Back Problems

Talk about dreary days, Monday through today would make one think that we are on the verge of winter. Low sixties with steady rain from Irma has kept me inside still dealing with pain and thinking of spring fishing which is a long way off. 

I had an MRI this past Thursday which showed that I have Degenerative Disk Pain which I don't wish on anyone. I will meet with an Orthopedic Surgeon next Wednesday to give me some options on how to relieve the pain and hopefully avoid surgery. The one option I hope he suggests is the Epidural!!

In the meantime, I’ll stay in touch commenting on your blog post. ----------------By the way, been watching some really great movies lately while lying on the sofa; which is the most comfortable position I’ve found to deal with this ordeal-----check out Sharon Stone in “Running Wild”---- 5-star movie and worth every star!!     

The Betty Crocker of Fly Fishing

I wonder if you guys knew that all of us bloggers had a fantastic pastry chef in our blog community. I formed that opinion after I sampled some of The River Damsel’s fantastic cookies that arrived in the mail today. These are the chocolate chip variety big and thick that makes you want seconds, in fact, I down two after lunch. She also packed in a great read featuring Henry Winkler’s book, “I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River” which I will read while my back is on the mend. Emily’s thanks so much for the care package; this kind of generosity is why I enjoy blogging so much.

 I needed my spirits lifted today and Emily’s package helped with what I’ve been going through for the past two weeks; constant lower back pain in my right hip. I won’t bore all of you with the details but I’ve been seeing my MD, Chiropractor and Physical Therapist for the past two weeks and I’m still in pain daily. In fact, I’ve never experienced pain like this before in my life. The only relief I can get from the pain is lying flat on my back, which I do quite a bit. No fishing for me or anything else until I get back on my feet, which according to the Therapist could be weeks.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day!!

Big Trout-Awesome Float Trip on The Caney

I spent early Sunday morning this past week on the best float trip I’ve ever experienced landing some of the largest browns and rainbow trout I’ve ever landed. My son-in-laws Dad, Ron made the trip with me which was his first fly fishing experience. David Perry, our guide had him casting in no time and on fish soon into the float. The fog was still on the water in places as we made our way down the banks using our 6 weights 9-foot fly rods.

A nice rainbow that give quite a fight on the 6 weight; this trout and the others I landed made up for the number I lost. Fish seem to always hit when the fisherman isn’t watching.

Ron with a quality brown!

After landing this brown I can honestly say that it put up more of a fight than the rainbow I landed earlier in the morning. I lost another brown in this size range because I wasn’t able to maneuver it away from the structure.

  The prize of the morning for me was this 22” brown, which was the largest trout I’ve ever landed. I was beyond happy from the look on my face! A big thank you to David for making this one of my most memorable trout fishing trips; I’m looking forward to our next outing!!

A Learning Curve---Plus Jason Landing Rainbow

My phone alarm went off at 5 AM and I was up and ready by 5:45 for my next fishing class on the Caney Fork. That’s what my trips are like every time I wet a fly on this beautiful tailrace now. I arrived at 7:30 suited up and made my way to some new areas on the river that I’ve not fished before. As usual, the fog was present with no surface activity at all. With expectations of landing stocker trout again today, I decided I would use my 3 wt. 9 ft. Streamflex.    

Any of you guys think the brown is more of a fighter than the rainbow and brook?

How I wish I could get my grass in my front yard to look this green----a trout supermarket for sure.

I’m still trying to break the 14” mark here and so far those size trout have eluded me. Fishing the Caney is going to take much more work on my part to equal the success I had on the Sipsey in Jasper Alabama.

Thought I would share some images of my son Jason who lives in Sacramento fishing from his new Hobie Kayak. Fuller Lake north of Sacramento is one of the mountain lakes he fishes there.

 One of the colorful rainbow he landed for the afternoon fishing Lake Fuller!!

Fishing the Flats

I was back on the Caney again today fishing the flats that level out from the main channel. Some of these areas can be less than a foot and some areas can be knee-deep. I seldom wade in the water on the Caney anymore deeper than knee-deep. I don’t have to wade any deeper than that to land trout there. This tailrace is packed with stocker trout in the size range from 8 to 12 inches. Of course, there is the occasional 16” and above but most of the time the stocker trout is the main course. I’ll take the stocker trout all day on a 3 or 4 weight fly rod in the fast-moving water. If I’m lucky enough to connect with a bigger trout then I consider that a bonus. All I need to make my day a success on the Caney is outstanding scenery, crystal clear water, beautiful rainbow, browns, and brook trout to bend my fly rod and I’m happy. That’s what I encountered on my Caney outing today. 

