Friday, December 5, 2008

Lesson Learned on the Clinch

I have been trying to get out on the water for a month now, and today finally presented an opportunity. After arriving at work this morning, I checked the weather. Forecast was for hi around 40 and partly cloudy, so I chose to give it a go. I met Jacob at the Wal-Mart in Clinton and headed for the river. When I pulled into the parking spot, I noticed that the water was a little high. That is when it dawned on me that I didn't call to check the generation schedule. I had been checking the schedule on a regular basis for the past couple months, and TVA had been consistently running the same schedule every Friday. Well, not this Friday. After some deliberation, we chose to head up to Miller's Island and give that area a shot. Having not fished Miller's Island in almost a year, I thought a change of scenery may be nice. We got in and walked down the far left side of the river and I thought I noticed some old redds in the area. That is a good thing. Once I found a little seam that I thought looked good, I threw a little BHPT out there and had a hookup on my 3rd cast. It was a very brightly colored rainbow of about 14", and it fought very hard. So, my spirits lifted thinking it was going to be a good day, little did I know that it would be the only fish I landed all day long.

We fished at Miller's Island long enough for the water to go down at our initial destination. So, we packed up to head down there, and it just so happened that the sun was going down behind the hill when we arrived there. Once we got into the water we saw fish (some large) rising all around. It appeared to me that they were taking little cream midges, but Jacob thought he saw some tiny olive caddis. So, I tied on a tiny olive caddis pupae I have, and hooked into a decent little fish. That fight did not last long before he came unbuttoned. It was approaching 5:00 at this time, so we chose to just call it a day.

I am still very frustrated at my incompetence today regarding the generation schedule. I haven't done that before, and can't believe I did it today.

Plans are for a trip to the South Holston next Friday, regardless of weather. I have Friday off work, and need to get up that way just for the chance to hook into a pig brown up there. The spawn up there is really heating up and I have been at the vise tying up a nice little assortment of eggs. I have some glo bugs, some otter's soft eggs, and some anvil eggs. I have each of these in orange, cream, red, cheese, and pink, so surely I have something they will want.

Until then, Tight Lines and God Bless.

Weather Conditions: Partly Cloudy, Slight Breeze, upper 30's
Water Temp: Did not take, COLD
Successful fly: #20 bhpt

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19" Clinch River Brown