over the hump trips!

Started by Woolly Bugger, June 15, 2020, 17:45:54 PM

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itieuglyflies

Sardines,pickled okra and beer......with that combo, good fishing not required!

Phil

"Keith did proceed to school me on the flat, picking up a few risers that i could only spook."

Yeah, he tends to do that.  b';

Woolly Bugger

Quote from: itieuglyflies on July 11, 2020, 16:47:09 PMSardines,pickled okra and beer......with that combo, good fishing not required!

and a bologna sandwich!!!
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

WC68

So is it actually wadable during these 1hour pulses? Or just very selectively depending on location. I've been driving up river to get behind them.

Woolly Bugger

Quote from: WC68 on July 25, 2020, 10:37:34 AMSo is it actually wadable during these 1hour pulses? Or just very selectively depending on location. I've been driving up river to get behind them.

Lower on the river they are usually wadable, but the closer to the dam the higer the water, it spreads out longer as it moves downstream...
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

#35

July 30, 2020 #31?

$101/7 = $14.43

Schedule looked promising, weather iffy.

Left home around 7:30,  things looked a bit crowded up by the dam,
drove on down, passed a few good spots, and then ran into more
parked cars. Ended up in a familiar spot. The spot was wide open or
 so I thought, just as I closed the trunk, I turned to see a spin
guy casting into my run.

He stopped after a while without catching and went back upstream.
I was rigged up with a sulfur so gave that a try first despite not
seeing any risers or bugs other than midges. I caught a few on the
surface and probably worked the water way too long it hopes that
something would start soon.

I took a lunch/beer break and then headed to a lower section.
Got a pune to rise before finally switching over to nymphing.
Tied on a split-case and after some thought tied on a #20 rs2.
Well damn if that didn't do the trick. I hooked a fish right off
and several more took the rs2 in quick sucession, and not just dinks
but fat and feisty rainbows and a brown that pushed 18"

I wore out that section and then thought that the pulse would hit
and moved hoping that it would bring a late hatch. Neither materialized.
I don't' know what was up with the water, the app said a 2-hour release.
But I couldn't tell much difference in the water level.

With nothing happening on the lower river I moved back up to the
damn dam. Lot had cleared out and it looked like most of the
remainders were standing on the grates.

I hiked on down and found some picky risers, but before I could
hook nay a monster thunderstorm moved in and with visible lightning
striking too close for comfort I high tailed it back to the lot where
I thought about waiting it out under the bridge with several other
anglers, but after about 10 minutes with no relief in sight I ran
back to the car and drove home. That damn storm traveled up 81 with me

No photos at all this trip, not one, no scenery shots of the billowing
thunderheads, or the grey skies or the torrential rain, No fish picks
of trouts or sardines, and no beer shote either...


Here is some info on the RS2



From the TU Blog

>>>For you masochistic anglers out there who actually enjoy fishing tiny emerger patterns, this one's for you.

(And, yes, on occasion, I'm one of you. Insert face-palm emoji here).
The RS2, which stands for Rim's Semblance 2, is one of the most effective
 small emerger flies ever crafted—it can be absolutely deadly in the fall
and early spring when Blue-winged Olives are emerging.

Original:


Tim Flagler's version



ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

itieuglyflies

Very likely there will be no wading for a while.....reason? I am back in the area for 10 days and that only means one thing....rain and more rain if history repeats.....hurricane, monsoons. Glad you got out before I arrived.

Woolly Bugger

Quote from: itieuglyflies on August 01, 2020, 08:53:30 AMVery likely there will be no wading for a while.....reason? I am back in the area for 10 days and that only means one thing....rain and more rain if history repeats.....hurricane, monsoons. Glad you got out before I arrived.

Tie up a bunch of those #20 RS2s!  d:b
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

#38

August 09, 2020 #32

$101/8 = $12.63

Gas $1.95 although I passed $1.77 at Love's on the VA/NC border

Couldn't get going in the early morning.. I really hate the drive now. Indecision. Finally left home around 8, scoped out the dam area... decided to try for the 44 bridge... that was a CF with anglers all over, went back to the middle section of big springs, flat water, worked several risers who were eating midges, no luck there, put all of them down. Looked downstream, didn't see anybody down past the flats. Walked on down and damn if there weren't a couple on the far side. Went on down further. Took some punes on the dry. Then switched over to a split case/rs2 combo and whacked them for a while.

Went back up to the car ate some lunch and then hit the runs above the flat water and worked the puff daddy to risers. Caught them here and there. Watch a big fish rise and cast to it, saw it rise ever so slowly and open its mouth on the fly. Did I wait for it to turn? Hell no, I set the hook and pulled it straight out of the fishes mouth. Watched it turn and slap its tail, Damn it. Shortly after that I had the opportunity on another larger brown but put too much pepper on the set and broke that one off on 6.5x. Pune rainbows and browns continued to entertain me until my back said it had had enough and I left the water at 6:30 and it was really slowing down and I didn't think I could hang until dark. 

