Kyle on the casting deck

The spring and summer of 2011 have been my friend Kyle’s learning curve onto the fly fishing super-highway. Last month we headed out to Percy Priest for a little Tennessee-meets-Florida flats fishing. My main quarry on these trips is big carp that cruise around our hillbilly flats, and this trip offered us plenty of shots. There were a good number of solid fish cruising around, and as luck would have it, they were not eating. Ah, the old fishing trip instead of catching trip Adage… One thing you are guaranteed to catch on a fishing trip at some point is some humility, and we received our fair share on this particular outing.  The cruisers saw a number of different patterns from the casting deck, and turned them all away. All we were able to bring to the boat were some opportunistic and feisty bream.

As the sun began to dip below the treeline, the focus shifted to some good stands of cover along the banks and the resident largemouth that inhabit such haunts. With the stage set perfectly for Witching Hour fishing on the surface, Kyle managed to move two really nice bass and jump a third one. Again bream were the only customers we could convince to get boatside. All in all, another awesome day on the water with good people. I’m anxious to see the fish Kyle starts to land from here on out as his casting is improving with every outing.

Remember in the heat of the summer to turn your attention to the lakes and ponds of Middle Tennessee, or any region for that matter. Bass and bream are willing customers and will always take advantage of a well-placed popper, wooly bugger, or anything else that may represent the local terrestrials or baitfish. Stay cool out there and have a great time out on the water.

-Braton

Jack under the watchful eye

Mother’s Day found us entertaining the moms at our place for brunch… My sister-in-law had the kiddos with her, so after they ate and got through watching a movie, it was time to head down to the pond with a fly rod and see if we couldn’t get our first fish on the fly rod for Jack and Hannah. It did not take long for Jack to pick up the idea of the cast, and within just a few minutes he was hooked up on some feisty little bluegill all by himself!

The Jack Monster's first on the fly rod

He was really fired up, but nothing compared to the feeling of watching the thrill of the outdoors being passed on to another generation. The fact that it is family makes it even better.  Jack was able to land  4 more fish before we got the rod into Hannah’s hands, and with a little help, H. Frank had a fish on too! It was the perfect introduction to fly fishing for these two, as of course we have a small window of attention span to work with at that age.

When introducing young anglers to the sport, it is best to start as young as possible of course, and do not forget that short attention span.

Hannah's first Fishy!

It is very important to put the kiddos in a spot with the best opportunity to be productive, because if they do not get to see anything or catch anything soon, that small window will close, and may be hard to re-open.  Remember, get them on the water and in the outdoors young, that is the best chance before big technology gets there and the beloved outdoors is playing second fiddle. Even the shortest exposures, no matter what the sport or activity, can plant the seeds that last a lifetime. Good luck out there, hopefully I will have the little ones back out on the water soon, Jack is just about ready to get out on the boat!!

Happy new anglers

Saturday morning found me up early and headed for one of my favorite warmwater spots, especially for teaching. This was the day that I was going to see where Kyle stood with his casting ability, as he had not fly fished in close to 15 years. Once that was determined, we were to spend the morning before the Main Street Festival cutting back on his learning curve and putting him on the fish. Kyle did a great job picking up the basics and putting them into action. After less than an hour, he was casting a fly toward suspecting spots and wouldn’t you know it…. fish on!  KP started off the day with hand-sized bream on poppers and never looked back.

Making good casts with a quickness = more fish

And so it begins, Nice work KP!

 Watching someone go through the process from making the cast to landing that first fish on the fly is nothing short of truly awesome. It feels better for me to see that than it would if it were me catching the fish myself. Ok, don’t worry, this is not a sob story. 

Back to the fishing:

One of many

Once Kyle recognized the factors that he put in to place for his newfound success with a fly rod, he spent the morning catching a bunch of really solid bream.  There was much success to be had as far as surface action on poppers. When the poppers wouldn’t produce in fishy spots, all it took was a swictch to that pesky wooly bugger…..and boom goes the dynamite! After KP wore out the fish on the proving grounds, we were off to look for some more fishy spots. The fish were all holding in some pretty tight spaces, but Kyle picked up a solid roll cast in a hurry, and was bringing more bream to hand like it was his job. A bunch of bass were spotted and moved, but no takers for KP on this day. Next time we will have some bass mixed in with all those bream…

A well-placed roll cast produces again

After getting Kyle’s cast streamlined and getting some finishing touches put on, it was a great morning of very productive fishing. It’s that time of year folks, the weather is staying warm and the fish are very active. Just think of how good it will be once the Cicadas are out in force! If you can stand the noise and those huge bugs flying around, you will have a ton of surface action.  Until next time, Great job Kyle! 

-Braton

These guys wore the poppers out

Now that summer is upon us,  it’s time to break out the poppers and start hitting the lakes and ponds. Adam and I spent most of the evening keeping some bass and bream occupied at one of our local haunts. The action was steady from the start, with plenty of good-sized bream attacking the poppers and some smaller bass thrown in the mix as well.

The past two days I have been teaching myself how to fish with a cast on my left hand, after breaking it 3 weeks ago now.  I must say the self-lessons are going quite well, I have been able to keep up just fine with a few adjustments,

Making it work with the cast

and a lot more patience.  The trickiest part has been the landing and releasing of the fish, but so far so good.

When fishing your local lakes, rivers, or ponds,  keep it simple.  remember you’re not chasing the finicky trout that spooks easily. Bass and bream are much quicker to ambush a fly and the surface takes are just awesome.  a 5 wt rod will do, but a 6 or 7 is recommended if you are targeting sizeable bass.  a fly box with assorted color and size poppers will do just fine fished on a shorter leader. And of course, wooly buggers should be at hand when the surface bite turns off, keep them right next to the bug spray! Good luck and be safe out there, always leaving it cleaner than you found it.

Adam on the stalk

On January 2nd, I was able to take Robbie and Adam down to Bobwhite springs for a little refresher training and a hands on clinic on fighting and landing big fish. Many people think this place is not worth it, but fail to see the benefit of a few hours fishing there.

Rob with a Nice Brown

  Think of it as a hands on trout laboratory. it gives the angler an opportunity to observe these fish in the stream, as well as how they set up in the currents and seams to feed.  Not to mention the opportunity for an angler to do battle with a broad-shouldered fish that they would otherwise have to travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to encounter. Many anglers will visit Bobwhite Springs prior to heading to trophy fishing destinations to get tham acclimated to fighting larger fish and to help take the edge off.  Being able to visit and learn from Bob was really special, he has so much knowledge that we as anglers can benefit from. 

Adam landed this nice Golden

Robbie and Adam did well in landing large fish in a handful of species, from Steelhead to browns, Goldens, and even one of Bob’s specialties, Tiger trout.  We had a great few hours despite the cold, and my fingers finally thawed out after netting a bunch of these heavy fish for the fellas.  Overall, we had a great afternoon of big fish before Robbie had to get back out of town and wait until our next fishing adventure, which will put us in Arkansas on the White River.

I was able to teach a casting lesson to Gav faster than anyone I have taught thus far. Man does that make things nice and easy. Once I explained the basics to him and showed him the mechanics, it was only a handful of corrected casts before he was dialed in. Nice work Gav!