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2018 Summer Adventure part 2 (Idaho)

After getting skunked, I was walking thru Sportsman’s Warehouse in Idaho Falls, and saw the fishing report board. It reported that Birch Creek was fishing very well. So I decided to run up there the next day with my brother.

We loaded up the truck with our gear, and some essentials (cooler full of Ranier). We planned on stopping to get some breakfast on the way up, but it didn’t work out… as there was no place to get anything on the way. It is a beautiful drive once you turn off I-15 at Dubois.  Birch Creek is hidden in a valley between a couple nice mountain ranges.  There is a very large BLM campground that parallels the creek on the west side of the highway for quite a few miles, then another further north, once the creek passes under the highway to the east. We started at the northern campground parking area.

The fish are not large in this creek, but they are plentiful. I came over a hill to take a look, and probably a couple hundred small trout spooked out of the grass like a cloud. They were also pretty hungry for dry flies. It was  hoot catching these little guys, however we were a bit over sized with our gear.  I had brought along my Echo 5wt rod. A couple times I went to set the hook, and the fish went flying behind me. Next time I go, I’d like to bring a 2 or 3wt, or a tenkara.

The fish in the creek are also very pretty. We caught a mix of rainbows and brookies.

The views around the creek are well worth seeing, even if you don’t catch anything.

And of course, a cold beer makes any day better.

 

 

 

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2018 Summer Adventure Part 1 (Idaho)

This summer was a very busy time, hence not very many updates were posted to the site. I will now attempt to remedy that, with a huge blast of posts in the next couple days.

We will begin the story at the beginning of June. I flew with my son out to Idaho Falls, so he could stay the summer with his grandma like he has for the past few years. When my mom picked us up from the airport, we immediately drove out to Heise Hot Springs, where they have their 5th wheel parked (right on the bank of the South Fork.) I had packed my waders, rod, and accouterments, and was ready to hit the river as soon as day broke. Unfortunately what I awoke to was the river running close to 20k CFS. Way too high to fish in.

With that setback, I proceeded to come up with alternate plans. First step, acquire fishing license from Jimmy’s Fly Shop.  Of course, I couldn’t just get a license, I also had to pick up another t-shirt to add to the collection.  With license in hand, I decided to give Warm Springs a try.

Grabbed the keys to my mom’s old explorer, and headed up the river road. Didn’t see another car on the drive up the road, only a large moose that I had to follow for a quarter of a mile or so, before she darted into a marsh. The river road from Heise is a beautiful drive, especially with no traffic to worry about, as in the peak season, it can be a bit harry with all the shuttles moving trucks with drift boats from launch to launch, and the road is only one vehicle wide.

Unfortunately, the fishing in the creek was not any better than in the river. I proceeded to walk up and down the whole creek a few times, with not even a bite. I did SEE two fish, but the problem is, they saw me well before I saw them, and they darted away. The trip was not a total waste, as the area is one of the prettiest around.

 

20180601_103847Continue far enough up the stream, and you will start to see the springs bubbling up through the silt in the bottom of the creek.

There are quite a few beaver dams along the creek from where the springs come up, all the way to the South Fork where it drains in. The final pool is a fairly sizable lake, that is crystal clear. Inside this lake are what I refer to as sharks. It is full of huge trout. This lake is not very accessible, with a very steep bank, and bushes lining it, as well as the bottom is made of about 6ft of very fine silt. One of these days, I will bring a kayak to this place, and attempt to get one of the sharks. Until then, they will taunt me from afar, every time I drive up to Warm Springs.

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Are Spinners winners?

This spring I’ve been fortunate enough to go fishing at the lake with my wife a few times. She enjoys going out and throwing in what according to her mom is the secret weapon.. the blue worm.  Unfortunately for me, she always seems to out fish me when we are there.

Take our anniversary for example. We arrive at our favorite spot on the lake, and I see right away a nice bass hanging out on a bed close to shore. Michelle is still getting her gear out of the 4Runner… I have a chance to get this fish before her, victory will be mine! I have a Clouser tied on, throw it out past the bed and bring it back in, anticipating the bite… nothing. Rinse, repeat. Nothing.  Michelle takes a different position down the shore from me while I go insane trying to catch this fish within arms reach.

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Five or so minutes after, I decide to switch flies to something else, and she moves down to my spot. Michelle throws her blue worm out, and on about the third cast:

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With my newly tied jig head wolly bugger, I did manage to pull in this beast from the lake, but it wasn’t a nice bass.

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Michelle didn’t want to continue showing me up, so she hung her rod up for the day. We went on a short hike up Soddy Creek to a nice pool. I caught a couple more sunfish for the day, which were fun, but again, not a bass.

