fly2fish

Your not saying you were in one of the 2 boats that I mentioned above are you?

Try the Abrams Falls trail on the Cades Cove loop, it is about a 4 mile hike up following the creek most of the way. I fished from the confluence by the parking lot up only about the first 1/2 mile and caught several trout one morning in March a few years ago. There was a fly shop in Gatlinburg that was just left of the main intersection when coming in from Pidgeon Forge that was located upstairs in a strip shopping center that had good info. F2F

One time before the Landing was put in Branson we were fishing of one of the docks when a guy in a bass boat comes flying past close to the dock and for you that know that just down from the bridge was the island that had a rock jetty running from the shore out to the island that was about 6-12 inches under the water. I said I hope he goes on the right side of the island and about that time we hear a loud thud and see him drifting in what used to be the old swimming hole. Another time we waded out to the island and was fishing and we hear WHOA, WHOA, WHOA coming from up by the bridge and first thought it was someone backing a trailer down but then turned just in time to see a pontoon running onto the gravel bar that ran from the shore out to the island about 6 inches deep. People were sitting in lawn chairs on the front deck were thrown of the front when the boat came to a sudden stop, don't think it did as much damage as the guy in the bass boat and no one was hurt. F2F

Keep putting out the trap, last year I got 17 coons out of 1 pear tree in a little over a month late last summer. Already have 4 for this year but they are still in my neighbors apple trees every night, when the apples are gone I'm sure they will hit the pear tree which has more pears on it than it has ever had in 20 years. F2F

I got the sunshade on mine this year before they showed any signs of stress and they have really taken off again. I have been getting at least 10 lbs of tomatoes every other day from 18 plants. 2 are grape, 6 roma, and the rest are beefsteak, better boys and celebrity. Cucumbers wish they had some shade, watermelons finally putting on since it turned hot, now if I can keep the deer and coons out of the melon patch I may have a dozen or so. Deer eat the okra as soon as it comes up. I have a pear tree in the backyard that the deer eat on all hours of the day good thing it is loaded this year. Time to make freezer spagetti sauce out of the romas and salsa out of the rest. F2F

I fished the middle of May a couple nights, first night half a unit and caught several between outlets 1 & 2, then the next night water had bottomed out and only caught 2 in that area in an hour so I headed down toward Big Hole and caught 24 in an hour and a half from about 25 yards below the root wad to down past the point. F2F

Everytime I see one run over or out in the yard I think $17 for a dyed stripped up squirrel pelt. Have my first one tanned but not dyed yet. If it turns out good then the price of my material for PMS's and Hibinators just went down a whole bunch. F2F

The first part great to hear, the last part not so good. That doesn't mean you still can't bring down some "coffee" from time to time and let me beta test some new flys. I did get this gel pack that has a metal disc about the size of a nickel in it that you click and it starts to heat up and looks like it is freezing then you put it in a velcro belt and around your waist. The heat lasts about 3-4 hours put the support it gives feels good even after the heat is gone. You have to boil it to get it back to a liquid state then use it over again and again. I will be up June 12-15 if you want to see it. Give me a call, see ya F2F

Nice cat Thom, I was out on Hiwy 94 Saturday doing the wine tour, didn't do any fishing even though I had some equipment stashed in the back. F2F

My knee began giving problems in my mid to late 40's until it affected my fishing and made it hard to get up and down the stairs at Taney, so in 2007 at age 49 I had a complete knee replacement was out 10 weeks and was back up to full speed within 6 months. So if something starts to wear out just get it replaced. My mother fished Taney until she had a stroke at 81. I joke to my wife I don't want to be buried or cremated but freeze dried and ground into trout food. F2F

They must of stocked some browns recently, 2 of the 24 fish I caught Sunday night just below the root wad were 10-12 inch browns, pleasant surprise this time of year. F2F

I feel your loss I have had 3 brittanies over the years from grade school until I was 40. Lost the last one in 98 and he was 15, he was raised with our spitz and even though he weighed about 60 lbs and she weighed 15 all she had to do was growl just a little and he would lay down and she would clean his ears out. My son and the britt were only a month apart and he would always get them out when he went out in the backyard to play and if I went out to get on him for something they would try and get between me and him. F2F

Duane one way to eliminate the LDRs is make shorter casts LOL. Won't be there til Sat. and Sun nights may have some higher water by then. F2F

Hen in drag or cross dresser maybe?

