My daylight fishing trip this week on Tuesday, May 8, fell
through so the Sipsey Tailrace was my second choice, which proved to be the
best choice. Here in Alabama
we are finally getting those warmer days with some humidity mixed in. That is
what Sam and I encountered Tuesday, a warm comfortable day with clear blue
skies and a slight breeze in the gorge. Sam is the college student I met as I
was suiting up. He told me he had never fished the tailrace; so I offered to
let him fish along with me for the 4 to 5 hours we had to fish before the
generators were turned on. I’m glad the trout were active and he got to
experience landing a bunch of trout using his 6 weight and my 3 weight. He told
me after we completed the trip that his next fly rod purchase would be a 3
weight.
One of many rainbow trout Sam landed before we left the
gorge that afternoon; notice the two fly rods.
Reverting back to the title of this post, I showed Sam
how to fish in fast moving water today. We fished some of the fast runs that I
had fished before. The key to attracting a take when fishing water this fast is
no drag at all. Some of the runs can be 10 ft. to 30 ft. long or more. I like
to fish all the runs here standing where the fast water begins and letting the
nymph float though the run as I release fly line to keep the nymph drag free. The
current is going sink your indicator a lot in the form of false takes but the
reward is when you connect with a true trout take. The lesson here is never
take you eyes off your indicator when fishing any fast moving runs. I landed
numbers of trout today in runs that was no wider than 2 ft. and as shallow as 2 to
3 ft. deep. I lost a lot of trout today because I had to play the trout back to my
position at the start of the fast water. If I had waded to the trout to land
them, then I would have scared the rest of the very trout I was fishing for. So to
give me a landing advantage on my next trip I will be using my 4 weight to add a
little more muscle to steer the trout to my net. The wading staff is a must
when navigating the current to get into position to drift your nymph.
Colorful gill plate on this bow; I remember hooking this
trout at least 30 ft. down the run from where I was standing. It went airborne
several times before I netted it.
What a fitting way to end the trip on this great tailrace today. We are
blessed here in Alabama
to have a place like the Sip to land rainbow trout!!