TENNESSEE FLY FISHING

Hard Times

2017-06-18T09:54:00.001-07:00

I finally got out for a bit today. It's been too long since I made it to good water and fished in the shade of the mountains. A lot has changed since my last post. My team won the Western Conference Championship and lost to a damn good Penguins team in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I bought a humble cottage near downtown and I'm still hanging out with these two and hoping the oldest one can get a few more months before she has to go. She's been a loyal friend and gotten me through some hard times, but I won't allow her to suffer to ease the pain of her leaving.

I'm still trying to train this one to be steady to wing and shot. Sometimes she will hold and sometimes she won't. She does usually give me time to get to her and get a shot off. She's not where she needs to be and she's a competitive bitch, but I blame the trainer. He has a lot to learn.

I hit a nice, relatively large section of water. I was hoping to get into a nice hold over trout, but got into a bunch of stockers instead. Oh well, it beats sitting at home.

After having some fun on the river, I headed home to get some decent chow. I'm grateful for even the days that humble me.

Gresham's Minnow

2015-08-13T18:58:00.001-07:00

My own invention...probably been tied with another name, but it works well.

This Week's Trip

2015-07-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't been out fishing for trout in a while. I tried focusing on small mouth for a while but wasn't very successful at catching the larger fish. On this trip I did land two good trout and had a monster on that broke my tippet...I think it was around 5lbs. Anyway, here are a few pics of my day.

A Couple of Hours in the Mountains

2015-05-09T11:34:00.002-07:00

Not exactly a stellar day for me, but I was only in the mountains for a couple of hours this morning. I got two on and one to hand...a nice little brown trout, small but a jewel with lots of color. I kept having to remind myself that snakes were out and to be honest, I probably didn't watch for them as closely as I should have. It had been a couple of months since I had gone to the mountains and it was nice to see all of the scenic beauty. On the way out, the rangers had the road in blocked...turns out someone was either being rescued or had drowned and was being recovered. I couldn't hear enough to tell for certain. Hopefully all are well. The mountains can be dangerous if a person isn't careful. A few pics from my morning:

Small Stream Stealth

2014-10-19T14:56:00.002-07:00

A good friend, Mark Law, recently came down from Nashville to hit a few small streams in Eastern Tennessee with me. Mark and I hadn't been able to fish together in almost a year. It was far beyond time that we spent a day or two on the water. Mark is a good fly fisherman and is familiar with areas of fly fishing that I am not, such as saltwater. However, he rarely gets to the blue lines up high in the mountains. I can probably count on one hand the number of times he has fished headwaters. I can't blame the guy. The nearest blue lines that hold trout are 4 hours from him and with several good rivers in his area, it is difficult to get motivated to travel the 4 hours to the mountain tops around here, not to mention the cost in fuel etc. Mark arrived a little late in the day, but we were not to be deterred and set off for the mountains of East Tennessee on a mission. I had high hopes for our day in the mountains and decided to let Mark do most of the fishing and thought that I might do a bit of instructing in the way of some gentle advice. Now, advice is fine when you are catching fish and are happy. It's not so wanted once a person has become frustrated due to the many pitfalls of small stream fishing.

There are many issues that occur when taking on a small stream. I know what you are thinking; "issues to fishing a tiny mountain stream?" Yes, these streams are small, clear and the fish are very educated and very wary. They aren't large fish by any means. The average fish in these mountains is around 8 inches long, at best, but they are a joy to catch on a good 2-4 weight rod, at least in my opinion (and the opinion of hundreds, if not thousands of others). We started off well enough. The very first run I was into a nice little 8 inch fish that fought my 4 weight like he was an Alaskan steelhead (Ok, a bit of an exaggeration). He was soon off and I thought that it was going to be a good, if not epic day for us. After watching Mark fish several runs and not catching any fish, I started observing his tactics. Knowing that Mark was not very familiar with small stream tactics I thought that perhaps I could help him with a few choice words of wisdom; "Be quiet, go slow, don't wade into the water unless you have to, hide behind a tree or bush if you can." He seemed to be able to employee most of the tactics, but not all of them at once. We spent several hours in frustration with only a few small fish to hand. Many people assume that small streams are easier to catch fish in that large rivers and I think that idea couldn't be further from the truth. Small streams, especially well fished small streams where the fish are educated via heavy pressure, are some of the most difficult waters to catch fish in.

We ended up catching one decent mountain brown and a few smaller trout. Even though we struggled a bit, it was still a good day on the water with a good friend. Maybe one day we can get to some salt water and Mark can educate me on the tactics that I'll need to catch a few permit, or bonefish or perhaps a tarpon or two. I think Mark came away with a better understanding of fishing small streams and will improve greatly with a little practice. Either way, it was a good time with a good friend.

