Current Park Fishing

The fishing in the park has slowed down just a bit although you can still catch plenty of fish. The water is getting extremely low and after last year we are all a bit worried to say the least. If we don’t start getting rain really soon, this summer could actually be worse than last summer. The fish are still hungry so the fishing is at least decent.

This past weekend I headed up high above Elkmont to Fish Camp Prong and did very well. The water is still plenty cool up high and the fish are relatively stupid. The downside is the long hike to get there and also the fact that the fish aren’t quite as large as their relatives downstream.

Last night I fished above Elkmont and did alright. The fish are starting to get used to seeing all the yellow stonefly imitations out there so don’t be afraid to simplify the game. A small light colored parachute in about a #14-#16 will often catch fish when a stonefly dry will only draw mild interest. I’ve been having good success with a light cahill parachute I tie but anything similar should catch a few. Also don’t forget the terrestrials. Yesterday a customer came into Little River Outfitters and while chatting about he fishing, he told me that he hadn’t been able to catch many fish in the morning but finally tied on a green weenie and started doing well. Ants and beetles will work as well and are often overlooked by many anglers. The large golden stoneflies are showing up in the Elkmont vicinity on Little River now and fishing a nymph imitation might get a large brown to eat.

The biggest key to having success right now is to be very sneaky. Despite catching good numbers of fish lately, I’m still spooking a lot of trout. Be sure and hit all the small pockets close by the better pools because there will often be fish from the pool feeding up in the faster water.

Finally, if it rains, GO FISHING!!! Some of my better days in the park have been the day after a really good summer thunderstorm…

Stung!

Despite being in Townsend for close to three weeks at this point, I have been avoiding Elkmont. This was largely because of the firefly mania that has been going on above the campground. With the road no longer closed in the evenings I decided to head up there Wednesday evening and see how the fishing is doing on that stream. The results were excellent despite some pain in the process.

I casually sauntered up the trail above the campground with a certain stretch of water on my mind where I have caught some decent fish before. There is a lot of great dry fly water on this particular piece of water, and I was hoping to get a nice fish on the dry. Arriving at my starting pool, I found a log to sit on that was the perfect height for a seat and proceeded to start preparing to tie on a fly. Very little time elapsed before the bugs started bothering me, at least that was the first thought that went through my head as I felt a bug brush against my arm. Suddenly I felt a searing stinging sensation on my arm and quickly slapped at whatever was causing it. In horror I looked down and saw bees swarming. Two more stings followed in quick succession, another on my arm and one on the side of my neck. Anyone walking along the trail at that point would have seen me leap of the log and sprint for the stream. If the bees followed me with the intent to cause harm, I fully intended to dive into the water. Thankfully it wasn’t necessary as the bees only wanted me away from their nest. Yes, you read that right…I sat ON the nest which was inside the log. The bees were still swarming around the entrance. I briefly considered venturing close enough for a picture but you’ll just have to trust my description of the event and the bees.

After “The Stinging,” I finally moved slowly up the stream fishing various dries including a Neversink Caddis, a Parachute Hare’s Ear, and a Yellow Stimulator all in either a #14 or #16. I even broke off on a decent brown on the hookset but the fish shouldn’t have broke me off based on its size. Since I was fishing an extremely soft rod that should have been forgiving, I’ll blame my leader to tippet knot since the fish was nice but not really that big…

I managed a couple of better than average rainbows, the best of which was camera shy, but I got a picture of the other one. As I already said, the dry fly fishing was awesome. It doesn’t get any better than spending an evening on a mountain stream fishing dries to actively feeding fish… This weekend I’ll be doing something out of the ordinary which will be some type of backcountry trip. Either one of my crazy hardcore day trips or maybe an overnight trip…I guess I should spend a little time with a park map and decide where I’m going…

Caney Fishing Well

Since I was home this weekend, I took the opportunity to fish the Caney Fork for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon. I’m not going to give a lengthy report. The important thing is that the river is fishing very well right now. Fish took a zebra midge with enough regularity that I didn’t have to change flies at all once I figured out the color combination they wanted.

