Southern Trout Magazine Issue 4

ISSUE #4

DEC/JAN 2013

Southern Trout OWL JONES: Bugsanity On The Little River

BENJAMIN RUSH A Fishing Tramp in North Carolina

JIMMY JACOBS: Georgia’s Best Winter Trout Option IN ASSOCIATION WITH SOUTHERNTROUT.COM

THIS ISSUE

SOUTHERN TROUT ENDORSED PROGRAM LAUNCH departments Generally Speaking A Gift Wrapped In Stones Mountain Musings The Man From High Hat Owl’s Perch Bugsanity On The Little River Gear Review Chaco Tedinho Pro Boot History of Southern Trout Fishing Jim Gasque: Fisherman, Lure Maker, and Author

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The Whimsical Wood Art of Jim Wiley

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44

Bamboo For You?

48

Abner The Fly Fishing Ape

52

Winter Fly-Fishing Gatlinburg Trout

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Situational Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains

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The “Other” Arkansas Trout Stream - The Spring River

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Georgia’s Best Winter Trout Option

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A Fishing Tramp in North Carolina

76 79

Five Flies to Never Leave Home Without Fly Fishing For Virginia Winter Trout

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White River Fogeye Trout

12 14

Book Review Around The Next Bend

21

Guide Profile John Berry, Berry Brothers Guide Service

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Fly of the Month Blue Wing Olive

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Featured Fly Shop Riverside Fly Shop

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Wanderings of the Creek Freak “Vet” Your Fly-Fishing Perspective

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New Fly Guy Easy Droppers

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Editor Jeff Kirk Webmaster & Digital Design Leslie Kirk Webmaster’s Assistant Megan Allbert Managing Editor & Advertising Leah Kirk Social Media Manager Loryn Kirk Communications Adam Kirk

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10

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Publisher Don Kirk

features

40-88

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Performance Primer 5 Tips For Staying Warm On The River

Southern Trout

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90

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70 On the Cover

news

90-91 Southern Trout Endorsed Program Launch

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92-97

Terrece Beesley grew up on a potato farm, the youngest child, with four older brothers trying to keep her in line. Their parents taught them to work hard and to love outdoor activities, especially skiing, swimming and fishing. The Beesley farm and surrounding area still hold her heart.

Terrece enjoys painting all types of subjects, but Although she’s not a great fisherman (”I have a lovely cast, but can’t catch a darn thing”) Terrece loves floating the rivers in Idaho and walking along the banks. While her husband fishes, she takes photographs, and turns them into paintings later.

In addition to Terrece’s studio work, she works with the Utah Arts Council’s Artist in Residence program, teaching art in elementary schools around Utah, and giving watercolor seminars to high school and elementary students at Weber State University. fly fishing paintings are the most fun.

contributors

Field Staff Craig Haney, Editor-at-Large Greg Ward, Tennessee Editor Jimmy Jacobs, Georgia Editor Beau Beasley, Virginia Editor Larry Rea, Arkansas Editor Dr. Todd Larson, Columnist Bob Borgwat, Columnist Jeff “Owl” Jones, Columnist Contributors Bill Bernhardt John Berry David Cannon Bo Cash Soc Clay Dave Ezell Ron Gaddy Daniel Brent Golden George Grant Kevin Howell

Roger Lowe Oak Meyers Steve Moore Harry Murray Marc Payne Scott Spencer W.H. Bill Stuart, Jr. Benjamin VanDevender

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news Publisher’s Message

news and Stephanie was birthed. The next day was the Opening Day for fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains. I reasoned that insofar as I had been there three consecutive weeks and the baby was here and all were safe and sound, that there was no logical reason to not slip in a morning of fishing.

and dad, her older brother, my mom and dad, and the preacher from our church, whom, I might add, had no apparent interest in fishing for anything but souls.

The room fell silent as I came in toting my catch in a pretty haggard looking plastic bag.

The only person grinning was my father who knew too well my well deserved predicament.

Winter F i shi ng Can Change Your Life Winter season fly fishing for trout is a newer deal than a lot of young fellows realize. It has not been that long ago when 90 percent of the trout waters of the South closed in the fall and then opened in the spring, usually around April 1st. Our opening day ritual was to bite the head off of the first trout that was caught, which one always hoped would be a little fellow…

In 1974 when my first daughter was born, prior to the doctors doing a C-section on my wife, they kept her in the hospital for three weeks—the last three weeks of March. I was there beside the bed of my wife throughout her prolonged ordeal. On the last day of the month, they did the procedure,

I recall it being rainy, and Greenbrier was a bit discolored but not especially high or rolling. My fourth or fifth cast into a murky run brought a solid strike. I found myself connected to what felt like a big fish that did not run but was more sullen than hell-bound for freedom. In pretty short order, I worked my first 20-inch brown trout up on a gravel bar. It was a beauty, which like all trout caught in those days, had as much chance of being released as me winning the lottery. I stuffed the trout into a plastic bag I found in my fishing car and headed to the hospital with my prize catch.

I made it there about 10:30 that morning. Entering the room, I saw my wife holding Stephanie. They were surrounded by her mom

As had some had predicted, a couple of months later, my wife decided to move back to southern Georgia where her family lived. It freed me up to, more or less, take up residence in Cades Cove where I became a regular fixture on Abrams Creek. That autumn she move back in with me, something that all of my wives usually did once the leaves fell off of the trees and the streams closed. I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if there was winter fishing in those days.

Editor’s Letter Keeping a digital magazine moving in one direction is a bit like herding cats. There’s always a lot going on and projects that can go way astray unless the editor is vigilant. So much of what we spend time on is communication via our newsletter and the social media.

It is new age in publishing and in how to get out your message that was not even dreamed about when I was in school. Now it is the norm.

Digital publishing enables us to do many things that are of interest to the reader. For example, my plans for the near future include video clips of tying flies. This is nothing new to this publishing format, but it is new for us.

I doubt that many of you know it, but throughout the 1990s our publisher was the co-host of a couple of long running outdoors

television shows which aired on ESPN and the Outdoor Network.

We have dozens of shows of him fishing for trout and salmon all over North America, and lots of fly fishing in Mexico and Central America. We are looking at compressing some of these to put on the web page. There is one that is on YouTube of him hooking and losing a possible world record largemouth bass at Lake Huites in Mexico. That particular clip has received over a half million views. You can see in the video that the bass was in the 30-inches range and quite rotund. Was it a world record?

Look and see what you think.

This issue has an article on our Southern Trout Endorsement Program. The program is designed to recognize the top fly shops, guides/outfitters, and resorts operating in the coverage area of Southern Trout Magazine. We have put together a staff of experienced southern trout fishermen to help evaluate potential businesses

for our endorsement. If all goes according to schedule, we will have this program up and going in January of 2013.

We are also working to launch the Southern Trout Radio Show. Right now, we have not established a launch date, but according to our crystal ball, it could be as early as March of 2013. As it looks now, it will be a one-hour broadcast that we will stream online as well as sending it out via email the same as we do the newsletter.

In terms of being a communication venue, the internet offers virtually limitless opportunities if you can manage the time to develop them. Right now we remain ambitious and focused on making Southern Trout a great, one-of-a-kind communication vehicle for promoting and popularizing fishing for trout in the Southland.

- Jeff Kirk

- Don Kirk

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generally speaking

A Gift Wrapped in Stones GEORGE GRANT

Females are the first to become active in the spawn by searching for the right stretch of water. They require a spot that features gentle but sustained current flow over a streambed composed of loose stones and gravel.

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nglers that love wild trout are about to receive a wonderful present. A gift that is, for want of a better term, fin-made, requires no assembly (by us anyway), and comes wrapped in stones.

There is a catch, however. This gift won’t be unwrapped until next year.

Mid-fall through mid-winter is the prime spawning season for trout. Brown trout generally spawn first with brook trout and rainbows following. Sometimes the spawn for browns and brookies overlaps and this can lead to a little bit of confusion in streams where both species are present. When a female brown mistakenly pairs up with a male brook trout, they produce a very rare natural hybrid known as a tiger trout.

I’ve encountered only one tiger trout in the wild, although some state hatcheries have produced and stocked them as a novelty. I caught it in the upper section of Laurel Fork in the Cherokee National Forest. For the record, I did not catch my tiger by the tail. He was hooked fair and square in the lip.

Trout prepare for the spawn by getting dressed for the occasion. Appearance is one of the criteria for mate selection and the coloration of both genders in all species intensifies as spawning approaches. Male trout develop an elongation of the lower jaw that pushes it out and curves its tip upward from its normal position below and behind the upper jaw. This fearsome, toothy change is called a kype. The kype often becomes a year-round feature on very mature males.

Photos Courtesy USFWS Females will test a likely spot by settling to the bottom and probing the stones with their fins.

They also test the streambed by attempting to dislodge stones and gravel with vigorous fanning motions of their tailfin while holding themselves on their sides just above the bottom, an action known as cutting. When they’ve found the right place, sometimes after a journey of miles, they’ll defend it against other females with ritualized posturing and maneuvering. After the females have successfully established their claims on prime spawning habitat, they wait for the males to arrive.

When the guys show up, they spend quite a bit of time sorting out who gets the girl with the really nice gravel. Most of the competition consists of ritualistic posturing and display, but the guys are quite willing to nip or butt a persistent competitor. They sometimes even seize their rivals by the tail and drag them downstream. Eventually the happy couple settles down with the female positioned slightly upstream of the male.

Unpaired males often hold downstream of paired fish hoping for an opportunity to

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join the female while her mate is distracted deep enough to satisfy her, she will hold in the dealing with a competitor. Even this expectant current just upstream of the depression and wait to be joined by the male. Side by side entourage sorts itself out with competition. they release eggs and milt that the current, With a final pairing established, the female distorted by the shape of the bed and the will turn on her side just above the stream piled stones downstream of it, mixes and holds bed and fan her tailfin rapidly to lift stones in the bed. Then the female moves slightly and gravel that the current piles up slightly upstream and begins cutting to loosen stones downstream of the depression she’s creating. and gravel that will cover the fertilized eggs.

This initial depression is known as a bed (yeah, we’re getting to the good part). The This process will be repeated until the female frequently checks the depth of female has exhausted her supply of eggs. the bed she’s cutting by settling into it and The pile of fertile eggs and the displaced probing the bottom with a fin. While she’s stones protecting them is known as a redd. doing that the male swims up beside her and A large pair of spawning trout can create a quivers rapidly, an action known as courting. redd several feet in diameter that contains I don’t know about you, but I can vividly thousands of fertile eggs. recall several occasions when I found myself quivering rapidly in the presence of a female When they’re spent with nothing more to trust to cold stones and ceaseless currents, they during courtship. It’s a guy thing. move on and our present, another generation Once the female has created a bed large and of fine, wild trout, waits wrapped in stone. www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 7

mountain musings THE MAN FROM HIGH HAT Soc Clay

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s a kid growing up in the hill country

of eastern Kentucky, the only thing I knew about trout fishing came from wonderful stories my old friend Watt Watson Walker spun around the fireplace on cold, winter days in his old cabin that was located near our farm.

“WW,” as most called him in those days, had been born into a better economic situation than my family and many of our neighbors at the time. His was the famous Walkers of Virginia who fought gallantly in the American Revolutionary War and because many of them were officers, they received huge land grants on the edge of the frontier after the war. I learned that WW’s family once owned most of the land in our county, and they were prominent farmers and business owners.

Not so with WW. As soon as he was 18, he was off to the gold diggings in Alaska and the Yukon.

It was there that he learned about trout and salmon fishing and became an expert at wielding a bamboo fly rod in the same streams that were producing glints of “color.”

mountain musings the old Hi Hat Elkhorn Coal Company Store looking up at Ms Addis who had waited on customers there for (what Freddy thought) a hundred years!

“Why son can’t you see ’em flyin’ all around here.

If you youngun’s would keep that busted screen door closed, I wouldn’t have this problem,” the aging clerk replied.

Fred remembers that day of wonderment when he asked for something the company store didn’t handle. He concluded that Eastern Kentucky was, as most people believed, a wee bit far off the beaten path for fly fishermen.

resources. He had urged the agency to consider stocking trout in the small streams that drained the high country in that part of the commonwealth.