Somewhere in East Tennessee

2014-08-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

A friend and all around good guy helped me learn this river a bit. I'm relatively new to East TN and it sure did help to be shown so much in one day. A few pics:

Self Reliance

2014-07-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."

-Emerson

Took a trip down toward Reliance, TN with my good friend Hans Alsthed. Neither one of us really slayed em but I did catch a 14" the first day...no pic...he flopped off as I was reaching for my camera. Here are a few pics:

A River Near a Race Track

2014-06-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Got out with my friend Hans and had a great time. Caught a few but didn't take enough pictures of all the beauty of nature.

Quill Gordons and Blue Quills

2014-03-09T15:20:00.003-07:00

Hans was headed to the mountains and offered to give me a ride after I practically invited myself along. With gas prices these days, a fella can't be too thrifty, so I was glad to go on his dime. He stopped by just before 11:00 am and we loaded up his pick up and headed out...we had only gone a couple of blocks before we turned around to pick up my waders. He asked me if I had forgotten anything and I assured him that I had not. I guess waders don't count as much. After a quick second stop by my car to get my gear, we were off. We got to the park and stopped to eat just before entering. Good homemade food. I had some vegetables and Hans go a nice BBQ sandwich...boy it sure smelled better than my vegetables. One day I'll have to remedy this constant financial distress that I seem to be in. Hans had decided that he wanted to hit a run up high. The weather was nice and it was warm with temps in the 60's or more. The water was around 50 degrees at about 2500 feet in elevation. We saw some hatches of quill gordons, blue quills and stone flies but nothing spectacular. After a bit we decided to heat low to warmer water. It wasn't long before I got one on, but he was soon off. I saw some rises but Hans reported that he had seen none. All in all, it was nice to get out. I think the rise will be on soon, if the warm weather holds out. A few pics follow:

Minnow Pattern

2014-01-16T21:09:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to tie larger and more complicated flies. This one isn't very large, or complicated but it is a change of pace from tying buggers and dries all the time.

Smokies, Fall Colors and Art

2013-11-02T14:34:00.003-07:00

I took some of my paintings to Serendipity Artists Gallery in Gatlinburg, TN to see if the owner was interested in displaying them to sale. She was and I was happy as a lark to have a place to hang them. She mentioned fishing in the park (or maybe I did) and that's all it took...As soon as we were done with business I took of to fish for small mountain trout on my 4wt fly rod. I wish that I have gone with the 3wt but I still have a load of fun fighting these small fish. I love to watch the perform their acrobatic leaps. The fall colors were nearing peak. I would say another week and they will be in full effect. I love the drive through the countryside and my time on the river alone. Sometimes I'm not alone and I'll look around and see an otter or a bear or something...sometimes it's a tourist taking pictures of me and I feel like the bears. I wonder if bears get self conscious? Soon old man winter will be here and the fishing in the mountains will be slow and I'll head down to the tail waters once again. I actually prefer them most of the time but today was a good day in the mountains.

Marks Morning

2013-08-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

My good friend Mark Law only had a couple of hours to get out and fish the park. It had been a couple of years since he had been able to fish the GSMNP so I tried to let him do most of the fishing. Unfortunately since it had been so long, he had forgotten much about fishing the park and only got one fish on. It was a nice fish around 9-10" though. He had several other rises but no solid takers. It was fun to get to fish with him again. We don't get out much these days as he lives about 3 hours away. Not much of a post but I wanted to post these pics so that he could access them and download them. I managed to land one little trout about 7 inches long.

The Hiwassee River

2013-08-05T06:00:00.004-07:00

My friend Hans said he would give me a lift and introduce me to fishing on the Hiwassee. I had floated it before, years ago, but had never fished it. Apparently it's fishable during "the pulse" when they run one generator. I recommend being close to the bank during this time as I was far out and it was a little scary getting back close to the bank, though I doubt I was ever in serious danger. During two generators you had better be out of the water though. I managed to land a few fish, one of which was around 14-15". The Hiwassee fished well for me and with an abundance of surrounding national forest that a person can camp in, I recommend it to every one that loves fishing and the outdoors.

There are several hatches that can come off, depending upon the time of day and year. It's probably best to do a little research if you like to fish dries.

On the way home...

High on the Mountain

2013-06-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

I got up high for a bit and caught a few brookies...I had a nice one on that got off...these are a few that I got to hand. I hope you enjoy.

