Nov 17-24
Thanksgiving Week
I’m going to compile the entire week (3 trips) into to one write up. I know this thrills both of my readers, sorry, we used to have three but apparently my mother’s computer no longer has internet service. Anyway, I will try to keep it short, but if you need to take a break, go ahead and come back, it will look like I get more hits that way anyhow.
Last Friday I was able to sneak off to the river. The flows on the South Holston have been intermittent, which I take to mean don’t walk too far from the bank cause it could crank up at anytime. When they get the flows rolling, let me tell you that it is unwadeable. Anyway, it was going down when I arrived so downriver I go.
I’m casting and missing a few, then a nice one hit, I set the hook and for a split second, I was pumped, then it “got off”. That is in parenthesis because I fished the next 10 minutes with no bites at all and checked out the line and apparently it broke, must have been a real nice one I thought. Then I got to thinking, I just put on 6X tippet and perhaps I should have been a bit more gentle.
I put another trailer on the line (no I’m not so bad as to fish with nothing, but I was using two flies, a pheasant tail and a midge, the midge had broke off) and began fishing again. I catch one, maybe 10-12″ on the pheasant tail, then got excited again. I noticed that the level of water was no longer lowering, nor was it holding steady, it was rising, so I got out. I ended the day with another maybe 1″ rainbow and figured I better get after some chores before the family strolls into town.
My brother and sister in law came in for a visit and we had a ball. 2 days during the week we took the boat out and tried to find a striper. The first trip we found them as soon as we arrived and we were not ready. They were gone before we could cast. Finding bait with the wind and where we had put the boat in was not at all easy, so we began bass fishing.
We missed multiple fish, I’ve heard fish were a bit slower in the colder temperatures. Well, I don’t know anything about that, but I know that I am a bit slower in the colder temperatures. Anyway, I was able to land a smallmouth and a largemouth. By they way, that is a good friend Jeff holding the smallmouth.
This was a good trip, we got to hang out, enjoy some time together. No one on a phone, a few fish were biting, and just fun conversation about nothing whatsoever.
The next day we figured we’d find some bait and we did. A couple of cast with the net and we had all we’d need. Truthfully we only needed one, but we are not prophets so we settled for about 15. The seagull search was on and the bank fishing began.
This day was a bit colder, and the wind was still whipping pretty good. The daughter went this time, she has a ball hanging out with us old folks, but she is fighting some respiratory stuff and I think she is losing. I caught a largemouth, we did miss a couple more and the flat line in the back was attacked by the smallie that my girl is holding, reeled in, and caught. So the daughter and I tied for the day.
The boat typically does not get out in this cold of weather, that’s when I fly fish. However, I may change my mind on this, we had a great time. Also, I ordered a black Friday deal on a fish finder, one of them fancy ones. It was 53% off and the one on my console is done, the black dot has consumed most of the screen now. So with a new fish finder, I reckon the sky is the limit on the number of fish I shall catch. I don’t know about all that stuff, but the new 7″ screen of awesome that is in the mail and on it’s way sure ain’t gonna hinder my fish catching.
I hope everyone had as great of a Thanksgiving as I did, have a great week and God bless.
09 Nov 2018
I apologize for dropping the ball. I meant to write this up earlier, but this has been a busy week. I have a couple of rods for Christmas to build, work has picked up tremendously at my “real” job, and the weather has not been the best for angling. Enough with the excuses, I went to the river in the rain Friday and the Vols dominated the game Saturday and I’m not talking about the basketball team.
Friday was rainy and a bit nippy, not bad but when you get wet it just chills a bit. Anyway, knowing what lied ahead this weekend I was very much hoping to get the boat out, but in the rain I decided to go to the river. They were pushing around 500 CFS and this is somewhat wadeable in spots. I do hesitate to say that as the water is moving and caution needs to be used. They are flowing at different rates and they crank it up and down, at least that weekend. If you get out there please be very careful, a fish is not worth getting caught when they really flow.
