This is a follow-up post
from my “To Fish With or Without Someone” post. Today I thought I would discuss
the following characteristics that I think make a good fishing partner. I
realize this may not be that important to some of you guys, but for me, as I get
older it is something that I tend to focus on when I am fishing with someone else.
So I will start with the one I consider the most important for me:
I hope to use this blog as an avenue to express my thoughts and adventures of all of my fishing expeditions and any other journeys I may undertake.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
What Characteristics Determines a Good Fishing Partner?
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Ticks The Silent Insect
For all of us who have
encounter the Tick weather on a stream fishing or just hiking outdoors, the
bite can be punishing. This post is a follow up to the hiking trip my Grandson
and I took the other day in Tennessee . We were hiking a trail near a stream when somewhere
along the trail I got bite by a tick. I didn’t know it until the next day when
I discovered some red spots on both hips and both legs below the knee. I have
been bitten by ticks before and been able to find it on my body; this tick was nowhere
to be seen. What puzzled me about this bite were the multiple reds spots that
showed up the next day and the day after. Usually a tick will attach itself to
your skin to suck blood and one can see the tick if they look closer enough,
but this tick was something completely new to me.
I went to the doctor
Wednesday evening and the doctor had blood work done and prescribed a powerful antibiotic
with some medication for itching. He told me that some ticks can leave multiple
red spots, beside the traditional one bite mark. He ruled out Lyme Disease, and
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, because I didn’t have any symptoms related to
either disease, which are: Fever, Joint Pain, vomiting, muscle aches, or severe
headaches. I did go back to the doctor on Friday and he gave me a shot for
further infection, which has helped I believe more than the medication I am
taking. After five days of dealing with I can see signs of healing taking
place, because the red spots are not as pronounced as they were Tuesday and
Wednesday. I hope all you guys will take heed to this post and be extremely cautious
when you are in the woods, whether you are fishing or just hiking as I was
doing. I am including a link that I found extremely helpful in explaining the
in results of tick bites.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Hiking With My Grandson Bryson
On Monday my grandson
Bryson and I did a short hike down a trail that runs parallel to a scenic creek
in the Springhill area. The creek is located near a park that Bryson and I visit
quite often when my wife and I are in town.
The trail we were
following is man-made over some years of traveling up and down the creek. I
told Bryson to lead the way and Pops follow along.
This is a
beautiful little creek with some signs of small fish swimming mainly in the shaded
areas.
Bryson found a number of these vines that he tried to climb without much success.
We were both fascinated
with the way this tree was laying over the trail; it was not only rooted in the
ground at the stump but at the top as well. I recently got my camera back after
a so call overhaul, so my images should improve with future posts.
Laelyn, Cash, and Bryson with Pops and Meme
Saturday, July 12, 2014
To Fish With or Without Someone??---And Arrival of Cash!!!
The SipseyTailrace is a place I
can fish most of the time alone, the guys I fish the lake with doesn’t fish for
trout, their only interest is in the warm water fly fishing. I seldom fish the
tailrace without seeing other individuals fly fishing there. Fishing with
someone or fishing alone differently has its pros and cons. I am sure there are
a lot of opinions as to why someone would rather go it alone on the water or
always have a companion to tag along. What is your opinion?
Cash Miller Atkisson came
into the world Thursday at 3 PM ; mother and baby are doing well as is the rest of the family. His big
brother Bryson and sister Laelyn are fascinated with this little guy. Pops and
Meme will be keeping Cash company for a while until Mama gets back on her feet.
Looks like I have another future fisherman in the making.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Fishing The Sipsey Tailrace on a Cool Morning July 3rd.
I was met today with some
of the coolest weather we have had this summer on the tailrace. As I suited up I
could feel the cool 65-degree temps, which was quite a contrast compared to the
high humidity a couple of weeks ago which the south is famous for in July.
Walking the trail to
the first access point I notice this apple tree loaded with green apples. The
deer had already started eating the ones on the ground. This is the first apples I have seen on this tree.
I couldn’t have asked for
a better morning to fish the Sipsey; the slight fog which hovered over the water surface was an inviting sight for me to make my first cast with the Adams . While w orking the area I
notice a trout to the right of me continually breaking the surface. I really
couldn’t determine what the trout was taking, because I saw to hatch at all on
the surface. I know this trout was surface feeding because I saw the bubbles
it expelled as it submerged each time. Let me explain the bubble theory, Randy
at the local fly shop told me sometime back that I could determine if the trout
were taking anything on top by the expelled bubbles of air they release when they
inhale the insects on the surface. So with this faint evidence of surface
activity in front of me, I begin to pursue this particular rainbow.
Getting the right drift
was somewhat a problem because this trout was stationed in a narrow seam,
adjacent to some faster water. I had fished this area before during early
mornings but with no success because of drift problems, so today I was
determined to make the right cast with the perfect drift. Casting some distance
above the trout and letting the fly get that good drift through the seam
finally paid off with this nice rainbow. I worked this trout for at least 15
minutes before I finally enticed him to take the dry, patience, and more
patience.
As I moved up the tailrace I just
couldn’t resist fishing some of this fast water that I often have had success
on. I have taken a couple of spills here, because of the moss-covered rocks and
current so I waded out with my staff extremely careful. I tied on a pheasant tail
soft hackle and high stick it through some of the numerous seams in this area.
