Natahala River 11/15/2005

Took a firend from work out fly fishing for the first time. He recently moved to the TN area from MS, where he was an avid bass fisherman. We arrived on the Natahala around 8:00am after battling fog as thick as pea soup on the New Found Gap Road. After that we drove in circles looking for somewhere to sell us fishing lisenses. We finally had luck at the ACE Hardware store in Bryson City. Once we suited up I gave buddy a crash course in fly fishing, entomology, knots and fishing mountain streams while I rigged our rods up. Buddy had fortunately been practicing his casting prior to our trip. With in 30 minutes he was getting strikes on a parachute adams. By lunch time we had both managed to catch a decent number of fish and Buddy was starting to look like a fly fisherman. Buddy figuring out things for himself Nice Bow Buddy's first trout on a fly rod, taken on a parachute BWO One of many Brookies that we caught throughout the day We had a great day of fishing and Buddy had an exceptional day for his first time out. We caught fish on parachute adams, BWO, Stimulators, BH Nymphs and soft hackles. Towards the end of the day I found a pocket of brookies that were hitting a partridge and orange soft hackle on almost every cast. Check out the My Flies section for a pick of the Partridge and Orange soft hackle.

Little River 11/11/2005

Fished the Little River from 7am to 11am with Zach Matthews. We were looking for browns that are in the process of moving up to Metcalf Bottoms to spawn. We had a couple shots at good sized brownies but no real hookups. Zach had some good follows by decent browns and I did as well. The fish are definately in there but being stealthy and pinpoint presentation is key. Below are some pics that Zach took while we were out. Check out his site The Itinerant Angler for additional info on fishing TN and photography. You can also see some of Zach's work in various fly fishing magazines.

Little River 11/09/2005

Fished the Little River today below Metcalf Bottoms. Caught a good amount of rainbows on small stimulators and parachute adams, as well as a small hot wired Prince Nymph. I also picked up this small brown on a clouser minnow. The river is still low and clear with a lot of freshly fallen leaves in the stream. Which can make fishing a bit fustrating. Little River Brown

Middle Prong of the Pigeon river at Greenbrier Oct

I fished the Middle Prong of the Pigeon towards the end of October. A good amount of rainbows were caught on parachute adams, BWO and Caddis. Middle Prong of the Pigeon

Natahala River Oct

On my way back home from Atlanta I hit the delayed harvest strech of the Natahala. Good numbers of Browns, Brookies and Bows came on everything from Parachute Adams, Caddis, and hot wired Prince Nymphs.

Chattahoche River Oct.

On a recent work trip to Atlanta I took a friend named Eric fly fishing for the first time. After having some difficulties and falling into the river he managed to land his first trout on a fly rod. Eric works a nice run Eric's first trout on a fly rod

West Prong of the Pigeon River Oct.

Took a guide trip with Ian Rutter and a friend named Kevin. We fished the West Prong of the Pigeon River, and the Little River. Kevin and Ian stalk some brookies on the West Prong of the Pigeon. My first Smokey Mountain Brookie

Wyoming Sept 23 - Oct 3

On a recent work trip to Jackson, WY I had the opportunity to fish on the Gros Vente, Flat Creek, Black tail and the Madison. Below are some photos from those trips. Blacktail Ponds Cutthroat Blacktail Ponds Overlook Madison River Bow Madison River Bow

Meramac River 8/21/2005

Met up with Vic from the Ozark Chronicles board at Meramac Springs Park outside of St. James around 3pm. Our plan was to wade below the park to fish. I had done this exact same thing almost a year ago and had some decent luck on light Cahills trying to imitate the white flies that hatch on the Meramac. It was really hot so we both decided to wet wade. I started out throwing hoppers under any cover that I could find and Vic started out throwing a minnow imitation. I had four good hits in the course of an hour, but no fish to show for it. Vic also had a couple of good misses. A little later we ran into a Polish fellow from St. Louis who was fishing a gold bead wolly bugger and had just released a nice brown. Vic and I gave him a couple hundred yards and began fishing again. We started trying some different things. Since going under was working for our new polish friend I tied on an olive mohair and imedeately laned a nice rainbow. Vic continuted to fish dries but only had a couple more hits, but no fish. Around 6pm Vic had to leave, but I stayed to fish some more. Not long after our new Polish friend came running upstream muttering how mad is wife was going to be and that around the bend was some more good fish in "easy river" as he put it. Which I took as easy water to fish since most of the rest of the water was broken up by dead falls and debir in the river, which made getting a good long drift almost impossible. I fished untill about 7:30 and laned about 6 good rainbows, two of which were at or above 15 inches. All of the fish I caught were on olive or black mohairs, dead drifted. I really like this piece of water and hope to get back there in the fall, after the canoe season has ended.

