Slow Morning on the Clinch

13 inch Clinch Bow





Sunrise on the Clinch


Well, I haven't done an early morning Clinch trip in a long time, so I thought today would be a good day. My co-worker, Dave, and I got to the river around 7:00 and fished until 11:15 when the pulse started to come thru. I usually stay away from the river on the weekends to avoid the crowds, and maybe I should have today as well. When we got to the water, my two favorite runs already had somebody fishing them, so it was off exploring. We walked way downstream and fished some new shoals and had some success. However, it was quite a frustrating day today. I let 8 fish get off today, and I had two break my line. I managed to bring two to hand, but the number that I let get off really was getting to me. I hooked fish on sulfur thorax duns, midge larvae, and olive slumpbusters. I believe I know why I was having trouble keeping my fish attached today. I was fishing downstream the majority of the day, and it is hard to get a good hookset if you are pulling upstream. This pulls the fly up and out of the fish's mouth as opposed to into the side of the mouth. I should have been using a sidearm hookset to maximize the sideways pull into the trout's cheek. Next trip will probably be to the Holston river with Scott. He has a little hot spot that he has been asking me to give a try. Plust they are catching them on caddis dries, that is hard to beat....

Experimenting with the Nikon D40

Well, here are some recent pics using the new DSLR. I managed to get some decent shots, but I would like to work on my DOF. The kit lens performed better than I imagined.

1. Picking Blackberries

2. Bathtime for Trey

3. Good Morning

4. Fireworks

Fall Fishing Trip Results

Well, the results are in, and I have to admit that the winner was what I expected, but the results were surprising.

Ohio Steelhead - 0%
Cumberland River - 83%
White River - 0%
Western North Carolina - 17%

Now keep in mind that only 6 people voted, and the last 3 days there has been a problem with the blogger poll scripts. I had a couple emails from people informing me that they were unable to vote because of this.

I fully expected the Cumberland River to win since it is reasonably close by, and was recently featured in an edition of FlyFisherman Magazine. What is surprising is that nobody voted for the Northern Ohio steelhead trip nor the Arkansas White River trip. With the gas prices what they currently are, the Cumberland trip will be the second least expensive, second to a Western NC trip. So, it looks like sometime in October I will be making a 3 or 4-day trip to Wolf Creek Dam. I need to do some research into convenient campgrounds, river maps, fly selections, guide service (if recommended), and a few other things. I have read that a boat is almost necessary to access some of the better locations, so I may see if Scott can arrange for us to have a boat while there.

Travis