I stung 2-3 large fish that would have gone over 20 inches yet again but just couldn’t get a solid hookup with the really good ones. The fish of the day was a nice 17 inch brown that gave me a workout on the 3 weight.


The river is in great shape with LOTS of quality fish right now. Some of the really good fish feed in shallow water and are easy to spot and stalk if you move quietly. This week I’ll be fishing again in the evenings in the Smokies so check back for any exciting reports I may have… Also, next weekend is going to include some type of big trip. Either a backcountry overnight trip or a major day trip deep into the backcountry so I should find some good fishing to go along with the solitude I look forward to so much.

The Grouchy Turtle (or Other Uses For Your Rod Tubes)

Driving up to my small cabin after work yesterday, I noticed something in the middle of the gravel road up ahead and stopped the car. A snapping turtle was kicking back, taking it easy in the middle of the narrow road. I figured the opportunity to get some great pictures of a turtle like that don't come around every day and snapped a few before prodding him to get him to move. He was really grouchy about the whole process so I ended up pushing him along with a rod tube (hey, they're good for more than holding those all-important fly rods). He kept snapping at it so I finally just poked at him and each time he would try to bite and lunge a little further. Eventually I got him far enough over in the road to drive around. By the way, if you ever run into one of these, don't get your hands too close. This thing could lunge short distances incredibly fast and I don't want to be the one doing the experiment to see if one will really bite off a finger...

Some of you may have noticed that the number of fishing trips has continued to rise despite a lack in reports. Basically here's what you need to know. The fish are eating well and if you find a stretch of water that no one has fished that day, you can catch plenty of fish. Terrestrials are hot right now with ant patterns still catching a bunch and the Green Weenie still doing its share as well. Isonychias are hatching and the little yellow stoneflies are out each evening. On the Middle Prong of Little River the Giant Yellow Stoneflies are out some evenings in fairly good numbers. They look like hummingbirds flying around the stream and are enough to get you quite excited.

I'm home for the weekend (came to see my dad for Father's Day) but since he has to work tomorrow, I might sneak over to the Caney Fork a few hours before heading back over to Townsend. If so I'm going back to look for the monsters I missed last time. Wish me luck...

Candy Ants

Officially summer has yet to begin. Apparently someone missed the memo however, because it has been excessively hot here in East Tennessee. July and August are usually our warmest months and when the heat is combined with lower rainfall, the streams start to warm up a little more than is generally healthy for trout. This year the weather seems to be backward with the temperature in the Little River at the Wye above Townsend spiking up into the 70’s during the afternoon. The streams are starting to get a bit low as well but the forecast shows hope for that and for cooler (at least relatively) temperatures to go along with the much-needed rain.

With the streams warming up and getting low, it is time to start thinking about terrestrials. One thing I’ve noticed during recent fishing trips is the number of ants on the water. Apparently the fish have also been taking notice. Yesterday evening I hit the stream for about an hour and a half. I decided to stick to terrestrials with one of those being an ant pattern. For my other fly I tied on the famed Green Weenie (dropped the ant of that) and added a bit of split shot.

Ants must taste like candy to trout. Approximately ¾ of the trout I caught ate the ant pattern, and most of them hit with gusto. Not only did I catch plenty of fish but also caught some nice ones including one a bit over 8 inches (pictured) and another that was in the 10 inch range that took off while I was messing with my camera. With the water being low, it is extremely important to be stealthy while fishing right now. If you sneak directly up behind the fish you can often spot them out feeding in the prime lie in each hole. The hatches seem to be starting to slow down some, but there is still a good variety of insects on the water including the little yellow stoneflies and a few random mayflies and caddis. Still, the top item in the buffet appears to be ants in all shapes and sizes, but the majority I’ve seen around the water look to be averaging about a #16.

If we get the rain that’s forecast, the fishing should pick up and be good for a day or two at least. Some of my better days in the park are during the summer just after a good rainstorm. The streams will rise a few inches and become a bit stained. At that time the fish will be a bit less skittish and easier to catch. Remember that the rain will be washing a lot of terrestrials into the water so be sure and have plenty of inchworm imitations to go along with some ants and beetles.

