Hitting the River

I had a couple of hours free this afternoon and made a quick run over to the Tennessee River here in Chattanooga. The fishing is good right now with lots of active fish. I managed a nice largemouth to go along with the usual yellow bass. Unfortunately I had a problem with the camera so no pictures to share...

The largemouth hit a #4 Simi Seal Streamer stripped fairly fast in shallow water and the yellow bass liked a smaller #8 white woolly bugger fished a bit slower. The exciting news is that the stripers are being caught the last few days. According to another fisherman I talked to, there was at one guy that caught nice stripers on 3 consecutive casts at one point. I'm guessing they were probably schooling and chasing baitfish. That is my goal for fishing the river, to catch a striper. Hopefully I'll accomplish that one soon...

I'll be going back to fishing for trout, probably sometime next week, but until then I might make another trip over to the river to look for those stripers. Wish me luck!

Foolish Fish

April Fools should obviously be spent playing a joke on someone or fooling them in some way. I decided that the best way to spend the day would be fooling some fish. Besides, I've been missing the Park a lot lately so I headed up towards Townsend.

After a stop at Little River Outfitters, I was soon on my way into the park to see how the fish were doing. My goal for the spring is to catch a big brown. I didn't get off to a great start yesterday in that category but had fun nevertheless. Oddly, I never even saw any large fish which is unusual, even when I stopped at the pool where I ALWAYS see a big fish or two.

Other than the lack of big fish (at least to my limited searching abilities), it was a beautiful day in the park. The fish were acting a bit strange and not rising as much as I thought they should. Still, I was able to catch a few on a dry fly for the first time in awhile up there. Sadly, the dry fly action has supposedly been awesome recently but it was a little off for me yesterday, not to mention the fact that I needed to shake the rust off of my reflexes. Those wild fish are just a completely different ballgame than what I've fished for over the winter.

The low point of the day for me was watching a nice brown of 13-14 inches take my dropper (a softhackle at that point of the day), and I didn't set the hook in time...only fast enough to feel a brief resistance as the hook pulled free. I even got the fish interested twice more but couldn't get it to commit again. The day had high points as well including a nice rainbow that was a bit larger than the other small fish I was catching. All the rainbows were extremely colorful...

The interesting discovery I made was that the drought really seems to have been good for the browns. I was catching a lot more browns and in places that have always held rainbows in the past. Hopefully we'll see more quality browns for the next couple of years as a benefit of the otherwise bad drought we experienced but time will only tell. Overall I had a great day and can't wait to go again, hopefully in another week or so...

Still Fishing

That's what all, or at least most, of you seem to be doing (according to our recent poll) despite the rising gas prices. Apparently a few are stuck in my boat and limiting both trips and fishing-related purchases/spending. However the majority haven't been affected by the high price for a gallon of gas right now. Perhaps I should open a fund so all of you more fortunate people can donate to poor college students like myself... The Help a Student Go Fishing Trust Fund...I like it!!!

Trout!!!

Spring break was the last time I fished for trout and that was almost a month ago now. This was a problem that needed to be corrected so I finally made it up to the Hiwassee. The river should be turning on really well with big hatches of Hendricksons and a few BWOs along with the usual caddis and I wanted to see how things were coming. The desire to fish dry flies was strong, so strong in fact that when I arrived and only saw a few stray bugs, I tied on a Neversink Caddis in dark brown with a caddis-olive softhackle as a dropper.

The first few casts gave me a rise to the softhackle, but after several more I knew that the fish wouldn't be tearing up the dry. Accordingly, I tied on my early season go-to fly on the Hiwassee, a #16 beadhead black simi seal leech pattern which apparently does a good job imitating all the small dark stonefly nymphs that are active this time of year. This proved to be the ticket and I started hooking fish. Not tearing them up mind you but catching one here and one there at a decent pace.

As the day progressed, I saw a few stray mayflies that looked like they might have been Hendricksons but no large hatch yet. The highlight of the day was catching a fish on the dry. A good hatch of tiny (think #34-#40) yellowish midges was in progress and the fish were taking pupa just under the surface. A small midge dropped under a dry seemed like a good option so I tied on the caddis again for the dry. After completing the new rig, I started working the current tongues just above a hole that usually produces a few rainbows. Suddenly, a shadow floated up off the bottom. I fully expected it to reject my fly but it just kept coming. Suddenly it broke the surface as it inhaled the dry fly. A nice smooth hookset later I had a fish on. It wasn't a monster but it sure was fun...

The river is fishing okay right now but that's it. I caught 14 or 15 fish over the course of the day but it could have been much better if the bugs were hatching. One big guy bumped my fly but couldn't find the hook apparently. The fly of the day was the black simi seal pattern and the water was right around 50 degrees. I'm willing to bet that in another 1-2 weeks, the river will be on fire as far as the hatches are concerned. Rainy or at least cloudy days will be best... Be there...