Taneycomo 7/29-7/30/2005

Met up with Wade and Mike at Fall Creek Inn Friday night around 10:30pm. After checking in and tying up some black mohairs with crystal flash we hit headed for the river. There were only two other cars in the parking lot when we arrived. They apparently had turned off the water just before we had gotten there and it was still droping. This is usually bad for the fishing. However with in the first ten minuts Mike had a Rainbow on. Not much later Wade landed the nicest Rainbow of the trip. Each of us caught a couple there and then decided to move on down. The next hole we hit was the rebar hole. If you have ever been to the upper Taney area you will recognize it by three pieces of rebar jutting out of the river. The water was up just a bit so I waded out into the middle of the run using the rebar as a gauge of where I was. This is a very dangerous spot because after the last piece of rebar the river drops into an 8 to 10 foot hole. I quickly landed 3 fish on three consecutive casts and then hollered for Wade to come over. I believe he got a couple of bites but no hookups. We continued on down stream casting and stipping mohairs. Each of us getting the occasional hook up. The next day we fished from Wades new boat and picked up a few fish during the day and at night. On the way home Mike and I stopped by Bumsteads restaurant in Ozark, MO. It is a very unique place and worth the stop. The food is awesome as well.

Current River 7/16/2005

Met up with another high school buddy named Jarrod. Jarrod is a golfer and had never held a fly rod before. I told him I'd take him fishing Saturday morning and I would be at his house at 4am. His response was that he wouldn't go to bed and not to expect him to drive the next morning. I was supprised to find when I got to his house Saturday morning that he was actually already up. We hit Wal-Mart for some supplies and Jarrod's fishing lisense. I don't really like shopping at Wal-Mart, but it is the only thing open at 4am. We headed down to Baptist Camp access on the Current River. I figured this would be a good place for Jarrod to get a crash course in fly casting. He was a little shakey but picked it up fairly quick. Around 8am the Tricos Started moving upriver and not long after the fish started feeding on the spinners. Luckily I had tied up a good number of size 24 spinners the night before. Jarrod had about a dozen good hits on his Trico, but had a problem hooking up. I managed to land a half dozen rainbows and a couple of decent browns in the same area. I also had a good 16"+ Rainbow on for a little while before he spit the hook. He was sitting in a four foot hole under a log and would only come out every couple of minutes. When he came out he would only come up 3 or 4 times to sip spinners and then return to hide under his log. This technique is proably the reason he has gotten so big so close to a public access. Around 11:00am the canoe traffic began to get extremly bad so we headed to the C&R area at Montauk State Park. I hoped to get Jarrod into a big fish, but I beleive he was a bit fished out because of lack of sleep and the heat. I managed to land four bruisers over 20 inches on Trout Crack flies and small ant patterns.

Dry Fork Creek 7/9/2005

Met up with two old high school buddies, Seth and Travis, at 6am at a low water bridge. We were after smallmouth and largemouth. Seth and Travis The morning started off a bit slow, but everyone managed a smallie and a couple of bluegills by 8am. Then Travis had to take off to put up hay. Seth and I continued downstream hitting all of the likely spots. We caught 3 or 4 smallmouth/largemouth in each good hole and would then have to walk 300 to 400 yards to find the next good hole. It was tuff fishing and we earned every fish we caught. We proably waded 3 total miles through the course of the day. The biggest fish goes to Seth with an 18 inch largemouth. The biggest smallie went about 15 inches. With a total fish count of about 16 smallmouth and 2 or 3 largemouth.