Today I have to finish (hopefully) processing the Wapsi order and get all the products out on the shelves. Yesterday I began to get a taste of the misery from the large order so today I should be in the bowels of Wapsi Hell. I think that calls for another evening fishing trip…

Wapsi: Heaven or Hell?

Wapsi Hell. That's what Daniel Drake at Little River Outfitters affectionately calls the inventory and ordering process from our largest supplier of fly tying materials. My first day on the job included receiving an order from Wapsi, but it was nothing compared to future orders. Daniel said that I was just in Wapsi purgatory at that point. Later in the week when I put in my first Wapsi order I had a foretaste of what was to come.

The order was large, one of the larger ones this year in fact. This next week, probably tomorrow, it will arrive at the shop, and the real agony will begin. Everything must be checked against the packing list and our order form to make sure we get everything we ordered and everything they say was shipped. Once I know what we actually have, everything must be put into the computer so we can actually sell it, and anything without a label needs to have one made. Then I have to get everything out on the shelves. Really it isn't that bad, but when it arrives I'll probably be sweating for awhile...until 5:00 p.m. that is when I'll be out the door headed for a stream.

East Prong Little River

The evening on-stream therapy sessions really help to put Wapsi or anything else in perspective. Standing in the middle of silvery ribbons of water catching wild trout have a way of making any kind of hard work seem insignificant. Besides, not everyone can say that they love their work and even with a large order to deal with, working in a fly shop is better than a lot of other jobs I could be doing. Maybe it should be called Wapsi heaven instead...I won't yet though since I have yet to receive an order of any size. In the meantime, I'll be catching more wild browns on a #8 stimulator...

Wild Brown, Caught on a #8 Yellow Stimulator

First Day on the Job

Yesterday was the first day at my summer job working for Little River Outfitters in Townsend, Tennessee. I’m going to enjoy working there. A lot of my time was spent doing the more mundane tasks of receiving shipments from some of our distributors and getting them out in the store. The most enjoyable part of working there though is being able to talk about something I love doing. I’ve always enjoyed fly fishing, and helping others with fly selection and offering advice on where to fish is about as good as it gets (and did I mention I get paid for this?).

Being able to go fishing in a mountain stream after work for wild trout ain’t bad either… As soon as I got off work I headed up Middle Prong to check out how the fish were doing. The fishing was very good with lots of bugs on the water near sunset. There were little yellow stoneflies both hatching and also out laying eggs. The big news from last evening though is that the large yellow stoneflies are out in force. I’ve never seen that many large bugs flying around at one time. As usual this time of year, just about anything yellow worked well including Neversink Caddis, a parachute Sulphur, and a yellow soft hackle. Because of the large stoneflies out and about, I’ll probably be somewhere up the East Prong this evening chasing some larger fish…wish me luck!

For now it looks like I’ll be working weekdays so stop by and see me…

Last Time and New Job

Today I made one last (most likely anyway) trip to my home river before heading east for the summer. If all goes as planned, I'll be living in Townsend by this time next week. I was hoping for a cloudy day on the river to get the fish going but it was not meant to be. The clouds gave out on the drive down only about 5 miles from the river and it stayed bright and sunny the whole time I was there. Despite the less than ideal conditions, I still managed to catch a good number of fish. Most of the fish where caught on various midge patterns and would only eat if I got my flies right on the bottom.

I probably won't make it to the Caney for awhile now but that will be fine because I'll be on the wild trout streams of the Smokies as often as I want to (when I'm not working). You can rest assured that I'll be hitting the evening hatch often and hopefully will still have time to post reports. Additionally, I'll probably experiment a little with smallies and make a trip or two to the South Holston, Watauga, Clinch, and/or Holston rivers.