Would have loved to been down there about midnight last night when they shut it off for the first time in 6 days, I bet the fish would have been stacked and hitting on almost every cast. Hope maybe someone was there and will post. I think I was the last person to fish with the water off 3 weeks or ago and the first to fish with it up. It was on a Wednesday night Mar. 21 after 3 days of rain the water was off between 11 and midnight with the forcast for 4 gens at midnight. I started at outlet 2 around 10PM with the water about 705 and dropping, caught several drifting white chamois and san juan until water slowed enough to go up to the flats and strip black hibinator for an hour before the horn sounded at midnight. When the water started rising I threw the spinning rod with the same hibinator with 1/8 oz split shot a foot above. When the current got to strong to keep it on the bottom I headed back to outlet 2 and finished there about 2am. Caught fish on all there methods about a dozen each. F2F

Nice going but where were you guys 3 or 4 Friday nights ago when it was 17 degrees the water was still the same temp. With it thundering and lightening bet Leonard thought I was going to show up too, surprised you got him to fish in those conditions usually first flash of lightening (or a beaver) he's out of there.lol F2F

Friday night couldn't resist giving it a shot for an hour or so, water off, temp 17 deg. Suited and rigged up before leaving the condo. Picked a black & purple hibinator even though Leonard gave me one of his articulated creations before I went. I didn't plan on switching flies after I started. No one in either parking lot at midnight so I just went to the access below outlet 1, first cast fish on and landed 3 fish on the first 5 casts before any icing problems started. Didn't have much trouble with the guides by just dipping rod in the water before casting. I was using 3 to 4 short strips and then short drifts because the line would freeze to the guides if you went more than 8-10 seconds between strips. The most trouble was the free line freezing together when casting, I could feel the loops in my hands and had to stop several times and get the ice knots out. I did have an 18 incher take the fly pretty deep and while I was trying to get the hemo's out he broke off and I had to tie another fly on anyway. Ended up with 9 fish in about an hour. Same thing Saturday night but not quite as cold 26 deg. and another 9 fish in about an hour. Found out a couple years ago wearing rubber gloves under a regular pair of fingerless gloves is the key to keeping your fingers warm. It doesn't matter if they are the thin hospital type gloves or the heavy duty stripping or dishwashing gloves. You can still tie flies on without taking them off. A couple other fishermen came and waded out at outlet 2 Saturday night, didn't see them catch anything and they left before I did. A lot of those 16-18 inchers they stocked down by the bridges a couple weeks ago must have made it up because 6 or 7 of the fish each night were in that range. They didn't jump or spend as much time fighting on the surface as usual maybe they didn't like the cold either. F2F

I know that the fish caught during the tourney won't make a dent in the bass population on Grand, but they are having the weigh in at the BOK arena in Tulsa about 75 miles away. Don't know how the fish are going to fair through all that. F2F

I fished the north bank Sat. and Sun. nights from just above outlet 1 down to the second set of stairs between outlet 2 and 3, saw half dozen or so browns hugging the bank but nothing over 4-5 lbs. caught several that generally were smaller than the rainbows, under 12 ins. Caught several small rainbows in the 10-12 in. range that were dumping eggs in my hand. Sunday night caught 50+ mostly bows with a few in the 16-18 range all on scud and egg set up drifting within 10 foot of the bank. Look more forward to the rainbow run than the brown run. F2F

If I were in that picture I would be fishing the opposite bank, I have seen trout doing their own shuffling and watch all the other trout nearby dart to where the fish stirred up the scuds. These fish know how stir up the scuds themselves. First time I saw this I was wondering what was going on and kept watching other fish doing this. Sometimes if you stay in one place to long it seems like all the fish are at your feet and you have to get out so they will disperse where they are catchable again. Don't know why this doesn't happen at night, I have hardly ever seen fish around my feet at night, felt one bump my leg a couple times. I never caught any trout that were following me around, I have even let my scud drift through them and they just part and let if drift on by. Don't think shufflers catch all that many fish compared to the outlet snaggers. Just my 1 1/2 cents worth. F2F

Coming up to Branson today, will watch the game (Cardinals win) and then hit Taney afterward. F2F

When the fish start biting I usually start between 9-11pm and fish about 4 hours. F2F

As I have said many times before '58 was a great year. F2F

Since the latest flood I have been cursing the banks to with all the roots sticking out. F2F

Another point is who is going to hire a guide for a couple hundred bucks a day to go catch and release 4 trout on Taney and stop or 6 bass on Table Rock and stop. I am suprised some of the guides on here have not brought this up yet. F2F