Later, he would fish the virgin streams of the Big Horn Mountains, and thus, on cold, winter days, he would stir up the flames in the old rock fireplace and recount those marvelous times to me and my brother Fred.

Such, I believed, would be a challenge. My version of that region was one of unregulated coal mining.

Dozens of active deep mines and hundreds of abandoned mines were pumping acid mine waters into the closest streams. I was doubtful from my far-away station, that a crawdad could live in those places! Fred knew better and decided if he was to have success with his vision of trout fishing in the coal mining region of the state, he needed an organization to support his dream.

Many years later, when I was writing about the outdoors for the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper in Lexington, KY, I received a letter, hand addressed, postmarked “High-Hat, Kentucky.” On a thin sheet of mimeograph paper were faded blue letters inviting me to the very first meeting of a Trout Unlimited Chapter being held in the old high school building in McDowell, Floyd County, KY. For more information, I was directed to call Fred Hall at his High-Hat phone number.

But hold on there. I’m getting the horse way out in front of the wagon. What would cause a coal miner’s son living in the heart of a boom or bust economy completely dependent on the world’s use of coal to have an interest in creating trout water in a place where the bottom of streams were often colored yellow from acid escaping the open mines? Such didn’t deter the man from High Hat who had dreamed during most of his early life about being a fly fisherman for trout.

I would learn that Fred had been active with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife

“Ms Addis, do you have any flies?” Ten-year-old Freddy Hall peered over the wooden counter of

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It was in 1963, while Fred was attending Morehead State Teachers College, that he was introduced to trout fishing for the first time. A friend had driven him deep into the Red River Gorge, a remote part of the Daniel Boone National Forest, to a creek named Swift Camp Creek. This was the stream where many believed (and still do) the fabled “Swift Silver Mine” is located. With all the excitement of casting to 9-10“ rainbows that came out of a stocking truck, and with the idea that he might be standing on top of a lost silver mine, Fred caught trout fever that would strongly affect his life to this day.

Years later after mapping all the trout streams in Kentucky, Fred would become acquainted with Gratton Gannon, who at the time was the president of the West VA-KY Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

He urged Fred to take an application he had in his backpack and propose a new chapter for the internationally-known trout fishing organization.

It would become known as the Kentucky Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Fred has been the only president the chapter has had. His small group of followers that included a few teachers like himself, his pal Barry Dean Martin, “Carbide,” and a few other coal miners with equally interesting nicknames, would create such a dynamic impression with trout fishermen state-wide that other chapters were formed including the Bluegrass Chapter. The Bluegrass Chapter became the most active chapter in Trout Unlimited for many years.

Today, Fred, many years retired from the Floyd County school system, continues to survey waters of Kentucky that could possibly become future habitat for trout. All the original members of the Kentucky Mt. Chapter are now retired or passed on. Sadly, few younger fishermen in the rugged mountains are interested in following Fred’s path that would eventually establish quality trout fishing in the commonwealth including wild brook trout. Fred is a prime example of how the most unlikely fisherman can turn into a super-human activist when trout fever strikes a deadly blow. At this writing, the aging mountain angler is working a nymph under a new hatch coming off a pool in the small stream behind his cabin.

Such would have never happened if it weren’t for the near life-long efforts of a young boy-turnedman from High Hat, Kentucky by the name of Freddy Hall who was trying to buy “flies” in Ms. Addis’ High Hat Elkhorn Coal Company Store.

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owl’s perch Bugsanity on the Little River Owl Jones

take my finger off!”

“We’re looking at bugs!”

“Whaat?”

“BUGS! We’re looking buuuuuuuuugs...”

That’s when we heard the car doors slam.

“Tourists...” I said.

at

......crickets.........blank stares...... head scratchin’.........

Grant looked up and then looked back at the rock. We flipped over a few more before looking up again. I found a pretty cool looking crawdad under one large, flat rock and called out to Grant that he should come over to see it. It was right about then that I heard the cameras going off...

“Did he say bugs, Marv?”

“Yeah, I tink he did. Dey’re lohking at freakin’ bugs fer God’s sake.” “ Hmmpf. Must be sum kinda speeeeshul bugs. Geezsh.”

“Hurry up and get in da car kidz, we can still make it to dah Dikxee Stampeedz...”

Click-click-click-click..............click-click- With that, the family that had stopped first click........click-click-click... lowered their cameras and began to scramble

T

here comes a time in every fly fisher’s life that he or she is seen by the general public as completely nuts.

Whether it’s the fine art of avoiding a swim, a double-haul gone bad, or the wearing of funny hats, if you fly fish long enough, someone is going to think you are absolutely mad. Such was the case a few years ago, when a friend and I caught the Yellow Sally hatch on the Little River near Townsend, Tennessee.

spontaneously mind you, to stop fishing and start turning over rocks.

Looking back on it, I can’t remember why we were turning over rocks. The sallies were in the air, not under the rocks. But, we soon found the largest rock we could and proceeded to tag team in an attempt to flip it over. Bugs filled my ears and nose and one even tried to make its way into my mouth. Yellow Sallies don’t taste all that good (which makes you Little Yellow Sallies had been hatching on and wonder why the trout eat them), so I quickly off all afternoon, and we were hoping that wiped him, or her, from my lips and grabbed the evening hours would bring on even more the rock. activity from the bugs and the fish. Fortunately for us, we’d timed it exactly right, and we “One. Two. THREE!” A couple of tries and the would experience one of those hatches that rock soon tilted skyward and toppled over every angler dreams about: the kind of hatch on its back. Underneath were a half-dozen, where you have bugs in your ears, eyes, and average-sized mayfly nymphs, some tiny nose. Is it crazy to wish for bugs in your nose? cased caddis, three or four really small mayfly nymphs, and two of the biggest stonefly In a shallow riffle just upstream from Metcalf nymphs we’d ever seen.

Bottoms, the sallies were coming off in droves.

Fish were slashing at them in every little cut “Whoooaa!” of water, and birds soon filled the air above “Holy cow!” us. We got more than a little excited and “Look at the size of those things! Pick one up!” soon abandoned the fishing, leaving our rods to rest on the bank. We decided, rather “No way. I’m not picking that thing up. It might

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Another car full of tourists had joined the first, obviously following the #1 standing rule of the Smokies, which is: If someone is looking at something, you must stop the car and look at it with them. A voice yelled over the rush of the river: “Whaat are youz guys lohking at?”

I looked up at the family standing there, then at Grant, and then back at the family. I realized at that moment that our rods were so far from us that the tourists couldn’t see them in the failing light. We’d been caught scrambling around in the middle of a river, wearing funny clothes, funny vests and strange looking hats. We had no fishing rods, so we couldn’t possibly be fishermen. To the tourists, I imagine, the only reasonable explanation for our actions was that we were Park Service employees who’d just found a new species of salamander or a 4-pound gold nugget, perhaps. Just to make sure I’d heard the question right, I stood upright, clasped my hands around my mouth, and yelled back at them in my best Southern accent: “Whuuuuuuuuuuut?”

“Whaat are youz guys looooohking at unnnnder dere?” they said, as their family and the other people from the second car began to take more photos of the two nuts turning over rocks in the river.

back through the small crowd of onlookers.

Back to their car, back into town, and back to their version of sanity. The second family, who’d been tricked into stopping because of the GSMNP Rule #1, started moving closer to us. As they passed group #1, they were apparently informed of our condition by the first group of folks. A little more head scratching and head shaking began and probably a discussion about whether or not we were intoxicated as well as insane. To be perfectly honest with you, I’m surprised someone didn’t call the police. Ignoring the events taking place on the bank, Grant and I turned our attention back to the river. There were at least 4 or 5 minutes of usable light left, after all.

We’d gone back to turning over rocks and watching birds snatch Yellow Sallies from the sky. Soon the last of the tourists had piled back into their cars and headed for town, back to the “sanity” of exaggerated theater productions, ringing cell phones, $30 airbrushed T-shirts, and hillbilly everything.

Pigeon Forge may be great for families, but it’s lousy for peace and quiet and Yellow Sallies. I can’t speak for Grant, but for me, if that’s what passes for “sanity” these days, I’ll just go ahead and remain completely bonkers. Thanks.

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gear review Chaco Tedinho Pro River Boot Jeff Kirk

I

t’s not rocket science to understand that any sort of footwear designed for river fun is superior to wading in canvas sneakers. However, the problem I have found with a number of boots designed specifically for wading is that they often tend to be bulky and rather heavy. This is why I was so impressed with the pair of Chaco Tedinho Pro River Boots I used on a number of trout fishing trips this year. Ironically, the boot was designed for various forms of river recreation and not specifically as wading footwear.

A lightweight lace up that is sure to create envy; the Tedinho Pro is more than your average river boot. With a gusseted tongue to seal out the elements and a sticky rubber outsole to provide the ultimate grip, the Tedinho Pro is a water lover’s dream. The LUVSEAT platform aligns your feet as you move from water to land with ease in this quick drying and lightweight boot.

canvas upper and their gusseted tonguefor-ankle-seal. I was pretty skeptical of the Tedinho Pro’s Vibram Bulloo Pro Outsole, knowing it would be good for hiking and some wading, but unsure of its performance on slippery freestone streams. I was surprised by how well these soles did. I found them to superior to metal studs and almost as reliable as felt soles. If you are fishing water where felt soles are no longer permitted, I highly recommend them.

Unlike most Chacos I’ve experienced in water/ slippery rocks, these did not slip. Where I would be sure to fall with any other shoe, these boots gripped. I was not hesitant to make any maneuver. They also allow nothing but water in them, no sand/dirt. They drain quickly, and the high tops gave me ankle support. On one of my trips I did a 2 mile hike up to the Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains For more information, on the Tedinho Pro National Park. Its a very steep hike. The river boots, visit www.chacos.com shoes performed great as hiking shoes. The Chimney Tops itself is a giant, steep rockface to climb up. The shoes again, did not slip.

From me, this is a highly recommended shoe.

Lets just hope they are durable and have a high life expectancy.

Features that I like about these Tedinho Pro include their durable, quick-drying polyester

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history of southern trout fishing Jim Gasque: Fisherman, Lure Maker, and Author Bill Stuart, Jr. of the Museum of Fishing

J

im was born on March 3, 1903 near Lake City, South Carolina. He was one of four children of MacRoy and Myrtle Lange Gasque. MacRoy was a farmer and realtor, a descendent of the French Huguenots of Eastern Carolina and a South Carolinian of the old school. About 1919 the family moved to the Asheville area where Jim attended high school.

From his earliest days he was an outdoorsman, naturalist, and an animal lover. He could imitate any bird or animal call and loved to fish and hunt. Jim was an expert shot with a “Gum Bow” or slingshot; more often than not, he used it rather than a rifle when hunting squirrels and other small game. It was said that he was more accurate with a gum bow within squirrel shooting range than the average man with a rifle.

Following school Jim worked as a diamond salesman and then went into the bail bonding business with his Uncle Jim. In 1929 Jim married Viola Bell of Asheville. Then, in 1936 he founded the Asheville Exterminating Company. His introduction to the business was really an accident. Jim and Viola’s home had a bug problem, and when his neighbors saw him working on the problem, they asked him to help them get rid of their bugs, too. Thus, Asheville Exterminating was born.

as the outdoor editor for both the Asheville Citizen and the Asheville Times. He also produced short stories for such magazines as Field and Stream and The Sportsman’s Encyclopedia. Jim was an expert caster.

He participated in and was involved in organizing a number of casting tournaments for accuracy and distance. Although his ma jor vice was “Jest Fishing,” Jim operated the Western North Carolina Sportsman’s Service, a hunting and fishing guide service for the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, located at 1 1/2 Pack Square.

His favorite haunts were the Great Smokies, the TVA Lakes, and the nearby rivers and streams. Throughout the area he was known as the “Wizard Fisherman.” Jim was a skilled craftsman of custom bamboo rods, as well as a designer/maker of flies and lures. He tied flies all of his life, and for more than 30 years he tied for Abercrombie & Fitch in New York. The ones he tied for himself were dark colored streamers with large head and painted eyes.

Up to that time Jim’s main source of income was from writing. He began by working

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The “Basstriker,” which Jim developed in the early 1930’s, was actually a streamer fly design.

