In Over Our Heads in New River Smallmouth.....Literally

I must admit every year we go through the same old thing, it gets hot, we get low, clear water conditions, and everyone and including sometimes me fret over how the weather is going to affect the fishing. And those are valid issues for sure, but I am all about making the best of a less than ideal situation. The nice thing is, a less than ideal situation for our small mountain trout streams makes for an ideal situation for fishing for smallmouth with a fly rod. So why fret?........Grab your rod and a few poppers and streamers and let's celebrate the arrival of some of our most enjoyable fishing....chasing smallies with a fly rod.

Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting and fishing and getting to know Dr. Mike Martin. "Mikey" as he is affectionately known by me, my wife Kathy, and maybe his wife Ariya- - -has as much passion and zeal for fly fishing and fly tying as anyone I have ever met. His spirit and love for it is contagious, and you know it when you meet him and talk with him. And he's good at it too. Mike is a Dr. in Martinsville, VA, and spends many days chasing trout and other species all over, and especially on his home water - - -the beloved Smith River below Philpott Dam. We both share a passion for that place, and the sulphur hatch and the great terrestrial fishing too.

Mike joined me for a day of smallmouth fishing on the New near Fries, VA. We met early up off 58, and headed over to the river. The fog lay over the river thickly, it was as if the river lay asleep under the moist, layered canopy that would soon enough be burned off by a hot, summer sun. We got in the river, and within a few minutes we were hooked up on a nice smallie on a popper. We fished and fished and caught smallmouth after smallmouth, and I think Mike was hooked on them just like I and so many other trout bums are. The picture above was our late afternoon stop at a large shoal in the middle of the river, and I had an idea for a funny picture. And Mike, being the fun guy that he is, went right along with me. The funny thing is that he actually had a fish on in the above photo. We laughed and joked afterward about how funny that would be to share with my customers. And my customers loved it. In fact, it stirred more interest than any photo I posted all of last year. We laughed about it, but Mike I am sure felt more refreshed than I as it had been 95-97F all day and humid on top of that and it felt good for a second or two to feel relief from the heat. Way to go Mikey!

We fished all day and even into the evening, taking advantage of the popper bite that often happens the last few hours before dark. And let me tell you, it was on. We caught several fish of 2 pounds or better, and even a 4 1/2 pounder that slammed Mike's foam popping bug and then gave an incredible ten minute battle with several jumps that I am sure Mike won't soon forget. After that fish we carefully negotiated half the width of the river in complete darkness and made our way back to the car, putting the finishing touch on one of the best days ever on New River smallmouth.

Thanks Mikey! Lets do it again soon.....that 4 1/2 pounder you caught is still there and guess what- - - - she's now 5lbs plus.

The Time is Now....

One of the favorite things for me all year long is what sometimes gets most trout bums "bummed" out, that is the onset of blistering hot sunny days and scorching temps. Gone are the good flows of water of spring, hatches of big mayflies, and easier to catch trout....no its gotten low and clear and you are left wondering if our trout will make it through another drought period like last year. As disturbing as it might seem, our trout fared pretty well last year, suprisingly so, and only isolated areas had a significant problem. Our neighbors to the west in Tennessee weren't so fortunate, as some areas of the Smokies lost a great deal of their rainbow trout populations.

When its really hot, I do one of three things when it comes to guiding or fishing on my days off....I put on the hiking shoes and fish some high elevation waters where water temps are more favorable. Second, I love tailwater fishing anyway, and some of my "home water" is the Smith River tailwater, just 40 minutes from my doorstep. The first several miles of it remain "chilly" even in summer.....chilly you say? Yes, try 46-48F even in the worst of summer heat. And the terrestrial fishing is superb and perhaps my very favorite anyway, so I take the summer heat in stride. And then there's the South Holston and Watauga.....like the Smith some great fishing is still possible even in the summer heat.....and the Holston even gets a mega Sulphur hatch in midsummer right during full generation. But lastly, a fishing very dear to me is fly fishing for smallies, aka, "black bass", or "bronzebacks", or "a leopard with fins", whatever you call them they are like hooking into a ready to explode stick of dynamite. Often clients wonder why I get so torn up over them........that is until they find themselves hooked up to one. After one, the deal is sealed.......and they are from then on a smallie convert.

