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13. | May 7, 2008 - Delayed Harvest - Mitchell, Stone Mountain and Roaring River |
I took my daughter out of school early today and we headed up the road for some fly fishing. We had an enjoyable ride up to the river and parked besides a nice little spot in the river. I thought we might get a few out of the deep run there with a woolly bugger but nobody appeared to be home. We went on down the river a ways and there we found trout rising under the trees on the far side of the river. There were 10 brazillion midges in the air and a few sulfurs popping off too, but the trout were taking the midges. We tied on a #22 black midge and the game was on. She didn't want to cast, just wanted to help net the fish and release them. She watched each drift with the same anticipation as I did and she saw the fish rise and the hook set or the last second refusal. After a couple of hours she wanted to go to another spot and despite the consistent catch we moved on up the road. When we got to the other stream there was a noticeable lack of a hatch and two spin fisherman had just been through our stretch. I tied on a beetle and cast into the pool that my daughter had scoped out. "There's a bunch of big ones in there!" she yelled. The trout rose and smashed the beetle but unbuttoned before it could be landed. On down in the nest hole we caught a nice fat one and had a blast looking a nymphs and salamanders. We caught a few more fish and then I found one holding off to the side of a little plunge pool. It wasn't attracted to the beetle, and I changed flies, I told my impatient daughter that if the fish didn't take the ant I was tying on the I would buy her two scoops of ice cream. She said "but you would buy me two scoops anyway!" Well I cast the ant in the little pocket and the fish bolted for cover on the other side of the pool. "That'll be two scoop!" she reminded me. Then we worked our was down the final stretch of the river an I was throwing a black bead head woolly bugger. After a while she was ready to head for home, but I talked her into one more fish. Shortly, we had a rainbow on the line and it went into some nice aerobatics, which delighter her, however the fish threw the hook. "Man, I really wanted that fish," she cried. She headed down to a pool as I continued to work the runs and the head of the pool. I hooked a nice brookie and called for her to come with the net. She climbed on top of the rock jutting into the pool and inched down towards the water to net the fish. She had a little difficulty with the larger hook and handed me the net. She watched intently as I turned the fly and removed the barbless hook and she may have even leaned over a little for a better look, for as i released the trout, she lose her footing and slipped into the deep pool. I wish I had a photo of her expression as she hit the cold water! It was priceless and I couldn't help but to laugh at her shocked expression. She pretended to be mad and me for laughing, but really saw the humor in it and I told her how her brother had fallen face first into the same pool ten years ago. Needless to say that ended our fishing trip and we walked back to the car. I fished on for a little bit as she changed into a dry pair of clothes. Then we headed down to the ice cream shop to end a most memorable day.
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12. |
May 4, 2008 - South Holsten |
Despite a few sulfurs coming off and an occasional riser, I rigged up the SHS with a BWO dropper and worked my was into the run. On the first cast something big grabbed the fly as it hit the water and ran 50 feet down and across the river. The reel sung it's song but the line went slack, I still had my flies, Fish 1 WB 0. And so it went for a while, I missed a few hooksets and a couple more became unbuttoned. Fish 6 - WB 0 Finally there were enough risers to make the switch to dries and I tied on a hair wing comparadun sulfur size 14. I made long cast up to the head of the run and watch the long drifts, I missed a few and the end of the drift, just as i took the fly off teh water. But the fish came to the fly eagerly and I was having another feckless day on the stream. I was also casting across the current to the seam on the far side. There I believed was where the bigger fish were feeding. I had a nice fish roll on the fly. The water really moves though hear and I put on 2 BB shot. I quickly caught a couple of decent bows and then as the sun was setting I hooked a nice fat 16" who ran downstream and jumped to be silhouetted in the bright sky. I had the fish in the net and removed the bwo dropper from the upper lip and was getting ready to get the cell phone out and the fish flopped and self released from the Gallatin Ghost net.
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11 | April 27, 2008 - South Holsten |
Got up at a reasonable time and drove across the ECD (Eastern Continental Divide), actually crossing it three times on the way. The highest elevation is a little over 4,000. W-S is around 900 feet so that's a pretty good climb before dropping back off into the Tennessee valley. I was on the water by 10 and the sun was shining and it was quite warm, but that didn't last too long. Clouds started moving in an it started raining by noon. I caught a couple of bows on the BWO and SHS nymphs before heading back to the car for the rain gear. I moved on up the road a little bit and worked my way across the river to work a big run. BB shot took the nymphs down deep and I caught a nice jumping bow just before the lightening and thunder scared me off the water. The storm blew through in an hour and I was back on the water in the rain. I was using a lager than usual indicator because of the heavy rain. I some of the runs I couldn't hook a fish while in another faster run upstream just a little bit I hooked several bows in quick succession.