However, he admitted it was on the heavy side, and it was usually used by bait casters. The Basstriker/ Troutstriker’s unique feature was a white fabric “skirt” with nine fingers that undulated as the bait was worked. His prototypes used oil cloth which he

history of southern trout fishing About 1937 he began making the Basstriker for commercial distribution. For several years Jim and his family hand made the lures, stapled them to cards, and sold them to Abercrombie and Fitch, Macy’s, and others.

These lures were also sold locally at Finkelstein’s Sporting Goods and Pawn Shop in Asheville.

However, he could not keep up with the demand. After two or three years, Jim entered into an agreement with Empire Tackle Company of New Hartford, New York to produce the lure.

Jim, an outdoorsman in every way, was also a colorful storyteller and loved to write and tell about his many adventures. In addition to his numerous magazine and newspaper articles, he wrote initially cut by hand. Jim then developed a two books. Jim’s first book, entitled Bass cutting die which could cut six or more skirts Fishing - Technique, Tactics and Tales, was at one time with the aid of a wooden mallet. written in 1944, but it was not published until 1945 due to a war-time paper shortage. In The production skirt was also white and was the introduction, he explains that he had “two made from what appears to be a rubberized aims constantly before him. First, to set forth fabric. The skirt had a hackle or hair streamer just how a favorable reduction in bass fishing tied over the top of it. Each hook, regardless failures may be accomplished when fishing is of the number, was pushed through one of the par or average; second, tactics that will take skirt fingers and was sewn to that finger as an occasional good fish on those hot summer well as being connected to the head of the days and during those protracted periods assembly. The skirt/hackle assembly was when fishing is off.” attached to a long stiff wire that served as the line tie and had a #3 (7/8” x 5/8”) spinner An article in the West Asheville News of August attached.

24, 1945, on Gasque’s book Bass Fishing notes, “local acclaim...was immediate...more The Gasque “Popstriker,” a fly rod popping than a hundred daily and weekly papers in bug, had a cork body and a miniature nine North Carolina have reviewed it, the general finger skirt which was glued to the body. opinion of reviewers being that Bass Fishing It was available in six body and hair color has already established itself as a must for combinations. With all these models, Jim every angler.” The article continues, “last was quick to say that as long as the skirt was week Worldwide Photos carried pictures of the white, he didn’t care about the streamer or author, while the New York Times gave Bass body colors. He would also tell you that he Fishing an excellent review on August 19th. The never wasted time changing lures. www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 15

history of southern trout fishing

history of southern trout fishing both buried at the Avery’s Creek Methodist Church Cemetery in the Bell Family area. Jim and Viola had no children.

Raised a Methodist, Jim supported lots of churches and community causes financially.

The statement was made, “When Jim died, half the churches in Asheville owed him money,” which I translate to mean that at the time of his death, Jim had donated financially to half the churches in town. At the time of his death, Jim had a contract with Alfred A. Knopf of New York, his publisher, to write yet a third book, but obviously the spirit never moved him as there is no record of a partial manuscript.

New Yorker Magazine called special attention to the superb pictures and color plates.

Master Sergeant Warren Guggenheim, of the Air Force here, took the photographs and also painted the cover picture and frontispiece.”

brother, MacRoy, is of the opinion that he copyrighted the name and later sold or traded the rights to the name. Jim was well known in the area as the rep for Whopper Stopper.

Fred Eder of Sherman, Texas, began Whopper Stopper production in 1946 and incorporated An article by Bill Sharpe in the Charlotte under that name in 1950. When Whopper Observer of August 26, 1945, states, “Jim Stopper went out of business in 1953, Jim Gasque’s book, ‘Bass Fishing’...takes its place began representing Allen Tackle Company in the Borzoi Series along with volumes by Ray of Chicago, whose lead product was the Bergman, Van Campen Heilner, Ray Holland, Gasque Crawler. The Gasque Crawler and John Alden Knight and many other noted two other Gasque designed Allen lures used sportsmen.” Everyone will agree that Jim was the Whopper Stopper lip. When the Whopper in very good company.

Stopper Company was resurrected in 1956, they continued to use the name.

The Asheville Citizen reporting some six months later (2/7/46) reads, “The author Jim Gasque’s second book, Hunting and of ‘Bass Fishing’ has been awarded an Fishing in the Great Smokies, was published honorary membership in the Eugene Field in 1948. In the introduction he writes that he Society, National Association of Authors and has “a longheld and deep conviction that the Journalists, for having by his writings made extraordinary merits of the Great Smokies an outstanding contribution to contemporary and the Southern Appalachians are too little literature!” known or appreciated; a pleasant association of three decades with their lakes and streams, Another contribution attributed to Jim is that mountains and valleys... has made this, indeed, he coined the name “Whopper Stopper.” His a labor of love.”

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Jim’s friend and neighbor was Charles Eatman, Jr., an amateur artist. Charles volunteered to do a painting for the frontispiece of the new book. Jim readily agreed. However, Eatman’s first attempt was technically incorrect; so he actually did two paintings. (The first has never been found.)

Jim had many interests. He was an active member of the Moose Club, he was an avid coin collector, and he had a serious green thumb. In his agricultural interests he was both serious and competitive as he wanted to grow the earliest and the largest tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, sunflowers or anything else. He maintained a year-round greenhouse and would go to any legal means to win. He specialized in what he called the Australian Tomato. That may have just been Jim’s own name for it. One variety was named Gasque’s Pride. He grew them striped and square. Some of his tomato bushes were more like trees, reaching 50’ to 60’ in height.

Jim Gasque was known to be extremely loyal to his friends and to nature with a deep sense of right and wrong. He was a serious student of North Carolina’s history and held strong opinions on political and religious matters, especially as they related to the common good. Viola passed away in 1991, and they are

As mentioned earlier, Jim was one of the first exterminators in North Carolina and was probably the first registered one in the western part of the state. Although retired at the time of his death in 1967, he still went to the office each day to answer the phone, tie flies, and of course, to swap stories about his first love–jest fishing!

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performance primer 5 Tips For Staying Warm on the River

performance primer

Bo Cash

W

ell, winter has finally arrived in the mountains; the fishing, however, is still decent. Yet, you can get into real trouble if you are not dressed properly. Here are some things that I do for winter fishing that will help you stay warm and safe.

1. Dress in layers. This way you can take layers off as the day gets warmer, and you will still be warm in the morning.

2. Wear fleece or wool. That way, if you get wet, they will retain your warmth.

3. Always carry matches or a device to start a fire. I typically carry a railroad flare. Even when wet, it can start a fire. If you fall in during the winter, you have roughly half as long as the water temperature before hypothermia sets in. For example, if the water is 36 degrees, you have about 18 minutes before feeling the effects of hypothermia. if you or your fishing partner falls in, get out on the bank, start a fire to stay warm, and dry your clothes.

4. Keep your head and hands warm. Most of the body’s heat is lost through the head, so wear a toboggan, watch cap, or Elmer Fudd Hat (bombers hat). Use fleece or wool gloves with only the fingers that you need to use cut out. Most people leave the stream because their hands are cold, a little preventative measure will enable you to fish that much longer!

Image courtesy of Ourdoor Lab Gear

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5. Keep your feet warm. wear heavy wool or fleece socks under neoprene boots, but be sure that they wick moisture away from your feet. If not, the moisture will make your feet cold. Also, be sure to wear loose fitting boots.

Boots that are too tight will cut off the circulation to your feet resulting in cold feet.

Image courtesy of Troutcatchers

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G

book review Around the Next Bend

ood reads are too far in between. Around the Next Bend by Bob Shanks (Cold River Studio, Nashville, TN, 2011) is an excellent example. Subtitled “Adventures in Fly Fishing,” it is indeed the sharing of a lifetime of experiences of fishing southern waters, especially the Great Smoky Mountains and twentytwo consecutive summers fly fishing in Montana. I particularly like Shank’s narration of fishing Hazel Creek in the early 1950s when I was a toddler. He makes the claim that he invented the first Hazel Creek trail buggy, which I certainly would not contest insofar as the book has pictures to validate his claim.

Around the Next Bend is a nostalgic look back on a lifetime of flicking flies that Shanks artfully blends with the meaning of life. The feel of the book is comparable to the writings of Harry Middleton, which is not surprising as the love for the mountains and trying to outwit trout has a familiar aroma to those of us who are of kindred spirit. I enjoyed a couple of chapters so much that I read them twice, something I usually only do when I am confused and not for joy of savoring the prose.

Shanks devotes the latter portion of the book to how-to advice that is also a good read.

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Around the Next Bend is available from the author (Bob Shanks, 664 Knight Road, Decherd, TN 37324). He charges only actual costs ($3.00) for shipping, $16.00 total, including shipping, for his $12.95 book. You can contact him at bshanks29@gmail.com, or by phone: 931-967-5778. Around the Next Bend makes a great a Christmas gift or a gift as a gesture of friendship.

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guide profile John Berry, Berry Brothers Guide Service, Cotter, Arkansas

P

erhaps the best known fly-fishing guide in the Razorback State, John Berry provides fly-fishing trips on Arkansas top waters for trout and on Crooked Creek for bronzeback trout (AKA smallmouth bass).

He has been a fly-fishing guide in the Ozarks for the past fifteen years. He offers trips to the White River, Norfork River, Little Red River, and Spring River. His company, Berry Brothers Guide Service, specializes in fly fishing for trophy trout on seldom fished areas.

Berry is not only a noted guide and fly fishing expert, but he also has a history of giving back to the sport of fly fishing. His accomplishments are well known. He was the past president of the Mid South Fly Fishers for two terms. He has served as the Conservation Director for the Southern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers. He is a life member of the Federation of Fly Fishers and the Mid South Fly Fishers.

He is also a member of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers, Federation of Fly Fishers Guide Association, and the Arkansas Outfitters and Guides Association.

successful fishing guide Home Waters. He writes for several sporting journals and is also a photographer whose work has been published in several periodicals. John has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mid South Fly Fishers. In 1996, when he was president of the Mid South Fly Fishers, the club received the McKenzie Cup from the Federation of Fly Fishers as club of the year.

In 2004 he received the prestigious Tall Tale Tellers Award from the Southern Council of He has taught fly fishing and fly casting for the Federation of Fly Fishers. Most recently Shelby State Community College, Mississippi John was awarded the Charles E. Brooks County Community College, the Arkansas Memorial Lifetime Award by the Federation Game and Fish Commission, the Mid South Fly of Fly Fishers.

Fishers, Casting for Recovery, and Becoming an Outdoors Woman. He is a member of The For more information on John Berry or to Federation of Fly Fishers Speakers Bureau book a fishing trip, visit: and he has been a seminar presenter and fly tier at the Federation of Fly Fishers National www.berrybrothersguides.com Conclave, the Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Conclave, the Sow Bug Round Up, or contact him at: the Ducks Unlimited Great Outdoors Festival, and the Home Waters Expo. John served as Berry Brothers Guide Service guide for Hooked on a Cure for the last three 408 Combs Avenue, years.

Cotter, Arkansas 72626 John writes a fly-fishing column for the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, Arkansas.

He has written two chapters for the highly

Telephone 870-435-2169

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fly of the month Blue Wing Olive Roger Lowe

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ne of my favorite dry fly patterns in the winter months is the Blue Wing Olive, tied most commonly in sizes #16 thru #20. Sometimes called Baetis, this fly hatches throughout North Georgia, Western North Carolina and East Tennessee.

The duns ride the water for a long time before taking flight. These are often one of the first ma jor hatches in late winter, and the last in the fall.

On some streams and rivers they may emerge all winter. This normally occurs during the warmest part of the day. Dismal weather invites the most prolific hatches. Overcast or rainy days are considered prime times. These are the only mayflies to lay their eggs underwater.

When tying these, use a medium to light blue dun hackle to make them more visible on the water. There are several species of Blue Wing Olives, so when choosing body colors some are darker or lighter in color than others. I prefer the darker olive color tied very sparsely. Thread size 8/0 will give you the look you want.

5 States 38 River Systems $21.95

9 States 46 Tailwaters $19.95

Trout Fishing Guidebooks For The South Recipe

By Jimmy Jacobs

Hook: Standard dry fly sizes 14-24 Thread: Olive 8/0 Body: Olive dubbing Tail: Dark blue dun hackle barbs Hackle: Medium blue dun Wing: Medium blue dun hen hackle tips

Roger’s book, Roger Lowe’s Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains is a fly tying and identification guide. He also has a tying video, Smoky Mountain Fly Patterns. It shows how to tie a lot of the Smoky Mountain patterns. He also has a hatch book, Smoky Mountain Fly Patterns. It tells you which patterns to use each month. Contact him at loweguideservice@charter.net for autographed copies or to inquire about booking a guide fishing trip.

