9/6/2006 Little River GSMNP

I managed to get away for a day fishing with Tim Doyle. Tim is a good friend and local guide. He runs Smoky Mountain Flywerks guide service. We started out the day throwing big terestrials to over hangs and under cuts. This is one of Tims specialties and I learned a lot of great tips. My first fish was a 13 inch brown trout. This was my largest fish to date in the GSMNP. We continued fishing and ended up in a very well known place that holds some large browns. After Tim caught a couple I started fish some likely spots. I had absolutely no looks and started working my way up stream. I was looking upstream and a flash of white caught my eye. I froze to get a better look. What I saw astounded me as the largest brown I have ever seen appeared before my eyes. He was lodged in a large slot on the stream bottom. I yelled at Tim, is that a fish. Your "F"ing right thats a fish he replied. Tim immeadeately knew what was on the menu. While I stayed frozen, he placed two flies on a stick and threw it out to me. Hands trembling I tied on the two flies. On top was a small girdle bug and on bottom was a size sixteen bead head pheasant tail nymph. After four drifts the brown looked as though he had eaten and I set the hook, but nothing was there. At this point I was completly frazzled, hands trembling and my heart was ready to jump out of my chest. I took a couple seconds to recoupe. Three drifts later he ate and the party was on. He came to the surface and shook his in fustration. After a couple of good runs I managed to beach him in a small back eddy. This was my second fish and now largest fish to date in GSMNP.

July Hiwassee River

Doug and I finally had a day off at the same time. This does not happen much since the both of us are pretty much it for fishing coverage in the store. We made a day of it and floated the Hiwassee in my boat. The fishing was not overly good however for our first time floating that river we did okay. Not to mention the hordes of recreational floaters that we had to deal with. We both managed some stockers and proably could have boated quite a few, however I didn't want to stop much because I did not know how long it would take to get to the take out. The float was a blast and as it was the most technical rowing that I have done to date. I actually didn't fish much because I had such a good time rowing.

June Little River

Had the day off and ran up to visit with Steve Moore and Matt Kulp who are in charge of the fisheries in GSMNP. I also had to pick up some maps from them for the store. When I walked in to the office Dan a fellow TU member was talking to Matt. They had apparently just gottn done working on one of the streams in the park. It was around noon so I talked Dan into going fishing up on Little River for a couple of hours. We fished above Huskey Branch and had good luck with Yellow Stimulators and a prince dropper.

May Nantahala River

Went with a couple of buddies for the end of the delayed harvest on the Nan. We had a blast. Really good fish numbers and one hod that got off. Which was my fault for only taking a 2wt rod. They were hitting dries nymphs and streamers and I think 2 out of the three managed to slam.

May first trout for two co-workers

I took two fellow neophyte co-workers fishing for the first time. Niether had ever fished with a fly rod before. Troy managed to land about eight and Lori and a couple of good hook ups, but no fish to hand. I think the both of them had a great time regardless of the few fish that we managed to hook.

May Smallmouth

Managed to get away with a fellow co-worker for a little smallmouth fishing. We fished the West Prong of the Little Pigeon from Sevierville city park to the Chapman highway bridge. The water was up a little and a bit off color but still fished great. We boated about two dozen smallies and about a dozen nice ones.

South Holston River 4/25 - 4/26/2006

Got a couple days off, Doug and myself went up to the South Holston to float and fish the lower section. We stopped Tuesday morning and said good bye to Steven "Bubba" Dark a local guide who is going out to the Henry's Fork to Guide and work for the summer. We ended up getting a late start on the river. My first fish was a small Rainbow. My second fish was another small rainbow, however as soon as I was bringing him up a large Brown came up and hit. I'm not quite sure as to what happened. If I hooked the Brown and he spooked the rainbow or if he was chasing the rainbow and got hooked. The final result was however a 23" Brown to net that was firmly hooked with my midge inside his mouth. It was funny because just before I caught him some wade fisherman were giving us trouble because of the size of our net. If they could only have seen that fish. After that we were both pumped and threw some big Rainbow Trout streamers, which produced some massive strikes. A bit farther downstream we got into a great sulphur hatch and we both landed some good fish. The day ended with a bit more excitment when we had to cut our float short because of some severe weather. Another local fisherman gave us a ride back to my truck and we just barely managed to get out before the winds and lightning hit.