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When we moved to Chattanooga three years, I purchased a spinning rod, thinking it would be better for fishing the lake, but I hadn’t caught a single thing on it up until this year, as I had always opted to use the fly rod instead. The weekend after our anniversary, we returned to Soddy Lake, and I only got out the spinner. A nice guy named Adam and his buddy were walking thru the lake around the shore, fishing. He gave me a couple tips, and a pumpkin worm. I threw it on the hook, and after about 10 minutes of trying, I came up with a bass. The three year old stench of skunk had been washed off my spinning rod.

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Since then, I have caught one more bass with the spinner, but overall I still am not that good at it. Michelle however still gets one almost every time she goes out.

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Are spinners winners, as my wife puts it? For me, no.. although I haven’t caught a large bass on the fly yet, I have much more overall success fishing with the fly rod. I enjoy fly fishing far more than throwing a worm or lizard around, even when I don’t catch anything. I’d say to each their own, and I hope one day to get good at getting the bass on the fly rod. Until then, my wife will probably continue to out-fish me on the lake… which means I need to bring her to some more trout streams in the future.

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Little Chickey Pond, with and without a gaggle of Cub Scouts.

As part of the Bear Cub Scout rank, one of the requirements is “A Bear Goes Fishing.” As such, it was decided that my son’s den would take a trip to Little Chickey Pond, in Lakesite TN. The scout leader had heard it was heavily stocked, and should be an easy catch for the boys.

I decided to do a little recon, and ran up there a few weeks ago, on a rainy evening. The water was not clear at all, so I couldn’t see any fish, but started out throwing a clouser out, and didn’t have much luck at first. When I decided to walk down the bank a bit, with my minnow in the water, a tiny crappie took it.

So it was established there was life in the pond. Shortly after, I hooked into a small bass with a lot of fight.  It started raining fairly heavily after that, and I hung it up for the night.

On the den meeting night, we all met at the pond at 6pm, all the kids had spinning rods, and the den leader brought some live minnows, and crickets. My son was not a fan of having to put a hook thru a live minnow, so he opted for my wife’s secret weapon, the “Blue Worms”. Unfortunately, he didn’t end up having much luck that night, although I had to tell him, in order to catch a fish, your bait has to actually be in the water. He was too busy conversing with the other scouts, and looking for sticks than to actively fish.

I also only got one on, a weird carp type fish, on an anytime anywhere fly.

Some of the kids got onto some tiny bluegill, and were super excited, but overall it wasn’t the greatest day of fishing. I spent a good chunk of time untangling lines, and getting them out of trees.  One of my son’s friends almost fell into the pond, but caught himself at the last moment.

At the end of the trip, the scoutmaster wanted to get rid of the minnows, so my son and another scout decided to free them into the pond. They did so… as well as the bucket. We had to retrieve it by hooking it with a rod that was luckily still sitting around.

 

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Tellico Cleanup 3/10/18

The Annual Tellico Cleanup took place on March 10th. I got up early in the morning in order to make the twoish hour trek to what has quickly become one of my favorite rivers in the area. I figured it was worth being tired in order to give a little back to the river that has treated me well the past few times I have fished it. Stopped at Hardees to fuel up, and made my way to the Tellico ranger station to check in.

Had to sign a multiple page document saying I won’t hold the federal government responsible for if i get ghonna-herpa-syphal-aids from whatever I pick up, and they gave me a rockin T-Shirt, a set of gloves, and a pack of bags.

I set out up river road, driving past about twenty folks already with multiple full bags of trash. Finally arrived at an unclaimed pulloff, and quickly filled a bag. Moved up the road a bit, filled another bag. Rinse, repeat. After filling up about five bags, and a good chunk of another just containing beer cans to recycle, I decided to give fishing a go for an hour or so before lunch.

Drove up to the hatchery, and was pleased to see there was no one parked in the spot that I’ve had great luck at. I rigged up a double nymph rig with a prince charming with lively legz on the bottom, and a deadpool midge up top. The spot did not disappoint. There is a nice depression that the fish love to hang out in, and I was able to hook about six fish on the prince charming, and one on the deadpool.

Around 11:00 I made my way back to the game check station for lunch that was provided by the Appalachian chapter of Trout Unlimited.  The fare was great for a drizzly day, consisting of hot dogs, and “bambi chilli”, along with chips and some various soda. As everyone filed in to eat, the trophies of trash people found were placed along the parking lot to claim the prize of the weirdest item found. We could have built a full car with all the parts found, including a steering column/wheel, front clips, cv joint, and headlights. Plenty of old pull tab cans, a mattress spring frame, and one condom were also found. The weirdest thing I found was a fidget spinner, which did not join the pile.