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80 Watersheds On Public Land $15.95

Autographed copies available.

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Spring River Flies and Guides Drift boat Guide trips and Full Service Fly Shop Located 2 miles south on Hwy 63 in Mammoth Spring, AR

Your local fly fishing experts!

Traditional Flies Custom Flies

Specializing in traditional flies used in the Appalachians, Ozarks and Tennessee Tail Waters

www.tennesseetraditionalflies.com shop.tennesseetraditionalflies.com 26 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

Tying Materials Tying Tools Fly Fishing Accessories

For more information: www.springriverfliesandguides.com email: mark@springriverfliesandguides.com

Made In the USA

or call: 417-280-0927 www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 27

featured fly shop Riverside Fly Shop

featured fly shop Jasper, Alabama streams or even going offshore, the “big box” has flies that can do the job. Their “small box” is filled with the shop owner’s own hand tied flies. This box houses some of the most productive patterns created at their tying bench. They are field tested and guide approved. According to the owners, “We have found them to be just the ticket for those times when the fish are looking for something special.”

Among the array of product lines carried in inventory at the shop are Echo Classic fly fishing rods, Temple Fork Outfitters, Okuma Sierra, Teton and Waterworks/ Lamson Reels, Dan Bailey waders, Bite Boots, and NuCanoes to name a few. Being a full service fly shop, the store also offers fly casting, fly tying and rod

T

building classes as well a room packed with nothing but fly tying supplies.

Guide trips are also available for trout, striped bass, largemouth/spotted bass, and panfish. Trips are customizable to meet the needs of the customer.

rout stocked into tailwaters not only changes the attention these waters receive, but it also often results in the genesis of many business. Riverside Fly Shop in Jasper, Alabama is a perfect example of this premise. Prior to being seeded with trout, the Sipsey River below Smith Lake was largely ignored by fishermen. However, now that it offers miles of excellent fishing for trout, it has become an increasingly popular among fly fishermen.

Riverside Fly Shop is a full service fly shop seeking to support and advance the sport of fly fishing. Riverside is owned and operated by Brandon and Mary Carole Jackson (both avid fishermen) who try to greet each customer with a smile, helpful tips, and information to make each fishing trip a successful one. Riverside maintains a wide array of fishing gear to meet the needs of anglers. From flies to fly tying material, from rods to rod building, from felt sole boots to waders, they have got it…and most likely in your color or size. If you are a newbie who is not sure if fly fishing is for you, they have a great “Give it a try” rental

Riverside Fly Shop is located at: 17027 Al Highway 69 North Jasper, Alabama 35504 Telephone 256-287-9582 www.riversideflyshop.com

package of boots, waders, and rod for $45.

The shop offers of a huge selection of flies.

Their “big box,” which has over 370 bins, is filled with quality production flies. This wide assortment of flies has the right fly for almost any water on almost any occasion. Whether you are trout fishing, bass fishing, or red fishing, if you are fishing the Sipsey River beside the shop or fishing small mountain

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wanderings of the creek freak

wanderings of the creek freak

“Vet” Your Fly-Fishing Perspective Bob Borgwat

W

hen I fly fished last October on a Georgia trout stream with a disabled Afghan war veteran, my perspective in fly-fishing was validated or “vet-ted” if you will, as an endeavor that lays peace upon the confusions that life and war deliver.

and his passion for fly-fishing grew larger.

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing brought Gary and I together. In its own words, PHW is “… dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and veterans ... through flytying and fly-fishing education and outings With every cast dumped, tangled or executed to effectively serve the deserving past and with perfection, it was clear to me that Gary, present members of our armed forces who an American hero who suffered a brain injury have made great sacrifices in the service of when a roadside bomb tore through the our nation.“ vehicle upon which he rode “shotgun” quite literally, inched closer to regaining peace As his guide on a secluded stretch of the in his life. The troubles of war, bullets plus upper Toccoa River, I stood arm-to-arm, battles plus bombs plus bureaucrats, and a shoulder-to-shoulder with Gary, in and out marriage in divorce proceedings (perhaps, of the water, testing and tweaking his flythe sum of that equation) weighed heavily on fishing skills while listening to his answers to this soldier. Yet, with every reach of his cast, my curious questions about war and wounds.

Gary’s senses were tuned-in, his troubles He spoke sadly. He spoke humbly. He spoke were tuned-out, his observations sharpened respectfully. He spoke proudly.

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And, he spoke thankfully for his opportunity to serve his country. In his own words, Gary described how the part and piecemeal role of every soldier, no matter his or her work, combines to provide the security that’s necessary for liberty and freedom to thrive across his nation. The infantry, the truck drivers, the scouts, the cooks, the snipers, the privates, the generals, the wounded, and the doctors taught him that they (and many more) are just small parts of a complex, albeit sometimes confusing, system that combines to bring order to lives constrained and in conflict, damaged and wounded, among soldiers and citizens.

Fly-fishing, too, brings order to a complex and apparently confusing system of life.

The prospect of walking and fishing a trout stream speaks of opportunities to learn about order in the uncertainties of life.

The life of a mayfly is a short but necessary and structured natural existence that lifecycleupon-lifecycle provides nourishment to the trout that swim our streams and rivers. The twists, tumbles and turns in a trout stream are obstacles a trout must navigate to survive its life and build life ever more, ever-swimming.

When his wider observations of

wind and water, stream flow and depth, shadows and sunshine, riffles and runs, plunges and pools combine with his intuition for making the cast, the fly-fisherman creates order upon confusion otherwise disconnected if there was no connection between the angler and trout themselves.

For more information about Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, its mission, organization, news, events, locations, how to make donations or volunteer, and more, please visit ProjectHealingWaters.org or write to Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc., PO Box 695, La Plata, MD 20646 Photos by Bob Borgwat/ courtesy of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Inc.

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Great Fly FishinG The only Fly Fishing Trail in the United States

Nestled in the Blue Ridge, Balsam and Smoky mountains, Jackson Country, NC is a scenic haven for fly fishing. Catch brook, brown and rainbow trout along the beautiful Tuckasegee River. Enjoy mountain resorts, historic inns, B&Bs, or cabins. Call for a new, free Visitors Guide with lodging info and its popular map with directions to 19 waterfalls, 20 hiking trails, rafting, golf, and outdoor fun. Be sure to request the new, free Western NC Fly Fishing Trail Map. The Fly Fishing Trail Map features 15 of the best trout waters in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Mountain Lovers Love

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800.962.1911

•

www.mountainlovers.com

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new fly guy

EASY DROPPERS Steve Moore

O

ne of the first lessons new fly guys learn in the fly fishing school of hard knocks is that slow is fast. Impatience only leads to an unmanageable twisted tangle of leader and fly line, wasting time, and raising blood pressure from undoing or re-rigging at the edge of the stream.

But, when new to the sport, everything takes forever! In fact, when I began fly fishing, I concluded that the sport was designed by a committee of sadists who mandated that all knots should be complex, all tippets should be invisible, and the diameter of the eye of a hook be measured in how many atoms would stretch from side to side. The two fly dropper rig is the perfect storm maximizing all of the above. Two flies, 3 knots, and an extra strand of 6X or 7X tippet creates an intolerable amount of dead time at streamside for those whose fingers are not rock steady or who do not enjoy spectacular vision.

Purchase a foam swimming tube (a “pool noodle”) for a few bucks. Chop off a fouror five-inch section and cut it into quarters lengthwise to reduce the diameter. When done, you will have four triangular pieces of foam. Hook the bottom fly of the dropper into the foam and wrap the line, hooking the top fly to hold everything in place. Do not overlap droppers! Since the dropper is wrapped, it is unlikely that it will tangle when you unravel it from the foam at streamside.

Now, the only requirement at the edge of the water is to tie the single knot to attach the dropper. Much faster!

Granted, you can purchase a fly box specifically designed to handle droppers, but they are much more expensive than just cutting up a swimming tube!

My solution is to do the hard work at home and pre-rig the likely dropper combinations I intend to use based upon the hatch charts applicable to the intended stream. The challenge is to get those carefully crafted combinations to the edge of the water without tangling them. My first method was to carefully wind up the rig and insert it in a small 2x2 inch plastic Ziploc bag.

Unfortunately, at streamside, the result was often another tangled mess that took longer to unravel than just doing it from scratch.

Here’s a better approach.

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CatchGuide.com 2843 Sweet Gum Court Woodbridge, VA 22192 steve.moore@catchguide.com 703-638-0359

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Adriano Manocchia

Invitation For Next Summer

Oil on Panel

9” x 16”

Oils • Watercolors • Etchings

518.677.5744 • www.adriano-art.com

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feature

J

feature

The Whimsical Wood Art of Jim Wiley

im Wiley says that he has fished longer than he can recall. He remembers back to about the age of six where he practically lived on Richland Creek in Nashville. But, it was not the lure of the lure, nor the lure of the fly that pulled him into his whimsically beautiful world of trout carving.

For him, it actually started with a bird.

he’d heretofore not even noticed, and located there was what looked like every tool known to man for carving. “When asked what I’d like to carve, I said, ‘Well I know more about fish than anything else.’ He showed me two books I needed and then every tool I would need.

I returned to our booth with two armfuls singing ‘Happy Birthday to me.’ Wanda looked surprised but didn’t balk.”

“I remember that at age six, I turned over every rock and log on Richland Creek looking for fish bait. Green sunfish and longeared sunfish were the quarry I sought, with an occasional small bass. I was always intrigued with small brightly-colored minnows at the head of the rapids, and I thought they were trout. They, of course, weren’t, and it was years later when I caught my first trout on North River in the Tellico Plains area. I’ve been hooked ever since!”

After a lifetime of fishing, Jim found himself at a three-month painting class at the Senior Citizens Center in Cookeville, TN. “I usually painted wildlife on old barn wood.” Then, in April of 2000, his wife Wanda and he were exhibiting at the Southeastern Wildlife Festival in Charleston, SC. In the booth next to them were two very successful bird carvers. Jim mentioned to one of them that he was interested in carving and had tried it, but it was too slow. When Jim told them what he had been carving with, they laughed. One of the smirking gentlemen ominously said, “Come with me!”

His new friend escorted him to a room that

Leah Kirk

About 30 days later, his first trout carving was finished and, according to Jim, it actually almost looked like one. A couple of years later, he took a course on the banks of the Au Sable River in Grayling, MI under the tutelage of a Champion Fish Carver.

The course project was a Brook Trout pulling a stonefly nymph off a rock.

It turned out pretty good.

The rest of his training has come from going piece by piece.

Jim uses two main approaches to his carvings. For realistic carvings, he uses Tupelo wood that he orders from a specialist in Louisiana. Tupelo is a light-weight, no-grain wood used by many competition carvers. His stylized carvings come from driftwood, most of which he finds on the banks of the Caney Fork River.

Driftwood could be any kind of wood, but it must have an interesting shape. He also uses driftwood as bases for his realistic pieces.

From time to time, Jim uses a very limited supply of California Buckeye. “This great wood is very light, looks like wet stone and is hard as a rock to carve. Pieces from this rare wood are my most sought after pieces.”

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feature

feature response. “It’s a mount, and if you bought that as a carving, you got taken!” “Well,” Jim said, “I believe it is a carving, because I carved it.” The passerby continued on his way, unconvinced.

everyone looking at one of my carvings will ask ‘Can I touch it?’ Someone at our last show asked me if I stretched real trout skin over my carvings before painting them to create that look? No, it’s about a million diagonal lines and then cross hatched to give the illusion of trout scales. Most fish carvers, these days, won’t use this method; it’s just too long and tedious. It does, however, create a piece of art rather than just a carving.”

“When starting a realistic piece, I know that it’s going to be a Rainbow or Brown Trout if it’s a large piece, 13 to 20 inches. Often, I’ve chosen the driftwood base, before I determine the species. The color of the wood and its characteristics sometimes dictate what kind of fish would most likely be around there. I like Brown Trout around the ‘snags’ or logs and Rainbow Trout around boulders and such. I try very hard to create the illusion of motion with the use of curvature of the body and active fins. The presentation of a carving to me is paramount to whether it is a piece of art or a fish on a stick.”

