Relatives, Relationships, and Fights Around the Out House

My failure to understand what the river or creek is telling me has probably caused me more failures on the stream than any other factor.  Breaking the nature code depends on what a section of water offers fish or man, or either simultaneously.  I wonder how many of us actually sit down to consider the characteristics of depth, current(s), vegetation (edge and sub-surface), and what native creatures are present in and around the stream.  Ever watch a heron fish?  This controversial subject has enjoyed the favor of many an outdoor writer and kept them well fed. 

Really, how much time do you spend actually breaking out where the trout lies are?  Where are the canalizing currents?  How many of us actually check to see what is present in the water?  From the time the nun threw the yarn and feathers into the water, the basic axioms of how we understand a section of water is consistent until man or nature changes the game plan. 

My success rate is usually directly related to how much time I spend listening to what Mamma Nature is telling me.  On my home waters, I try to make a conscious effort to mentally break the water into sections of 20x20 feet.  Breaking a section of water into these blocks is the easiest way to decide what to do about getting a fish on.  Busting vegetation and jumping into the water to get at one or two raising fish may be the start of a very lean day indeed.  I try to work to an array of fish and not be tricked or drawn into haste by a single rise form.  I would love to have a dollar for the number of times I have violated this.  Just sit down and watch awhile then enjoy one well-aimed cast with little disturbance to the water above the trout or target species.  Bam!

On the ever so popular South Holston River, I continually see people get out of the their Grand Cherokees, adorn themselves with ten pounds of very shinny (and expensive) equipment, and literally jump into the river and produce wakes like an assaulting U.S. Marine Corps amphibious tractor.  The visual wakes from retreating trout go in every direction as they attempt to escape the individual’s attempt at a stealthy approach.  Not to mention taking the trout in my section that leave with their tormented cousins.  It is about here when I usually start a gunfight with the individual about their stream etiquette, the 50-yard rule, and their birthright.  I feel a duty to train (or delete) my fellow stream mates. J

What is the best technique and frame of mind for fishing light? Stay out of the water!  Sure you paid good money for those breathable waders, but they will never leak if you don’t get them wet and you will catch more fish. Learn to low-crawl to the water and watch.  How many times have you sat in the weeds or bushes and practiced you casting?  Remember all those articles and books that revealed the glories of fishing near the streams edge?  I have found these sources and references to these techniques to be accurate.  Stealth and technical fishing deserve the most delicate of touches; especially, when a feeding trout are in less than a foot of water. 

If you fish a river or stream system over a period of time, you will soon learn what the food chain menu is over a year’s time.  Keep logs, take samples, and learn what organisms are present.  I used to laugh at people who carried logs, entomology kits, and other things that seemed to be kin to reading chicken bones. I don’t laugh now. 

Poll Analysis, Psychologists, and Mental Patients

Let’s face it; the pressure for those of us who fly-fish is going to get worse. An ESPN commentator stated that 39 million people would join the ranks of Outdoor Consumers of America this past year.  There are an estimated 3-10 million fly-flippers out there depending on which source you use.  I think it is proportional to how many times TBS reruns that damn movie, A River Ran Over It. This year, people will spend more money on fishing this year than any other type of outdoor recreation.  Yes, that’s right Doc, beating golf, too (golf = $4.9 billion; general fishing = $40 billion). Today, people are smarter and loosing the fear of the difficult.  They think they want more challenges in their life.  I wonder how fly-fishing qualifies? 

I fish three major rivers in our area and hope to have visited over 600 named creeks near my home in East Tennessee before I die.  As Davy Crockett might say, “I am blessed with the meanest smallmouth bass, the ugliest brown trout, the most rainbow, and most rare brook trout in the world.  However, the fishing is getting harder because of the pressure being placed on all streams.  According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, locals and travelers visit to the South Holston River to fish an eight-mile section of river average 120,000 man-hours of fishing per year. An additional 15,000 plus man-hours represented people paying big bucks to drift a two-mile section of the Watauga River for a trophy trout.

Pressure and people factors made me change my style of fishing.  I love fish a 2 or 3-weight system on my local rivers and streams for trout.  Equally, I have discovered that an over three-pound smallmouth bass on a 4 or 5-weight rod is the most fun I have ever had while fully dressed.  Life with a single fly box containing an ensemble of flies matched to a stream is freedom (freedom of movement and from a 10-pound vest).  When the wind blows hard, the heavy nine-foot long, 4 or 5-weight rod is the only change to my battle dress.  I also discovered that I seldom carry a fly now over hook size #14, and most are size #16 and smaller.  What is even more odd, I found out that I had not lived a full life until I fished midges in a snowstorm.

Thank You Bernard

Will a lightweight approach work for you? I can’t guarantee results where you live, but it sure does work for me in East Tennessee.  The light or featherweight approach is not new.  Some fear that a lighter outfit will not handle a larger fish or worry that lighter tackle will place a larger fish in jeopardy.  Education and experience will remove these fears.  Both Dave Whitlock and Lefty Kreh have written many a fine article on how to fight, land, and handle larger fish on lightweight gear.  It works!  The drill is to let the tippet coupled with the rod action take the load.

If you fish eastern rivers and streams, I recommend that you review your own fishing techniques and personal requirements.  I am certain that if you lighten up a bit, you just might smile more.  I am not after the biggest fish or the most.  I just enjoy the satisfaction of carrying everything in a single pocket and not making waves.

May God keep us all in the palm of his hand.  Take a kid fishing, and I hope to see you on the river.

Major Mike

Reprinted from 1998

Always-in respect and memory of Charles Kunkle Fox, my mentor

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