Sunday May 20, 2012……Good day everyone, a good Lord’s day to you, hope your week was grand and hope you are having a chance to get out and enjoy some of the great fishing that is available. Quite frankly, the month of May is a difficult one in terms of flyfishing….difficult to decide where to go that is! Here’s a quick update from the past few days and a look at the coming one.
Synopsis
Things are pretty hot area wide, a majority of waters (not all) are fishable again after the last thunderstorms that put high water in a lot of places. The farther north and west you go you will find more water, but even with that things are in very good shape. The fish are feeding strong and fishing is excellent right now in most places. The little bit of extra but needed water plus several nights with low temps in the 40s have brought water temps back down and they fish are sassy and loving it. Small streams that were already in the mid to upper 60s are now back down in that 52-58F range and are fishing excellent, and the same would go for delayed harvest waters. The past several nights have brought water temps down and the bugs are again pouring off, and sulphurs are hatching area wide it seems along with Light Cahills too. A good time to have a stock of “yellar” and orange flies in your box. I can fill any of these fly needs! When we have conditions like we have now its tough to decide where to fish because everywhere is good. both small streams and tailwaters. Smallmouth action will be good as were are entering the beginning of prime time in terms of fly fishing especially if you like popper fishing. That will only get better and better.
Sulphur Hatches…..
Sulphurs have been strong everywhere and if you fish the tailwaters a very specific assortment of flies will be needed. As I mentioned previously, we tie and sell a truck ton of patterns in all life stages from nymph to spinner. Feel free to call me at 336-944-3628 or email jwflyfishing@gmail.com. Typically, a good sulphur box with have these flies: nymphs, in the film patterns (emergers), some duns (sub adults), cripples (a favorite), and spinners (adults)…….
A half emerged ephemerella invaria….you can see the reason our fly patterns are tied with a dark colored trailing shuck..
Thought of the Week…..
On fishing to a huge rainbow 30inch plus, over 10lb er earlier in the week …..”We nymph fished two separate spots and landed 18 fish, and also got 5 fish on one of my new sulphur dry fly patterns. We sight fished to a rainbow that was over 30″ and looked easily over 10lbs but we could not get him to eat. It actually came over to take a shot at a hooked fish that we had on. If we had not pulled the scared to death 8″ rainbow in and took it off the hook I really think the big fish would have tried to eat it. I have been watching this fish and a few others in the area and know where he is and will have another appointment with him at a later date. “ I know where this guy lives and will have a specific visit just to take another shot at him…..
TIP OF THE WEEK…..Exercise a little Discipline
On fishing the sulphur hatch on East Tennessee rivers and fishing to rising fish in general, I wrote this blurb in the middle of one of the nice green runs on the South Holston as I reflected on why we did well at this particular spot that can be very tough to fish: “We took our time, were disciplined in our approach, worked fish one on one instead of casting, casting, casting, here , there, everywhere….. That approach is fruitless when working these fish. Pick a fish, analyze the drift, make a presentation, either catch him or you don’t, then stop and access the situation. If he rises again, make the necessary adjustments and present the fly again. If you use this approach with the right fly patterns and good casts you will catch a lot of fish. Don’t do it and you’ll spend a lot of time casting to a ton of rising fish that want nothing to do with your fly. Anglers I see that are working rising fish and not catching anything this is the number one reason (of several) why they aren’t doing well.“ Often, I see anglers cast to a fish, get no response, and immediately I think of these questions…..(1) Are you sure of where the fish rose? (I mean, the riseform that you see has drifted several inches to a foot away from the fish’s actual position by the time you make a cast). (2) How do you know that a fish isn’t ready to rise yet to take your fly? (Sometimes, I have observed, that fish rising from the bottom in a few feet of water has to go to the bottom, masticate or chew, swallow, and only then is ready to rise and do it again….maybe this is why casting to the fish right away is why you aren’t getting a response. I present the fly multiple times and never cast one and consider it done and move on. I would say that when guiding folks I consistently, like 95% of the time, note that if I don’t say something to them they almost NEVER cast where the fish really was rising from. They are either way beyond, way below, etc., but almost never where the fish really was. The best thing to do? Only cast once you know with absolute certainty where the fish is rising from?) (3) If given a choice between several fish, I always choose the largest fish and take a shot at him. Why? If I see a large fish and stick or catch a fish near him, that will often put him down and any others that were feeding nearby.