Best of all, I'm getting the opportunity to work for a fly shop which I've always thought would be a great experience. I'll be working for Little River Outfitters for a couple of months this summer until school starts again. I'll be working in the shop and taking care of the fly tying materials section. It doesn't get much better than helping folks out with fishing so I should have an awesome summer! Ya'll stop by and see me if you get the chance...

Recent Fishing

Finally, a fishing report! Yesterday I decided I couldn't wait any longer and headed down to the Caney Fork River. With gas prices approaching $4/gallon, it is hard to go fishing too often. Thankfully I'll be in the Smokies for the summer and can pretty much fish whenever I want, but more on that later...for now back to the fishing...

Summer is a lazy time for me immediately after school gets out and before I start at a summer job. I generally don't get up early even if it is to go fishing (tomorrow I might make an exception). Yesterday was no different and I planned to start fishing when they shut off the generators at 11:00 a.m. On the way down, I noticed a few members of the Buffalo Valley deer herd.

The river was becoming crowded when I arrived since wadeable water was hard to come by. I found my own bit of river and started fishing and was soon becoming disgusted with all the little guys that couldn't stay off my flies. Apparently the spring stocking of small browns happened recently and they were all ravenously hungry.

After messing with the small fish for awhile, I finally started moving around and found a few better rainbows.

The section I was fishing was becoming pretty boring though and I soon decided to try something else and headed downriver to catch up with the falling water. The new location proved to be much better and I finally got to try a setup I've been wanting to use for awhile. The main difference with other deep nymph rigs I've used in the past was the strike indicator. I finally found the conditions perfect for use with a Thingamabobber, and I made the most of it. The indicator worked great and was extremely sensitive showing every little tick on the bottom not to mention the fish that seemed to be flocking to my flies. The fly combination that seemed to work best was a Copper John for weight with a small midge dropped behind. Plenty of fish liked the Copper John as well as the midge. I think this setup will become one of my favorites for the Caney Fork.

I hooked several nice fish landing a several chunky rainbows, a nice little brown, and my first Caney Fork brookie! What a day...

Drought Outlook

The drought outlook from the Climate Prediction Center has been updated and things are looking up for Tennessee and the southeastern US. The current drought map still shows severe drought for portions of southeast Tennessee and a narrow band of extreme drought further south in neighboring states. The outlook presents a much happier picture though with improvement expected. We have been receiving some good rain here in Tennessee the last couple of days so things are definitely doing better. Hopefully we'll soon be completely out of the drought...

Fishing in the Smokies

Last Friday I made a day trip up to the Smokies for a couple of reasons. The first was to look into a summer job in Townsend. The other was obviously to fish. Things are looking great for the summer and I should be headed over to Townsend in a couple of weeks. More on that development once the details are finished, but let's just say I'm excited for the opportunity...



As far as the fishing, things were a little slow for me. I was definitely not on top of my game on Friday but I did manage a few fish. The nicest fish came to hand on a hard-bodied black ant pattern. Strangely, my troubles with losing flies continued, and its always when I snag my nymph rig on the bottom of a spot too deep to wade. My thoughts turn more and more towards the purist side of the sport on days like Friday. Perhaps I'll use dry flies more this summer. They are definitely more fun, but I'm always mildly annoyed trying to keep them floating after a few fish.



Since I'll be heading east soon, I'm hoping to get in a few more trips on the Caney. I'd planned to head down today but Mother's Day turned out to be an all-day thing which was just fine. Tomorrow I'm headed to Nashville for a few days and will check on the river for an hour or two on the way by. The next week I'm even thinking about camping for a couple of nights to really experience all the river has to offer, assuming I don't start work for a few more days that is. I really want to catch some of the monsters I've seen on the river in the last few months. Should be fun on tiny flies and light tippet...

"Fool's Paradise": A Short Book Review

One thing I don't do enough of is read some of the better fly fishing literature out there. In fact, I don't read a whole lot anymore about fly fishing in general, but that has mostly been a product of trying to keep my grades up in college. All my reading that is not related to classes has fallen by the wayside. Thankfully school is out for the summer and just in time I was contacted about reviewing John Gierach's new book, "Fool's Paradise." I jumped on the opportunity and just received the book yesterday. One day and 211 pages later, I'm left wondering where all my time went.

