Some of my most memorable fish have come when I’ve had to work for them. Size doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with making a fish memorable. One of my more memorable fish this summer was just a small brown trout. I remember that fish well for a reason. I caught the fish by formulating and following a careful yet simple game plan.
Often a fish is memorable because of a great cast. Several years ago I was fishing a stream “somewhere out west” that also happens to be one of my favorites all time. The stream had trees lining the banks so the casting conditions were very similar to my home waters here in the Smokies. I had spotted a nice 14 inch brown rising just upstream, but the fish was in a very tough spot to cast into. A branch was hanging low over the stream directly above the rising fish making the presentation difficult, at least to me at that stage in my fly fishing career. The cast would obviously need to be punched up under the limb if I wanted any chance to catch the fish. My first cast was perfect with the fly landing far up under the tree and miraculously not snagging on the foliage. The fish did its part by casually eating the fly and soon thereafter I briefly admired a beautiful wild brown. I’ve caught many browns since then and will no doubt catch more but I’ll always remember that fish with a sense of accomplishment.
Catching a memorable fish generally comes down to the ability to carefully observe and then analyze the situation, planning the presentation, and executing the game plan. Another brown was memorable more recently. Once again it was not for anything particularly great, just a feeling of accomplishment when everything came together exactly as I had planned.
A small deep pocket caught my eye as I moved up the stream while fishing near Elkmont. I knew there had to be a fish lurking because of the depth of the pocket and the quality of water around it. There was just one problem. A branch was lodged between the rocks in the pocket leaving a decent piece of water to present a dry on but no room for error once a fish was hooked. Only one solution would work. If a fish hit, I knew my only chance would be to pull it all the way out of the water and into the main channel where there was room to maneuver without the fish snagging on something in the stream. My first cast produced an explosive strike from a 7 inch brown. The hookset was perfect with just enough extra power to lift the fish away from the potential hazard. If I had let the fish run back into its home it would no doubt have snagged the fly on a branch and escaped. Instead I had a picture and a memory…
Fishing is all about having fun which should mean just getting out and enjoying the time on the water. Sometimes I just want to catch some big fish though. This summer I've been hoping to find a good brown out feeding. So far it hasn't happened but the fish I'm catching keep getting larger, slowly but surely. I've been consistently catching rainbows up to around 10 inches with some slightly larger, and last night I caught a better than average brown.
It was around sunset and I was on the last pool of the day. I leisurely fished my way up through the pool, catching a couple smaller rainbows before getting up to the head of the pool. An overhanging tree limb was in my way but I decided to force the issue. There was a rock with a deep slot up against the far bank which just looked fishy. Carefully I checked behind me for trees before picking up my line. The forward cast was perfect as I punched it far up under the branches to the upper end of the good lie. Suddenly there was a swirl as something took the dry and it was game on. The brown gave my 3 weight rod a good workout running up and down the pool but in the end I prevailed. Carefully I snapped a quick picture as the 11 inch brown came to hand, then I gently picked him up and held him facing the soft current. Apparently the fish still had some energy and after a couple seconds, he bolted back to the shadowy depths of the pool called home.
Well, the latest poll resulted in a tie between "Elkmont Evening" and "Caught!" so I decided to put both of them up. "Caught!" went in the normal "Photo of the Month" spot and "Elkmont Evening" is to its right. Thanks to everyone who voted and please watch for our next poll!
Since I'm home for the weekend, I've finally been able to have a little "Internet time" for myself. At work I have time to post new blog entries and check my email but that's about it. I've been catching up on some of my favorite sites on fishing in East Tennessee and the Smokies including Hugh Hartsell's site and also one of the best on fishing in the park, Fly Fishing the Great Smoky Mountains by James and Angie Marsh. There are several great updates on their site including a new section that will apparently be developed over time about fishing the headwater streams in the Smokies.
They have a new contributor to their site that is helping with the headwaters page. His name is Craig Lancaster and he is a die-hard fly fisher that often hikes into some of the most remote streams in the park and surrounding areas in search of solitude. In addition, Craig has a new blog which looks like it will be very interesting to read.
If that's not enough reading material, I should have a few more updates soon. I've got a book review to do on The Fly Caster Who Tried to Make Peace With the World (which was very enjoyable to read by the way), and tomorrow I might make another Caney Fork trip although the generation schedule is not the best. Also I've decided to make an effort to try and catch some of the larger browns in the Little River watershed so I'll let you know how that goes. Finally, before my time in the park is over, I'll make at least one weekend trip deep into the backcountry. I have a couple of ideas on where to go but nothing definite yet. Stay tuned for more...
The latest drought outlook from the Climate Prediction Center is not painting a pretty picture for extreme eastern Tennessee and surrounding areas. A small bullseye seems to be centered on the Smokies for the drought to "persist." The other day here at Little River Outfitters, Byron Begley brought an interesting fact to my attention. The current streamflow is actually lower now than it was at this time last year. That can't be a good thing.
Thankfully, we may at least get some short-term relief. Starting today we have rain in the forecast with the best chances over the weekend. Right now, anything will be better than nothing...
This past weekend I stopped by a small brook trout stream that I like to fish. For the first time ever I caught several rainbows. An occasional rainbow is to be expected in this particular water, but unfortunately there were a few more than would qualify as “occasional.”
The first real pool I fished was loaded with fish. My first cast to the middle of the pool resulted in a flashing strike. Looking forward to admiring a brook trout, I quickly brought the fish to hand. I was surprised to discover a rainbow on the end of my line. One rainbow in a pool with 6-8 brookies had beat all of them to a supposed item of food. I’ve always heard that the rainbows out-compete the brook trout here in the Smokies streams but that was easily the most obvious instance of this I’ve ever experienced.
I’m starting to wonder if a policy requiring fisherman to kill rainbows in certain stretches of water might not be a bad idea. In Yellowstone National Park you are required to kill all lake trout you catch on Yellowstone Lake. Perhaps something similar might be beneficial to our special brook trout here in the Smokies…
Oh yeah, despite the rainbows, I still caught several brookies…