We are fortunate to have some of the best smallmouth fishing in the world.....yes , I said world, and its right at our back door. The New and James Rivers are smallie heaven, and we frequently catch smallies up to 4 -5 pounds on flies, and best of all, most of the really big fish are on topwater bugs! Also, for a great summer experience where you won't usually ever see another angler you might try any one of hundreds of small NC and VA streams that have smallmouth. Our state, North Carolina, has numerous great waters such as the Mitchell (one of the top 5 outstanding resource waters in the entire state), the French Broad, the New, the Little River, the Uwharrie River, the Mayo River, the Roaring River, Yadkin River, Watauga River, the Johns River, lower Wilson Creek, and the list goes on and on. That barely scratches the surface. Basically, the Wildlife Commission will tell you that ALL of our trout waters contain smallmouth on the lower end - - - that is the marginal areas that are hatchery supported- - -well those become smallie havens in the summer.

Don't let the hot weather bum you out, a break from the hot weather will come soon enough. In the meantime grab a rod and a few streamers and poppers and find some smallmouth water. You won't be sorry you did, and you might find that they are as worth a gamefish as any trout that ever swam.

May Mayfly Madness.......whew thats too many M's

It happens every year, sometimes its May, sometimes April if its early, sometimes June, on the SoHo in East Tennessee it can even be December or January. Its mayfly madness. In this case, one in particular. It causes not only a great rise of trout, but normally sane people to stay up all night long tying flies, driving six to seven hours and fishing 1o hours all in the same day, to laying out of work or calling in sick. Sulphurs........



There are three flies in particular, and they come in #14, 16, and 18. Not only do the fish love them, fishermen love them. These three flies comprise what we call the "Sulphur Hatch" and is one of our main events every angling season.

May 2008 was no different.....we have some incredible rises of trout. One trip was with Dr. Tom Wolff of Winston-Salem, a great friend and customer of 20 years, and his brother Dave who drove down from Pennsylvania to join us on the South Holston. Late in the afternoon, when the water hit that magic low to mid 50's temperature the bugs poured off.....and there were rising fish all over. And a few hours later we were witness to one of the heaviest spinner falls you'll ever see in the East. And then there was the annual TN Tailwaters school and trip, this years trip was off the chart. Peter Spirito came all the way from Port St. Lucie, FL, and Lynn Roloff from Greensboro, NC, and we were joined two days later by Joe Craig of High Point, NC, and Ron Davis from Winston-Salem, NC. The hatch was blanket and quite unlike it has been in many years, we had two 100 fish days and some fish over 20 inches on the dry fly. For the three days total it was a 300 fish trip, and the best part is 98% percent of the fish were on dry flies.............................and the bugs are still coming off. Better finish typing so I can tie up some extra emergers and get some shut eye before joining my group of three guys for another great time fishing the sulphur hatch.....I love it!

Fishing with a true American hero.......

His name is Porter Halyburton. And on Monday, April 7, 2008 I had the pleasure of guiding Porter and his friend Dr. Don Lucey of Greensboro, NC. We had an incredible day, a perfect day to be honest. It was a day with many fish, over 100 in fact, and also some nice fish. That was the story for our trip.

Only for this decorated war hero, it wasn't so perfect some 43 yrs ago when he was shot down 60 miles north of Hanoi and spent the next 7 1/2 yrs as a prisoner of war. After graduating from SMA and Davidson College, Halyburton volunteered for service in Vietnam. A Naval Flight Officer, his F4B Phantom was shot down over North Vietnam on October 17, 1965. His story is one of the most incredible stories of faith, hope, forgiveness and courage you will read.

In conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the lifelong achievements of Porter Halyburton were recognized by the U.S. Navy. His military decorations include the Silver Star, three Purple Hearts, the Legion of Merit, three Bronze Stars, seven Air Medals, a Navy Commendation Medal, and the POW Medal. A recent book, Two Souls Indivisible, tells of his friendship with a fellow pilot, an Air Force Pilot, African-American Fred Cherry. The Vietnamese, knowing that racial tensions were at a high in the US hoped to create animosity and torture by making Porter take care of Perry who had been injured when he was also shot down. The plan backfired, Porter and Fred became close friends and survived the horror of being POW's.

Some great background information is available on the details of Porter's story. Porter's bio is very interesting, and incredible might be a better word for it. What a great story to give hope in the world we live in today, unfortunately our media won't tell you the other side of the story....that is what our great servicemen past and present do and have done day in and day out. All the media tell you is the negative, not the positive and how these men are the reason we can live in freedom here today. But then, of course, the media never has been a friend of the truth anyway. An agenda, sickening bias and sadly little more can we expect from them.

Hats off to all our servicemen and thank you for the price you were willing to pay for all of us, even those who would speak bad of you and would put your lives in danger by not giving you in the field what you need to get the job done. We honor you and appreciate your sacrifices for our freedom, it isn't free like some people think.

The Joy of tying and fishing a huge fly.....

Just a few nights ago, I was checking out a few new foam cutters I got in a big shipment of fly tying materials and was thinking about how much fun it is to tie a large fly. Not as what we normally think of as being large, say a 10 or 12, but rather a 4 or 6. Ever tie a size 6 dry fly for trout? Better yet, ever fish a dry fly that large? If you have you are certainly in the minority. There are few people who live somewhere that trout regularly eat bugs that large. But believe it or not, there are places that fish love to eat bugs that large. Like the Snake River, one river we'll be floating on our Wyoming Sampler trip in August of this year. Not only do fish eat flies that large, they absolutely kill them- - -those fish, many of which are native fine-spotted cutthroats , are mean and crash the surface in pursuit of a big bug or fly.

One the lower Snake, I remember one summer when I was fishing with two good friends from High Point Burt Whicker and Larry Pritchett. Not only do these fish eat big stuff, but they like the flies fished with an active retrieve. I mean its the kind of fishing that makes you feel like you are at home on the New working a popping bug. And the strike, well you'd better have a good hold on the rod or it might be taken away from you. Simply put, these cutthroats think they are bass. I have fished a lot of places out west, and this is the only place I've ever seen fish feed that way most of the time. I can even remember the final day of our wilderness float where the first fish slurped down a size 4, yes a size 4 (almost 2 inches long, and a dry fly!) chernobyl dry I'd just put a whip finish on less than an hour before.

I must say, I wouldn't trade small fly fish all together for fishing big flies---fun as they are. I still love to see big fish rising to tiny bugs. There's nothing like it. But an occasion visit to the other end of the fly spectrum I'll take..........and enjoy it just the same.

Angling Legend George Harvey passes on.........

Monday March 24, 2008 marked the passing of one of the truly legendary anglers and fathers of American flyfishing, George Harvey (center in photo above, shown between Joe Humphreys, also an angling legend, and George Daniel, Winner of 2007 U.S. National Fly Fishing Championship). He passed away at age 97! Known the world over for his great impact on the sport he challenged the fly fishing world with new ideas about fly design, presentation, and his ever popular philosophy and design of what we now refer to as "slack line" leaders.

Though I never had the privilege of meeting him, I certainly feel like I did through some of his works and also by using what I feel is a must for folks looking to fish our area tailwaters and improve their presentation skills- - - the slack line leader. George's leader formula runs almost perpendicular to the assumed best Ritz formula for a leader which is a 60-20-20 formula. This leader is 60% butt, 20% taper, and 20% tippet, just the sort of thing that makes a fly line transmit tons of power into the butt which then turns over the taper and tippet and makes for a nice straight as an arrow landing........exactly what you don't want when fishing over tough fish that have little patience with drag, micro-drag, or less than perfect drifts.

