A day at the office

Upon returning home from Florida, I thought there was no better way to get back to the grindstone that to spend a day on the water with dad. Plans were made, gear was thrown in the boat, and off we went. With the heat being so out of control, a tailwater is the only place I could stand to be outside during the day. Once we let the canoe and kayak fleets get out of range, we were prospecting with dries on the 3 weights.

Apparently we made the right choice, as we were able to find a handful of fish

Awesome on a dry fly

looking up, including a very solid brown that took the 3wt to the limit. After posing for some pictures, the fish was back on its way to keep growing and fight another day.  After dad changed up his offering a little bit, he started getting into the feisty stocker rainbows that we were initially targeting with the light rods. Lucky for us, that brown was just in the right place in the right time with an appetite.

These little guys are always looking for a meal

The rest of the day wound up being relatively slow, we moved a few nicer fish on terrestrials, but could not get them to the boat.  Needless to say it was awesome to be out on the water with dad. For me personally, there is not a better fishing partner in the world. I am extremely fortunate to have the appreciation for the outdoors that I do, and fishing with dad puts it all into perspective.

Hopefully the heat will get under control soon, and stay at a manageable level. If you hit the tailwaters this summer, the usual arsenal is always productive, and usually smaller is better this time of year, especially on your midge patterns. Terrestrial patterns will produce some good strikes as well, so don’t count them out. Just remember the fish will be a little lethargic with this heat, so keep the fight as short as possible. Hook them, get them in, snap a picture, and send them packing ASAP. Good luck out there, and as always, leave the resource cleaner than you found it.

-Braton

Another beautiful day on the water

While vacationing in Sarasota last month, I was of course able to find some time to hit the water for some fishing. Being down there and not fishing is just morally wrong, and in my opinion should be illegal. Plans were made with none other than Steve Gibson of Shallow Pockets Fishing for an evening trip with hopes for tarpon before dark and then some snook and trout under the lights. Crazy weather and tides had us guessing when we headed out, but Steve put me up close and personal with some rolling tarpon with a 12wt rod in my hand.  Let me tell you fellow freshwater guys out there, when you first see one of those prehistoric beasts rolling up close, it is one hell of a rush.  Once the jitters wore off and I was able to focus, I began the daunting task of casting the 12wt to some tarpon. As I wore myself out with the lumber, the fish were rolling less frequently and giving me a lesson as to how many factors have to be perfect to get them to eat a fly. Fly fishing for the Silver King is a very humbling experience to say the least. As I said, so many things need to go your way: fly, cast, presentation, and the like, not to mention some luck. Every time I hit the saltwater I improve some more aspects of my game, and with Steve’s help, I am confident that I will enjoy a sleigh ride courtesy of a big tarpon via the fly. Hey, and guy can dream, can’t he? 

After my shoulder workout, we headed for some grass flats to kill some time before dark and trick whatever was hungry. It wasn’t long before the lights began to come on, and we were off to a light to find some trout.  I must say it was quite a relief to put the 12wt away and cast the 9wt for a change, which at that point felt like a toothpick. Steve was right on the money as usual, and my first cast to the dock produced a trout with many more to follow on subsequent lights. Just like Babe Ruth, Steve called his shot on the light that would hold the snook, and he was right on. As luck would have it, the snook were as tight-lipped as the tarpon, but I had plenty of shots at a number of high quality linesiders. After the snook lights, we kept moving and found more than our share of trout to stretch the line and beat up some flies before heading in.

All in all it was another great experience on the water with Steve, who knows his quarry and  local waters like the back of his hand. We could not have asked for better weather, and it was awesome to find a bunch of fish willing to crush a fly. Steve’s new sleds are top-of-the-line, I was paddling a new Jackson Coosa, and I must say, it was a great rig. You can spend hours in that kayak and be good to go once you get out. If you are ever in Sarasota and the surrounding areas, do yourself a favor and give Steve a call and get out on the water with him at least once while you’re there. Whether you prefer fly or spin tackle, Steve will put you on the fish. Day or night, kayak fishing in the salt is sure to have you addicted, so get out there and enjoy!

-Braton

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

Buzz'd Mudders ready to roll

This past Saturday, the Buzz’d Mudders descended on Highland Park to give it hell. and that we did….Our first Tough Mudder wound up being an adventure none of us will ever forget. The whole team left it all out on the line, whether swimming through icy mud, climbing walls, enduring a ridiculous amount of trail running, and yes, more running through crazy amounts of mud where you are obviously supposed to be on a dirtbike or ATV.

Jocks On the Rocks - swimming through ice water

Obstacles were dominated one after the other. That is, until we hit some Electroshock Therapy. sure, it’s right before we hit the finish line, but it’s also right after we had to walk the plank and jump into the not-so-warm pond and swim out. Once we all got through Electroshock, which of course we have a video of, it was all over but the homework, we were off to celebrate and wait for the soreness to completely set in.

Clay's Fired Up!