I had big plans, pheasant tail with a midge trailing, them trout did not stand a chance. When I began fishing, I was getting quite a few hits, hindsite tells me it was the midge. I got a couple that were big hits. Hooked a couple and they got off, but it was going well and I thought I would be able to hone my skills. My problem in flow is that I throw upstream, I like it going past me down stream so I mend my line, pull in slack as best I can, then release line, but there is always slack. When I get bit, I lift the rod, pull the line in my left hand and hope I don’t have so much slack that I cannot get the line tight and set the hook. Well I don’t know if the fish tend to swim toward me after biting or what, but I rarely seem to get a good hook set. Maybe the flow will slow (my dr. seuss moment) soon and all this will work out.
Anyway, after a great many bites I got one that about pulled the rod out of my hand and release before I could lift. It felt like a nice one briefly and since I did not see it, I am going to say it was a beast. I checked my midge and there was a knot in the line. I began to untangle (attempted) then went to cut the line. Fortunately I left my clippers at home, so I bit it. The midge is a size 22, yep, it’s small. Apparently I left my glasses on the table as I left probably right beside my clippers, let this be a lesson that if you get in a hurry, it may not pay off, so I was in trouble. When I bite my line, I leave it flat, the eye on a size 22 is not big and the flat line would not go through the hole. However, if I had my glasses and could see the actual hole, perhaps I could’ve worked this into it, but it was a deadly duo. No angled cut on the line and no vision available. At this point I had to switch to something that I could see and only got a couple of bites the rest of the trip.
So all in all, it was a good day, I got a lot of bites, but nothing caught. I learned that I can fight it all I want, but I need to carry my glasses with me. Also, I may have to drop down and using lighter line, my 4lb test may not work on the smaller flies. It was a good day, but hey, fishing always is, have a great weekend and God bless.
04 Nov 2018
Well folks, one chore complete, finally. Friday and Saturday did not work out as I had anticipated. Again another time in the attic as I needed to install a exhaust fan. Our house is not new and it did not have one in the bathroom, thus, I gave it a shot. In summation, the project was started Friday about 1 pm and completed Saturday at 3:58 pm. I did go to bed during that time, but issues arose, and I will leave it at that or I may start “venting”. Yep, the jokes are “exhausting” but the exhaust fan is working well.
Sunday afternoon I was sore from the work in the attic and did not have the umph to get the boat out, but I did hear the river calling. They were generating ~1500 cfs, not wadeable for me but I can get a few feet into the water. So I headed up to the river after cleaning my fly lines (a world of difference in casting). I had my new fly box I had purchased in Montana at Bob Ward’s, it was a good price. The box is 8” and my chest pack holds about a 6” one. I thought, I’ll just pull the zipper tight and it’ll be fine, ha. I pulled the zipper tight and it pulled right off of the chest pack, ugh, and I’m now in the market for something else. I tuck the box in my waders and just reminding myself not to stand on my head and it should remain there.
There was not much of a crowd and I was able to fish a few places getting plenty of bites. I had taken my 8wt rod because I had sinking line on it. I could see some little fellers following it in to the shore and hitting it, but I couldn’t even feel them they were so small. Then I finally got a good knock, pulled gently and it was one of the little guys. If this was a shad, I wouldn’t use it for bait, I toss it back and try again. It was so small (for some reason Rodney Dangerfield comes to mind when I say that) “my hometown is so small, the village idiot doubled as the mayor”, anyway, it was not a big fish.
I end up fishing an hour and a half or so, probably getting 10-15 bites. One of which I hooked, it was pretty decent 13-15”. I couldn’t get my line tight quick enough and that rascal jumped and got off. Then I got another hit when I wasn’t ready that would have been a really good one, you know, the one that got away. I ended up realizing that every year when I pull out the fly rod, it takes me a few trips to get into the rhythm again. Surely the generating will slow down in the near future. Lord willing, Friday I will try to make time to go to the lake. I am not starting another chore after work on Friday. I may start one on Saturday as I need to build a bed frame and I have two rods to build for Christmas presents, plus family coming in real soon.
Sorry it’s short, but maybe that will remind you of the size fish I’m catching. I hope all is well and I’ll try to start doing better on the page. Have a great week and God bless.
