Exploring Another New Lake

The Shellcracker Lake near Columbia was my target lake this past Tuesday to explore. One drawback to this lake is no grass area to slide the Pelican into the water. Lots of concrete including the launch ramp; lucky for me there were a lot of fishermen there to help me get it launched. The polyurethane material this boat is made of will not take concrete slides often.

This is a 75-acre lake nestled in a deep wide valley with a huge dam holding back a flood of water. After getting on the water I counted 16 other boats scattered around the banks. I found out really quick that the majority of fishermen were fishing for the spawning bluegill. The big difference between me and them was the fishing technique. Again I was the only one using the fly rod, while the rest were using the crickets and worms. The live bait fishermen were landing lots of bluegill and catfish. I did manage to find one small spawning group of gills located near the base of some small maple trees that were willing to give the 3 weight a workout. Bluegill will sometimes spawn in very unlikely places and this group was located under the overhanging branches of the trees; presenting a bait of any kind was a challenge for any angler. Using a low side cast help me connect with the fish. I counted four orange corks tangled in the branches that didn’t make the connection.

I landed a couple of small bass holding in the back of this nook. Other boats were waiting in the wings to give the area a try.

Blooming dogwoods signals crappie season in the south!

I worked hard to land this bluegill from under the maple branches. In fact, I was impressed with my placement of the popper to attract a strike. Time after time the Bar Nunn popper hit its mark to hook up with this group of spawning bluegills. This is a good bull bluegill, but I’m still looking for the really big gills. I hope I can land a few before the spawning season is over.

Making up for Lost Time

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 Laura Hill Lake 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 for Rainbow

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!!! 

McCutcheon Creek

Cathey and I at Flintville Hatchery

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.