The final part of the process is also the one that feels the easiest for Jim because he painted wildlife before he began carving.

“My carvings have about 10 coats between the wood and the finished product. I use an air brush for the basic coloring and I do the detailing with a brush. The layering of the paint with the air brush creates depth and a realistic look. Fortunately, my market research (that’s what I call fishing) has really helped me create a realistic look. Someone at our last show remarked, ‘Your painting is spot on.” I had to agree.” One hazard of such detailed work is that after painting spots on a Rainbow, Jim says he does see spots for a quite a while.

However, Jim realized early that his validation as an artist would not come from competitions; it would come from someone opening a wallet and buying a piece of his art.

Jim Wiley’s carvings are available at several Art Galleries: Appalachian Center for the Crafts in Smithville, TN, The Fragrant Mushroom in Sparta, TN, Parkway Craft Center in Blowing Rock, NC, Twigs and

talent.

Jim entered a couple of County Fair shows and, to his surprise, won both which included winning a Best in Show Award for one.

Another time, he entered in the Novice Class in a World Champion Fish Carvers Competition in Springfield, IL and won 1st Place.

“With regard to stylized carvings, the wood At first, like many artists, Jim sought often tells me what it wants to be. I can validation for what he truly believed was his manipulate it somewhat, but if the wood argues with me, it usually wins! A realistic piece, full dimension, can be achieved in about a week. Sometimes the presentations and complexity of the driftwood requires more time. Stylized pieces can be completed in a few days, if the wood is in a good mood.”

Leaves in Waynesville, NC, Townsend Artisan Gallery in Townsend, TN, and on his website at www.wileyfishcarver.com. “I do consignment work, but not ‘match the catch’ work. I like to retain my license to create not imitate.”

Using a band saw to cut the general shape of the fish, he then uses a Fordham rotary grinder for rounding and shaping. Next, a small high speed rotary grinder is used for the detail finishing. Finally, he uses a wood burning tool on the tips of the fins.

According to this artist, by far, the cutting in of the scales is the most tedious part. It’s worth it though, because the natural look of the skin is the most distinguishable characteristic of his carvings, and, according to Jim, “Almost 42 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

Another story he tells comes from early in his career when he was coming out of Little River Outfitters with a Rainbow carving he’d taken to show Baron Bagley, A passer-by asked, “Did you catch that here?” “No,” Jim replied, “it’s a carving.” “No, it isn’t,” was the terse

If someone is interested in becoming an artistic carver, Jim gives the following advice.

“Work with the subjects you know the most about and are the most intriguing to you.

Second in importance is to use the proper tools!”

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feature Bamboo For You? Marc Payne

I

n today’s fly fishing world, the mantra has become “faster is better.” Being able to shoot line three quarters of the way across any given body of water has become the benchmark of a quality rod or angler.

But there are places and situations where a long ultra quick rod is an impediment, particularly on the small mountain stream. The waters of the smokies are an example: small and ma jestic providing the perfect opportunity to use one of the oldest fly fishing materials we have at our disposal-bamboo.

Many anglers seem to be intimidated by bamboo as if it were some archaic item that is fragile and prone to difficulties. Others look at the price tag and turn the other way. Though it is true that a lot of bamboo fly rods do have large price tags affixed to them, a good serviceable rod can be obtained for about the price of a mid level Sage or Winston. It is also possible to pick some rods up on eBay that will provide you with years of angling joy for a low bid in most cases.

feature

have used graphite in the park on multiple occasions, but the first time I felt that slow tug of the bamboo on my forward cast and watched as the fly fell to the water as if it were in slow motion, I was hooked.

Nymphing is also not a problem with bamboo.

In most cases, you are neither casting far nor with very large weighted beasts and as with a dry fly, the presentation is subtle and the takes are sure. You also have the freedom to scale down on your tippet diameter as well. A 7x tippet or perhaps even an 8x is protected beyond measure because the flex of a bamboo fly rod reduces the shock of the hookset.

Your hook will still have the power to penetrate the jaw of the trout, but the rod will not be so stiff that the sudden jerk snaps you off.

If bamboo is a direction you have toyed with heading toward in your angling life, then the obvious next step is picking out a rod that is right for the conditions that you will find yourself fishing.

Line weight and rod length are not nearly as critical as they are on graphite, but it is still a rather important decision to make. Most rod makers of both today and yesteryear have a wide variety of combinations that can So what are the advantages of a bamboo fly provide you with a tool that will cover just rod on a small mountain stream? In a word... about any condition you may find yourself in presentation. Regardless of your skill level on the water. The trick is to take a look at or type of technique you employ, the gentle your yearly fishing: where you go and the size drop of a Yellow Sally placed on the water by of the water you normally fish. a bamboo rod is something that you cannot replicate. Bamboo is, in this writer’s opinion, In today’s fly rod market, a 5 weight is just that, the high point of dry fly fishing, period. I a 5 weight. However, if you fish a bamboo fly 44 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

rod, you are offered much wider latitude as to what line weight you can use. Say, for instance, you buy an 8 foot 4 weight bamboo fly rod, you can easily over line or under line the rod and it actually will still be as responsive. What the over or under weighting of the rod will do is either speed up or slow down the rod to the conditions or type of fishing you are doing.

Though it may seem counterproductive, if I am high sticking a nymph in a mountain stream with a 4 weight rod, I will put on a 3 weight line because the lighter line weight will actually stiffen the rod just enough to better detect strikes. If I am just casting dries, I will go with the standard line weight or the next size up so that the rod can load softer which makes for much better fishing.

provide amazing loading properties even if you don’t utilize the full rod. If I have on the water with me a 3 piece 9 foot rod and the water has grown to skinny to really use the full rod, I will leave the butt section in the truck, take the middle and top sections, stick the reel in my vest, and just go fishing. If you are somewhere like Walker Camp up in the Smokies and you hook a fish so large that you need to put it on the reel...you just made the record books. If you don’t need it, don’t use it. I have had great days on small streams with two sections of a three piece rod and it never felt like I had an incomplete setup.

The life of a bamboo fly rod should never be in question. With just a few basic maintenance issues you can insure that your bamboo rod will be in fine shape to hand down to the next generation of anglers. Take a new high speed, high action, space age technology fly rod and fish it exclusively. I feel quite certain that the odds of your having that rod to pass down to your grandchildren will be dramatically less that if you fished with a

Length of a fly rod is not always critical, but in some cases you might be on a stream where a 9 foot rod is just too much rod to use.

This is when things get off the beaten path with a bamboo. By design, the taper of a bamboo rod will www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 45

feature

bamboo rod. My favorite bamboo rod is an fish gives you a shake with graphite, you feel eight foot, three piece, four weight that was a slight tug and the line moves across the top built by Winchester back in the early 1930’s. of the water.

I often wonder just how many men and kids have fished that rod, and I feel very confident that when it is my time to leave this earth, that same fly rod will be fishable, just a beautiful, and moving forward without me.

To stand in a cool mountain stream and let the rush and worries of the day drift down stream while the slow graceful bamboo does its work is as sweet and moving as prayer. A bamboo rod by design will tell you when to begin your forward cast, and after the fly gently kisses the surface film and you see the trout pull it under, you will find the most amazing thing about bamboo, energy transference. It is common, after the hookset, to literally feel the fish move in the cork grip. Bamboo is a wood, and wood carries vibrations while graphite stunts vibrations. When a fish gives you a shake with bamboo, you feel it. When a 46 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

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feature Abner the Fly Fishing Ape

feature

Don Kirk

M

irth, remarkable exaggeration, and worse are prominent in the long lore of fly fishing in the Smokies. The story of Abner, the Ape Fly Fisher of Deep Creek, is passed along by Carl Lambert, Cherokee Story Teller (and former director of the Cherokee CETA Program). Known as “the wild monkey of the Smokies,” and said to have been named Abner, this astute ape reportedly escaped from a carnival side show visiting Cherokee in the 1920s. A well-versed panhander, according to folks in Deep Creek, during cold weather a shivering little Abner sometimes arrived on their porches.

An amiable guest, Abner would stay a few days until the cold snap broke before returning to wherever it was he called home in the park.

Come spring, Abner always disappeared, although he would be spotted now and then fly fishing on Deep Creek and even Hazel Creek.

Despite his reputation for stealing coolers of beer and potato salad at the Smokemont Campground, rangers turned a blind eye to Abner’s antics. As dry fly purists themselves, the rangers knew Abner did not live-bait fish in the park waters. As was his habit, Abner was fond of dabbling Thunderhead flies over pools shrouded by low limbs. He accomplished difficult task hanging upside down from trees, all the in dapper style while wearing a tweed However, like a cat with nine lives, a few nights later, a hunter in Hazel Creek claimed he Stetson. shot Abner. Maybe he did, and then, maybe Abner protected the bears from illegal hound he didn’t. Now, that leaves one fact: nobody hunting which also garnered passes among brought in a dead monkey. Perhaps it was the rangers for Tremont roguery. He loved true, as thereafter no one ever saw Abner letting the Plott hounds chase him until he the Fly Fishing Ape of the Smokies. Says treed. Just when these hounds thought they Carl Lambert, a highly creditable Cherokee had put a bear cub up a balsam, Abner would storyteller, “I miss the little devil. He was good drop down on the back of the biggest dog company.” and ride him like a polo pony until the hound dropped from exhaustion. According to one Carl Lambert said that he believes that he story, he pushed his luck a bit too far one saw Abner one last time sometime after night by galloping by a hunter who swears he Abner’s alleged demise. Carl claims that he put enough buck shot in the ape to kill a 400 got lost in the Smokies while he was fishing and while he was blundering about in dark pound bear.

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coves and laurel hells, he came on the “Gall Place.” That is the name of a magic lake that is sometimes sighted on the Tennessee Side of the Smokies, and then it shows up on the North Carolina side.

Carl said that the Gall Place moves. People who blunder on it, usually see it in the morning.

It is a great foggy lake with purple-tinged waters and it is encircled by huge water oaks. It is here that old and injured creatures come to be healed. Bear and deer wade into the water where they are “restored.” Wounds heal and youthful vigor returns. Carl claims he saw animals coming and going to the Gall Place. Great hawks and eagles nested in the towering oaks...and yes, Carl said, in the lofty heights of one of those trees, he saw a little capering figure wearing a tweed Stetson. Now, for what it is worth, that is what Carl Lambert, storyteller, said about this remarkable fly fishing primate.

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feature Winter Fly-Fishing Gatlinburg Trout Greg Ward

U

npredictable winter weather is the norm when fishing Gatlinburg waters during the months of the delayed harvest season. Fishermen could just as easily have to deal with a foot of snow or roll up their sleeves when the temp hits a warm 70 degrees. Pools teeming with one- and twopound rainbow trout are the rule. Since city officials implemented their delayed harvest program years ago, cold-weather trout in downtown Gatlinburg have been awesome.

Single-hook, artificial lures or flies and catchand-release regulations run from December 1 to the last day of March.

When the late Bill Stevens implemented the program in 1997, his main goal was to stock large fish. I have guided clients during the delay harvest, and they typically net catches that would rival catches from any stream out West. An average size of 20” rainbows is not unheard of. Top flies in winter vary just a bit

due to water temperatures, although some flies are certainly tried and true. Size 18 to 12 Pheasant Tails, Princes, and Tellico Nymphs will work fine. Caddis Pupa and Gold -Ribbed Hares Ears are great if water temperatures are in the mid-50 degree range. Streamers can work great if fished cross current. Size 6 and 8 black, brown, and olive Wooly Boogers are great. My personal favorites are size 6 and 8 Muddler Minnows that are fished in the same manner. Large dry flies like size 10 March Browns or Adams are deadly on a bluebird, sunny day.

I have no idea why the big stockers take the big dries, but they do. An Ausable Wulff will trick the fish all day. Most of the hatches you will observe will be Blue Wing Olives, Little Black Caddis, and Little Black stones.

Matching the hatch will work fine, although I prefer to offer the big dries. Tourists are more interested in the ski slopes, so finding an area

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feature to fish during the cold weather delayed harvest season is not a problem. I always tell my clients to fish near the bridges in stock trout waters; the easiest place for a truck to pull up and dump fish will usually produce fish.