White and Norfork Rivers / HOAC 6/25-6/26/2005

What an incredible weekend, I don't know where to start. HOAC or Hooked On A Cure is a fundraising event for St. Jude's Children hospital. Basically it is a flyfishing event in which people pay to fish with a Guide and Celebrity guest for two days. The event also includes a dinner and auction. All of the proceeds go to St. Jude's Children's hospital. For more info go to Hooked On A Cure My plan was to go down to fish a little and attend the Dinner/Auction for HOAC. I was meeting up with Matt Tucker and Brent Hinds from the Ozark Chronicles board. I also hopped to meet some others from the OC board and Flyfishing Arkansas board. Friday night Matt hooked me up with Rich Brown, who runs Fish'n Fat Man Guide Service, a Wisconsin/Iowa/Illinios guide that had come down for the event as well. Rich had offered Matt a spot in his drift boat, but because of prior engagements Matt had to decline. However he suggested to Rich that I would love to fish out of the drift boat. So after talking to Tucker I called Rich to get the details. We were getting up at 4am to hit the water. Rich was also kind enough to let me crash in his room as I did not have a hotel room untill Saturday night. Rich was an awesome guy and guide. Next Generation of Fly Fisherman! Norfork Tailwater So Saturday we were up at 4am and on the water by 5. We fished the White for a couple hours and picked up a few fish. Later we headed over to the Norfork to hopefully drift fish a little. Unfortuneatly the They never ran enough water to do that float. I ended up catching about ten fish, mostly cuts, a few rainbows and one small brookie. I was one brown away from getting a grand slam, but couldn't get one to cooperate. Rainbow from the White River Saturday night we headed up to the Bel Arco Resort for the HOAC dinner/auction. Matt, Brent and Rich worked the bar all night. I floated around striking up conversations with anyone that would listen. The food was awesome and I'm not just saying that because I was starving, it was really great. I especially enjoyed the short program about St. Jude's by April Conrad. Saint Jude's is a great orgainzation which does some remarkable things. Also at the dinner were all of the Celebrities and Guides, Mel Krieger, Jack Dennis, Cindy Garrison, Jason Borger just to name a few. It was also great to see all of the products that had been donated for the auction. Top of the line fly rods, reels and much more. One of my favorite items was a Carved wooden Rainbow trout replica by Gary Turner, it was simply amazing. Baby Fox on the Way to White River Dam Sunday morning Tucker invited me to meet up with Tom Rogers and fish in the morning in the C&R area of the White River. Well I couldn't turn that down, so it would be another night of little sleep. However the fishing was good and I learned some new techniques that I can't wait to tryout in other areas. Tom is a great guy and I would highly recommend his guide service TnT Fishing. I ended Sunday with 7 Rainbows to hand and a couple of nice 15-16 inchers. Tom and Tucker in the Fog. Rainbow on one of Tom's big flies Tucker on his way home Well the long 7 hour drive was worth it. I was able to participate in a great cause and meet some great people. I'd like to thanks Tucker, Rich, MP, Brent for their hospitality and letting me tag along. Another thanks goes out to Tom Rogers for showing me some incredible flies. Everytime I go to the Arkansas tailwaters I leave wanting to comeback. I have learned something new with each trip as well as met some great poeple. If you've never been to the Arkansas Ozark's, you should check it out.

Taneycomo Night Fishing 6/4 and 6/5/2005

Where: Tanneycomo Taneycomo is a tailwater fishery near the town of Branson, MO. Presently they are doing work in downtown historic Branson. Specifically building a landing in order for Bass Pro to build another store. Anyways because of this the dam has been running very little water to keep from washing away their progress down stream. We are entering the middle of summer so it is getting very hot. Anyways fishing during the day becomes a challenge and not so comfortable. FiveWeight called me early in the week about doing a fishing trip somewhere. I thought it would be a great time to try a night only fishing trip on Taneycomo. We met up in the Table Rock Lake State Park around 10:30pm Friday night and quickly set up a couple of tents. After that we slammed some beers and were off to hit up the river. We fished from 11:30pm Friday night to 9:00am Saturday morning. With in the first couple of casts I had a fish on, not long after FiveWeight had a nice 16 incher that he was calling me over to take a picture of. We continued catching fish every couple of casts for the entire night. Around 5:00am I started getting creative and put a hopper on with some aqua glo so I could see it better. First cast and I had a fish on. A couple more casts and I missed two and landed one more. I then yelled to FiveWeight, who was some distance off that I caught them on hoppers. A bit later he yelled back sneaky pete. He must have thought I said popper instead of hopper. Anyways the fishing was ridiculously easy for about an hour. Then the sun started to rise and the fish became more selective. The next night went about the same as the first. We fished from 9:00pm Saturday to 1:30am Sunday, when bad weather drove us off the stream. We landed about 70 fish between the two of us. It ended up being a great trip and one that will be hard to beat.

