Master Fisherman

Have you ever been humbled by another fisherman while out on the water? I have, and I've noticed that there is something in common with each of those masters, well at least most of them that is. They are all birds.

One of my all-time favorite stories of this happening is from at least 10 years ago and probably a little more. I was fishing a high mountain lake in Arizona's White Mountains in the hopes of catching my first apache trout. The fishing was slow to the point that I started to wonder if there were even any fish in the lake.

Right about that time, a large bald eagle came soaring overhead. Soon the bird spotted a large trout. I watched in awe as it dove and snatched what looked to be a 24" trout, give or take a couple of inches. I never did catch a fish on that particular fishing trip, or at least not on that lake. That much I clearly remember, almost as clearly as I can still see the bird struggling to fly away with its heavy catch.

I've seen herons take fish on many occasions as well. In fact, When they are around, they generally seem to be doing better than I am on the catching scene.

Have you ever been humbled by a master fisherman?

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Tennessee River

One of my favorite places to fish during my college days was the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.  I could be on the water with only a quick 20 minute drive at a moment's notice.  One of the more intriguing aspects of this fishery, at least for me, was the great variety in species available to the fisherman.  Largemouth and smallmouth bass, white and yellow bass, stripers, drum, catfish, crappie, bluegill and other panfish, and let's not forget the skipjack, all inhabit the river (along with a lot of other species).

In the winter, there would often be some phenomenal shad kills that brought on some good surface eats.  In general, you can almost always catch something on the river.  So when I had plans to be in Chattanooga for a couple of days last week, I naturally decided to bring along a fly rod, just in case.  Sure enough, some time was free one afternoon, and I quickly jumped at the opportunity.

Arriving at the river, I rigged up quickly with a 7 weight rod and full sinking line.  A short leader of 12 pound test fluorocarbon led to a white Stacked Blond.  Trailing behind that I had a small weighted marabou streamer that has been very successful for me over the years on warm water rivers.  In the past, I would have caught most of my fish on the smaller of the two flies, but for this trip the larger Stacked Blond in white did the trick.  I managed a couple of white bass and one small yellow bass.

The local Blue Heron population is alive and well.  Watching these birds is always entertaining so I spent some time just enjoying and of course using my camera.  Invariably they are much better and more patient fishermen than I am.

I had obligations and couldn't stay long.  A quick 45 minutes went by all too quickly but I'm already looking forward to another chance to fish there.  Hopefully that will happen sometime in the next couple of months.  Before I know it the white bass and skipjack will be running and spring will be here.

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...