Salmon River (Pulaski) 4/4 - 4/7/2006

Went Steelheading on the Salmon River in Pulaski, New York. I met Jason Siler, Fishing Manager from the Orvis - Norcross and Shannon Ward, Fishing Manager from Orvis - Atlanta. We put in three full days of fishing. It was a bit easier than fishing out west for Pacific Steelhead. We fished with Walt Gerek an Orvis Endorsed Guide in the area. We ran into very high water conditions and extremly cold temps, Which made the fishing tough at times. Also, because of the high water cleats were manadatory and a wading staff was a bonus. Even with the poor fishing conditions we all managed to land a couple of nice steelies.

March

Finally had the chance to float in my boat for the first time. I met up with Phil at the Orvis store early and we put in at the top of Pigeon Forge and floated past the shop. The fishing was slow but the boat worked great. Phil getting ready to float

Sauk and Skagit River 3/08/2006 - 3/13/2006

Recently went out to Seatlle to visit one of my good college/fishing buddies. Faz works for Boeing out their. Our plan was to go after winter steelhead for a couple of days during my trip. I called up the Fishing Manager, Leland Miyawaki at the Orvis - Bellevue, Washington. After talking to Leland a bit we had a rough plan for our trip he was also going to call one of his good friends and guide, John Farrar John Farrar Flyfishing Guide. We were set to fish with John on 3/11. After I got into Seattle we headed up to the Bellvue Orvis store and picked up some gear. Rob Tibbet the store manager was in and we talked a bit about what to expect. Rob is a great guy and helped to set up our store here in Sevierville, TN. He recently took a job at the Denver Cherry Creek store, so if your in the area stop in and get some tips, as Rob is a fish nut as well. I also met Ross, who agreed to take Faz and myself out on the Sauk on 3/12. Ross works in the store and is also a part time guide and fishing instructor, as well as one heck of an angler. We met Ross at 6am the next morning and headed for the Sauk. Ross had brought along a small inflatable raft and we proceeded to do a short float. After stopping to do some brief explanation of how to fish for steelhead we were off and fishing. We did not hook a steelhead the first day but did catch several Dolly Vardens which were very cool in thier own right. Rob Tibbet, Store Manager and Ross Ross bring the boat down Fighting a nice Dolly Dolly Varden

Gatlinburg Delayed Harvest 2/14/2006

Took Phil Rhodes out for his first flyfishing trip. Phil is an employee at the Orvis store in Sevierville. To my knowledge Phil had never caught a trout especially on a fly rod. We started the day out casting and working on his drifts. After about an hour of on stream instruction we went to a big pool that I knew held some fish. I had been out scouting prior that morning and found a nice pod of fish that I was confident would take.

South Holston River 2/13/2006

Doug Moore and myself met up with Steven Dark of Mike Adam's Flyfishing on Monday. The plan originally was to float the Watauga River, however because of high water we opted for the South Holston. The whole area had recieved a good amount of snow the night before. The snow made for a very scenic float. The down side was extremly cold temps. It didn't get above 25 degrees all day. We were constantly having to dip our rods in the water to clear ice. The fish were fairly cooperative and everyone landed a few. Midges were the ticket the majority of the day. However a few BWO's were coming off and everyone managed a couple of hookups on dries.

