Featured Photo: Autumn Glow
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Snakes and Trout
Help the Hiwassee
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Epic Smokies Trip
Another trip is in the books and was one to remember for a long time. The fishing was great and the catching was off the charts. The first afternoon was spent figuring out what the fish wanted, but once we discovered the hot combination things quickly improved. Fish would take a variety of nymphs the first day, but the clear favorite was a beadhead caddis pupa. On top, the fish were definitely interested in taking a Parachute Adams. I finally settled on a dry/dropper combo as the best way to consistently take fish.
We kicked off the fishing portion of the trip after we set up our camp at Elkmont. Instead of wasting valuable fishing time driving somewhere, we just fished out of the campground, hiking either up or down the river. With me on this trip was my cousin Nathan and his buddy JR. Nathan fishes with me fairly often, but this was the first time fishing with JR. To make things even better, this was JR's first time fishing in the Smokies.
Taking people out to a Smokies stream for the first time is always a great experience that I enjoy immensely. You watch their progression, beginning with them splashing through the stream spooking all the fish, to becoming a wily veteran utilizing every bit of cover and camouflage to approach the fish. JR had fly fished a little before so the casting was not a problem. He did just fine getting the fly to the fish and his reflexes were quick enough that he hooked his first fish within 10 minutes of getting on the water. Best of all he learned quickly. I never had to tell him twice to be sneaky. Stealth cannot be emphasized too much in trout fishing, and in particular this is true in the Smokies.
My favorite tactic for putting someone new to the park onto fish involves a beadhead nymph and an indicator. For that matter it works great for anyone not accustomed to highsticking nymphs without an indicator. We all started out with nymphs simply because it was a bright sunny day. Trout tend to be a little skittish under these conditions and sit deeper in the water column. Of course, this time of year, you can almost certainly find trout willing to rise to a dry fly if you are willing to cover water.
Playing Guide for JR, his first Smokies rainbow (Nathan Stanaway Photo)
With both Nathan and JR both set up with nymph rigs, I was ready to fish myself and tied on a double nymph rig. Once I get people catching fish, I start experimenting with patterns, quickly cycling through patterns that will likely be catching fish at the given time of year. Currently yellow stoneflies are starting to hatch and of course there are still plenty of mayflies around. Additionally, the caddis should really be turning on shortly now. The mornings feature an excellent midge hatch. If you know what time of day each of these insects are active, you can maximize your efficiency in catching fish.
I cycled through most of the standard patterns that usually work well for me this time of year. While all the flies caught fish, I still felt that things could be much better. Finally I tried a simple little caddis pupa with a beadhead. Immediately I started catching fish. At first I thought it was a fluke, that is until I moved into a small pool no larger than 15 x 20 feet. Every cast resulted in either a hookup or a missed strike. By the time I had pulled out 5 or 6 fish, I knew that I was onto something. Each fish hit the same pupa pattern. The best brown trout caught the first day came from this pool. Quickly digging through my fly boxes, I found a few more so Nathan and JR could get in on the action. Moving together upstream, one on each side and one observing, we started to nail fish left and right.
( Nathan Stanaway Photo)
After an hour or so it was getting towards dark. We fished up to one last pool, in the process catching a few more fish. As we were leaving the first mayfly spinners were making an appearance, and the fish started rising enthusiastically. On the hike out, I saw fish rising in every pool and soft pocket. Arriving back in camp, we built a huge fire and did the traditional hot dog roast. Sitting around the fire, we shared stories from the day before finally hitting the sack.
Saturday morning I got up early to hit a few pools below Elkmont in search of larger browns. Despite my best efforts, I never saw any truly large fish but had a good time looking. Before heading back to camp for breakfast, I fished a favorite pool and caught a few rainbows. Again, the bead head dropper was nailing all the fish.
In camp, after eating a hearty breakfast, I pulled out my tying equipment and cranked out a dozen of the hot fly pattern. Assured of a good supply of flies, we headed out for another day on the stream. Our destination required a bit of hiking which is always a gamble. Someone could be on the water ahead of you spooking all the fish and causing your catching numbers to suffer. However, if you are the first one on the water in a few days, the results can be spectacular.