I stopped off to eat and see the local bluegrass band

A Hard Rain Was Gonna Fall

2013-05-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

But it didn't...thank God. It did rain a bit at the end of the day. I fished the Smokies today and as always it was beautiful. I got 5 fish on and one little brown trout to hand. One of the 5 was around 12-13 inches, which is good for the mountains. Too bad I didn't land him. I also stopped and bought some new boots, hackle, hooks and floatant. I didn't really have the money but I had let things go for too long. A few pics and a video:

Chub Creek

2013-05-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to a beautiful little creek in Cherokee National Forest. It's name wasn't really Chub Creek but it should have been. My friend Hans invited me and a friend of his to fish this little creek. We got turned around as Hans hadn't been there in about a year but we managed to find it without too much trouble. We started leap frogging up stream and fished for a couple of hours or so. Then we moved down low and started over. Hans caught two small bows right away and that was it for all of us. I caught about a dozen chubs. We saw some prolific hatches of yellow sallies and yellow drakes, among others, but we didn't see any fish rising, With the amount of chubs we saw, Hans suspects that the stocking hasn't been done or that the creek has been hit hard by the locals. It's a well known creek now as it has been mentioned several times on the internet. It could be that it has been over fished. Anyway, here are a few pics of the trip.

Thoughts From Paradise

2013-05-05T18:29:00.003-07:00

I had a few days off. I work a crazy swing shift of 3 days on then 3 days off, then I switch to 3 nights on and three days off, then back again. But, hey, I have a good job that may end up going from temp to permanent, so I'm not complaining. After putting in a 60 then a 70 plus hour week I wanted to head to the mountains. I loaded up my dog "Mama" in the Jeep and headed out...without checking the flow for the rivers and streams of the mountains...it was about 3 times the normal flow and was apparent as soon as I arrived. My heart wasn't in it or I would have tossed streamers for a few hours. The drive up took an hour and I stayed for about an hour to fish. I drove around a bit and took in some scenery too. I spent my 3-4 hours driving and fishing and thinking about my life and my divorce and all of the mistakes I made that led to it. I finally came to realize that it had to happen in order for me to grow and become and reasonable human being. It is sad that I lost the person that I cared the most for but it is nice to know that I have learned something valuable from it. I've learned a lot about myself, about the golden rule and about what is truly important in life. Thankfully I still have a great family that I can lean on. I have a few of solid rocks that are my foundation these days and without my aunts and my sisters I don't know what I would do. They have always been there for me. I have a brother in law that is really more like a real brother than anything and nieces and nephews that I enjoy watching grow. I have a great, sweet little female mountain cur. I have a decent Jeep to drive and a good skill set that usually lands me a good job. I have plenty to be thankful for. One day I'll look back and wish I could have made things work with my wife. Hell, I do right now, but these things can't be forced. It takes two. Life, for some, can meander like a river. It can start off in a raging torrent and end up with a gentle flow. For others it never settles to fishable levels. We all have our troubles in life. Some will have the water to fish dries, some streamers, others inbetween. We all have to fish the water we are given. Well, enough of my ramblings. I didn't catch any fish, but I did take some decent pics.

Smoky Mountain Spring Saftey Tips 2013.

2013-04-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

I hit one of my favorite runs. It's not really a good spot to fish if you want numbers and there are a lot of tourists around but boy is it beautiful. I fished about an hour and a half and only got one to hand but what a handsome Smoky Mountain brown. I saw a few hatches of smaller flies but didn't stop to look to see what as I have two flies that I fish the mountains with at all times. Every once in a while I'll stop and look at a hatch if it's a nice one. Spring is a great time to come to the Smokies. The fish are eager and the hatches can be wonderful on the warmer days. The water can get up really high quickly when it rains so be certain to get out of the water if you are wading and it starts raining. It doesn't take much as the rivers and streams of the Smokies are narrow. Always be mindful of snakes as you step over logs on the sunny days. There are some large copper heads in the mountains that can do a lot of damage. I've almost stepped on one or two myself. Of course there are bears as well. I like to wear a bell or two on my gear so that the bears hear my coming and leave as I fish the river from spot to spot. If you are on a secluded stream, an extra bit of food and water is always a good idea to bring along. I bring along rain gear and an emergency blanket as well. If you are alone, at least try and leave a note at the ranger station or let a family member know the general area you plan on fishing. I carry a whistel with me as I fish alone and don't want to get stuck if I break a leg or something and can't hike out. The water is very loud as it is rushing off of the mountain and even when the trail is close by, people may not hear you, if you just yell. A whistle is much better. Here are a few pics of my trip today.

Goodbye Home Waters

2013-04-07T05:45:00.001-07:00

Finished up my temp job in Nashville...decided to hit the former home waters. I thought that during the middle of the week we would have had the river mostly to ourselves but as usual, I was wrong. I didn't get to hit nearly as many runs and undercut banks as I would have liked and only got one decent fish to hand between me and my friend but still managed to stay positive and have fun. I'm back in East TN now and about to head to the mountains to hit some streams outside of the park.