I was using my 9 ft. 3 weight, to work the fly just under the surface. Fishing
a wet fly is somewhat new to me and I must admit I am still in the learning
process when fishing any soft hackle fly, but I am determined to become
successful fishing wet flies on this tailrace. No one fishes wet flies here, so
this would be a plus for me.
I decided to tie on the standard
zebra midge which almost everyone uses on the Sipsey. I used no indicator only a
small weight to get the midge down in the fast current tight-lining which brought
this rainbow to hand. I really felt a sense of accomplishment for today’s trip because
I reinforced my patience factor, and I continue to land trout in the fast water
that no one ever fishes here. Now if I can just get my first rainbow on the
soft hackle in the fast water.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Fishing Trip Washed Out--So Concentrate On My Other Hobby
Thursday was my day to
make it to the Sipsey Tailrace and try some wet flies for the recently stocked
rainbow. Needless to say it rained all day Thursday and into the night. My wife
and I left for Tennessee on Friday afternoon which has halted the fishing for
me until next Tuesday. At the rate I am going my bluegill quest may be gone for
this year.
So with my fishing on hold
for a while I spent some time Friday morning tending to my other hobby,
gardening, in the form of my cherry tomatoes, and peppers.
The wife’s discarded
flower pots with one of my five cherry tomatoes plants. The blooms are just
showing up on this plant. It will produce tomatoes into fall.
This plant is already
producing, amazing what a 2.00 bag of top soil will produce when tomatoes are
involved.
One of two sweet banana pepper
plants that will produce into fall with an amazing amount of pepper yielded.
I thought I would try a
couple of plants in this pot and see if I could double my yield. Both plants
are producing pepper. There isn’t a lot of maintenance that goes into gardening
on this scale, a little liquid miracle grow and water is the ticket.
Muscadines are another food
passion of mine in the fall so I planted a couple just to see if they would
produce in the coming years.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Advertising My Favoritte Fishing Products
I am sure that all of you
who follow my blog I have notice from time to time that I mention products that
I used when I am out on the water fishing. I do this not to receive something
free from the company which I do at times; but simply because I am so impressed
with the performance of the fly, fly rod, or any other fly fishing accessory
that I may be using at the time. Most of these products are sold through small
companies and a few through large companies. The larger companies have many
more avenues to promote their products as oppose to the smaller companies. A
lot of the smaller companies use referrals, product reviews or their own
website to help move their products.
Over the years while
writing post in my Fishing Through Life blog I have featured many fishing
products which have brought me great success on the water. So today I thought I
would once again give a shout out to some of my favorite fishing products I
am using.
It is good to be back on the blog circuit, after my wife and I spent some time in
By the way I can't wait to get back on the water Thursday!!!!!
Thursday, June 5, 2014
The Bar Nun Popper Wins Again
Today I got to try out my
newly purchased Bar Nun poppers I purchased from BreamBugs last week. What precipitated
the purchase of the poppers was my fishing trip last Tuesday when I found out
that color really does matter when fishing for bluegills.
The bluegill on Smith Lake doesn’t spawn your traditional style, meaning the water clarity can afford
them the luxury of spawning in depths of 10 to 12 feet. In most other waters bluegill spawns in
depths 6 feet or less. Once a popper is thrown their way in deeper water it may
take a few seconds before there is a hit. In other words one has to have a
little patience to get their attention, using the light scale chartreuse popper.
I had my 3 and 4
weight 8 ½ ft. Redington rods rigged today with a Muddler Minnow and of course
my new Bar Nun popper. The objective for the two rigs was to see if color and
pattern still really mattered to the bluegill after a week. Long story short it
did, no hits on the Muddler at all and killer hits on the Bar Nun popper. In
fact I would place the Muddler right in the same place I cast the popper and
the bluegill would come up and nail the popper and totally ignore the Muddler. I
ordered 6 poppers last week and now I am down to 4 as a result of losing one in
a tree and one in a break off with a nice gill taking it with him in a brush
pile.
This bluegill along with
numerous small bass and other bluegills continued to nail the popper
until the sun over took the banks. Sun is not a friend of the fly fisherman
especially on Smith Lake . I want bore you with images of more bluegills, but
this one and two others were worthy of the quest. I am now 31 away from my goal.
I manage to land this nice spot using the size 6 yellow Boogle Bug right at daylight. This was my only bass of the morning. This fish took the Boggle while it was sitting still. I had to change my retrieve action to get this fish to hit the bug. The jerk and stop motion didn’t work for this bass this morning. A very slow motion and letting it sit still got the hit. The retrieve could be different on my next outing. That's what makes fishing so exciting for me, one never knows how the fish will react from day to day.
I manage to land this nice spot using the size 6 yellow Boogle Bug right at daylight. This was my only bass of the morning. This fish took the Boggle while it was sitting still. I had to change my retrieve action to get this fish to hit the bug. The jerk and stop motion didn’t work for this bass this morning. A very slow motion and letting it sit still got the hit. The retrieve could be different on my next outing. That's what makes fishing so exciting for me, one never knows how the fish will react from day to day.
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