Spring River and Noblet Lake 5/21 and 5/22/2005

Where: Spring River and Noblet Lake Met up with FiveWeight from the OzarkChronicles board at 6am. From there we had a good 2 hour drive to the Spring River in Northern Missouri. The Spring River starts at the Mamoth Springs. We got on the river about 9am at Dam 3 Access, just has the canoe companies were unloading dozens of canoes. We floated to the first island were we ditched the boat and wet waded. It took a while to find out what the fish wanted. Not suprisingly it was olive mohair leeches. We fished leeches the rest of the entire day, picking up a couple of fish here and there. Overall together we landed at least 30 trout and lost some nice ones along the way. We also managed a remarkable 5 doubles. We arrived at the Riverside campground around 7pm to catch a shuttle back to the car. All in all it was a great day. Sunday we woke early and headed north to Noblet lake, which is near West Plains. We fished near the lilley pads and cover for chain pickerel. FiveWeight had caught a couple of 20 inchers on previous trips. Unfortunately we only landed on 10 incher a piece and missed some others little guys. Good all around trip and I hope to do it again.

Current River and Montauk SP 4/30/05

Got down to Tan Vat and was geared up by 7am. I fished quickly down stream, casting a black mohair leech. I picked up a couple here and there. I made it down to just above Baptist by 9am and had not seen any bug activity. I was headed up stream and going to go to another access. Along the way I stoped at a nice bluff hole and noticed some small mayflies coming off. I tried to match the hatch a little, but could not. Then I tied on a small soft hackel and caught a fish on the very first cast. I continued catching fish untill noon. I think I ended with about 15 fish to hand and three nice ones over 12 inches. The largest went about 15 inches. I headed back to the car for a quick lunch and then went into Montauk SP to catch some dinner. I started fishing in the park about 2pm and fished till 5pm. I started with the usual scuds and what not, but nothing produced. Then I put the same soft hackel on that I had been using outside the park. Wouldn't you know it but I caught a fish on the first cast. I continued fishing the soft hackel as I made my way down stream. I ended with about 12 fish to hand and a stringer of nice ones for dinner. One great day of fishing. Almost 30 fish to hand and some for dinner. The soft hackel was the fly of the day. The weather was perfect and I didn't see a single other person when I was fishing on the river.

Meramec SP 4/25/05

Fished with a good friend, that was home from the Airforce. We hit up Meramec around 2pm. We started up at the top of the park throwing all of the usual flies and getting shut down. After the first big hole we found a small pod of risers under some overhanging trees. They were rising to some small mayflies. I tied on a griffs gnat and picked one up on the first cast. We fished to the small pod for about 30 mins and each landed a couple. After the fish had shut down we walked the rest of the park looking for some rising fish, but found none. It was about 5pm at this point and we decided to call it a day and head home for some dinner.

Current River 4/23/04

Met up with Mike, a member of the Ozark Chronicles board, at Montauk lodge around 6:30am. We went down to Baptist Camp Access to fish. Morning started out a bit slow untill the fish started hitting on some huge mayflies that were hatching. They were about a size 12. I think we both managed to pick up a couple of fish on dries. From there we continued downstream throwing a little bit of everything and picking up fish from time to time. Good day fishing, however it was extremly cold paired with a stiff wind.

The Big River 4/9/2005

The Big River is south of Desoto, MO about 9 miles on Hwy 21. I met up with Eric an old college roommate Friday night. We left for the Big River Saturday morning around 8:00am. We put in at the Hwy 21 bridge and took out at Washington State Park. The river seemed to have a good flow to it, we never had to drag the canoe. Unfortunately the fish did not cooperate. We only landed a couple and had 3 or 4 throw the hook. Saturday was a great day none the less, just to be out on the river. Big River Near Washington State Park 

Current River 4/2/2005

Fished with Sam Potter of Tightline guide service. Saturday was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. We arrived at Parker Hollow around 8:00am. From there we went up stream and fished untill noon. We were trying for a big guy and throwing streamers. Fish did not cooperate and ended the morning with only one small smallmouth. After lunch we fished below Baptist. We were able to locate a couple decent browns in a little run. I managed to bring in two fish on soft hackles. The fished looked to be rising to either tiny midges or extremely small caddis. It was a very slow day but I learned a different way to fish streamers, as well as how to fish soft hackels. I am now a firm believer in the soft hackel and will fish them more often.

