Cathey and I spent a few days this past week visiting B.T. Jenny and the grandchildren in Springhill, Tennessee. I've been carrying a couple of my fly rods along on some of the trips to teach Laelyn and Bryson how to use the fly rod. Both are making progress with their casting and placement of the fly, starting with a short cast and adding distance as they get accustomed to the feel of the reel and rod. I am hoping they will be ready by late Spring to land a few bluegills in a park pond located near our home. We're going to use the pond to learn how to play a fish and land it. Hopefully, by the time they visit in the Summer, they will be ready to fish Smith from the boat. We are looking forward to seeing them land some of the Spotted Bass that roam the waters of Smith, which should merit their fly fishing diploma. I thought I would share some of their progress this past week. Their younger brother, Cash is still a work in progress??
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.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Laelyn and Bryson Learning How to use the Fly Rod
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Finally Back on the Sipsey
Tuesday and Thursday are my fishing days either on Smith Lake or the Sipsey. I was surprised when I pulled into the parking lot and saw only 4 vehicles. The last time I witnessed this amount of traffic on the Sipsey was back before the virus hit.
I always rig my fly rod the night before with the flies I think the trout will take. After 30 minutes with no takes on a tandem nymph set-up I tied on one of Alans Soft Hackles.
The first trout of the morning to get things started on a slow day fishing clear blue skies.
One of many runs I fished during the outing. Dead drifting a couple of fly patterns got numerous takes. I lost twice as many trout as I landed because of fly rod selection today. I should have been fishing my 4wt. instead of the 3wt.Friday, December 4, 2020
My Favorite Fishing Areas on Beautiful Smith Lake
Friday, October 30, 2020
Big Bluegills Scarce Until Next Spring
The time for landing supersize bluegill is over for this season if you are a fly fisherman. I proved that statement to be true Wednesday when I made an afternoon trip to Walker Lake. I was using my Pelcian boat which is ideal for fishing this particular lake. No one on the water but a few individuals fishing for catfish and me. In other words, I had the place to myself. This time of year one can expect to land lots of hand-size gills and smaller which was exactly what eat my tiny poppers.
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Enjoying the Grandchildren
Time spent with family is always a plus especially if there are Grandchildren involved, which was the case for Cathey and me last week. While there we got to watch our two Grandsons play some flag football for ages 6 through 11. This is the first year for our youngest Grandson to play and he has really developed into one of the team's fastest backs. The older Grandson has also hit his stride this year in becoming the quarterback for his team and somewhat a leader. To say Cathey and I are proud of both boys is an understatement. We're also just as proud of their younger sister who is playing soccer and has scored a number of goals since joining her team. Sorry to say we have only seen her during practice sessions but hope to see her in-game mode soon. I thought I would share a couple of videos of the boy's games from last week. We hope to have some video of Laelyn soon.
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Fall Bass Fishing
Fall is a great time of the year to fish for bass on your favorite lake. The species could be Largemouth, Smallmouth, or Spotted Bass. Jeff and I spent the morning casting surface poppers fishing for the Largemouth and Spotted Bass in areas around Duncan Bridge launch on Smith Lake. The weather was a little cool to start the morning but landing those first fish took the chill out. Nice spotted bass early fishing a wall near docks--Jeffs five weight got quite a workout landing this bass!Always fish walls like this more than once, the first run rewarded Jeff with the bass in above image.The next run produced this female spotted bass on a Barr Nunn popper, which made my 5 wt. sing. Sorry to say the third run told us to move on!
Sunday, September 27, 2020
The "Best Cast" Fly Line
First off guys I'm no expert when it comes to fly lines. I do know when the fly line I'm using isn't performing to its potential. After doing the post on furled leaders; I thought, wouldn't be nice if I could find a fly line that was limp and had no memory like the furled leader I've started using. Enter the SF Best Cast fly line that can be described in a few sentences. First, this line has no memory at all and is as limp as the furled leader I'm using now. The ease of casting this line has really impressed me for distance casting and accuracy in placing the fly or popper I might be using. Also, this line doesn't tangle when you have line pulled off the reel getting ready for your next cast. I intend to have all my fly reels spooled with the Best Cast line by next season.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the best part about this line is the price. It comes in 100 ft and 90 ft. length and is priced at 16.99 with free shipping at Amazon. I am using the dark green color instead of the bright yellow on a couple of my reels now. It comes in sizes 1 through 10 line wt. and has the welded loop on both ends.