We finally commenced fishing in a favorite pool of mine. Of course, I say that about most of the water on Little River. Still, I have had more good days in this area than any other stretch of Little River. I figured that it would probably produce at least a few fish for my less-experienced fishing buddies. What I didn't expect was how much the river would show off for us.
I started fishing up the first run while Nathan and JR got into their wading gear. Generally I hike in ready to fish, but they packed their waders. Fishing to the head of the first pool produced five fish, and my excitement was growing exponentially. Most of the fish were on the dropper, but some were rising to the Parachute Adams as well. Once I got Nathan and JR fishing, they were immediately successful as well.
Soon we developed an efficient rhythm. In stretches where it was easy to leapfrog, we spread out through a 100-200 yard section. Where the rhododendron crowded closer to the water, we fished directly across from each other in stealth mode, sneaking slowly along the edges and picking pockets for the brightly colored rainbows and occasional brown that took the caddis pupa with reckless abandon and kept rising often enough to insure that we stuck with a dry/dropper rig. In fact, by the end of the day, we all agreed that probably half of our fish came on the dry flies.
There were many highlights throughout the day, but one of the best was when Nathan caught a nice fish. I was busy helping JR to retie when I heard Nathan shout. When I looked up, I saw his rod bent and asked if it was a good one. The look on his face was priceless as he responded in the affirmative. Quickly finishing the knot for JR, I started wading back across the stream to help land the fish and take pictures. The trout started on a blistering run downstream with Nathan following in pursuit. Finally, in some dead water behind a boulder we landed the nice brown. High fives were given all around and then we took a few pictures. The fish had put up a heroic fight so I spent some extra time reviving it. When it was rested, the fish took off quickly, hopefully to grow some more before we catch it again.
Another highlight was when I happened on a pool where seemingly ever trout was out feeding. Before I was finished, I had taken 12 trout out of the pool along with my best fish of the weekend, a 12 inch brown. In the last pool of the day, Nathan and I caught 1o trout between the two of us. These are just two examples that give some idea of just how good the fishing was on this trip. Sometimes I enjoy just catching a lot of fish. Other times I am in the mood for a difficult fish or maybe a quality hatch. On this trip, I definitely got my fill of catching average Smoky Mountain trout.
(Nathan Stanaway Photo)
Sunday morning we planned on fishing for an hour or two after taking down camp. JR still had not caught a brown trout despite catching probably 40 or 50 rainbows over the previous two days. We decided to fish a section close to camp and hope for a brown or two. Again, the stars aligned and JR got his brown in the first pool he fished. This was a good way to finish an epic weekend. Both Nathan and JR had caught a lot of fish and the weather had been perfect. Things couldn't have been better...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Smokies Weekend
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
The Lull
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Small Ponds Waking Up
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Staying Warm
First of all, I personally feel that handwarmers are crucial to my happiness when winter fishing. I always have at least one in a pocket and sometimes have two ready, one for each hand. My indicator that tells me I am too cold is simply this: if I can't tie knots then I'm too cold and it is time to spend a couple of minutes warming my hands. If I'm cold enough that I can't get warm using handwarmers, then I have a more serious problem and either need to return to my car or build a small fire.
To delay the inevitable, I highly recommend wearing a good pair of fishing gloves, at least on the really cold days. I prefer to fish without them but solved that problem by wearing it on just one hand. The main reason I have discovered to wear gloves is because they keep your hands dry. The exertion of casting otherwise keeps you sufficiently warm. However, constantly stripping line is a good way to get both cold and wet. Wearing a glove on whichever hand you hold the rold with solves this problem. I prefer to strip line with a bare hand. If I keep the line running between the fingures of my casting hand, the material of the glove soaks up all the moisture and my line hand stays dry. Naturally, when it is really cold outside the best method is to just wear gloves on both hands, and if they don't really bother you, I would wear them on both hands anyway. I just don't like the bulk...
