Something New

Trout are easily my favorite fish to target on the fly. Unfortunately, the nearest trout water is around 50 miles away regardless of whether I'm at home or at school. This reality combined with high gas prices has me looking at alternative fishing trips. Today I checked out a new spot for cool- and warm-water species such as bass and panfish. The fishing turned out slow but it was fun to get out and try something new. I even caught my first white bass ever!!! Hopefully I'll be back to try again soon and maybe I'll find some smallies or largemouth or even some stripers. The best thing is, it is close enough that I can literally go any day I want to now. That means fishing in the morning before class and in the late afternoon after class is a distinct possibility. Of course, I'll have to keep a little time free to study, but who needs to do that when you could be fishing...???

Exploring Gone Wrong, Very Very Wrong

First stream where I caught a few

My recent urge to explore finally got me into trouble. I've had my eye on a remote tributary stream somewhere in East Tennessee that is hard to get to and finally got around to looking for it. When I say "looking for it," that is because there is no trail to the stream making the job much harder (at least, not by the most direct route). There's a very good reason for that however. There are two options for a trail, up and over a towering mountain (that's what it seemed like anyway) or along a steep sidehill where falling means ending up in a lake. Yeah, that's the hint of the day by the way but trust me, you don't want to go to this stream even if you figure out where it is.

I wandered the backroads to where I was planning to start hiking and parked the car. Another stream had already been visited and I was still in my wading attire. That was mistake #1, and #2 followed closely behind as I didn't switch to hiking shoes. Then again, I had yet to learn what I was getting myself into. As most of you are undoubtedly aware of, steep hills and felt wading boots don't mix well, especially when those hills are covered in leaves and pine needles.

My cheerful hike was soon in progress and I was making good time for about 100 feet when I made mistake #3. It stands to reason that it would be easier to just follow the contours instead of hustling up and over the ridge right? Wrong...and boy did I pay for it. Things started out pretty well as I found myself walking gingerly along a game trail that angled down towards the water's edge but then it just faded out. Of course, I knew better than to trust a "trail" like that, but hey, hope springs eternal.

Things began deteriorating a bit more rapidly from this point on. The sidehill got worse and worse and I was reduced to falling on my butt every 5-10 steps or so, sometimes much more. This continued for about a half a mile as I more and more cautiously worked my way around the mountain looming above me, always towards the promised land of fish that have never seen a fly. "It can't get any worse," I kept telling myself. It should be obvious by now that this was mistake #4 and things did indeed get worse.

About this time I realized that the extreme exertion it was taking to make any headway at all had resulted in an extreme case of thirst. I just knew that death from a lack of water (which I should have brought with me) was now stalking me if I didn't fall off the side of the mountain into the lake and drown first. This was mistake #5 and almost #6. Yet another game trail had presented itself and I was creeping along a mere 10-15 feet above the water which was quite deep at this point. Falling in would have resulted in swimming and probably for a long ways. Wearing waders and my vest meant this would be a huge problem. The goal then was clearly to NOT fall in. Did I mention mistake #5? The game trail literally shrank down to about 1 inch wide for a few feet before regaining the 4-5 inches that allowed slow progress. I was pretty sure I could make it because the other side was so close. Just one step on dangerous sidehill and then my other foot would be across and gaining traction on solid ground. I made the lunge and my foot flew out from under me.

As I tossed my fly rod up the hill away from danger, I glanced down and was reminded that there was NOTHING below me to stop me from falling into the water ...just a nice drop into oblivion. I flung my hand towards my last remaining hope and found myself hanging over the precipice by one arm and wondering how in the world I got myself into this predicament. The tree I was hanging onto was only about 2 inches in diameter, and I was hoping that it wouldn't pull out of the hill. With my other hand, I reached up and pushed my fly rod farther up the hill to avoid having it fall in the lake. Next, I put my rock climbing skills to good use, slowly and painfully pulling myself back up to my starting point. And I kept going... I was done inching along over the lake with every step taken in danger of falling in. Onward, ever onward I climbed until I found the remains of an old trail part way up the hill and foolishly pressed on towards my goal. This was mistake #6. I was exhausted and every step seemed to take the last bit of energy I had left. Nevertheless I pressed on until I found myself staring down towards my goal far below me. When I saw that the deep water continued on back even further and to reach the actual stream, I would have to climb down (and of course back up) an extremely steep hill, I decided that enough is enough. Disillusioned, I turned away and faced the mountain that was now between me and my car.

Incredibly I began to climb up, higher and higher until I felt completely exhausted. My thirst had reached an all new high and I felt the beginnings of heat exhaustain setting in. I started to feel naseauted and realized that I had to take a rest. Sitting down never felt so good and then I just reclined against the side of the mountain, glad to have a moment of peace in this torturous journey. After about 20 minutes, I felt able to keep moving and began inching on up the side of the mountain. Never in my life has reaching the top of a mountain felt so good. While I wasn't back to my car, I knew the worst part of the ordeal was over. If you're going downhill, at least you can just enter a half-crouch and slide down when the going gets too steep. When I stumbled back onto the road where I had left my car, I used my little remaining energy to unlock my car and latch onto a Nalgene that was full of life-giving water. Several minutes and a liter of water later, things were looking up and already I was plotting how to return. That will most likely be mistake #7 but on the other hand, I could find a hidden jewel of a trout stream.