This book was a relaxing down to earth read that was easy to relate to. I have to admit that this is the first of his books that I have read, not because I don't like his writing, but because I just haven't bought many fly fishing books in general. That has been a mistake. For years I've heard people discussing some of Gierach's books and the general consensus always seems to be that the guy can write.

Fly fisherman tend to enjoy thinking at least a little or else they probably would not participate in the sport in the first place. In "Fool's Paradise," Gierach mixes interesting fishing stories with observations on the sport and life in general. He reminisces about the good old days such as when Montana didn't have a posted speed limit. One of favorite mental pictures came after reading the following regarding speed limits in Montana:

"Reasonable and prudent" was the only daytime rule, although I do remember once riding in a pickup that was stopped by a cop who asked, as if he were just passing the time of day, "Don't you guys think a hundred and there is a little excessive when you're towing a drift boat?" We explained that we were going fishing. He asked where and we told him. He wished us luck and told us to "Just take it easy."

There's got to be a good cartoon that could be made from this, and if I was half the talent as an artist that Gierach is as a writer I could probably make something pretty hilarious.

One of the most refreshing elements of the book is the lack of detail on where some of his greatest fishing memories were made. In a day when kiss and tell articles sell major fly fishing magazines, it was a special experience to read a fly fishing author that honored the age old tradition of maintaining silence about a great place to fish when asked to keep quiet by the guy showing him the river. His stories remind and inspire that yes, there really are still places were big dumb trout are the norm...places that are still pristine and bull trout can still be caught without having a federal ranger appearing out of the brush to haul you off to the penitentiary for targeting an endangered species. He also shows that he is just as crazy as a fly fisher can be, telling about fishing when it is excessively cold outside on one of those days where you start to wonder what exactly it is you are trying to accomplish or prove. Stories like this can be understood by just about any diehard and at least admired by the more lazy fisherman who only come out when it is warm.

My only complaint about this book stems from two deja vu moments I had when I realized I was reading the exact same paragraph that had appeared earlier in the book. Of course, it fit well in both places but would have better fit in just one and nevermind which...

One of my favorite chapters was called The New Guy. It brought together all the elements of fishing with a new potential fishing buddy including the telling of all your best fishing stories that everyone else in the group has already heard plenty of times. Best of all, the new guy in question was Jim Babb who is of East Tennessee origin. Making it even more personal was the fact that his brother Walter Babb is the guy that taught me how to fish nymphs in our Appalachian mountain streams.

Overall this was an excellent book which I would highly recommend. I'll be reading it again at a more leisurely pace and probably looking to buy more of Gierach's books in the near future...

New Links

I have added another link that you should check out. It is to the Fishing Fanatic and is the blog of another of my east Tennessee fishing buddies. The most recent post contains a couple of pictures of beautiful South Holston River brown trout, there's some motivation for you...

Tying the Perfect Mayfly

I've finally found the time to finish looking at some DVDs that James Marsh sent me awhile back. School caught up with me and I got too busy to review them but now want to make mention of them.

The titles were "Fly Fishing The Great Smoky Mountains National Park," "Tying Perfect Mayfly Nymphs," and Tying Perfect Mayfly Emergers, Duns & Spinners." I won't go into detail on the one about fishing the Smokies since Hawgdaddy over at the Tennessee Valley Angler did a great review you can check out here which basically says everything I had planned on saying. Great minds really do think alike...

The two tying DVDs were inspirational in a good way and also in a slightly annoying sort of way. I say annoying because they did a spectacular job of reminding me how basic my fly selection often is and even worse, how disorganized my fly boxes tend to become. If you want to learn just a few basic patterns that you can tie in different color combinations to much virtually any mayfly in the country then you really need to check out these DVDs. They not only show you how to tie the 14 basic patterns but also include recipes to match any mayfly hatch you may encounter streamside. The main downfall of these DVDs is the same for any tying program. The information is crucial and necessary and there is no better way to learn than by watching, but when it comes down to it, watching people tying on a video is not that exciting. However the organization that this will bring to your fly boxes and tying will be ample reward for the time spent watching. In the process, all but the best tiers will probably discover some new idea that will prove useful in their general tying as well.

