I’ve been waiting about a week to make today’s trip to
the Sipsey because my game plan was to go super light using my new 7 ½ ft. 2
weight. I purchase the fly rod mainly to fish in the Smokies, but I decided I would
use it today to break it in on the Sipsey rainbow. June of last year was the last
time that I wet a fly in the Sipsey since we moved to Tennessee.
Upon arrival, I found one other truck, so I knew I would
have the place pretty much to myself most of the afternoon. The skies were a
crystal blue with a slight breeze out of the northeast most of the afternoon. I
entered the gorge at access six and saw no surface movement, so most of the
afternoon was spent fishing nymphs. I did manage to take a few trout on top but
I think the trout were annoyed with the presence of the fly as opposed to really
eating the fly. The drift had to be near perfect to get a take on any pattern.
I’m really glad I had numerous boulders to sit on because I did a lot of experimenting
with different patterns most of the afternoon. A lot of fun takes and a lot of
trout lost today.
This was the size trout today that broke the 2
weight in on its first outing. I kept wondering on the way home why I missed a
lot of takes today; could be slow reflex and learning to fish a lighter fly
rod. Whatever it was I enjoyed the afternoon on one of my favorite tailraces.
Cathey and I made a trip a few weeks ago that
really brought back a lot of childhood memories. We were in Bryson City North
Carolina getting ready to ride the Great Smoky Mountain Train Express through
parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains. The scenery on
the train ride was spectacular along the NantahalaRiver, but what really got
my attention was the huge Lionel Train display in BrysonCity. The display was a
theme recreation of the ’50s and 60’s complete with a working drive-in theater
and numerous other displays that were present in those early years. I spent over
an hour filming and talking to the conductor of the six trains that were
running and viewing the hundreds of models that Lionel has on display there. The
little model train sets my brother and I played with back in the day were not
on this level.
The ShellcrackerLake 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.
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 LauraHillLake 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 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!!!
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.