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Water was low and clear. Not a cloud in the sky! Planned to wet wade, no wadersocks so I wore my wader pants and it was hot!
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Dougfish

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

itieuglyflies

Keep humping Woolly! Even a slow day is a good day.

Woolly Bugger

#41
August 22, 2020 #36

Gas $2.09

TN Fishing License $101/9 trips  = $11.22/trip

Plan was to get to the dam as the morning pulse was receding. Stopped in at the SoHo Flyshop to check intel and pick up some comparaduns. Sign at the door says masks required and they were worn by shop rat and customers. I took my selection of four #16 flies and when they were rung up and the total was announced, I uttered, "Jesus" in exclamation on the $10.93 price.
Lot was looking packed but I found a spot, geared up, no waders, and headed on down the trail. Put in at an empty run and braced myself for the cold water. There would be no waist-deep wading today! Soon more and more angles staged up and down the river, hemming me into a short run. No bugs at first but eventually fish rose as little yaller bugs popped off.

I counted 27 anglers on the water from my spot in the river.

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I had just caught several fish in quick order, and was retying a fly when a douche walks right into the far side of my run. "Really?" I blurted out to him. "I'm going down there," he replied as he pointed to the run below. "I had fish rising right there!", I informed him as I pointed my rod a him. He walked on down and right into the middle of the fish in his claimed spot. I wanted to yell at him that if you were planning on fishing down where why didn't you walk in below me, but I bit my tongue and went back to fishing.

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The hatch petered off the fishing slowed down. I hooked a couple of rainbows and one was pushing 16", I was going to take a photo of that one but as I brought it close to net, it fought vigorously to get under a submerged branch and broke me off.

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The warning sirens went off at three and I worked the now deserted river and made my way back up to the parking lot passing two women in small tube rafts. They were waiting on the dam water to ride downstream. When they asked if I caught any I replied, "of course!"

"Any keepers," they inquired.

"I put them back," I replied, and then added, "sort of like women!"

That had them laughing and I wished them a safe float.

Back up at the lot it was snack time.

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I watched the rafts and drift boats stage up in the river and at the ramps. 14 in all, perhaps more would come along a bit later. Talking to the guides they lamented that the sulfur hatch this year was pretty sparce with the exception of some major bug activity down low on the river earlier in the spring. As we talked about their drift, a four hour float to Big Springs, I mentioned that the river isn't the same as it was 20 years ago, The guide got wide-eyed and said, "20 years ago? I was born 20 years ago!" Guess that makes me an old-timer..

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I hope to avoid weekend clusters in the future...

Ready for the next trip with a 6, 3, and 4 wt...

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ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

itieuglyflies

It still amazes me that even with that kind of pressure up there it can still produce.....but 27 souls in sight, nope.

Onslow

#43
Nice work!

Lotta wankin going on there.

Woolly Bugger

#44

August 26, 2020 #37

Gas $2.09

TN Fishing License $101/10 trips  = $10.10/trip

I had been talking about hitting the SF but when they announced the soho dam would be sluicing at 350 I made a quick call to the fly shop at 3 o'clock on Tuesday to ask about conditions and the reply was, "get over here now"! There was a four-hour hatch on Monday that started at 11 and a two-hour hatch on Tuesday that ended at 5.

I arrived at 11 not wanting to take a chance missing the morning hatch if it came off. Not too crowded, a few were fishing below the grates and on down to the power lines. Grabbed some water, a couple of beers and a snack before heading down the trail.  I found a clear area and hopped in. I did wear waders this time, it would have been chilly without them.

Nothing but midges coming off in the morning.  A few fish were rising but I couldn't get them to take a bug on the surface.

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the bank while waiting on the hatch to start and drinking the second beer that I realized that the Fantastic IPA was an imperial IPA, IIPA, at 9% ABV.
I had a slumpbuster with me and tied that on and swung it through the run for a while without attracting any fish. Oh well, I'll crack open a beer. It was only later after sitting on

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Many of the anglers called it quits early, I guess the heat and lack of success drove them off the water. I couple of spin guys snuck in below me but didn't stay long. I had plenty of open water to choose from but didn't wander far from the run I had picked out.

Bugs began to pop off around 2:30 and fish were rising regularly by 3:00 and the game was on. Not a prolific hatch but enough to get a lot of fish looking up.

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It was over all too soon, the bugs slowed way down and the fish stopped taking dries around 4:00

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ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!