Fishing 7/25/09

I got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove the hour to my favorite spot for trout fishing and found that I wasn't the only early bird. The morning was actually comfortable temp wise so I was hoping for a decent day of fishing.

After getting my rod and reel put together I decided to start off with a size 12 red San Juan worm I had purchased from Riverbum.com. It had a gold bead sex ring on it that I thought added a great touch of realism and flash to it. After fishing it for about 30 minutes with no takes, I decided to go dry. The dry fly, a parachute adams, didn't produce a hit so I decided to go back deep with a size 18 midge. Again, no luck. I wound up trying 5 different flies and only one produced a fish.

After almost 2 1/2 hours I went to a brown size 10 tan San Juan worm and finally hooked up. I had forgotten my net at home so as I was bringing him in to release him the rainbow finally threw the hook at my thigh. He was at least 12 inches long but what really surprised me was just how fat he was. This guy had a big thick back on him and appeared to have been eating well.

Fishing for 5 hours, and only catching one fish, I decided to head to the fly shop. I'd been looking for some warm water wading shoes and Brandon, at Riverside Fly Shop, had the Korkers Torrent shoes on clearance for $55 (normally a $100 shoe). These things are great! In fact, I highly recommend Korkers boots as they have the interchangeable soles. Their construction is superb and they wear like normal hiking boots and shoes.

No photos today as I forgot, along with my net, my memory card for my camera (Nikon D200). Finally, I'll admit that I made a mistake, slipped, and "cooled" myself down a little. Fortunately I had tightened by wader belt or I would have filled them up big time. Let me tell you, that 53 degree will take your breath away at 8:00 in the morning! :)

Some friends and I got together a week ago for some warm water fishing and camping. While the fishing wasn't the greatest the menu sure was!! We had grilled elk steaks, smoked trout, grilled trout, baked beans, baked potato, and red velvet cake!

Here are a few photos from the adventure.....

While not a trout, I finally received my 6x6 bull elk mount from the taxidermist today! This is my first ever elk and I took him in Colorado last Oct 13th! He isn't the biggest trophy but he is MY trophy and I'm quite proud of him.

A few weeks ago a friend and I ventured north to fish the Caney Fork tailwater in TN. The results were not as good as we would have liked but the trip, fishing, and just hanging out together was all worth it in my opinion. Earl was the only one to bring a trout net. I hooked two and lost both. The second slung my San Juan worm (that Earl had tied) just as he was grabbing the leader and within an inch of netting my fish.

It is close to a 4 hr drive (just under 300 miles) from Birmingham to the state park where we camped. I think we put right at 8 hrs on the water but according to some local guys, the TVA was burping the river and the short bursts of release have everything all screwed up. There are a LOT of fish in that river as we saw a lot of them while wading and paddling. Just couldn't get them to hit what we were presenting. I checked the rocks and we were fishing what we found. A day or two of more fishing would have probably helped us develop some patterns and a better idea on how to fish the river.

The fishery not only has rainbow but some rather nice Brown trout as well. Maybe I'll get back up that way before too long.

In the meantime, enjoy some photos from our trip.

Here is a typical Sipsey Fork rainbow. He was caught with a beadhead prince using a strike indicator. Some people don't like using indicators but I actually prefer them at this point in my development.

The trout on the Sipsey seem to like smaller presentations but others have been successful with size 12 woolly buggers. I've actually caught them on nymphs and midges of varying colors and size.

Welcome!

Welcome to my corner of the universe. My name is Scott Spencer and I am a fly fisherman from Alabama. I began fly fishing as a teenager but for whatever reasons I got away from it. Boy how things have changed in the fly fishing world over the past 30 years!! I've recently gotten back into fly fishing with a vengeance with four trips in the last 6 weeks. I'll be posting some photos and thoughts on those trips over the next few days.

Whoever is reading this is probably thinking, "Fly fishing in Alabama!?!?!?" Well, we actually have a tailwater in the State of Alabama that can support trout. The Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River is our little world for trout fishing. The downside is that we only have rainbow trout and the State G&F doesn't have any plans to allow the stocking of any other trout (brown, cutthroat, or brook). For information on the trout of the Sipsey Fork, see this http://www.outdooralabama.com/Fishing/freshwater/where/rivers/smithtailwaters/

Scott