I have taken advantage of Gatlinburg’s trout program for years as a guide. Streams that are stocked with trout are a great way to teach novice fishermen, and anglers who have never fished moving waters can gain some great experience.

Stocked waters are great for five-yearolds catching their first fish and for seasoned fly-fishermen needing to polish their skills prior to battling the often unforgiving wild trout of the Smokies.

While teaching clients, I often compare the difference in skill levels between spin-fishing and fly-fishing to deer hunting. Spin-fishing is a lot like rifle hunting while fly-fishing is like the much more difficult archery hunt. Good hunters learn feeding areas, bedding areas, travel routes, and deer habits while rifle hunting. On spin-fishing trips, I teach anglers to recognize the currents that produce feeding areas as well as how to recognize spot lies where bigger fish tend to locate. But above all, I impress on my clients that the longer they keep their bait, lure, or fly in the strike zone, the more bites they’ll get.

Great catches can be achieved during winter on spin equipment. I fish ultra-lights with 4 to 6 pound test. I like 6 1/2 foot rods for bottom bumping nymphs or trout magnets. For spin fishing 5 1/2 foot to 6 foot rods are great for

fishing single-hook rooster tails. Colors for spin are the same as for fly: fish black or brown spinners. I prefer gold or brass blades, but silver will work just fine. I don’t handle fish during delayed harvest or anytime I am practicing catch and release. Just grab the turn of the hook with your hemostats and let the weight of the fish release it back to the stream. I never touch a fish with a dry hand nor net them.

You will remove their protective slime and the fish will die from the bacteria that can enter their skin from that point. If you want to take a picture, wet your hands and gently lift the fish with both hands, cradling it. You will often need to tap a trout with your rod tip to get it to swim off. I try not to play fish for long periods. The quicker you land them and release them the quicker you can catch another, and a quickly released fish has a greater chance of survival.

April Fools Day starts the catch and keep season. Single hooks are still the rule but live bait is now legal with a five-fish limit. The first weekend of April is the 14th Annual Smoky Mountain Trout Tournament. Over a thousand 3 to 8 pound rainbows will be stocked prior to the tournament which is held on the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville. Go to www. rockytopoutfitter.com to register.

License and season information is also available on my website—just click on the TWRA link.

More fishing information is also available at www.gatlinburg.com or you can call the trout rearing facility at 865-436-4558.

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feature Situational Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains Ron Gaddy

feature for any hatches or terrestrials? Did you turn over any rocks to see what’s in the creek?

Back in the late 60s my uncle took me on a week long fishing trip to the lower Cataloochee when I was just a teenager. The weather was great, but being young and inexperienced, I was catching absolutely no fish. After a few days I had given up on fishing and decided that there was no fish in Cataloochee Creek.

One afternoon I saw a boat coming up the lake and asked my Uncle who it was. He replied, “It’s those boys from Fines Creek”. I said, “Well, they ain’t going to catch any fish here.” He laughed and told me, “You need to watch them boys. They know how to fish!” So that’s what I did.

They tied up their little wooden john boat and commenced to tote their few boxes of taters, onions, corn meal, and such, and a black iron frying pan or two to an old cabin that was right past our campsite. The second trip brought a few old fly rods and a small box of fly tying essentials. As one of them set up the

W

e pack up our vehicles with our fly-fishing gear and all the way to our favorite fishery we all think the same thing. “We will get in the creek and fish will be biting everything that hits the water. Sixteen to twenty-inch football-sized brown and rainbow will take turns crushing our offerings. All those new patterns I designed burning the midnight oil over my $400 dollar vise will work just like I had fantasized about.” Then I get to the creek, get my gear on, and rig up my best stuff as I shake like a dog passing razor blades. I can’t get in the creek fast enough to begin my numerous encounters with these beautiful behemoth beasts.

Reality check! The fantasy has run its course.

As you get to the creek and evaluate the situation, that good feeling in your stomach

cabin for the stay, the other two men started their research. They were catching bugs, turning over rocks, looking at leaves and tree trunks. I remember asking my uncle, what are they doing? His reply again was, “You just watch”. As the two men made their way back to the old cabin each with a hand full of bugs, the third man was waiting with his fly vise in the ready position.

The bugs were laid out in two neat rows, and then there was some discussion going on about what patterns would be tied. They decided on two different patterns, and as the two fishermen got their hip waders on, basket type creels mounted, and started rigging up, their two or three fishing flies were almost ready to go. It was about two hours before dark, and as the two fishermen went up the creek, I was still very skeptical that any fish would be caught.

As dusk fell on the creek, I made my way to the trail that would bring the two fishermen back to their cabin. I was still convinced that

seems to run down your leg and into the creek like spilling your last cup of coffee in your lap on a cold day. The water is too high or too low, the wind is blowing, the water is too cold, it’s raining, or maybe someone is already fishing your stretch. These situations can go on forever, but how you are able to overcome them will determine how successful your day of fishing will be. It also could be a perfect day, great weather, water is just how you like it, but after you have rushed down to your most productive stretch of creek and fished your best stuff for two or three hours without a strike, you are thinking, “What’s up with this?” Chances are, you didn’t do your homework. Have you been checking the weather? Water Levels? Water Temperature?

Hatch Charts? Do you have a fishing calendar or notes on what worked the last few years around this time? Did you take time to look

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feature they would not be catching any fish, but I just wanted to make sure. As I saw the first one coming down the trail I ask him in a semisarcastic tone “Well, did you catch any fish?”

While waiting for my “No” answer and without breaking his stride the fisherman replied, “I got my creel full”. Still not convinced, I had to ask again, “Shore nuff?” At that, he turned my way and opened his creel for me to see.

His creel was full of 12- to 14-inch beautifully colored native rainbow trout.

catch only about half the fish around the full moon as compared to the dark moon.

Compare as many hatch charts as you can find online and make sure you go to the creek with a good variety of nymphs as well as dry flies. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park also has a web site that lists road closures due to weather conditions, rock slides, etc.

When you get to the creek, take time to look around for hatches or terrestrials. As I fish throughout the day, I’m always on the lookout A few later minutes as darkness fell, the for hatches coming off or terrestrials, such second fishermen appeared and my question as inchworms. In the Great Smoky Mountain to him was the same and his answer was the National Park when trout get selective, it’s same. His creel was also full of rainbow trout normally caused by a terrestrial that is, or in the 12- to 14-inch range. My life would never looks like, an inchworm. There are numerous be the same. I was amazed, heart broken, larvae that hatch on and off throughout the and delighted. I was amazed that someone summer that will fit the inchworm pattern. could catch fish like that, heart broken that I couldn’t, and delighted that this Cataloochee One of the most important things you can Creek was full of these beautiful fish. have is history. Your own fishing history. Keep good notes on your fishing with as much detail This experience runs through my mind almost as possible. What they didn’t bite might be as daily since it was my first lesson in situational important as what they did bite. Write down fly fishing. There are many things one can the weather conditions, water temperature, do prior to getting to the creek to increase water levels, moon phase and whatever else your chances of having a good day of fishing. you can think of. Also, develop a relationship There are numerous helpful websites that can with your local fly shop. They are in the keep you “up to snuff” on creek conditions. business of knowing where to fish and what The USGS (United States Geological Society) to fish with. Always carry an extra fly rod and water data web site will provide you with real- reel. There is nothing like getting in the creek time water levels and in some cases, the water and breaking your fly rod. Lastly, have a plan temperature. There are web sites that track B. Always have a good alternative fishery in the moon phase. If you are planning a fishing mind if plan A doesn’t pan out. vacation, you might want to plan it when the moon is dark. My experience is that you may

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early everyone who is part of the flyfishing world for trout knows about the main trout streams in Arkansas-the White River, the Norfork River, and the Little Red River--and with good reason; they are all world-class fisheries.

However, these are not the only Arkansas trout streams of which the fly angler needs to be aware. There’s another prime stream for anglers to wade and float and catch some very nice trout--the Spring River near Hardy, Arkansas.

in the spring, and they are hard to fool. These big browns are primarily fish eaters, and they have seen just about every fly and lure and live bait out there. Mark Crawford of Spring River Flies and Guides along with other anglers has caught some very big cutthroat trout in the Spring River. In short, there is a wide range of trout varieties and trout sizes in the Spring River. Anglers can expect to find lots of stocker-size fish, and it is not at all rare to catch some hold-over fish that can be of an impressive size.

What Kinds of Trout?

Well, what kind of trout do you like? The Spring River has the classic trout of America, the rainbow, and these fine trout are heavily stocked in the Spring River. Anglers can expect to find them in all parts of the river.

There are also some very big, old brown trout

Rigging for Them A short trip on the Spring will show anglers using every kind of gear ranging from spin cast rigs and twenty-five pound test lines with jars of prepared trout bait to ultra-light spinning gear and spinners and classic light to medium weight fly gear. Mark Crawford

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arkansas

arkansas recommends fly anglers look to bring 8 1/2 to 9 foot three-weight rods for maximum fun.

Sinking tips with streamers can be very effective here.

The Spring River is not a “long-cast” river, so anglers don’t have to be world class casters, and rigs don’t have to be rocket launchers.

Wading gear is pretty basic, also. A good pair of waders will keep the wet and cool off of legs, especially in fall and winter wading trips.

The Spring River has some stretches of glade rock bottoms that are smooth and very slick. Waders are urged to use felt soled boots and a wading cane to help maintain balance. Of course, many anglers choose to do a classic float trip on the Spring, and this eliminates any consideration of slick rock bottoms. Both wading and floating are very productive.

“Anglers should bring basic nymphs and wooly buggers. These are always good.” Because the water temperature remains steady year-round, there are constant caddis and mayfly hatches. In August, there are commonly large Hexagenia hatches, and these large flies attract some big brown trout.

Mark Crawford says,” The Spring has a good population of caddis and mayflies, and there are sculpins, and lots of crawfish. Snails are a ma jor part of the trout’s diet here.”

How about smallmouth bass and walleye?

The lower parts of the Spring River have good smallmouth and walleye fishing, and anglers can even expect to encounter some smallmouth up in the cooler trout region of the stream.

Sidebar: Anglers interested in fishing the Spring River can’t do better than to contact Mark Crawford at: Spring River Flies and Guides Phone: 417-280-0927 or

The Spring River is a shallow river. There some slow and deeper pools, but there are lots of runs that produce some incredible nymphing water.

One of the real advantages the Spring River holds over the larger and much better known trout streams of Arkansas is that anglers don’t have to worry about rapidly rising water levels and changing fishing conditions below massive dams when water is released. The Spring is totally spring fed, so the flow and temperature remain constant. This allows anglers to scout out good holding water and be assured that the water will not change greatly from hour to hour.

while a fisherman enjoys the fall colors that are gorgeous in the Ozark foothills. Some of the biggest fish of any particular year are caught in winter. Because the water flow and temperature stay constant, hatches of insects occur even during winter.

mark@springriverfliesandguides.com He has guided the Spring River for many years, and he is opening up a new full-service fly shop right on the river.

Now, what happens after we leave the fifteenmile long stretch of prime trout fishing water?

Year-Round Fun If the Spring River sounds perfect, please realize that no stream is perfect. The biggest problem I’ve found with the Spring River is that during the summer, there are massive numbers of tourists and other non-anglers who float the river. Some summer weekends, it can be hard to see the water for the aluminum canoes coming downstream. The fish get used to this, but it can make for some hard fishing.

Fishing for Them Anglers choosing a fly box for the Spring River probably will already have most everything needed on hand.

Mark Crawford says,

The world changes much for the better on the Spring River after September. The tourists go home, the racks of canoes are put up, and the river gets quiet. The Spring River is prime in fall and winter. The river is heavily stocked in summer, and there will be lots of fish left over

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te Sta ! i r T ion Reg

Georgia -- Tennesssee -- North Carolina

georgia Georgia’s Best Winter Trout Option Jimmy Jacobs

Beginning in the late 1990s on Smith Creek in Unicoi State Park, the unveiling of delayed harvest rules began to change our off-season angling. As the concept’s popularity grew, more streams were added. Today sections of five creeks or rivers are managed for delayed harvest.

Trout -- Bass -- Striped Bass -- Panfish

These waters are stocked heavily just prior to November 1 when the DH season opens.

