21 Nov 2019
The daughter and I finally had a bit of time, so we headed off to South Holston River. It was a Thursday, so I figured it may not be crowded, well, it had a few folks present up there. We went past the honey hole and went to another spot. As daughter says, honey hole defined is any place I’ve caught fish before.
She has caught a couple on a fly rod, however, not on her own, it has been with me standing there saying pull. So I wonder away from her for safety reasons and let her have at it. I had missed a few at this point and even hooked up on a couple that never made it to me, then I looked over at her. She said I am not getting anything while lifting her rod and a fish bit. She started laughing loudly, and said I finally caught one on my own. She pulled it in and I snapped a quick pic, then she released.
She was feeling pretty good when I heard a few minutes later, she hooked another. The famous yell of this is the best day ever happened again, she was thrilled. She ended up landing two nice ones all on her own and I don’t use strike indicators typically. She was thrilled.
I ended the day landing one, hooking about 4 more, and missing more than I care to discuss. She got a bit chilly and it was time to try a new spot for just a few minutes then head home.
It’s days like this as to why I fish. She was so thrilled and had such a good time, it was fantastic. I’ll have to say, these are some of the days I shall always remember. Yep, she beat me and I couldn’t be happier about it. Sorry for the shortness, but family is in, I have rods to finish by Christmas, and things have gotten busy, hustle and bustle of the season.
Have a great Thanksgiving and God bless.
01 Nov 2019
Fall has flown/flying by and I am not getting on the water like I had wanted, this seems typical. However, I had a few minutes on Friday so I headed up to the river. I had tied a new egg pattern using dubbing and it looked pretty good, even for my tying skills. I ended up taking the three weight, just cause I like it, although my gut said go with the 5wt.
I got to my spot, and started wading out and releasing some line, boom, I got one on the walk out, gonna be a good day. This wasn’t a big one, around 10” but still was fun, thus the 3 wt. I continued on and fished an area pretty thoroughly, using the same egg until I get nailed. This is a nice one, over 15”, I set the hook, see the flash, felt the wiggle, then pulling had ceased. I pulled it in and the line had broken. I thought I could get away with this 6X tippet on this rod due to the give it has, but apparently not.
I switch egg colors and catch one, not bad but not big either. Then another bigger one hits and I get the same result as with previous 15”+ trout, the line broke. Now I don’t know what is going on with the breakage, the tippet should have held, but apparently something is not holding up well.
I fished for about 1.5 hours or so, ended up catching 4, 2 line breakages, another 3-4 brief hookups, and quite a few additional misses. Sorry for no pics, but I am getting too clumsy to pull it out while standing in the river, those phones are expensive. It was a good time, not too crowded, great scenery, and I left with my hands smelling like fish. Sorry for it being short, but for one of the few times, I didn’t do too much to embarrass myself and then share.
Hope you had a chance to get out, even if it’s just for a minute or two. Have a great week and God bless.