Big Fish

Since I don't have any great stories to tell, I'm going to send you over to Hugh Hartsell's page. Hugh is an excellent East Tennessee guide and recently posted a report about catching a very nice brown trout over on the South Holston...pictures included... Check it out!

Nothin' Much

That's basically what's been going on with me in the realm of fishing. I've been swamped with school-related stuff for the last several days and it looks like things aren't going to get any better until late Wednesday (big test that afternoon). Thursday looks to be a good day to fish though so I'll probably be heading out to either the HI or maybe the Tennessee River again. The next couple of weekends WILL include some type of fishing and most likely trout unless it rains a lot and the rivers/streams are all blown out.

I've been so busy that I haven't even taken the time to tie any flies for awhile. This warm weather has me thinking about fishing dry flies, and I need to tie a lot of those before I fish anymore. Hopefully that will start happening soon...

Anyway, check back soon in the next few days as spring has arrived in East Tennessee, and I'll be out there trying to make the most of it.

Keeping Fish

While fishing on Thursday, I was able to enlighten a kid that stopped by to watch my buddy and me fish. When he first came up, he asked if I had caught any fish. I replied in the affirmative and added that I had caught several.

What happened next cracked me up but also showed me the general mentality that people have about fishing. The poor kid looked all over for those fish and then asked, "Where are they?" If you can imagine the confusion on his face when he didn't see any fish laying around, then double that confusion to imagine his face when I said, "I let them all go."

I wanted to have a good chuckle, but since this was a good teaching opportunity I resisted. Three or four minutes later, I hooked up on one of my better fish of the day. He watched me fight the fish and then land it and quickly asked if he could have it. I reminded him that I let all my fish go and he seemed fine with that but wanted to hold the fish. Of course this was okay and so he spent a little while admiring the fish and my buddy snapped a quick picture for me and we let it go.

Hopefully that kid will remember that you don't have to keep 'em all.

Heating Up

Things have been heating up here in the Tennessee Valley, both the weather and the fishing. This past Thursday brought on the best fishing I've head yet on the Tennessee River for the bass (white, hybrid, yellow). Right now, large schools of baitfish are finally showing up and the fish are having a heyday feasting on them.

Most fish seem to have a preference for smaller flies right now. I've been fishing a tandem rig with a larger streamer (#4-#6) trailed by a smaller #8 (anything white is good). On Thursday, all but one fish hit the #8. A few stripers are being caught but haven't I hung into one myself, YET... A few larger flies will probably need to be added to my arsenal to try and trick one of these fish so tomorrow, instead of fishing, I'll probably do homework and tie a few flies. This week should see the fishing continue to improve. Hopefully next weekend will allow me to return to the trout streams in the Smokies but until then, I'll continue my quest for a big striper...

Junk and Shame

In fly fishing, there is the purist approach where you fish upstream and with dries only. Often you don't wade but instead walk the stream banks looking for that rising fish to cast to. Then there's that other approach, the one where you use flies that are gaudy and often quite ugly. Of course, there is a lot of middle ground here that one can comfortably negotiate without going all out one way or the other. I fall somewhere between the two extremes but occasionally resort to somewhat questionable methods that always leave me feeling a little guilty.

Most if not all of the "junk" flies actually imitate something the fish might be able to eat. Then why the guilty conscience? As do many fly fisherman, I prefer to fish dry flies but when they aren't rising enough to keep me happy, I'll tie on something else in a heartbeat. In fact, I sometimes get annoyed fishing dries because if the fishing is too good, then I must constantly(or so it seems) be drying the fly or tying on another.

The recent poll suggested that many of you would not want to fish an egg pattern or a SJ worm. I'm guessing that those are probably the ones that are much closer to mastering the art of fly fishing than I am. It is easy and enlightening to view junk flies as a crutch and in my opinion they are (and yet I still use them). That is probably why I feel guilty using them.

The majority are in the same boat as I am and admitted to using these flies on occasion. A few of you disagreed with my assessment of what is and what isn't a junk fly. I'm curious which ones and why if you care to respond. Just hit the comment button and let me know what you think....

Finally, much thanks to the purist out there!!! I was beginning to think that no one that fit that category was going to vote...I applaud you for maintaining the purity of tradition in this fine sport... Hopefully I'll be coming closer to your side of the debate by weaning myself from the use of junk flies although I doubt you'll see me giving up wet flies any time soon...

New poll is up by the way...check it out!

Trouble for TWRA

For those that fish in Tennessee, you know that your license comes from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). It has been brought to my attention via the Little River Outfitter Message Board that Rep. Sherry Jones (D - Nashville) is sponsoring a bill (House Bill 2856) that would abolish TWRA and also would deposit all funds from license sales into the general fund instead of directly back towards enhancing and protecting our waterways and wild areas. Additionally, the state would lose millions of dollars in federal funding that are currently going to TWRA.

This plan is a disaster and I would strongly encourage you to email or call your representative and let them know that you are against it. You can find your representative here. This bill is currently nowhere near a general vote and probably won't get that far as it must go through committees first. Regardless, this is an important issue so let your voice be heard.