Road to the Smokies: Final Fishing Day (And It’s Not Where You Think)
By Tom Chandler on May 12, 2007 in Fishing Report, Tennessee
Fly fishing is a series of decisions; what do you fish, and where do you fish for them?
It’s a decision not made any easier when you’ve got the Smokies at your doorstep, not to mention a series of top-flight tailwaters and even some long, narrow lakes I hadn’t seen until my “barf on my own shoes” comedy routine the week before.
Bigger than a hand & the heart of a lion; he put a huge bend in a 6wt
Ian and I handled the process like real fly fishing adults, which is to say I whined a lot about not being able to do it all while he patiently explained that we couldn’t actually fish six different places an hour from each other.
Life is just so unfair sometimes [sound of stamping foot].
Surprise Decision
After more than a week of trout on moving water, I went for the change of pace; Ian and I put in his drift boat on a lake, eventually fishing our way up to where Abrams Creek entered the lake.
We were looking for a hot smallmouth bite, but like most plans, ours didn’t survive first contact with the enemy.
Check out the red eye on this critter. Love it.
Ultimately, we caught a few smallmouth, a few largemouth, a few small bream, and a pair of big bluegill, which outclassed every other fish we landed.
As the last bluegill mauled my yellow popper, I told Ian “this wasn’t any bluegill” and tried to move the guy on a six weight Scott G2 rod, but couldn’t for a long, long time.
Sure, I was wrong (like that’s news), but I was wrong in a happy way.
In the end, it was a relaxing, laid-back way to finish off a great-but-hectic trip. The bite was slow early, but once they started generating — creating a slight current on the lake — things picked up.
And in any case, Ian and I got to hang out in a way that just isn’t possible when you’re both fishing a freestone river.
Right now, I’m pulling gear together and going fishing on my own water. More on that as it happens, but look for a Tennessee wrapup post in a few days.
Until then, see you on the river, Tom Chandler.
Technorati Tags: fly fishing, fishing, tennessee, abrams creek,
ijsouth | May 12, 2007 | Reply
Nice bream there…I need to get my act together and get the spring for my rope starter on my motor fixed (yep, a 40HP circa 1970 Johnson rope-start motor - really good on the ol’ rotator cuff). I mostly use my boat for inshore saltwater, but we can catch plenty of those tasty critters in the bayous we launch out of.
flytimes | May 12, 2007 | Reply
Wow! Nice ‘gills.
Wyatt
Graham Jones | May 13, 2007 | Reply
Good morning,
Why is it the bass fishing “pros” has promulgated the act of attempting to break the jaw of any fish large enough for the “angler” to place his thumb in the poor fish’s mouth? Almost every picture I see of someone displayling their catch of a species in the bass family hefts the fish, worst of all horizontally, by his lower jaw. I am surprised, Tom, you would show such behavior.
Support the weight of he fish as you would a trout. I’m sure you don’t do that to trout — do you? Seems to be the macho thing to do — break the bass’s jaw so he won’t make the mistake of taking an artificial (or natural) again.
Sorry for venting, your blog normally hits the spot!
Graham Jones
Carrollton, Yexas
Tom Chandler | May 13, 2007 | Reply
Graham: Not a bad point, and valid at a certain level.
A Texas biologist researched this issue many years ago, and decided that larger fish can suffer tissue damage as a result of a too-aggressive lip landing.
Still, his research suggested it doesn’t happen until you’re handling fish in the 5-10 pound range.
In this case, the fish was well under a pound, and I don’t believe we did any damage. Also, lip landing a bass seems to immobilize it, which is better than grabbing it the gill plates or holding it by the slime coat, both of which are known to be damaging to the fish.
Jim Webb | May 13, 2007 | Reply
Bluegill! Pound for pound, the fightingest fish in North America!
Tom Chandler | May 13, 2007 | Reply
In this case, yes. That big one at the top of the report put a big, big bend in a 6wt graphite rod — I thought I’d hooked up with a four-pound bass.