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10. | April, 22, 2008 - South Holsten |
http://www.brfff.com/forum/index.php/topic,4100.0.html
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9. | April 20, 2008 - South Holsten |
Alarm went off way too early and I couldn't rise to the occasion, had to snooze for 45 minutes, stayed up too late last night watching Blazing Saddles with my son.... funny stuff there, hadn't watched it in ages... finally got going @ 6:45 and drove 150 miles across the Eastern Continental Divide and to the S. Holston River in East TN. ust as I was getting my first fish to hand it started to rain. Not enough to run back to the car and get the rain jacket but enough to be an annoyance. I was fishing a bwo emerger pattern and the fish were keying in on it. Plenty of action, but the guys below me headed for cover and I moved down into their run. Ha! After catching a few more fish it really started to come down and I headed back to the car for some dry fleece and a rain jacket. Then the rain came back and the hatch ended with the storm clouds. (Mike with a bow caught on his new Limestone ) Caught a few of these too, but mostly rainbows -- at least two dozen in the net!
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8. | April 18, 2008 - back to VA |
I fished up to where the trail came to the river, right about where troutjedi broke his Sage Rod two steps off the trail on the way to the stream...funny how you remember things like that....
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7. | April 13, 2008 - South Holston River TN |
The Report! What a weekend. 80’s on Friday driving around town with the top down on the Miata, Saturday in the 50’s with thunder shadows in the morning and then Sunday morning it was in the 40’s in Winston but as I climbed to the Blue Ridge the temperature in Newland was 39. I met Karl at 8:35 in Bluff City and we headed down to the river hitting a popular run. The wind was blowing and the sun was threatening to come out but the fish weren’t bothered by either. I started off fishing a #20 Flashback PT with a #20 BWO (Karl’s newly rediscovered Pattern.) It wasn’t long before I had a hook up with a large trout who ran like a freight train across the river the reel screaming and then nothing, the line went slack and I reeled in to discover that my pitzen knot on the dropper had failed! ARGGGGg! The 6x fleuro had the tell tale pig tail curl. Usually I don’t have a problem with the Pitzen, it will “snap” in place when tied correctly and offers great strength. I tied on the other BWO pattern that Karl had given me and a few cast later the indicator twitched and I landed the first of many Rainbows from this productive run! It wasn’t all catching, many fish became unbuttoned from the tiny flies but it was still a blast hooking up with these aerobatic bows who rand and jumped with vigor. I lost a couple of real good fish who were in the 18” to 20” class. Most of the ones that came to hand were 14” full of bright spawing colors. Karl was having similar luck nymphing the same pattern. We spent the morning fishing this section of runs before the wind kicked up and we headed off for a lunch break and Webb’s. They serve a buffet on Sunday and for $8.00 you can get a great plate of food with a great selection of meats, vegetables and deserts! After lunch we headed up to another spot on the S. Holston that I’d not been to before. Here the river narrowed and flowed though some fast and deep runs with a nice wide deep fast pool at the top. Deep nymphing was the order and I caught five bows in the first couple of runs. Karl was catching them in the upper reaches of this section and I moved up above him to the deep fast pool, the fish were holding deep and I was tossing 2 BB shots with a RGHE and a black fly dropper. I caught three decent bows and then hooked into a real big fish. It rans 30 feet to the tail of the pool, jumped and then ran back at me before zinging off across the river when the #24 fly tore loose! Best fish of the day might have gone 24” But that’s part of the game when fishing small flies and light leaders! The rain was coming down pretty hard now and the wind was blowing hard making for more difficult conditions. Having worked most of the water in this section we decided to move on downstream and finish the day on a section known for bwo hatches. When we arrived there we were greeted by the typical East Tennessee greeting, two car seats thrown down the river bank along with the usual assortment of trash. Absolutely disgusting! We waded across the river and noticed a few BWO’s floating down the river and the purple martins were swooping all about the river. The fish weren’t rising so we started off nymping while the hatch developed. The weather was turning colder in the evening and around 7 o’clock the hatch came off in force with browns rising recklessly. I tied on a #16 bow parachute but it proved difficult to see in the fading light and glare off the river. I missed a few takes when I lost the fly in the foam. I finally gave up and switched to a #14 and this new fly was the ticket, I was quickly catching the rising browns! The rain started turning to snow and ice and we were pelted by the frozen precipitation. BWO really like foul weather. But the fish didn’t mind, they fought like pit bulls, violently shaking their heads and making blistering runs. Unfortunately the major hatch ended as abruptly as it started and the fish went back down to feed below the surface. I caught one more brown on a BWO nymph and then with raw aching hands and numb fingers we called in a day at 8 o’clock. The river treaded us well and we were thankful that we waited out the weather and caught fish on the rise as the sunset.