I watched these while I tied which I found to be just about perfect. You can pay enough attention to gain the quality information contained in them but still accomplish something else useful at the same time.

These programs are perfect for use in conjunction with the "Hatches Made Easy" that James Marsh has on his Fly Fishing the Great Smoky Mountain and Yellowstone websites. If you haven't stopped by those sites in awhile, be sure and check them out. He has been making daily additions detailing the various hatches so there is plenty to see...

Caney Fork

Today I finally made the trek down to the Caney Fork for a few hours of fishing in the rain. The river is in great shape, and as long as we don't get too much rain the generation schedule should only get better. Best of all, there are plenty of quality fish in the river now after several months of higher flows. The fish are strong and healthy and hopefully a little dumb although today didn't prove that latter point at all. Unfortunately no big fish were landed, but the 10-14 inch rainbows were still a blast regardless. The fish I didn't land were the ones I will be going back for. I had strikes or briefly fought 3 fish in the 16-18 inch range and saw several that were much larger. Next time the outcome will be different...

Tomorrow I'm making the drive over to the Smokies for the day. It should be fun and I'll try and have a report up as soon as possible if anything exciting happens and probably even if it doesn't...

Busy

School's out!!! You would think that I could go fishing even more but not so. Probably my grades will reflect the abundance of fishing lately, but it was definitely worth it. Between moving home, graduation weekend for friends (mine will be later this year), and thinking about a summer job (why can't I just go fishing instead of doing something less important like working?), the fishing scene has been really slow. With a trip to town to search for that all-important job looming in my immediate future, the chances of fishing aren't all that great. On the other hand, THE CANEY IS FINALLY WADEABLE meaning that I might have to prioritize. Clearly, checking on the status of the river is much more important than landing that job. I can always put off work, well not always because it costs a lot of money just to get to the river, but perhaps one trip to the river is needed before I work too hard...

Twice the Fun

What's better than catching a fish? That would be catching two fish, at the same time that is... The white bass and hybrids were slamming baitfish in the shallows last evening. The fishing was just plain silly. Basically, it was as easy as waiting for a school of fish to come by busting bait, toss my flies in, twitch them a couple of times, and hold on. I had multiple fish on more than once but only actually landed one double.

Late in the evening, some slightly larger fish started coming up. I stuck one really good one but couldn't get a solid hookup. Finally I got a good one on and after a solid fight I landed a good fish. The rain was starting to pick back up about this time so I called it a day...one of my better ones lately...

New Poll

I'm trying to get a feel for how often everyone visits my blog. Do you check daily and are always disappointed with the lack of daily updates or do you only stop by once in awhile to see what's happening? I'm debating putting more time into this blog but want to know if it is worth it. Just vote over on the poll and let me know how often you stop by...thanks!!!

Back on the Tennessee

My curiosity has got the best of me the past couple of evenings. I've been heading down to see what is happening and today was finally a good one! Things started off quickly with a fish on within 3-4 casts and it never really slowed down all that much.

The highlight of the day was my first crappie which has been one of my goals for fishing down there. All that's really left now is a smallie and a striper. I'm about ready to give up on the striper until next winter but we'll see. The smallie is another story, and I should be able to get one of those but time will tell.

The Skipjack are still around. Last night I hooked what probably would have been my best one yet but it threw the hook a minute or so into the fight. Tonight I found a good spot where the action stayed hot for the last hour or so of daylight... Hopefully I'll have time to try again here in the next few days but with finals next week, that may be difficult. Also, it is possible that the Caney Fork might have a wadeable window this upcoming weekend. If it does, I'll be heading down to see how the fish our doing...