White and Norfork Tailwaters 2/3 -2/6/2006

This was the first big trip of the season. I took Doug Moore and local guide and fly tyer Tim Doyle. We left the Smokies Wednesday night and headed for Memphis where we had a room. Thursday morning we headed to the White River. After setting up camp they had begun generating and we did not get much fishing in. Friday morning we awoke to more Generating water so we headed over to the Norfork. We started fishing the end of the C/R area at the handicap access. Doug immeadeately started hooking up and both Timmy and I were getting bites and landing a few as well. After about an hour of fishing the water began to rise. We then called the Generation number and they had only generated for an hour. We hopped in the car and went up to the dam for some more fishing. We all caught some brookies up in the large pool directly below the dam on small midge patterns. A little farther down the rainbows came easily on pink san juan worms and egg patterns. Around two in the afternoon we headed back over to the White to fish below the Dam in the C/R area. We picked up Rainbows in the riffles right off the start. Towards evening after everyone else had cleared out. Tim and I noticed Doug with a nice fish on. He had found a good pod of feeding rainbows and had already landed a number of fish over 20 inches. One of Doug's Bows, he had picked up some before this that were larger, but we did not have a camera. Friday night Jimmy "T", Matt Tucker, Brent Hinds (Tiny), Mike Goldenberg (FiveWeight), and Brian Greer all showed up. We drank a few more beers and then they all headed out for some night fishing. During a trip to the Jon I encountered a coupe of hard core fly tyers. Yes that is a diaper changer Saturday I was striken with a case of Montezuma's Revenge and was running to the bathroom every 30 mins. By one o'clock I had gotten everything out of my system, Doug Tim and I headed up to the White River C/R area to go after some more fish. We picked up some fish in all of the riffles. Trout Crack was consistently producing fish. Towards evening Timmy and I were back at the truck and Doug got this picture. Oklahoma boy with a killer Brown Saturday night the cult went to the 178 club for dinner. Sunday they were generating on the white when we woke so we did a little drift boat fishing. Timmy's Brown from the boat Drift Boat Brown They turned off the generators around noon and we headed back up to do a little drift fishing. 25" Brown Timmy's 27" Brown Sunday night the campfire was filled with tails of big fish and the days success. John Wilson joined us and we got some casting lessons. John is one heck of caster. Some more lies were told and we all headed for the tents to dream about big fish and our next trip to the White.

North River 1/24/2006

Met up with Doug Moore from the shop early Tuesday in Maryville. The plan was for Doug to show me some of his old stomping grounds near Tellico Plains. We had recieved a good amount of rains, so all of the rivers were flowing at a very good level. We started out fishing the upper North River for brookies. Fishing was slow in the morning and the water temps were down in the low 40's. We went fishless for the first couple hours untill we came upon a plunge pool that had been getting sun all morning. We managed to land the first brookies of the season. Later we went and hit the lower section. We both managed to pick up good fish by dead drifting and swinging Mohair leeches. Bald River Falls Upper North River Frist Brookie of the year North River Brown North River Bow

Watauga Monster Brown! 1/17/2006

Met up with Doug around 7am in Sevierville. After filling up with gas we headed off for the Watauga. We fished a couple of differnt spots, picking up some good fish almost everywhere we stopped. It had been raining all day so the tribs were pumping a good amount of color into the tailwater. Towards dusk the stream started to look very milky and muddy. After watching some spin fisherman loose a nice brown. We both rigged up streamers and began to work the runs. We both missed some fish almost instantly then it went dead. Working down stream I managed to pick up one small brown. After about an hour Doug fished past me while I was working a deep run. I managed to land a cast at the head of a small eddy on the oppisite side of the stream. I put one upstream mend in the line to get the fly down, then let the line belly out. To my surprise the line stopped. I set the hook and felt somthing very solid. Instantly I felt the thumping of a large fish on the other end. I've caught big fish before but did not think this one was as big as it turned out to be. After a brief fight and some frantic action by Doug I was able to get the Brown into some shallows where Doug was able to grab it. He measured 29.5 inches long and had a girth of 16 inches.

Little River 1/13/2006

Managed to make it to the Little River today. I fished for about an hour before rain drove me off the river. I started out nymphing a couple of deep pools above Metcalf Bottoms. After about a half hour and no luck I drove a bit farther upstream to a big pool called the Baptism Pool. I began nymphing the head of the pool and missed one fish. Then I notice a small riser about 35 feet down from me. I switched over to a size 20 Adams and threw a slack line cast down to where I had last seen the rise. The fly hadn't been on the water more than three seconds and I had a splashy rise to my fly. after a brief fight I had a small brown, about 8 or 9 inches to hand. The brown was a bit of a surprise as I was expecting a small rainbow. After three more casts to the same area a steady rain moved in and I headed back into town. Little River Brown Trout