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6. | April 09, 2008 - no-name creek in VA |
The last time it was up this river I didn't have a camera, now that I've got a new one I was hoping to catch some decent brown trout. But the conditions were tough the water was extreamely clear and the sun was shooting straight into the gorge. Midges were everywhere but I didn't see any early risers, so I went to work with a PTN and a Copper Dropper. As I worked my way upstream I jumped a buck and he crashed through the forest in front of me. I finally started to hook up with smaller browns and caught a handful before I started getting into the bigger fish. All in all it was a pretty slow day, but it was nice to be out...
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5. | March 26, 2008 - Same no-name creek in VA |
A little better planning and I was able to get up to the river @ 10 and fished till a little after 1 since I had a longer hike out and now Knew my exact travel time and I didn't want to be late two days in a row!
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4. |
March 25, 2008 - Some Stream in VA |
Tight schedule limited my stream time to a little under two hours while the windshield time was close to three
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3. |
March 24, 2008 - Smith River VA |
After going to church and having supper at mom's and buying a new VA licence ($76 makes TN look like a bargain) I slipped away for a few hours of fishing on the Smith. There were three or four vehicles in the parking lot by the mirror plant when I pulled in. As I was donning my gear I hear two fishermen coming up the tracks and when they got to the lot the recognized me and introduced themselves as Fire-fly and the Zman! FF was talking about the BWO's and Sulfurs that were hatching and i was trying to get on the water as it was already 4:30. FF and Zman were took a few but were complaining about the winds, at the parking lot there was barely a breeze but they reported that it was really blowing down and sometime up the river. FF was using a 2 wt. and I had brought my 5 wt. my standard for the Smith. I finally got dressed out and hit the trail down behind the mirror factory. There were two guys in my hole there, one flailing away with a fly rod and the other chucking hardware. Upstream I could see a number of risers and the BWOs were still coming off in numbers along with an occasional sulfur. Well I tried a number of drys and emergers, but only got one take before the hatch tapered off and the fish stopped rising regularly. I fished some nymphs for a while but went back to drys at there were sporadic risers to work on. There was a large back eddy with a number of risers and I worked that water for a while but in the failing light I lost sight of the fly amongst the foam and bubbles and when the fish took the fly there was too much slack in the line and I snapped the tippet. After a while I headed back to the car and left the river just before eight. First skunk in a while... but it was good to be out if only for a few hours......
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2. |
South Holston River TN - Feb 24, 2008 |
I finally got caught up with work and family obligations and was able to make the drive over the mountains to hit the South Holston River. My friend Karl had been over on Saturday and reported an excellent bwo hatch and some intense fishing action. The weather promised to be a little better on Sunday, low temperatures, cloud cover and a little rain, but the wind had passed though and wouldn't be a problem. I started out nymphing some deep runs below Rock Hold Church, with a tandem rig of PT and BWO nymphs. but nothing was working. I worked up stream, planning to return to the big run before meeting up with Karl, but another fisherman jumped in below me. I saw Karl drive by and we headed off to another spot with some decent riffles. We were fishing behind a couple of bait chunkers, and I didn't catch anything. There were some risers in the long slick water and I failed to entice them to strike and then after moving on downstream the BWOs started coming off in numbers and the fish went nuts. In a run that i had nymphed with out a strike suddenly there were dozens of fish rising
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1. |
Conway River, VA SNP |
I was somewhat shocked when I received an e-mail from Steve stating, “We were looking at getting together some friends of Brent's to acknowledge his passing and honor his memory by fishing together and having him close in our thoughts.” A whole year has passed, I was reflecting on memories of the past year’s events and especially the camaraderie of the fly fishers that attended Brent’s funeral. I immediately fired off PM’s to “Thelow, Damselfly and ODG3 ” to work out travel arraignments and car pooling for the 4 to 5 hour drive.
FT, TroutChaser, GHBrowser, damselfly, 9ft4wt, pelcrk, Bobby and Andrew gathered on the Conway River and its major tributary, Devils Ditch, within the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area and the Shenandoah National Park.
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Copyright © 2008 Keith Kolischak