Quality brown just over the 12” stocker size put up quite a fight just off a gravel flat in a fast run. This was my only trout to land on a near-perfect drift, “is there a perfect drift” for the morning. I landed a couple more rainbows at the end of the drift just letting the midge flutter in the ripples. No mistaking the take when the trout nail the fly on this type of presentation. Presentation and patience were the main elements for today's trip, in other words, the trout made me work for the takes.

It's really easy to wade here because most all the time you are wading on gravel beds, and occasionally submerged vegetation. The vegetation produces an abundance of food to support a healthy trout population.

Cathey and I have always been a collector of nice driftwood stumps and branches for landscaping, but I think this one is a little out of our range!!! I spent the morning roaming these flats enjoying another relaxing trip on my favorite southeastern tailrace.

P.S. I have found out that a 5-hour wade trip is about my limit here, the back starts to act up beyond that. There are no boulders to sit on here like the Sipsey but lots more trout, I will take the trout over the boulders!!!  

Camera "Malfunction" Fishing the Caney Friday

The title of this post pretty much sums up the mishap that occurred while landing lots of stocker size trout early Friday morning. In fact, today’s trip was my best this year for the trout count on the Caney-------but a minus count when it came to camera work.

 I dropped my camera in the water while trying to take a picture of one of the rainbows I landed. I knew it was gone when I couldn’t get it to turn back on, needless to say, I lost all the images of today’s trip.

 A short recount of the morning trip, arriving early at 6:30 and was met by lots of other fishermen and a super cloud of fog on the water. I started fishing with size 20 midge using an indicator in 2 to 3 ft. -depths. I got to touch a few rainbows, using the tiny fly, but as usual, I kept losing too many to continue fishing with it. So mid-morning I decided to go with 18 size midge. The 18 sizes proved to be my success ticket. I landed numbers of trout standing on a shallow sandbar and letting the midge drift into two seams, one to the left of the sandbar and the other flowing in at an angle; where the two deeper seams meet was the sweet spot. I know I landed at least a dozen trout in that one spot.
 I would land a few more browns and rainbows fishing small pockets closer to where my truck was parked before the generator forced me to leave. All the trout today was not anything larger than 12” but lots of fun to land using my 4 wt. 9 ft. Redington.

 So I’m looking for a new waterproof camera, any suggestions??? 

Previewing The Contour Roam 2 Video Camera

No fishing here for the past couple of weeks due to heavy rains just about every day. Rivers are out of their banks and the lakes are 2 to 3 feet above full pool. Reading, watching Contour Roam 2 videos and thinking about fishing has consumed most of my time during this monsoon period. I decided to purchase the camera yesterday. I’m looking forward to putting it to good use in the coming weeks. I won’t go into the buying and returning the GoPro I thought I wanted to use. I'll just say the Contour is leaps and bounds ahead of the GoPro when being used as a helmet camera, because of its low profile. I can actually use the Contour attached to one of my caps, without movement. LET THE RAIN STOP!!


Side Note: This is my second Roam 2 Contour I’ve purchased. I decided in 2015 I wanted to film some of my fishing trips so the Contour was my choice of cameras then as it is now. My nephew is enjoying using my first camera.

A Capital “P” for Persistence Thursday on the Sipsey

As I drove the 145 miles Thursday to fish the Sipsey, I was thinking how easy it once was to drive the 12 miles from our house in Jasper. The trip now is a bit more important than it was back then.

Partly cloudy skies keep the sun from penetrating the crystal clear waters of the area I was going to fish this day. The water level was somewhat low which makes the Sipsey more difficult to fish, and as always the pressure from other fly fishermen adds to the challenge.

This section is where my wading boots got the most use, fishing small pocket holes throughout the stretch. No surface activity at all caused me to stay down under with nymphs changing back and forth from tight lining to the indicator. I was using a furl leader today casting upstream and letting the nymphs drift slowly back to me. I choose to do this because of the super clear low water levels I encountered. The trout spook easily in these conditions and they had been hammered all morning by other fishermen.

I landed my first rainbow of the afternoon using a long 6X fluorocarbon tippet tipped with a size 20 tungsten bead-head midge.  My eyes had to strain a bit even with my magnifying glasses to thread the line through the eyelet of the fly. I seldom fish a fly this small but it was producing and I couldn’t complain.

The 4 weight today enabled me to get a little more backbone in the hook set, which I needed fishing those tiny nymphs. I wondered if this trout had spent a lot of time in the deep holes of the Sipsey causing it to have a very little color, but still beautiful. Persistence kept me focused this day through long periods of no takes. A couple more rainbows would touch the net this afternoon before I headed back home. 

I noticed this turkey hen in our backyard the other morning and ran and got my camera and took the shot through the window. I knew if I stepped outside on our porch it would spook. Not the best picture, which continues to make me search for a better quality camera. I hope you guys have a great week!