Next, you need a way to stay dry. I never touch fish with gloves and don't recommend doing it unless you have a pair with a rubber finish to minimize the damage to the fish. There are two alternatives: either carry a net and simply never touch the fish or remove your glove each time you land the fish. I have used both and any time I want a picture of a particularly good fish I remove my gloves. Afterwords, the water on your hands and the cold air temperatures will have your hands miserable in no time. So I have started carrying a small hand towel or even a washcloth. I just keep it tucked in my wading belt so it is always there when I want to dry my hands.
After drying your hands, you need to warm them back up, and this is where the handwarmers come in. Using the handwarmer a couple of minutes on each hand is the perfect way to keep fishing for hours with minimal discomfort. I fish with this system even when air temperatures are in the teens and twenties which is about as bad as I have to worry about here in Tennessee. If you live somewhere where it is colder, then I'm sure you have to use some additional measures on occasion. One other thing I like to do is have a small fire going on shore if it is legal. Everyone has there own method, and I would be interested to hear any other ideas you may have on keeping warm in the winter...
Bugs Everywhere!!!
Days like this one make me wish I lived closer to the Park. However, I would probably call in sick too often if I actually lived closer so its probably a good thing. Soon I'll be back, likely within the next week or two. Right now its time to tie flies so I'm prepared for the next trip...
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Spring Break 2010: Florida Everglades
Each year I try to do a trip for spring break. For the past several years I have been going to the Smokies to chase trout and the first spring hatches. This year some friends were wanting to do something out of the ordinary. Just a week before break was supposed to start someone suggested going to the Everglades in Florida and doing some canoeing. While I love the Smokies, I’ll usually give other things a try occasionally as well so I cleared my schedule.
We took my canoe down and rented another. There were five of us so two canoes would suffice. With just a couple of days to go before departure, I was fortunate enough to talk to Ian Rutter and gain some valuable advice on fishing the area. This trip was not specifically a fishing trip although I obviously intended to take a fly rod along.
Before I knew it the day of departure had arrived and we were driving south. We left in the afternoon and just drove through the night, arriving in Everglades City the next morning. Originally I had hoped to paddle out of Flamingo and all my fishing information was on that area. Things worked out well though from a monetary standpoint. Canoe rentals were only $25 a day in Everglades City as compared to $50 a day at Flamingo. Also, we were able to score a beach campsite that was free. The small island we spent two nights on was between 7 and 8 miles by canoe from Everglades City.
On the way out we saw porpoises including what appeared to be a young one that was much smaller than the rest. After driving through the night, we were all exhausted. Upon arriving where we were to camp, I set up my tent, crawled in and just fell asleep.
The next day we planned on doing a paddle around the area and then going back to our beach site. I had barely crawled out of my tent before one of my friends excitedly told me to come and try to catch the shark. I walked the 100 hundred or so feet over to where they had seen this fish, and sure enough, something was slowly cruising back and forth in the surf. Back at my tent, I strung up the fly rod and tied on a big Clouser. The fish was still working the shoreline when I got back so I waded out to get a little closer. Apparently, Clouser Minnows were not on the menu. After several minutes of fruitless casting, the fish vanished for a minute as it turned around to come back down the beach. When it reappeared, it was no more than 5 or 6 feet away. The murky water kept it from seeing me and being frightened. Immediately I realized it was not a shark but a nice tarpon. The huge scales gave it away. I didn’t have much in the way of other flies to try (more on that shortly) and acting on impulse, I reached out and grabbed its tail. At first it didn’t seem to notice until it tried to move. Upon realizing that something was now attached to its tail, the fish made a rapid escape towards the open ocean. I never saw it in as close again although that evening it, at least I like to think it was the same one, was rolling probably 75 yards offshore.
After the tarpon vanished, we ate breakfast and prepared for the day’s adventures. We wanted to paddle through some of the smaller channels where the opportunity to view wildlife would be greater. Over the course of the day, we saw plenty of birds and also a manatee. This was my best opportunity to get a little fishing in, and although I didn’t fish as much as I would have liked, I still had a good time. I caught what I believe was a Mangrove Snapper and also had what looked to be a baby tarpon blow up on the fly but couldn’t hook up.
Dan Mcgrath Photo
All photos without a credit are taken and copyrighted by me.