First Clinch Trip of the Year

Finally got a chance today to hit the Clinch. The wind was a little strong, and TVA did not give the best schedule for my plans, but still managed to get out. Since the area I frequently hit was going to be under water most of the day, I decided to go to the weir dam. Needless to say it was crowded today. I took a pic to try and show the people there, but it is hard to see all the people with the sun glare. You can't see them all, but there are at least a dozen fishermen in this little area. Not my idea of fun!

Crowded Weir Dam

What does one do, when your primary fishing area is unavailable and you expect the public access to be overrun by others? You hoof it. I walked down the road about 1/2 mile to another set of shoals I know about and had the entire area all to myself. The only other people I saw were in boats drifting past me. There was lots of activity when I arrived at the shoals around 12:30, which left about 45 minutes before the water fell. I slowly made my way out into the high water and swift current and began catching fish immediately. The fish were very actively feeding on midges and my #22 zebra midge apparently looked very appetizing to them. I ended up landing just shy of 2 dozen bows, but none of them were in the slot. That is quite a dramatic departure from my usual areas where the majority of the bows are in the 14-17" range, and are very acrobatic. All the fish I caught today appeared to be fresh off the stocking truck. I did hook into one fish that would probably have went 17" or so, but I had so much slack in my line due to the wind that I didn't have a chance at landing him.

It was very nice getting back out to the Clinch again after almost 2 months of continuous generation from TVA. There are a couple more months until the sulfur hatches start picking up, but until then the midge and BWO hatches should be very consistent. Spring is on its way, and I am ready for it.




Trip Summary
Time: 12:30 till 2:30
Water Temp: 43.5 F
Weather: Sunny, Windy, 53F
Tackle: 8.5' mid flex Orvis ZG 5wt
Fly of the Day: #22 black/silver zebra midge
# of fish caught: 22

Trey is No Longer Stationary

Here is a video of Trey and his latest advancement. He is crawling all over the place. Enjoy the video.

My Latest Project

I have been working on another project recently, and figured I would share it with my readers. I have been looking for a better way to share pictures with my family and friends, and this is what I have come up with. As you have seen on here before, I am steadily working on increasing my photography skills, and was looking for a better way of sharing my work. There are a couple of guys over on the Itinerant Angler message board who I have been taking a lot of cues from. These guys have some amazing talent, as well as another blogger buddy David Knapp (The Trout Zone). The cool thing about this site is that it allows me to easily share any photos I feel are publishable with various magazines and websites. Hopefully some day, I will have developed the skills to allow me to produce magazine quality images and gain a little side income. This is still a very young work in progress, but I plan to spend quite a bit of time in the coming days adding some older photos and getting ready for the coming year's additions. Give the site a look and feel free to offer any comments.

T Reynolds Photography

First Trip of 2009

I am writing this report from Phoenix while on a business trip, so it will be brief.

This past Saturday, I couldn't wait any longer to get out and try the new rod. However, TVA was determined to keep me from fishing any of the local tailwaters. So I ended up deciding on Little River thru Townsend in hopes of getting a few of the winter stockers there.

When I arrived at the river, I checked the water temps and it was around 40 degrees. Not a very good sign. I put on a wire bodied stonefly nymph and a zebra midge and began to dredge the deep runs. After an hour of this with not even a bump, I switched up locations and techniques. Still no luck. I then chose to change locations, and went with a small BHPT on bottom. That didn't even work. So after about 3 hours of fishing in town and not even a strike, I chose to call it a day. The most depressing part of this trip is that this is the first skunking I have had in over 40 consecutive trout fishing trips. Oh well, all streaks must end, and now I can begin working on my next one. Daniel Drake put it in terms that I really like. He said, "People can extend streaks for a very long time if they only fish under ideal conditions. Very few people will have productive days if they are fishing in the dead of winter in 40 degree water." I have to agree with that.

If I can get some decent pics while out here in desert land, I will throw them up when I return. By the way, it is snowing today back home, and it was 78 degrees here. It is going to be in the 80's for the next 3 days..... GOTTA LOVE IT!

Found Myself A Bargain

Yesterday, Amy and I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather so we headed up to Gatlinburg. I know what you are thinking, Gatlinburg!?! I stay away from G-burg during the summer and fall, but it is quite nice in the winter. I can stroll along the streets peacefully, and stop in at any of the little shops I feel like. I don't have to worry about where to park or how much I am going to gouged for.