The action lasts until May 14, with catchand-release and single-hook artificial lures mandated. An exception is made to allow the use of dropper flies, as long as both flies have only single hooks.

! ing ! h s i g F Fly- Fishin n Spi

Although these streams are well-known today, to a certain extent they are not that well understood by many anglers. All too often the DH streams are simply lumped together when discussed. That belies the differences in the waters and how they fish.

Georgia has five sections of streams marked with DH signs.

I

t’s easy to make the case that Georgia’s delayed-harvest streams have been the biggest boost wintertime trout angling has ever gotten in the Peach State. Two decades ago, before the introduction of the program, Georgia anglers basically didn’t fish for trout during the colder months.

Let’s have a closer look at these winter fishing destinations.

Chattahoochee River The portion of the “Hooch” from the mouth of Sope Creek to the US 41 bridge makes up the DH section. This in Cobb and Fulton counties in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.

The ma jor factor setting it apart from the other DH waters is a trailwater fishery. Water from The dates of the general trout season were the Lake Sidney Lanier coming through Buford same back then as they are today. Opening Dam keeps the Chattahoochee tailwater day was at the end of March with the fishing cold throughout the year. It also moderates lasting until the end of October. However, in how cold the river gets in the winter. Even that era, virtually all of the state’s streams during prolonged periods of sub-freezing were seasonal. Those creeks still open in the temperatures, the river is still carrying water winter generally were marginal trout water in the 58-degree range. It is rare for trout in at best. About the only exception was the the Hooch to turn off because the water is too Chattooga River on the South Carolina border. cold.

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georgia conditions. When nighttime temperatures consistently are in the sub-40-degree range, water temperatures fall as well. During those cold snaps, the fishing can turn off. When the water temperature is in the 30s, the fish lie on the bottom and feed very sparsely.

Chattooga River The DH section on this flow on the Georgia and South Carolina border runs from the mouth of Reed Creek on the Peach State shore, downstream to the State Route 28 Bridge. The Georgia shore is entirely in Rabun County.

The fishing conditions on this stream can be very similar to the Toccoa River. Changing weather patterns quickly influence what the fish do. Very cold temperatures can turn the fishing off.

Fortunately, the Chattooga does have more deep holding water than the Toccoa. In these pools, the depth may moderate the temperature a bit and fish in them can be caught. But, to accomplish that feat, you have to get your offering down to the bottom and bump them on the nose!

The Chattahoochee River DH waters are actually in the city limits of Atlanta.

On the other hand, when the dam is releasing water downstream during power production, the flow turns muddy and fishing dies. The Chattahoochee is not like other tailwaters where the fishing improves for big trout when releases take place.

Toccoa River In rough terms, the DH section of the Toccoa runs from the Sandy Bottom canoe landing downstream to near the Shallowford Bridge. This part of the river is upstream of Blue Ridge Lake in Fannin County, and is free-flowing.

Dependent on rainfall and spring seepages, the Toccoa’s water temperature fluctuates with weather 66 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

Amicalola Creek The DH section on Amicalola Creek runs from the stream crossing at Steele Bridge Road, downstream to the SR 52 Bridge. The creek runs though the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area in Dawson County.

This flow rates as a large mountain stream, but it is smaller than the three previously discussed waters. For that reason, it probably is more susceptible to temperature fluctuations than those rivers.

The Power Line access is near the midpoint of the Toccoa DH waters.

Smith Creek The Smith Creek DH stretch is located just east of the town of Helen in White County.

It begins at the foot of Unicoi Lake dam and runs down to the state park boundary. By any standard, this is a small mountain trout

stream. Often the flow is only 15 to 20 feet wide and rather shallow.

Unicoi Lake is a small but very deep impoundment. Still, the water coming out of it does not moderate the water temperatures caused by the prevalent weather conditions.

During extended cold snaps, this can be a very tough fishing destination.

The bottom line is that the five DH waters in Georgia each have distinctive factors governing the fishing. But collectively, they offer the most dependable winter options for trout action in the Peach State.

All photos by Jimmy Jacobs

Hooked up on the Toccoa River DH section.

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feature A Fishing Tramp In North Carolina Benjamin Rush

feature This is a reprint of an article that appeared in Outings Magazine in 1895. Despite considerable effort, we have found nothing on its author, Benjamin Rush, although he does identify himself as a Yankee. It’s worth noting that the term “tramp” then meant much the same as “trip.” The text is presented here contains a few examples of archaic spelling as it appeared in its original version. over the mountains below. After an hour so spent, we set out to find our way down to Caney Fork, the stream we were going to fish.

We knew it was in one of the gaps below us, but were not quite sure which one, and as we did not know whether we could find a cabin to spend the night in, we were anxious to catch some trout for our supper and to prepare a place for sleeping.

T

o most of the people of the Northern States the mountain region of North Carolina is as a sealed book. Until recently facilities for travel have been crude and limited, and the public roads are but little better than cattle trails. Hence few tourists have penetrated the picturesque wilds of a region which embraces some of the loftiest mountains east of the Rockies.

of modern hotel fringing the forest primeval. In time the laughter and song of summer tourists will echo from misty peak and shadowy wood and mingle with the cadence of every fall; but that day is not yet.

Nature has entrenched herself in a favorite stronghold, which is not to be easily stormed by the butterfly hosts of fashion. Up in the gaps between the mountains are many cool, The scenery of this delightful wilderness is sparkling streams, nearly all of which contain always varied and always pleasing. In early almost countless numbers of speckled trout. summer the forest extends as far as eyes can Especially is this true of a network of brooks see, forming huge billows of richest green. in the eastern part of Jackson County, which Laurels and snowy azaleas show masses of I visited with a friend for our first trial of these lovely bloom, and the mountain air is laden waters. with a delicious fragrance which startles the senses of a weary Northern man. But the The journey was uninteresting until we landscape is not all forests and flowers. reached the summit of “Old Bald,” 5,786 feet above the sea. There we enjoyed one of the Gaunt rocks and towering cliffs guard smiling most glorious views of the entire region. We valleys and shadow rushing, foaming torrents. could see the peaks of the Blue Ridge forty Civilization has set her seal upon many of the miles away to the east and northeast of us, most accessible and fertile spots, so that one and the intervening country was one vast may tramp from fire to farm, from camp to expanse of lofty peaks, narrow valleys and caravansary, and find the comforts of home or deep gaps. Most of the mountains in that 70 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

vast expanse are wooded to their summits, andthe fresh green of the trees, the dark lines of laurels, rhododendrons and hemlocks along the gaps, and the lofty peaks of the Richland balsams to the north of us, made up one of the most beautiful sights I had ever beheld. No signs of a Imman habitation in any direction—it looked as though the foot of the white man had never trod those wilds.

We followed old Bald Ridge along a wellbeaten trail upon its summit for nearly three miles. The ridge is covered with a carpet of the greenest grass, white honeysuckles and red clover, which make the richest pasturage in the world for cattle and horses. That ridge resembles a well-kept park more than anything else. Beautiful, widespreading oaks and beeches are scattered about, looking as though they had been planted by some careful landscape gardener, and we half expected to see some fine country house peeping from one of the stately groves. But we were in the wilderness, where bears, wolves and wildcats dwell.

Near the east end of the ridge we laid down upon the grass, ate our lunch and watched the ever changing shadows as they swept

We discovered a little trail which seemed to lead down the mountain, but after following it a short distance it disappeared, and, being unable to find any other, we struck out for ourselves knowing that any stream we might find would, in the end, lead us to the Tuckasugu River, of which the Caney is a branch. After descending about two thousand feet we came to a long, dark line of rhododendrons, and heard the roar of a waterfall—pleasant pledge of trout for supper.

The rhododendron thicket was almost impenetrable, but after one or two attempts, we reached the water. The bushes overhung the stream, and the only way was to wade in and fish from the rocks. The stream was but a few yards wide, very rocky, and after a few minutes we found that there were but very few fish in it. We waded down stream for an hour or more, but we could not find any path leading out of the thicket, and it is not very safe to attempt finding one’s way out without a trail to follow.

At last we came to the edge of a steep fall, about eighty feet in height; the water plunged down upon big boulders,. and we could see no way out of our difficulty except to go with the water. The probable result of such a tumble did not appeal to us, so I pulled off coat and shoes and climbed a small hemlock to take an observation. I thought I could see a slight trail

www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 71

feature

feature bait and flies pretty well, but we caught none aboveseven or eight inches in length.

The work was not very satisfactory, but we wanted fish for our supper and were not very particular about size, provided we could get enough of them. We fished for about an hour, and upon counting up our catch found that we had upward of thirty.

along the opposite side of the brook. It proved to be , a hog path, and by it we commenced the descent.

It was rather close work, but we at last reached a large flat rock, about half way down the fall.

Will was ahead, and when he stepped upon the rock he called out for me to come on. I was coming on as fast as I could, and told him to go ahead and I would follow. Well, he did go ahead. He stepped off the rock upon another one which looked safe enough, but as he planted both feet upon it, it slipped and he took a header for the bottom of the ledge, fully forty feet below. It was very laughable to see him going down that fall, but I was pretty badly frightened at first, and did not have time to think of laughing at him.

I followed him as rapidly as I could, without going as he did, and when I reached the bottom he was just crawling out of a big pool.

He was very wet and considerably shaken up, had a few bruises on his legs, and was using some rather expressive words. After he had rested we commenced casting our flies again.

I used a plain cinnamon-colored hackle with red body for my lower fly, and a gray-winged blue-bodied coachman for an upper one.

Will was not very skillful with the fly, and used a plain hook with “stick bait.” He went on ahead and I followed, about one hundred yards behind him. The trout took both stick

It was then about six o’clock; we were in a deep, dark wood with no signs of a cabin near us, and we did not care to sleep in such a place without some kind of a shelter. We went hunting for a cave or a big rock to cover us for the night, but after an hour’s search we could find none. Just as Will had picked out a smooth, dean place by the side of a fallen chestnut tree, where we could build our fire and cook our fish and bacon, I caught sight of a railfence. I mounted it and saw a broad path, with sled or wheel tracks in it. It was a very welcome sight. I called Will, telling him to let the fire go and come on. I knew there must be a cabin not far away, and after about ten minutes walk down the path, just as rain commenced falling, we reached a gate, on the other side of which was a large, comfortable log cabin.

A man who was sitting on the porch bade us to enter, and we obeyed him with pleasure.

We were very tired, a little wet and very hungry. Will is a native mountaineer, so I left it to him to arrange for our food and lodging.

The good woman of the house took our trout, and after we had rested about half an hour supper was announced. That supper table was a splendid one to behold; it was a homely table and there was not much in the way of linen, fine dishes or silverware upon it; in fact, I do not think there were cups and saucers enough to go round. I had one and I believe Will did; several of the people used tin cups, and I think I saw one glass tumbler.

The knives and forks were a mixed lot, but there were “heaps” of corn-bread, big dishes filled with the whitest and mealiest potatoes, and our trout, a big tin pan full of them, with others, caught by some of our host’s boys that

72 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

afternoon. When we opened our eyes next morning the sun was casting its rays over the mountains, and the fragrance of coffee was wafted to our nostrils. Two of the boys had been out to the big brook, a fork of the Caney, and had caught enough trout for our breakfast while we were sleeping.

the mountains, it can be fished mainly from its banks. We followed it down for nearly two miles, taking about forty fish. The water was rather dirty, and my companion seemed to think that our sport was not up to the average.

They assured us that we should catch “right smart” of fish if rain held off through the day.

We started out at eight o’clock, one of the boys with me, bound down stream, one with Will to fish up the same stream, and two others to fish two other creeks near by. The average width of the stream that we fished was about twenty yards. It is one of the most perfect trout streams I have ever seen-full of dark, deep pools, and long, deep ripples, where trout delight to lie.

At noon I pulled out a chunk of cornbread and a cold fried trout and took lunch while fishing.

While I was eating the last of the trout I came to a long, deep pool with a dead maple lying in the middle of it. The branches of the tree formed a dangerous network, in which was just the place for a big trout to hide. I crawled up and leaned upon a big rock that overhung the pool, and cast from near its foot. There was a rise and a splash, and in a moment I had hooked a beauty—a good half-pounder.

I landed him and in a moment he was in my basket.