This trek into the untamed wilds of Tennessee was the worst part of the day but it literally added insult AND injury TO injury. While fishing the previous stream that I had actually made it to, I stepped on a large flat rock that looked solid. It was covered with leaves and was basically level leading me into the dangerously incorrect assumption that it was fine to walk on. What I didn't notice was the spring on the upper end of the rock which had soaked the whole rock under the leaves and several steps into crossing, the whole mass of leaves decided to slide at once and I took The Fall. The resulting crash probably registered as an earthquake on one of the USGS seismographs and left me sore all over.

Rock where I took "The Fall"

Closeup of the slide zone from The Fall. Where you now see bare rock used to be completely covered in a blanket of leaves before I took the tumble...

And then the journey of agony happened, first around the mountain and almost into the lake and then back over the mountain...

When I woke up today, I felt like I had been hit by a freight train which is probably what it feels like to be a professional football player. This was one thing I never expected from the quiet sport... Yet, I still plan on going back...hopefully it will be worth my time!!!

Lake-run Rainbows

Today, I officially began my quest for lake-run rainbows. I've been hearing plenty of stories about the great fishing opportunities they present and while we may not have salmon and steelhead runs like the West Coast or the tributaries of the Great Lakes, there are still some decent possibilities to explore. Many of the streams take some effort to get to and I'm hoping to get in some backpacking trips soon to check those out. Even the ones that don't require an overnight trip take a bit of effort to get to. Today I drove for what seemed like eternity through the winding backroads of the Appalachians. The drive was nice though a bit too winding for it to be a quick trip...

The end result proved worth the wait. I found just a few large fish in the stream of choice but they were actively feeding making my job easier. Only one (of the big guys anyway) was gracious enough to let me land it but one of the ones I hooked was almost as memorable. I was drifting a copper john with a midge dropper through a run where I had spotted an actively feeding fish when my line stopped dead and shot upstream. My feeble attempts at putting on the breaks did absolutely nothing as the fish muscled its way on upstream before shortly throwing the tiny midge. The fish I did land was gorgeous but was missing a chunk of tail from some past brush with danger...

Hopefully there will be a lot more fish in this creek in the near future. There's only one way to find out though so I'll make the sacrifice and check back soon so everyone can know that someone is out there having fun...

Whirling Disease Conquered?

The Colorado DOW has been working on the problem of whirling disease for awhile now and may finally have a breakthrough. For the past few years, they've been developing and subsequently stocking a new strain of rainbow that appears resistant to the disease. Now they have announced the discovery of natural reproduction of the disease-resistant fish. The fish were found in the Gunnison River and also in ponds along the Frying Pan River while doing the annual electroshocking surveys.

"They were plump, colorful fish, they looked good," said Barry Nehring, an aquatic researcher for the DOW in Montrose who has been working on whirling disease since 1994. "This is indicative that we've had successful reproduction."

This is great news since I love fishing the Gunnison. The last time I was there, I caught lots of browns up to 18 or 19 inches which is fun and all, but the lone rainbow I caught was a reminder of the river's heyday when lots of big rainbows were the norm. Hopefully the good news will continue as they do more research...

Continual Lack of Fishing

Benton Falls

I'm officially sick of school, mainly just because it cuts into my fishing time though. I had planned on fishing this last Sunday but my responsible side kicked in and made me study instead. Thankfully I was able to get out and hike a bit on Saturday so the weekend wasn't a complete disaster.

Hiking

The result of a 4.5 mile hike...

The most recent poll here at the Trout Zone closed last night and I was actually surprised at the results. By far, the most popular response (right at 50%) was that you would hike up to about 5 miles roundtrip on a daytrip into the backcountry. Good thing for me because a lot of my shorter daytrips are just beyond that range. Still, a quarter of the votes were cast for the 6-10 mile roundtrip category and a few of you even voted for the type of trips I like to do, roundtrip of over 10 miles.

Now, that isn't the norm but it does produce some of the most spectacular results short of doing an overnight type trip. Those of you that stay within a couple of miles of the trailhead are missing out on some excellent opportunities. I understand that some people may be limited for various reasons but the rest of you who are just lazy, I want to say thanks for leaving the best fishing for me...

Standard pack for a daytrip

Getting Behind

On average, I fish at least once a week and often more. This new year has seen a slow start for me on the fishing scene though and I'm definitely behind compared to past years. Generally I get in a few extra days in early January before I head back to school but this year, unfavorable generation schedules really limited my time on the water. Fortunately, things seem to be looking better. Last Sunday I had a great trip to the Caney Fork and this coming Sunday, I'm hoping to spend some time on the water as well. In keeping with my hopes of more small stream action this year, I'm thinking about hitting some small streams. My other option of course is the Hiwassee which I haven't visited for awhile. The one good thing about going there is that it is close, just about the closest trout water in fact.