After lunch, I headed back up towards the hatchery to give fishing another go. By this time, it was much more crowded on the river, and a couple were fishing in my spot, so I moved across the river and got a few. I made my way down stream catching another couple before walking back to the truck. I introduced myself to the couple that were fishing, as they weren’t having any luck. They were from Knoxville, and were just starting to fly fish. I gave them a couple hints, and a prince charming nymph to give a shot, and then drove upstream to a pool I hadn’t fished in the past.

The pool is behind a low head dam that diverts the water to the hatchery thru a pipeline. I didn’t see any fish on the near side of the bank, but I cast out across towards the intake where the water was a bit deeper and faster, and I’ll be damned if the first cast I got a fish on.

Release it, cast, another fish.

Cast, fish.

Cast, Fish.

Cast, long distance release… Cast… Fish.

Cast, fish.

Cast… TREE! It was a pile of monofilimant in this ghoul of a branch. I tired my damndest to get free, or pull the whole mess down, but no joy, broke both of my flies off. I took that as a sign that I should be done for the day.

Overall, it was a great day fishing. I think the river goddess was pleased with my eight or so bags of trash that I picked up, and rewarded me with plenty of tight lines and nice fish.

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Searching for the perfect 7wt fly rod

For the past year, I’ve been wanting to get a heavier weight rod to handle streamers, and poppers for fishing on the lake. I talked with my friend Chris down at Blue Ridge Fly Fishing, and he pointed me to look at a 7wt of some kind.

Now, I’m sure all of you have seen the Orvis H3D and H3F. It’s a beaut of a rod, but it’s really hard to swallow the price. So if you are a mere mortal with a real job looking for a new 7wt, but don’t necessarily know what one is good.. Blue Ridge’s Blue Lab to the rescue. They did a test of all different kinds of 7wt’s to figure out the best in each price category.

 

 

After watching their tests, and what Chris had to say about the rods in person, I have narrowed it down to the Sage Foundation most likely. I casted a 6wt of it in person at the fly fishing show in Atlanta in February. It did  cast very nice, and I’ll want to give a 7wt a cast before I buy it, but It’ll most likely be the route I go.  If I happen to win the lottery however… H3 here I come.

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Tellico 2/17/18

Part of the content that I will be adding to the site will be fishing trip summaries of the experiences I have when I make it out. Here’s the first, a trip to the Tellico I made last month.

Location: Tellico River/ Sycamore Creek

Catches:  5 Rainbow, 1 Sucker

Weather: Warm. 55F-65F Rainy at times, some wind.

While my wife and son were in Mississippi visiting my mother in law, I took the opportunity to take another drive up to the Tellico, stopping by the Hardees in Tellico Plains to get myself a bacon egg and cheese biscuit to fuel my day.

I started the day by parking across from the hatchery   The river was high and murky, as a couple inches of rain had fallen in the previous days. I rigged up the new Echo 5wt that I won from the Atlanta F4T showing with a floating line. Double nymphing with an indicator was the name of the game.

I started where I’d had great luck in past trips where the fish hang out in a few deeper slower moving channels. With the hight water, there weren’t quite as many fish visible. On the second cast, the New Zealand indicator dipped under, and after I set the hook, a decent tug followed. After a short fight I landed a nice rainbow. The new rod no longer had the scent of skunk.

After that, I managed to get a tiny sucker, and a tiny bow before things started to grind to a stop.

I moved downstream. At the confluence of a small side channel and the main river, I spotted a nice looking rainbow just off the tip of the shore line, after a couple attempts, it took the fly. It wasn’t a long fight, due to how close it was to begin with.

This was also the first fish large enough to measure in my new Brodin net that I picked up in Atlanta at the Fly Fishing show. The measurement inlays were quite handy, as this fish turned out to be 18″.

I decided to hike up Sycamore creek trail to check it out, as I’ve heard there are brook trout hiding up a ways in the pools of the creek. Unfortunately there weren’t any pools to be found, as the runoff had turned the normally docile creek into a small river. Later in the year, I’d like to return to see what it’s like at it’s normal levels.

It was a beautiful hike. A couple dogs scared the living daylights out of me as I was observing the river. They came up behind me, and as I turned around, there were what my brain thought were two small bears.

After the hike, I took a drive down towards home, stopping at a hole that is normally filled with quite a few fish. I chatted with another angler from Nashville who hadn’t had much luck yet, but pointed out that someone had. On the shore was the remnants of a massive poach that appeared to have happened earlier that day. I took some pictures of it, and reported it to the TWRA, but I doubt anything will happen.

 

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The Mended Line

Welcome to The Mended Line. The creation of a bored individual with the access to cheap domain names, hosting, and a couple spare minutes of time.

I’m not sure what will come of this site, other than it will probably include stories of poor fly fishing, with mediocre results, some fly tying, and who knows what else.

Welcome to the journey on whatever this becomes.