Yakima River 3/26/2005 and Rocky Ford Creek 3/27/2005

The end of a great day of fishing!  Great Trip fishing with two buddies and catching my largest Rainbow ever!
Yakima River  I had the pleasure of visiting two good friends in Washington. Faz, who now lives and works in the Seattle area. Wade is currently in the Airforce and just happened to be in the Spokane area finishing up some training. Wade was the person who got me hooked on flyfishing while we were in highschool. After Faz picked me up at the airport we meet up with Wade who drove to Seattle from Spokane. Friday Faz had to work so Wade and I did some tourist stuff. We drove up to Mt. Rainier. All I can say is WOW. It is just something that you have to see for yourself. Friday afternoon we met up with Faz and headed down to Pike's Market and downtown Seattle. Where we had some awesome clam chowder to hold us over untill dinner. From there we went walked up to the Space Needle. We had dinner at the Crab Pot down by the water and the food was great! Also before returning home we stoped by the fish ladder between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. The ladder allows salmon and steelhead to move up stream. Unfortuneately there were no fish, but we did get to see some guy jack up his sail boat in the locks. Saturday the three of us got up around 6:30am and got everything packed up for the trip. The Yakima River near the town of Ellensburg should only have been a 2 hour drive. Which would have put us there around 9 or 9:30 am. However, the mountain gods didn't see it that way and we ran into a bit of snow.
Highway 90 Through the Pass.  Once we hit the mountains the trafic quickly slowed to a snails pace. The pass that we drove through ended up getting 14 inches of snow! The highway department also closed the road for a couple of hours. There were dozens of minor accidents throughout the entire mountain pass strech. Luckily however the fishing gods must have been with us. We managed to make it through the pass before they closed it. However we did not get to Red's Fly Shop untill 10:30 am. Once at Reds we got all of the specifics inorder. Because of the snow delay we did not have as much time to fish as would have been liked. However Reds was able to accomadate us perfectly. We put in at mile marker 19 and floated to Reds Fly Shop, this was only a 4.5 to 5 mile float. This enabled us to take as long or short a time as we liked. After witnessing a remarkable trailoring job by the young guy which dropped us off, we were ready to get going.
Getting ready to get on the river.  We had been floating not more than 30 minutes and I noticed we had substanially more water in the boat than before. Apparently the two rubber plugs near the back of the boat were not attached firmly and water was coming in! Well we had a big orange bucket to bail with!
Don't forget to check the plug!  After Wade got most of the water out of the boat it was his turn at the oars. For only being his first time Wade was fairly competent at the oars and substantially better at rowing than Faz. This did not surprise me much since Wade and I once did 10 miles in 2 hours on the Current River. Apprently Faz loses the ability to use his left arm while in a boat. So if you like doing circles while fishing than he is your man. One advantage would be that both the font seat and back seat get equal opportunities at "new" water. However I think this may have just been a ploy so that he could fish more.
Wade at the oars.  Around noon the Blue Wing Olive hatch started as promised. The staff at Red's had informed us about the hatch prior to leaving the shop, so we had a good stock of flies. The hatch went off perfectly. We anchored up next to a pod of risers and began to reel them in. The fish didn't seem to mind much as we had alot of sloppy casts to the same fish. Everyone managed to land at least two fish and miss or lose multiple others. I think we ended with about eight fish to boat from that section.
Wade with a Yakima Bow.  After the hatch ended we stopped for lunch and some beers. By this time it was about 2:30pm and we need to make some time up. I took over at the oars while Faz and Wade hit some likely spots along the way. We had a couple of good hits, but no fish to boat.
Me at the oars while Wade hits some likely spots.  All in all it was a great day to be on the river and spend time with two good friends. We caught some good fish and had time to reminese a bit. As we get older and go our own ways in life, it gets harder and harder to do trips like these. When we do get together it is always a good time fish or no fish.
The end of a great day of fishing!  We packed everything back into the cars and headed to Ellensburg to eat some mexican food. After Dinner the three of us parted ways. Wade went back to Spokane to catch a flight. Faz and myself carried on to a town near Rocky Ford Creek. Sunday we woke fairly early and stopped at Wanda's cafe for the biggest Omlets I have ever seen. We arrived at Rocky Ford Creek around 8:00am. The day started off well with both Faz and I hooking up within the first couple of casts. Faz caught some nice fish on white streamers. I managed to pick some fish up on size 20 BWO emergers and scuds. Rocky Ford Creek as some amazing fish. Faz with a Rocky Ford Bow 

My largest Rainbow ever. 24 inches caught on a size 20 emerger  All I can say is it was an awesome trip and I can't wait to return.