Anyway, on our way up there, Trey started getting really fussy as we were going through Sevierville. So, we chose to stop in at Orvis to walk around to get Trey out of his seat. While at Orvis, I thought I would ask about the outgoing Zero Gravity series of rods. The guy working the counter informed me that they only had one left in stock, an 8.5' 5wt. This is the same length and weight that I have been planning to purchase to round out my arsenal. I took the rod outside and made some casts with it. With a very strong side wind, it still was the easist casting rod I have ever had in my hands. I couldn't not believe the distance at such ease I was achieving with this rod, and it weighed in at about 70% of what my go-to 9' 4wt weighs. When I asked about the price, they told me that they are selling for 40% off, but since this rod was missing the cap for the rod tube theY would let it go for 60% off. Also, more temptation came in the form of the following statement, "Orvis will most likely replace this rod in the event of breakage with a new Helios." That was all the temptation I needed. This was a $625 rod that I walked away with for $200 (thanks to a $50 gift card).

I do 95% of my shopping with Little River Outfitters, but I don't expect to ever find another bargain like this again. I had to jump on this deal.

Still no Fishing

All the rains we received during December and early January have all the tailwaters generating full force. The Clinch has been running at over 9,000 CFS for the past couple weeks, and I expect it to take another week or so before they get the lake levels down to normal.

Temperatures over the next 10 days appear to be coming back to normal for this time of year. So hopefully, if I can find a local tailwater not generating I can get out some. At least I have been getting some good tying time in lately. I am trying to extend my pattern library to include stonefly patterns. This is something I very rarely tie due to my lack of park fishing. However, there is a decent population of winter black stoneflies on the Hiwassee, if I decide to make a trip down there this year.

I will be in Phoenix the first week of February, and I wish I had time to take along my fly rod. The White Mountains are only a couple hours to the east, Lee's Ferry is probably 3 hours to the north, and the Salt River is about 45 minutes to the East. However, I think by the time the conference is over, I will be ready to come home. I was in Arizona the first week of March last year, and it was absolutely beautiful. Temps in the 70's and sunny everyday, you couldn't ask for much more. If I have time to get out and take some pics, I will post them when I return.

Troutfest

Things have been a little slow lately on the fishing side of things. All of the recent rains have had all the tailwaters blown out, and I don't expect to get on the water for at least another week.

However, I wanted to share with everyone that I will be at Troutfest this year as one of the fly tyers. A couple other blogger buds will also be there tying. What is Troutfest? See the link below to find out, and try to come out if you are available.

Troutfest

I haven't done any public demonstrations since my days tying for The Creel here in Knoxville. That has been almost 15 years ago, but I figured it was time that I come out of my comfort zone and do it again. I always enjoyed tying in front of others, so I don't really know how I got away from it. I would have my dad drop me off at the shop on his way to work (I didn't have my license yet), and I would stay there and tie and talk flyfishing all day long. Those are some good memories I had long forgotten. As the time draws near, I will probably solicit comments from you to let me know what flies you would like to see me tie if you were attending. I am definitely planning on tying Blake's Stripper Midge, Sulfur Biot Softhackle, Slumpbusters, and Woolly Buggers, but I will need a few others in my arsenal.

Until next time.....

Tight Lines and God Bless

2008 by the Numbers

So, I checked over my fishing log for the year, and here is a summary of the year.

Number of trips: 37

Average # of fish per trip: 8

Most fish in a day: 24 (3 times)

Skunkings: 0 (first time ever)

Largest fish: 22" Clinch River Brown

Most Memorable Fish: 19" Clinch Brown on a #18 Sulfur Thorax

Different fishing locations: Clinch, South Holston, Watauga, Hiwassee, Holston, GSMNP

2008 was the best year of fishing I have ever had. Granted, in 2007 I went to Colorado and had some outstanding fishing, all of 2008 was local fishing. I caught more quality fish this past year than ever before. I like to credit the slot limit on the Clinch for that, and I am very excited about this Spring's sulfur hatch on the Clinch. The results of the slot limit should be even more visible.

Until next time....

Tight Lines and God Bless