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...