Also in what I hope is the near future, I'll be starting on my late winter and spring backpacking and camping trips. I'm looking to check out some new water this year and the best way to do this is on a weekend trip since most of the streams are at minimum a two hour drive.

Perhaps this Sunday I'll check out a stream for some lake-run fish. That sounds like a lot of fun...I think I'll do it!!!

Glad to NOT be in Yellowstone

Temperatures across Wyoming were bitterly cold this morning. For once I'm glad to NOT be in Yellowstone. It was -39 at the Canyon Ranger Station compared to a relatively balmy -17 at Mammoth. On the plus side, the water supply in Yellowstone is looking great for next summer with current predictions stating that

The Upper Yellowstone, Snake, Shoshone, Clarks Fork, Little Snake, and Laramie Watersheds are expected to see normal to above normal snowmelt stream volumes this spring and summer.

After the low flows and warm water temperatures last summer, this is some of the best news in awhile...

Fishin' When it is Cold

Fishing has long been a year-round hobby for me but many people prefer to stay inside and keep warm when the temperature plummets in the middle of winter. That's too bad because they are missing out on some fantastic fishing, especially in the tailwaters where the steady water temperature insures a year long supply of bugs for the trout to munch on. Even the mountain streams can provide a good time because those fish still have to eat even when it is cold although probably not as much.

My biggest challenge when fishing during cold weather has always been staying warm. I don't really like fishing with gloves because I feel it really limits my dexterity for casting and also for playing the fish. For awhile I used half-finger gloves while fishing when it was cold but when I lost one of the gloves, I started searching for a better solution. This past weekend, I found a very reasonable solution to the glove problem. Recently, I bought a nice cheap pair of warm gloves (Thinsulate) to try out for cold weather fishing and Sunday was my second time trying them out on the water. The first time I didn't like them very much but it was much colder this past Sunday and I knew that without gloves of some type, I wouldn't be on the water very long.

Starting out, I wore them on both hands but was still having a bit of a difficult time controlling my line. It was after a couple fish (when I naturally had to remove a glove anyway) that I decided to go without on my left hand glove for awhile. This worked out great since the glove on my right hand was collecting all the water off of the line as I stripped it in. As long as you keep your hands thoroughly dry, they will stay warm longer. Best of all, I was out there catching fish and not freezing in the process.

Two other suggestions on keeping your hands warm are to take something to dry your hands on and to take and use hand warmers. I did both and the hand warmer in particular worked wonders. It is always difficult to tie knots in cold weather. The hand warmer not only kept my hands warm but in so doing also contributed significantly to my ability to change flies comfortably.

Another suggestion on fishing in cold weather is to rig up at home. This option isn't for everyone and by doing this you will be guessing blindly what the fish will want. If you guess wrong, you won't be catching fish until you change flies. It worked out great for me though on Sunday. Knowing the river you will be fishing definitely helps in making this a viable option.

I'm still working on solutions to the fly reel freezing up everytime you catch a fish but I suspect the only solutions either include not going fishing in the first place or not catching fish. Ice in the guides and reel are just part of the game when the weather gets cold...

Ice Fishing

Going home for the weekend always has the bonus of being able to fish the Caney and this last weekend was no exception. I didn't get as much time as usual due to other obligations but it was still a great opportunity to be on the water. I headed down Sunday morning and arrived on the river around 11:00. The first thing I noticed was that the fish were feeding heavily on or very near the surface. The surface of the river was covered with small midges and the fish were having a feast. The cold temperatures (air temperature in the 20's) made it difficult for the bugs to get off the surface once they hatched and the fish were taking advantage of the banquet presented to them.

The fact that the fish were feeding high in the water column was exciting because I had done something that I've never done before; tie on flies at home (where it was warm of course) and I had gambled on a midge hatch where Zebra Midges would work well. The fish approved and I was soon catching fish after fish. There were several large fish cruising and making quite a ruckus every time they broke the surface in their pursuit of the tiny bugs. The funny thing was, I had probably 6-7 fish that I thought were large when I first set the hook. Caney Fork fish seem to pull as hard or harder than any other trout I've ever fished for and yesterday they were in fine form. Several fish were landed in the 14-15 inch range and each time I was ready to proclaim that I had a bruiser on before I actually saw them. The one brown I landed I honestly thought was at LEAST 18 inches. Despite the fact that none of the fish turned out to be more than 15 inches (or maybe 16 if I stretched them out a little), it was still a great day on the water.


I even learned a few things. Later on I'll share some more of the cold weather wisdom I gained, but most importantly you should know that your reel WILL freeze up every time you hook an especially hard-fighting fish (this is actually a corollary to Murphy's Law). Also, your guides will generally be completely iced up just about the time a fish takes the fly (again closely related to Murphy's Law). Despite these minor annoyances, it IS possible to fish in cold weather and have a good time and even stay warm in the process.


One thing I feel it is important to point out, if you're going to take a picture of a fish when it is this cold, please leave the fish in the water until the last possible minute before you take the picture. Even better, as in the picture of the 'bow, leave the fish in the water (shallow water works great to corral the fish) to take that picture so water completely covers the eyes and gills...