds to the landscaping

This is a piece of poplar driftwood that I found in the Blackhills of South Dakota on our recent trip there. Every piece that I have shown you here in this post has a memory.

Cathey and I Completing our "Out West Trip"





Cathey and I got back home late yesterday, tired but happy we made a trip of a lifetime for us. We traveled over 4000 miles saw some amazing scenery and didn’t wet a fly on the trip. Time was the factor that kept me out of the streams in the Black Hills and Yellowstone.

As some of you know I am a huge western fan and finding out we could see the actual props used in Dances with Wolves was a plus!!!

The headquarters building of Fort Hayes build for the movie, in fact, all the buildings in the Fort Hayes prop village were all built for the movie. The movie went way over budget but won numerous Oscars at the academy awards in 1989.

 The Black Hills

So majestic is all I can say!!!!

French Creek in the Black Hills, Alan I thought of you when I snapped this image.

Monument located atop Monument Hill at the Little Big Horn Battle Field. We spent the afternoon at this site, because of all the history.

Some of Custer’s Calvary using markers showing where they fell in battle----I want  go into all the information about the battle, but a lot that was seen in all the Custer movies were false.

Custer is not buried here; his remains are buried in West Point Cemetery in New York

Awesome rock mountains at the Buffalo Bill Dam going into Yellowstone

The Shoshone River flowing from the base of the dam

One of the many buffalo we spotted in the park, notice all the burn area in the background. The only negative for Yellowstone was the thousands of acres of burn timber in the park, in fact, there was a fire burning in the park while we there.

Old Faithful

One of many waterfalls in the park; these are a few of the images from the places we visited, there are many more, but I won't bore you with the rest. I will close by saying it was a trip Cathey and I will never forget.

Fishing Against the Odds

Never think you have this great sport of trout fishing figured out. That is what I find out every time I set foot on the waters of the Sipsey Tailrace. The trout may be wiling to take a certain pattern one day and the next it could be something completely different. I know the holidays always bring out a lot of fishermen either on the lake or on the tailrace. The tailrace was covered on Labor Day with fly fishermen from all over the state, not a good day for a retiree to fish anywhere near the place. Neither is the day right after the holiday, but Tuesday was the only day I had to fish this week, so I gave it a try this morning. I did the walked up to access seven, which is right at the dam to set up for my first cast around 9 AM. I knew I was fishing against the odds today. No activity at all  as I approached the waters edge so I started with a size 18 Zebra Midge, which produced a couple of rainbow early. I like to use smaller flies on days when no activity is present. After landing the two rainbow the drought set in and didn’t let up until right before I left at twelve.  

As I made my way back to access five to leave, I saw this nice rainbow moving in some pocket water right below where I was standing. I started casting my nymph trying to get a decent drift to entice a take; but the rainbow was having nothing to do with the indicator nymph combo. Time to change patterns and method of presentation. I decided to tight line my nymph down and across the pocket which allowed the nymph to pass through the pocket with less time for the trout to inspect the fly. On my second cast I saw the rainbow slam the nymph in the super clear water. The take was savage, and the fight was a stretch for my 3 wt. One of the fly fishermen near me was kind enough to take the shot of this beauty. This fish was one of my better trout from the Sipsey this year. Seeing this nice rainbow take my nymph was an awesome experience and a fitting way to end my morning outing.

 

Speaking of pocket, I will be out of pocket for the next couple of weeks; Cathey and I will be making a trip out west starting tomorrow; so no post for a while. I will be carrying my fly rod and hope to wet a fly especially in Yellowstone.

 

Tight Lining Using the Microlight Combo

A fantastic day on Smith using the 7 1/2 ft. Microlight fishing in 30 to 35 feet down under. When the fly rod won't get to the fish try the next best combo to the fly rod, the Microlight!!!
                                                                            

The lake is very low now and the fish are in the deepwater and very finicky; adapting to the conditions and making the best of the situation is a must if one is going to land fish this time of the year on Smith. I used a technique yesterday that will work on any water one may fish. Tight lining using a microlight spinning rod rigged with a slip shot, 20" above a bluegill hook. A bobber stopper is used to stop the slip sinker from sliding down the line while the rest of the line with the hook float along the bottom. The hook is tagged with a cricket and tipped with white crappie nibblet. A slow retrieve will usually get the take and most all the hits are on the fall as the cricket falls back to the bottom. There is no mistaking the hit, most of the time the fish will take the cricket and swim away franticly, that is when you merely lift the rod and set the hook. I have found that 4 lb. test Vanish line is the best choice for fishing this technique. The above group was the best of the best for yesterday's outing. Got to love it!!!!  



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