This 2 lb spot put this line through the tangle test factor yesterday as I rushed to get him on the reel. No tangle line at all as this fish strips drag time and again.
He nailed a Bullet Boogle Bug as I slowly moved it away from a rock ledge, fishing Brushy Creek on Smith Lake. The Spotted Bass were active early yesterday hitting a number of different poppers I cast their way.
Saturday, September 5, 2020
The Furled Leader
How many of you guys have fly fishing accessories that lie useless for years in a drawer, box, or bag? While rambling through one of my many drawers of fly fishing stuff the other day I discovered this furled leader that I found. After researching my blog I discover I did a post concerning this leader fishing the Sipsey in 2016 but never used it that day. I thought as I examined the package that it would be a good replacement for my 4 weight mono leader I had been using for years. Once I buy a leader the first thing I do is replace the tippet end of the leader with a tippet ring. By doing that I can tie on tippet after tippet of 3 ft. or longer for a number of seasons. I applied the same procedure to this new furled leader.
A few false cast in the back yard convinced me that it was worth giving a try on the trip I had planned on Smith last Thursday. I was using the leader with my 4 weight 9 ft. Redington. My first cast using this leader showed me the difference in the mono leader I had been using for years versus the furled leader. I was impressed with the ease of casting especially in the wind that was occurring at times that morning. The info on the package indicated it was made with Uni-thread as opposed to the mono strands used to construct mono furled leaders. The mono furled leaders are much stiffer and retain memory. The Uni-thread gives the leader the ability to have no memory. In other words, no bend in your leader line. It cast accurate and landed lightly on the water. I also noticed that on my line pick-up from the water surface there is no spray water. My favorite characteristic of this leader is the no memory factor which reduces drag when fishing dries or nymphs. It floats quite well on the surface without sinking and affecting the action of the fly or popper. I read where one can add some floatant if they prefer. I'm still using it without floatant.
After doing a little research on the leader I found they are made in 4, 5, 6, or 7 ft. lengths. The one I am using is a 6 ft. length with the tippet ring attached. This leader will last me the rest of the season and even into next season. I found no fly shops carrying these leaders because they are constructed most of the time by individuals and are not factory-made. I'm so impressed I'm already in the process of searching Ebay for more Uni-thread leaders. In fact, I will be using all furled leaders for the next season.
Friday, August 21, 2020
Meal Time
The weather was picture perfect yesterday morning on Smith Lake if you were fly fishing. Those individuals fishing for striped bass, and largemouth bass were doing a lot of motoring. Which tells me they were searching for active fish. Jeff and I were the only ones fishing the rock walls. In fact, I've never seen anyone fishing the rock walls the way I fish these structures.
The weather was perfect with a cool 68 degrees, overcast skies, smooth surface film, and "NO HUMIDITY" This type of weather in the deep south is unusual in August. One would think they were fishing in the Spring or early Fall. If you fly fish with poppers you want a silky-smooth surface for your surface flies or poppers to land on; most of the morning that was the case. Around 9:30 AM the boat traffic started and the bite slowed. One needs to make the most of the 3 to 4 hours you're given at daylight and beyond to land fish this time of year on Smith Lake!
One of many bluegills taken off the walls using the 3 and 4 wt fly rods. Don't think you know what the fish will be hitting from one trip to the next. Last week the red poppers were working, this week the blue poppers were getting their attention.
Monday, August 10, 2020
Bryson, Laelyn and Cash
This will be my first post using the new interface Blogger has converted to. I have been experimenting with the commands and found they are all the same as the old version with the exception of the interface layout. This new version makes it easier to convert your blog to book form which I am in the process of doing. It takes a tremendous amount of time to go through over 600 plus posts and gramma check each one before the post is submitted. I started this project back in January and worked for a couple of months. Work stopped in March which is the start of my fishing season so hopefully, I will get back on track in November. This project reminds me of my Ancestry work I started right after I retired, which took roughly two years. I hope this blog to book project is finished before two years. Landing those trout, spotted bass, and bluegill is more important than the blog to book project right now.
I'm still spending my Tuesday's and Thursday's fishing the lake now and very little time on the Sipsey Tailrace because of the tremendous amount of generating that is taking place on Smith Lake. The generation will slow down after Labor Day. Cathey and I always enjoy spending time with the grandchildren the following pictures were taken on their last visit.
Bryson on a recent trip landing one the largest crappie he has ever landedHis sister Laelyn got in on the action as well!!