Mark catches an 18" bow.

Goodbye home waters

Winter Fishing on the Elk River, TN

2013-03-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

The Elk River in Lynchburg is a tailwater of Tims' Ford dam. The TVA and Corp of Engineers, which manage the generation schedule of the dam, rarely generates. It can provide fishing opportuinities when other rivers don't. My good friend Mark Law and I decided to head out this weekend to see what could be done. We soon found out that the Elk River relies heavily on stocked trout. There were few fish to be had. The traditional method of fishing on the Elk is to use streamers and nymphs but an older gentleman suggested I try a dry dropper rig. After fishing buggers for a couple of hours we headed out to where I had seen a few rises earlier and tried a dry dropper. Within a few minutes I had two small browns to hand. I missed a couple of rises to my dry and so did Mark. We saw no larger fish and nothing moved to take our buggers. I hear there are hold over trout on the Elk and I have seen larger fish there, even in the heat of the summer but overall the Elk River seems to be a river that produces few hold over fish and I wouldn't recommend it in the winter, unless you have an itch that can't be scratched any other way. Even so, it was a beautiful day on the water.

Winter Fishing in Cades Cove

2013-01-30T19:10:00.002-08:00

I finally got to fish a bit. I hit the Cove and got four on and three to hand. If I had been a little quicker in my reaction time I may have gotten a couple more on. One came from the bottom of a deep pool and slammed my fly but when I went to set the hook, the fly popped out. It looked to be around 12" long from what I could tell.

January Warmth

2013-01-13T08:59:00.002-08:00

Relocating to Wisconsin did not work out. Looks like I'll have to stay in Tennessee. We are having an unusual week here in January 2013. It's been above 65 for a couple of days and I decided to head to the Smokies to fish for a bit. The fish were active for January and rising to dries but not active enough to say I had a good day. My bet is that bead headed nymphs would have worked better but I prefer dries in the mountains most of the time. Here are a few pics from my day.

A Peach Tree in an Apple Orchard

2012-11-03T09:36:00.001-07:00

I have decided to relocate to Wisconsin. I have an interview that looks promising so I am making an assumption of sorts. I decided to spend two of my last three days (supposedly) in Tennessee fishing the mountains. Lots of fish on and a few to hand on the first day. I left my aunts place in Knoxville and headed east. As I passed through the winding country roads and hills of Tennessee I could smell the dampness of the crisp Autumn air. With many leaves on the ground but quite a few still on the trees I thought of my life as a child and young adult and how my life has worked out for me in general up to this point. Old friends that I had lost touch with and family members that I cared for but had grown apart from. Distances that I should have made time to travel and choices that I could have made more wisely. I was a slow learner in this life and have taken my share of hard knocks. I have finally reached a point in my life where I realize what is most important to me and it doesn't come on four wheels, start with an "I" nor does it have 3000 square feet with a large bonus room. No, my treasures can't be bought and they come with warm hugs and smiles and call me "brother, uncle, nephew" and before my fathers death in 1993 "son." As I headed into the depths of this Smoky Mountain canyon I thought of my father and how I know he would have loved fly fishing. I thought of my family and how they are always there for me, no matter what. I thought of the likely coming lifestyle change and the driftless region that would possibly become my new home waters. Hopefully I can live the second half of my life the way I should have lived the first half, with more concern for my fellow man and more focus on what is really important. We only get to go around once in this life and I want to go to the other side that I made a change, even a small change, in my fellow man's life for the good. I want to know that I told my family that I love them often enough and that they are in my thoughts.

The typical fish for me in the mountains. There are large fish but it's rare that I catch one.

One last look...at least for a while

Little Pigeon River Oct 2012 Great Smoky Mountains

2012-10-27T14:28:00.001-07:00

I went back to the Smokies after my trip for brookies and decided to stay low for bigger fish. I had never fish the Little Pigeon in this area and didn't know what to expect. It wasn't a very productive day. I had three fish on and got one tiny bow to hand. In one run I did get a nice fish on but he was off after a second or two. A few pics of my day:

Appalachian Brookies

2012-10-25T18:39:00.003-07:00

So I took some time today and headed to the Smokies do a little fly fishing. I rarely go up high for brookies and decided that today was a good day for it. It was about 80 degrees in the valley and a little cooler up high. The water was nice and cool and the brookies were eager. I missed many more than I caught but had a ton of fun. Late fall is setting in so I may go back tomorrow. Here are a few pics:

On my way to Aintry:

Brookie territory in sight:

A nice little trail to the river:

My first cast and I was rewarded with a nice lttle brookie:

The runs were gin clear:

Another little brookie:

A bow suprises me to be so high:

Daylight is fading and it's time to go: