ONCE AGAIN WALLEYE AND A FEW TROUT

Last Friday me and Dad tried our luck with the Walleye. This trip there was no moon and the conditions seemed somewhat more favorable for walleye. We had a slight ripple of wind and it was overcast, just an all around beautiful night to be on Dale Hollow. We started a little later than last time, we left the dock at straight up midnight. Dad had been fishing throughout the week and knew that the bite usually never started before at least midnight. Again we were using the husky jerk, reeling it slow in shallow water.

I caught two keepers and dad hauled in four. At least four of the fish were 3lbs or better. We also each caught a smallmouth, both in the slot.

My plan was to fish till 2 or 3 am, take a quick nap on dad's houseboat then join Bird at the river for some trout fishing. Around 2am I realized that if I layed down I probably would have a hard time getting up so we just kept on fishing.

At 5am I headed to Headricks for a sausage biscuit and a hogleg of caffiene. I was wading the Obey by 5:15am. Bird joined me soon after 6am. I threw the fly of the moment, zebra midge size 16, for quite a while with no luck. Everybody but me seems to be slaying the trout. I think I need to go to flyfishing school or something.

Around 9am I figured I better head home and get some much needed rest. At this point I had zero hits. Bird had already caught two which didn't make me feel any better. I theorized that maybe my strike indicator was too big and it was spooking the fish. I took it off and went to a dry fly as my strike indicator, dropping my zebra midge off the hook. At the last chute before leaving I caught two small stocked rainbows back to back.

That made my day.

WALLEYE

When my buddy Bird started this blog, I begged him not to call it Obey river trout fishing report. My argument was that would pigeonhole the blog into one species and one river. To his defense, that was his intentions. He loves to trout fish and he loves the Obey. I can’t blame him on either point.

We hit the Obey for some trout fishing two weeks ago, I know Bird caught a couple, I was skunked. I am guessing he went this past weekend, I however went Walleye fishing at the lake. Dale Hollow lake to be specific.

Dad and me headed out from Cedar Hill around 11pm. The Walleye fishing has been tremendous the past few weeks. Dad has been slaying them. Friday night was underwhelming. There was a full moon. Dad says that the fishing slows down five days before and after the full moon. We fished till about 3am and caught two that were barely keepers. We were using the Husky jerk. I was using a clown color which seemed to be working better than the Tennessee shad pattern Dad had tied on.

The party boats were out in full effect. It made for a lot of noise on the water. It will be that way till after Labor Day. We plan on going again real soon.

Dry Fly Success

Obey River, Saturday, March 31, 2007. Considering that natural trout feed underwater seventy percent of the time and stocked trout even more due to their incubation in hatchery runways, the fact that I landed a nine inch stocked rainbow on the top was a big deal. No fishing partner, pain in my back and legs and a broken rod tip was not enough to send me home. Even with all of the bad, I felt that this was the day. At 90 minutes, I was spent and decided to give it another 30 minutes before I left. I saw the trout begin to feed from the top in the usual twenty-yard pattern. I quickly tied an 18 hogs hair and trailed a mosquito at six inches on seven x. The river was floating a large slick of leaves and tree buds that had fallen into the stream. The fish were feeding within the debris, but mostly on the back and front sides. I noticed a pronounced pattern of hits on the front side of the debris, closest to me, within six inches of the debris. I floated the flies down the edge of the debris fifteen to twenty times. I then added a 20 parachute yellow on seven x; a third fly. I thought the presentation was much better that two. I had no strikes on the two fly rig and tied the yellow as an attractor. It worked. Within three casts the water parted and the flies were gone. I lifted the rod. Fish on. I stripped the line in cautiously. I could tell it was a larger fish and I did not want the line to break or to lose the fish due to carelessness. I landed it. I was surprised to find the fish took the mosquito. It was a 22 mosquito that was very realistic. It looked so real, I held it for three months because I hated to lose it. I learned that the fish was picky and did not go for the largest fly. This was continued good luck with multiple fly rigs.

SATURDAY -DALE HOLLOW

Me and Fruity hit Dale Hollow this morning. The fish were not hitting the suspending jerkbait at all but we did manage to catch a few using a fluke.

My trolling motor konked out on us early on so once the wind picked up we called it a day.

SMALLMOUTH BASSIN

I had yesterday off and I had the opportunity to fish with my Dad on Dale Hollow.

The weather was excellent for fishing. Most of the morning was overcast which helped to keep the scorching sun at bay until noon.

The smallmouth are in pre-spawn mode right now. The full moon is this weekend and the fishing should just keep getting better. We targeted secondary points in creeks with stained water. We primarily fished with suspending jerkbaits. I caught three smallies that averaged well over three pounds each. All of the fish were full of eggs and released without harm. Dad had some luck catching Kentucky/spotted bass on a bubblegum fluke. A lot of our action came on points that had red clay banks. The smallies were in mostly shallow water staging for the spawn.

Once the sun peaked out the fishing slowed down. We broke for lunch and called it a day. I am going to try and go again this Saturday morning.