I could not be more proud of the Buzz’d Mudders, each and every one of them did an unbelievable job! Nothing is more inspiring than seeing people come together for a common goal and go through so much to see that it happens and make sure no one is left behind. Through this event, a close-knit team was born and everlasting bonds created. Just think, this is the first Tough Mudder of many for the Buzz’d crew. Great job again, and Thank you so much for being a part of this! Mad props to all of you Mudders!

Smokehouse Exit

Nick getting some love

Working the wall

Mols wearing out the Funky Monkey

Twinkle toes - the most unstable balance beam

Fire Walker

And what kind of person would I be for not throwing out a HUGE shout-out to our phenomenal support staff – We have Tricia and Kelly to thank for taking all these awesome pictures, tracking down water for us when we were in dire need, rinsing out muddy eyeballs, you name it!! And how could we possibly forget our awesome traveling fans, JW and Connie – Thank you so much for coming to see us!

Kelly rinsing muddy eyes

This is what Ice cubes look like in the mud - Now go crawl through it! The Buzz'd Mudders did!

Time to warm up and get sore!

What a way to start the Fall

Dad and I spent the weekend out in the Cherokee National Forest following the blue lines on the map for some wild trout on dries.  After wandering around the Forest Service roads for most of the first day, we had a handful of very promising spots that we wanted to try. When we finally could not take any more researching, we picked a prime stretch of wild trout stream and set the rods up with attractor patterns to hopefully be punished by the local trout population.  With water levels as low as they were, stealth was the main order of the day, followed in a close second by a perfect presentation and drift on every cast. We were not to be disappointed, due to the fact that we were both landing fish in our initial pools and runs. Yellow turned out to be the color of the day as we spent the afternoon and evening watching wild rainbows blow up on our favorite attractor patterns. Although these fish only ran from 6-10″, they were as mean as they could be, just nailing a well-presented fly. With so much fishy water up there, even with it being low, we had a blast all evening until we could not even see our flies on the water anymore.

A fiesty rainbow on its way in

Upon leaving the river and heading back to the cabin, a very solid thunderstorm rolled into the area, and dumped all the much needed rain on the region that was necessary to bring the water levels up. This is the typical weather you see after a good day of fishing, almost certainly taking the following day out of the picture. But sure enough, when we woke up the next morning, the rain had stopped, and the sun was shining. As we drove higher and higher upstream, we found some spots that looked clear enough to warrant trying dries, so we just had to give it a shot. Again disappointment was not in store for us, as I hooked and landed a fish on my first cast, and dad kept the fish plenty occupied upstream.

Overall we had a great trip to the National Forest, and spent a lot of time exploring the fishing possibilities it has for wild trout, as well as stocked trout in its main haunt, the Tellico River. Whearas much larger fish can be caught in the Tellico, there is just something so much more rewarding in chasing and fooling the wild trout on a dry fly and we could not direct our attention anywhere else.

A look into their neighborhood

The legend at work in his favorite office.

One of our own Caney Men of Darkness, Jamie Osteen, aka Darth Clouser, recently visited the White River, here is what he had to say: 

Well,  It was an AWESOME weekend fishing the White with Rachel and friends!!

 It was Rachel’s maiden voyage with the whole fly fishing thing which she has seen me do and which she was eager to learn. She’s taken some lessons and was anxious to figure out just what all these terms, techniques, etc. all meant and had to do with actually getting out there and trying it on the river.

Rachel enjoying a ride on a White River boat

Well, let’s just say she stuck with it and had an unbelievable first trip!! We didn’t have any action in the morning further down river and battled with lots of weeds and junk coming off the bottom. It actually worked out great for Rachel because it gave her ample opportunity to get used to casting from a boat, learn some tips from our very patient and knowledgeable guide, Marc Poulos, and get the hang of things. By the afternoon, we made the move to fish up by the Bull Shoals dam and the day instantly got better!!!

Hooked up!

 When she hooked up with her first ever fish on a fly rod I gave a big “Wooohooo!”… that got everybody’s attention around us…but I just couldn’t help it!! Now she had gained some confidence in what she was doing which continued throughout the afternoon as she landed 14 more nice rainbows including one outstanding fish!! The “big one” measured near 21 inches and was estimated by our guide to weigh just over 4 lbs.!!!! We also had four doubles keeping me and the guide, Marc, busy netting fish, taking pictures, and giving high fives!!

Osteen's loving it!

It was just one of those times the fishing was unbelievable and couldn’t have been a more ideal experience for a beginner! We both caught plenty of fish, most of which were big hard fighting rainbows and it made for a great day. It was hilarious and a day I know I’ll never forget!!!

Hats off to Marc Poulos for the great day! I would definitely recommend him it you want a professional guide who truly loves what he does, is very patient, is willing to take your interests in catching fish to heart, and just a great guy to spend a day on the river with. Both Rachel and I were amazed at the wealth of knowledge he possesses about fly fishing this area of the country! His website is www.whiteriverfishingguide.com if you want to go check it out or book a day on the river with him, you won’t leave disappointed!!

- Jamie Osteen

21" Rainbow, Great job Rachel!

Nice work!

Osteen got some work in too