A Walk in the Park

That's exactly what I did this past Sunday. The weekend was spent camping at Elkmont which was great as always albeit a bit expensive. They seriously need a student rate so poor college students like myself can enjoy some time in the park without breaking the bank. I guess I just need to start backpacking instead of car camping...and now I'm off topic...

One of my favorite ways of fishing is to hike in on a day trip, sometimes up to 15-16 miles roundtrip. Sunday's goal was not that optimistic. I'm out of shape after a lazy winter so 10 miles roundtrip seemed reasonable. The trailhead at Elkmont was reasonably busy when I arrived at 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning. An hour later, I was 4 miles deep in the backcountry and ready to start fishing. The stream temperature was about 48 degrees and the clouds hinted that the air temp might not climb much as the day progressed.


A double nymph rig seemed reasonable considering the conditions and I tied on a GRHE with a softhackle dropper and a couple small split shot. After a couple fruitless casts, an energetic rainbow hit the Hares Ear and the day progressed nicely in similar fashion. An hour later I had caught 10 fish and was getting hungry. During lunch I began noticing that every time the sun poked through the clouds bugs would start flying up from the stream. After I started fishing it began to make sense. The rocks were all covered with newly hatched yellow stoneflies. It was too cold to fly quickly so they were waiting for the warmth of the sun to take to the air.


This revelation brought out my trusty Tellico nymph as the new dropper and the catching continued. Not long after lunch I hooked and lost the best fish of the day, a brown pushing 11 inches. I missed a nice brookie as well but the rainbows kept coming to hand at a steady pace.


Somewhere after 30 fish I began to wonder if they might hit a dry and out come a yellow Neversink Caddis. The fish must have been starving, because they attacked it with reckless abandon. The time was slipping away unfortunately so I finally called it a day and started the trek back to the trailhead with another amazing day on the water under my belt. By 7:00 p.m. I was on the road back to Chattanooga with a great sunset in front of me and a relaxing weekend behind...

Big Trout

That's right, big beautiful rainbow trout. Unfortunately I'm not the one that caught them. There's nothing quite like battling a large trout on a fly rod and Tom Chandler over at the Trout Underground seemingly hit the jackpot on a private pond making the rest of the world (or at least those of us that fly fish) envious in the process. Definitely check it out, but I warn you that anything related to work or school will be difficult to near impossible as you start daydreaming of that upcoming trip where maybe, must maybe, you will battle your own monster trout...

Bassin'

Finally got a little bass the other day while fishing the Tennessee River. Took a bright pink fly...go figure...



The interesting thing I saw on this trip was a really nice crappie one of the spin guys had caught from shore. My experience with these fish is limited mainly to spinning gear way back in the day, but I have caught a few small ones on the fly. Hopefully I'll find some nice ones soon though, because they're a blast to catch...

The highlight of the day really wasn't the fishing, and the fishing wasn't bad. It was the sunset I saw while standing nearly waste deep in the choppy waters with fish rolling on the surface out in the current. The cool northwest wind was blowing that foretold the near-freezing temperatures that are forecast tonight and tomorrow night. Herons occasionally sailed gracefully over the scene and ducks were working along the shoreline. As it grew closer to dark, bass started coming up in the shallows busting baitfish. All in all, it was a perfect way to spend the evening...

Hiwassee Hatches

For the first time in awhile, I made it over to the Hiwassee again. The day was fairly predictable when it came to the bugs. Morning action was largely on midges along with a few fish on softhackles. In the afternoon, there were caddis early on transitioning to BWOs and Hendricksons between 3:30 and 4:00. A buddy took a couple stomach samples and the morning sample was all midges whereas the afternoon sample was mainly BWO's along with a few larger mayflies. The fishing was good for numbers but not much on size for me. One guy I was fishing with had a really good fish take a caddis dry but lost it quickly. If you're looking for a quick trip, the HI is a good bet right now but you'll mainly be catching stocker rainbows. I'm looking towards the mountains for my next trout excursion where I hope to find lots of wild fish rising lazily all day long in remote pools that rarely see a fly...stay tuned for more as this develops...

A couple of the bugs...