OBEY RIVER, CLAY COUNTY, TENNESSEE, February 24, 2007, 10:00 a.m.: Sixty-two degrees, overcast, and the water was very low. One could wade forever. The deepest pool was waist deep and most of the time it was ankle to knee deep. I started at Moody Landing and headed downstream. I started with two fly rig: 8 elk hair with an 10 inch trailer 18 FTBH. Although there was visible activity on top, no luck. After fishing the usual spots, I changed the trailer to a 20 black gnat, on top. No luck. As I began to wade into unfished territory, I came across a bend with a deep center that ran under a canopy of trees. The trout were on top, all over, at the same time. I looked like feeding time. After several casts and no strikes, I added an attractor fly, 16 san juan worm, brown, weighted with wet fly dressing, on an 8 inch trailer behind the elk hair. From the worm, I shortened the black gnat on a 6 inch trailer. The cast had no more than hit the water, when the trout took the black gnat trailer. It was an 8 inch stock rainbow that put up quite a fight. I was unusually tired. After releasing the rainbow, I continued to wade downstream rather than cast again. About 100 yards on down, directly below where the road is cut through the bluff, I found a pool that was alive with fish, they were feeding from the top and in some instances, jumping out of the water. What I found unusual, was that the activity did not stop even when I waded close to the fish. After several casts, I replaced the black gnat trailer with a 20 zebra midge. On the first cast, immediate strike. Just like before. The trailer fly had little more than sunk to depth when the trout hit the zebra midge. 8-10 inch stock rainbow. The three fly rig works great for me, with few tangles. I fished for 3 hours with only two tangles. The attractor fly is key. The trailer fly was not effective without the attractor san juan.

Obey River, Clay County, Sunday 3:00 p.m., February 11, 2007. Generally, I fish in the early morning. Today, it was the afternoon, and I had two and a half hours until dark. The water was lower than I had ever seen. The rock bar at Keisling's Bottom was as large as a football field. The only flow was eight to ten feet wide running along the east bank. Past the rock bar, the water was generally six to eight inches deep for as far as one could walk. At different stages down the river there are landmarks. Downstream from the rock bar you first find the tire rim at one hundred yards and then the upside down double sink at about two hundred yards. Today I fished past the sink, down to the steel ladder (probably from the dam or its construction) submerged along the east bank. The ladder is located just short of the bend in the river. Each of these spots is reassuring to the fisherman; providing confirmation of an exact location in the river, much like a GPS. I began fishing down stream with a three fly set up: 10 elk hair on leader with eight inch trailer 18 salmon egg on 7x with a final 4 inch trailer 20 BH zebra midge. With each known landmark, nothing. At the new landmark, nothing. It took an hour to travel the 400 yards. I was 60 minutes into the trip. I crept, bent over, stayed out of the water where possible and created no ripples when I waded. Nothing. After such disappointment, I needed to take a break and collect my thoughts. Just like Jackie Gleason. I removed the salmon egg and decided to fish back upstream with a two fly rig: elk hair and zebra midge. I found no better luck. At 90 minutes into the trip I was passing the tire rim. Just downstream from the rock bar, the water came together at the leaning tree to make a fifteen foot run of current. Under that current was a deep channel. I floated the flies through the current ten or twelve times. Nothing. On the last pass my slack line caught on a rock and pulled the floating line onto the shallow bank. As I stripped it back in a large stock trout exploded from five to ten inches of water to take the elk hair and headed to the channel for deeper water. The hook was set good. I began stripping in my line while the trout played. It did not occur to me that I was standing out of the water on dry rock. I have landed all my fish waist deep in water. For lack of experience, I made the cardinal mistake. I allowed the trout to lay on the bottom in three inches of water. With the leverage gained from being on the bottom, he took one big jump and was off. What heartache and exhilaration, all at the same moment. Undaunted, I quickly cast again. Bam. Fish on. Two in less than two minutes. After a shorter fight, the second trout was off. Two strikes are as good as a catch to one who has been on a dry run for too many months. I had no other luck for the rest of the day. I finished at 130 minutes as the light went to black standing waist deep in water that was as smooth as glass.

CABIN FEVER

I generally believe that it is never too cold to fish however the past few weeks have found me clinging close to the fire. The handy respite has afforded me time to organize my fly boxes and catch up on some reading.

Field and Stream have posted excellent trout articles of late. This one deals with seeking cutthroats high in the Colorado mountains. If the pictures don’t immediately make you want to pack a napsack and a flyrod and head out you have no soul.

The second article is really eye-opening. It is an underwater study of the feeding habits of trout. I am a noob to the world of trout fishing so this article offers a wealth of knowledge. I highly recommend it.

OBEY RIVER, CLAY COUNTY, February 3, 2007. At 4:00 p.m., I waded out below the parking lot to the middle of the stream, knee deep and began drifting flies downstream along the east bank deep channel. I was covering 30 feet of water. I started with a 10 Elk Hair Caddis dry with a 20 Zebra Midge black bead head extended off the bend of the Caddis hook a on a 15 inch piece of 7x. I fished this for one hour. I took a light hit on the Midge at 30 minutes and a hard hit on the Caddis at one hour. I could not set the hook either time. The fish began to feed from the top. I was nearly frozen from the 35 degree weather plus wind chill. As a last attempt, I tied on a 22 Midge Dry black with white pattern. I was so cold it was uncomfortable to tie. As I secured the knot and began shadow casting to release the slack line, I turned to talk to two fishermen who were calling it a day. In turning my head, the line fell, the Midge falling six feet in front of me. No sooner than the fly hit the water, a trout erupted and rolled over the fly. I saw this out of the corner of my eye. I heaved on the slack line floating around by feet in an attempt to set the hook. When I finally found the end of the line, I yanked the hook right out of the trout’s mouth. I was cold and went home.