Jeff enjoying a nice brown on the business end of 4wt Sage ZXL …Tom Jackson Photo 2011
Upcoming Escatawba Farms Dry Fly Terrestrial Madness Trip June 5, 2012
Our Annual Escatawba Farms Dry Fly/Terrestrials Trip, have 3 open slots, you can join us here for a day of tossing dry flies and other large terrestrials to giant rainbows and browns. Its a fun day, if you consider catching giant fish on dry flies fun…? You can look at the details of this magnificent trip or book your slot here . It is a day trip, no VA fishing license needed, and we’ll have all 2 miles of private water and 3 lakes/ponds all to ourselves. Come Join us and let’s catch some large fish on big dry flies…!
Rick Mascia with a 21″ Escatawba brown trout….Jeff Wilkins photo March 2012.
Busy Week Ahead…
We have a busy week ahead, beginning with a group trip that is the 6th consecutive May sulphur hatch trip for these guys, Joe Craig, Martin Clark, Locke Clifford, Wendell Ott, Bill Leinster, Ron Davis, and UNC School System President Tom Ross…..TN South Holston River…..should be a great trip as these guys are doing their sixth consecutive 4 day trip with me on this wonderful river, that’s a testament to how good this river is. We will be chasing the sulphur and blue winged olive hatches. Will be posting some pics but not a ton until midweek, so I will be posting this entire week from on site at our house on the river and you can track our up to the minute fishing conditions and reports, , many of which are typed while standing hip deep in the river, at our Real Time Fishing Reports site here .
Right on the heels of this trip, I will wrap up the month of May with two days guiding Mike Riddick of Cary, NC, one day on the SoHo and one day on NC water in Ashe Co fishing several trout waters, one day guiding Dr. Jim Kramer and Dr. Jim Sellers, my former boss at the Fly Line, on the SoHo, Laura Kennerly and Bob Stanford of Greensboro, NC on the SoHo, Mike Workman of Thomasville, NC, one day on one of our private waters in Russell County, VA which is nearby, and finishing up the month guiding Larry Tomar and Dan Camia, Greensboro, NC, on the South Holston. Its been a busy month, a good month, and many thanks for your continued patronage.
Smartphone Fly Fishing App
We have a smartphone flyfishing app that I developed a while back, and we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from customers that are enjoying using it. You can use it on your Mac, PC, Android/Droid devices -phones, tablets, iPhone and iPad, etc., and you can visit our page here to check it out and download a version compatible with your device. Some of what is available via this App are: Fishing Reports, our Social Media pages (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Linked In), Licenses by Phone (great if you get to the river and realize you need to get a license or renew, or perhaps have a friend along who needs one and you can’t find a place to buy one), TN and VA tailwater release info, A place to book a trip or schedule instruction as well as Our Open Dates, Catches of the Month page, This Season’s Bugs, This Month’s Fly Box, Fly Fishing Tip of the Week, Knot Tying diagrams for Essential Knots-can use onstream, Illustrations of our Favorite Fish Catching Rigs of the Season, Hatch Charts, Trout Stream Signs, and more….
In the Works…
I have several new projects in the works that I am currently working on. One is QR codes for all our stuff, where with a smartphone you can scan a QR code and get info on a particular service or product we offer. Also, I have developed a way to sign up for our newsletters and reports and other stuff by a Text to Subscribe feature. Currently, you can already subscribe or set up a friend to subscribe to our popular Fly Fishing eNewsletter by Texting JWFLYFISHING to 22828.
This is the QR code for our Real Time Fly Fishing Reports….
Also in the works is a complete course offering of our Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Courses that you can do online. I am presently putting together the software and programs and such to make this operable whereby eventually you will be able to do an online course involving anything I do in the way of Fly Fishing or Fly Tying Instruction. Very exciting, for me and for those whose schedules make it tough to make a regular class or school. I plan to do a lot of this in the way of Fly Tying classes for Intermediate and Advanced Fly tyers.
In Closing…
Thanks again for all your business and will be looking forward to a week’s worth of new stuff this week we’ll be posting on this week’s trips and adventures. May the Lord richly bless you and your family as He so often has with giving me you as customers.
Tight Lines and May all your hatches match…
Jeff
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Shaun Redgate of Forest, VA with a wild n sassy 21.5″ brown that was caught on one of my CDC bwo patterns during a recent bwo hatch on TN’s South Holston River….Jeff Wilkins photo 2012.