George had a better idea. His slack line leader took into account that when you fish over tough fish that require long and drag free drifts, you want a leader that turns over but does not straighten. And you want to use a cast that is an open loop aimed high, just the opposite of the "high line speed, tight loop, throw it a mile philosophy" that is all too often the rave today. George's philosophy is a butt that is smaller in diameter, and overall shorter, and that transmits less power from line to leader to taper to tippet. A long mid-section and long tippet completes the formula and results in a leader that turns over but never fully straightens, and that often lands in a controlled "pile" that gives loose curves all the way to the fly and gives the long, perfect drifts that tough fish love.

George's leader philosophy really hit home to me almost 20 years ago when I was first trying to figure out the deal on Virginia and Tennessee tailwaters. Once I learned the formula, began using it, and combined it with a reach cast my catch rate went way up. And some of those impossible fish started to fall to my slack line presentations. All of a sudden those fish weren't so impossible anymore.

One of the recipes I find that works well for making a George Harvey dry fly leader, and one I have used for years is as follows: 15 inches of .017, then 15 inches of .015, then 15 inches of .013, then 12 inches of .011, then 12 inches of .009 (2X), then 14-18 inches of 3X, 14 -18 inches of 4x, 20 inches of 5X, then 18-24 inches of 6X or 7X. If you don't tie your leaders, Frog Hair fishing makes a commercial knotless George Harvey Slack Line Leader that is pretty good. But I must say that a knotted, hand-tied leader is superior to the knotless ones, in my opinion.

You can learn more about George Harvey, his life, and his many great contributions to our sport here . Thank you George for all the ways you enhanced our enjoyment in flyfishing.

Fishing High Water.....

HIGH water.....I'd say to some its a boon, others a bane, for us a BOUNTY! I must admit, seeing a bank full river gets me excited. I know a lot of folks don't share that sentiment, and I certainly don't mean flood stage, but I mean high, fishable water.

When you guide for a living, you often aren't at the luxury of having time off to fish when the conditions are at their best. Often, its right the opposite......even downright nasty conditions that would make even a duck or a polar bear question the decision to be out and about. But its amazing what having less than what most people consider ideal conditions will do for your ability to adapt and change your tactics and techniques and still catch fish.

Over the years I have learned to not only adapt but to really enjoy the challenge of catching fish when the cards are stacked against me. I mean, I love it when everything goes right, perfect weather, no wind, plenty of bugs, lots of feeding fish- - - don't get me wrong I'll take that any day. But then again when things are like that I think maybe we should catch fish. But what about the days when others would take one look at the river and automatically assume that they aren't going to catch fish with the river so high and off colored. I mean the kind of conditions where one might take a quick look and say, "That's it for me, I am headed home." All too often I've heard that, even had guide trips where I knew we could really do well but the folks I am taking didn't share the same positive outlook. And I'd be thinking inside my head......"....if only you knew what the conditions would do for us today, not only will we catch fish, we could have a day you'd remember the rest of your angling days.

Like Escatawba. This is one place where spate conditions mean a real bounty if you know how to rig properly, read the water, and present the fly properly. I mean you can really catch numbers of fish you'd never catch when the stream is normal or low and clear. And then there's the Smith River.....legendary brown trout that are as selective as any on planet earth, except for when Town Creek at the upper end of the special reg area gets stirred up. In that stretch of river which regularly stumps even the most skilled of anglers we fish wooly buggers and literally tear them up. I once guided a good customer Ray Matherly of Dunbar, West Virginia, where we fished during a tropical storm. Heavy rain, wind, and all. Ray still wanted to do the trip, and I was charged by his "trooper" spirit. And the whole time I was thinking this could be a day that we really work those fish over. And so it was........final count Storm 0, Ray 30 ......30 browns and an unexpected largemouth bass of about 12" at the mouth of Town Creek. Yes, there are times that you can occasionally have your way with those fish. And lastly, there's the South Holston. Let a heavy rain come and make the river cloudy and the same fish that were darn near impossible become suckers for the right nymph (a flashback pt nymph).

So the next time you hear of some heavy rain coming, pack the rainjacket, make sure you have some streamers and flashback bead head nymphs, a box of split shot, and a "trooper " spirit. And, one last thing............Let it pour!