The stream, for two miles after it passes the clearing where we spent the night traverses an open wood, very easy to get through. There are very few thickets, but many high falls, as the stream falls five hundred feet in its course through the woods. Unlike most streams in

The next cast I hooked two and soon landed them. I worked that pool for about twenty minutes, and the result was seventeen trout.

One was ten inches in length and two others weighed not less than half a pound each, while the rest ranged from five to eight inches

www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 73

in length. From that pool down into the long clearing (about half a mile) fish took the fly greedily, and by two o’clock my basket was full.

Rain then commenced falling; there was heavy thunder and vivid flashes of lightning’ at short intervals, and the trout ceased feeding. We sought shelter in an old cabin near by and waited an hour till the rain stopped; then we took the trail for, home. The other fellows had come in before us. The result of their efforts was about one hundred and fifty, but their fish were smaller than ours.

Will and I were well pleased with the day’s sport. We had all the trout we wanted; and, as the next day would be Saturday, we decided to start early in the morning and make the hardest part of our ten-mile journey while the day was cool. We had more trout for supper

and breakfast; and then, bidding our kind host, his good wife, seven sons and three daughters good-bye, we took our traps and started for home. The sun was shining brightly and gave promise of a hot day later on.

We had a big mountain to climb and descend (Deep Gap Bald, about 6,500 feet in height), and when we reached its summit at eleven o’dock we were about as warm as mortals can be and live. After resting and cooling off we plunged down into Deep Gap, and after a tiresome tramp of four hours we reached the top of Westner Bald, near the end of our journey. I had carried twelve pounds of dressed trout upon my shoulder all day. Will had about the same load, and we were both tired out, yet more than satisfied with the results of our outing.

Southern Trout

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north carolina Five Flies to Never Leave Home Without Kevin Howell

Sheepfly. If I had to choose one fly to fish for trout with for the rest of my life, this would be the fly. It was originally tied by Newland Saunders from Lenoir, NC, to imitate a grey fly that is commonly found around sheep. Over the fly’s 60 year life span, it has been modified a few times. After learning more etymology, we have come to realize that the sheepfly imitates three different food groups. It looks like a Cranefly larva, a stickbait, and a large emerging mayfly. My favorite sizes are an 8 and 10, but I fish it from a 4-16.

Kevin’s Stonefly.This would be my second pick. Stoneflies have a threeyear life cycle in the stream; therefore, there are stonefly nymphs available to trout every day of the year.

In its twenty years on the market, this fly remains virtually unchanged from its original version.

Be sure that they are weighted very heavily and fished on the bottom. This fly has also picked up a large following from northeastern steelheaders. The best sizes of this fly are 6-12.

76 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

north carolina Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail. This fly covers about 80% of all mayfly nymphs. The soft hackle gives the fly life and movement which will dramatically increase a fly’s effectiveness. The fly can be fished weighted and on the bottom or floated in the surface film. I typically carry and fish it in sizes 14-22.

Anderson’s Bird of Prey. This is one of the best caddis pupas on the market today. It can be tied in a variety of colors to imitate the different colors and stages of caddis pupa. It also makes use of a soft hackle and peacock herl, two key ingredients to a good fly. I typically use a size 10-16.

Howell’s Simple Bunny. This is my “go to” streamer. It can be tied in a wide range of colors to imitate any bait fish from dace to darts to chubs. The bunny fur gives it a great motion and life in the water.

I tie it with large dumbbell eyes to keep it down on the bottom where the batfish live. My best size is a 4, but I typically carry it in sizes ranging from 1/0-6.

www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 77

virginia Fly Fishing for Virginia Winter Trout Harry Murray

I

f you enjoy solitude on trout streams and matching your wits against large trout, you should seriously consider fly fishing for them in the winter. From November through January you can find very gratifying action throughout the Old Dominion.

In order for you to take advantage of this exciting fishing, let’s fish our way through January examining the various tactics, fly patterns, and the types of streams that will give you good action.

streamers such as a Pearl Marauder size 12 or Murray’s Olive Strymph size 10 straight across the stream. After it sinks, deeply swim it back across the stream by stripping it six inches every five seconds. By fishing all the way downstream through the deep pools in this way, you can catch many nice rainbow trout in the large streams.

The “delayed harvest” streams, such as Passage Creek and Back Creek, are excellent in December. Watch the flat sections of the pools in the evenings, and you’ll often spot trout rising to sip natural midges from the surface of the stream. A very exciting way to fish for these trout is to use a Mr. Rapidan Midge size 20 or RS 2 Pupa size 20 on a 9 foot 7X leader and go one-on-one with each rising trout. Be sure to use a cautious approach and a delicate presentation because these trout are often very wary.

The large stocked streams, such as Big Stoney Creek west of Edinburg and the Bullpasture River in the gorge, hold many nice rainbow trout that feed heavily on small minnows in the deep pools immediately below the riffles as the water cools during the winter. A very productive way to fish these areas is to enter the stream right below the riffles and cast

78 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

The “delayed harvest” streams can give you great action throughout the day by fishing right below the riffles with nymphs such as the Casual Dress size 10 and the Murray’s Cranefly Larva size 12 and 14 do. Fish these upstream with a dead drift along the stream bottom using two strike indicators spread at three and six feet above the nymph on a 9

www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 79

virginia foot 5X knotted tapered leader in order to detect the strikes.

You can usually catch these trout on dry flies into the first or second week of December.

Dependable flies at this time are the Murray’s Flying Beetle sizes 14 and 16 and the McMurray Cinnamon Ants sizes 16 and 18.

From the middle of December through January, you can catch some trout in the mountain streams on nymphs such as the Red Squirrel size 12 and the Bead Head Zug Bug size 14 by fishing these along the stream bottom in the deep pools. However, the action will be very slow because of the cold water.

During December and January the baetis mayfly hatches become very heavy on some tailwater streams and large freestone streams which have large springs flowing into them. These hatches are at their best on heavily overcast days because the low light levels prompt the nymphs to emerge from the stream bottom.

Since large trout prefer to feed on overcast days, this is a perfect situation for you to get great fishing.

Explore different sections of the stream when the baetis hatch is on because some areas can have clouds of emerging duns and many rising trout while another stretch of the stream a hundred yards away

virginia may produce only a few flies with no feeding fish. I’ve encountered this often and have never been able to explain it because both sections of the streams appear to have the same bottom composition and flow rates.

During the beginning of the baetis hatch each day when the adults are sparse, you can catch many nice trout on a Blue Wing Olive Nymph size 18. Position yourself about a hundred feet downstream of where the springs enter the stream and fish upstream using a 9 foot 6X leader. After the nymph sinks deeply, use a slow lifting and dropping rod tip motion as the current pushes it downstream. Your goal is to make your nymph look like a real baetis nymph swimming up from the stream bottom. To aid in detecting the trout’s strike, retrieve it slightly faster than the current is pushing it. Also, use two strike indicators on your leader to help see the trout’s subtle take.

Once the hatch is in full swing, you can see many rising trout.

Switch over to a Baetis Parachute Dry size 18 or a Blue Wing Olive dry size 18 and go one-on-one with each feeding trout.

Many of the delayed harvest streams, tail waters, and put-and-take trout streams throughout the state have sections where the trout feed heavily on natural cress bugs and shrimp throughout the winter. These are

80 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

usually stretches of the streams downstream from where rich springs flow into them.

In some cases, such as on Big Stoney Creek at Lantz Mill, these springs flow into the streams from the streamside banks, and they are easy to spot by the lush green vegetation along the bank. My favorite way to fish these areas is to wade into the stream about a hundred feet downstream of the spring and wade upstream ten feet from the bank looking for feeding trout as I go.

This feeding is manifested in one of two ways.

You may spot a slightly splashing commotion on the surface of the stream created by the trout’s tail as he turns to take the shrimp and cress bugs from the aquatic vegetation or you may spot a short stream of discolored water streaming downstream as the trout roots the bugs from the stream bottom where the grass is attached.

In some of our large trout streams, these springs enter in the stream bottom, and you will often detect them unexpectedly as you wade the stream. The stream immediately below them will be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than the rest of the stream. When you find these underwater springs, mark them carefully by some physical feature such as large steamside trees or unusual boulders in the stream. This way you’ll know exactly where to fish them the next time you are on the stream because by the time you wade close enough to feel the spring the first time, you have scared the trout.

These stream bottom springs are easy to fish.

Wade into the stream to position yourself forty feet upstream of them and twenty degrees to the side. There are usually more natural shrimps here than cress bugs, so use a Shrimp pattern size 14 on a 9 foot 5X leader. Cast down and across at a twenty degree angle so In either case, I use the same tactic. I your fly falls at the near side on the upstream cautiously move in close enough to actually section of the spring. After your Shrimp sinks spot the trout. From here I watch him feeding deeply, use a very slow retrieve to crawl it for several minutes to assure that I haven’t across the stream bottom. Gradually lengthen scared him with my approach and to make your casts and wade downstream using this sure I have accurately identified his location. same angle and fly action on successive As he continues to feed, I cast my Shenk’s casts until you have covered the whole area Cress Bug size 16 two feet upstream of his thoroughly downstream about thirty feet of location and watch him closely as my fly drifts the spring. At the slightest hint of a take, set downstream to him. When I see him turn to the hook quickly but gently, because often take my fly or “white it” as he opens his mouth some large trout feed here. to take it, I set the hook quickly. This is very exciting fishing, so don’t feel embarrassed if Winter trout fishing can be some of the most you get a little rattled when you begin using challenging and gratifying angling of the this ploy. Seeing a twenty-inch brown trout whole year. Try it, and I believe you will agree. feeding on natural cress bugs thirty feet away in water two feet deep can cause the most experienced angler to become nervous. www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 81

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feature White River Fogeye Trout

feature

LARRY REA

I

months of the spring, summer and fall guides at the river’s many resorts will tell you that it gets so crowded on the river, one can almost walk across, stepping from one boat to another.

For a trout angler, the White River’s first 101 miles, from Bull Shoals Dam to Calico Rock, AR, is the home of trophy-sized fish. Each year, thousands of people, on their own or with the help of the area’s many fishing guides, try to coax a lunker-sized rainbow, brown or cutthroat trout from the cold water of the river’s upper section.

I guess that’s why I like winter fishing on the White River’s trout water, where “stockers” swim among river giants that might grow to more than 30 pounds for browns and 19 pounds for rainbows . . . and with a 4-pound walleye thrown in for good measure. White River trout, I’m told, grow an average of two inches per month as they feed on insects, sow bugs, fresh-water shrimp and crawdads.

They avoid hooks too large, leaders too short, clumsy casts and noisy approaches by novice anglers.

t begins as a small, mountain stream with rapids and ends as a broad, meandering waterway serving the barge and towboat industry. There are many facets to the White River which passes through 18 of Arkansas’s 75 counties on its lengthy journey from the state’s northwest corner to its intersection with the Mississippi River near Rosedale, MS.

You can add walleye to that list, too. That’s The dam’s construction (at a cost of $85.9 million) helped mold the White River into right–walleye. one of the nation’s top trout fishing streams, On a cool, crisp early March morning in 2011, I upstaging its reputation for producing big had the surprise of my trout-fishing life when bass. The tailwaters below Bull Shoals Dam I was able to land and release a walleye not annually produce dozens of brown trout in the far below Bull Shoals Lake Dam while fishing 10- to 20-pound range plus untold thousands under the watchful eye of veteran Gaston’s of smaller rainbow trout.

White River Resort guide Ron Armogost.

And, don’t forget, walleye, too.

“Not surprised,” Armogost said. “You never know what might make it through the Many giant brown trout are caught and floodgates.” Maybe so, but I certainly didn’t released each year on the White River, including several in the 16- to 20-pound expect a walleye. range. One guide I know caught and released But then, I’m reminded of something a veteran a 20-pound brown trout several years ago White River guide told me years ago. ‘’This while fishing near the river’s Wildcat Shoals. river has a way of getting a hold of you . . . and once that happens, it’s got you for life.” More To fish for trout on the White River usually means than 100,000 trout stamps were purchased using light tackle and johnboats equipped with by resident anglers in Arkansas in 2010. Out- director’s chairs and confronting limestone of-state anglers bought more than 50,000, cliffs and unpredictable changes in water including more than 10,000 from Texas. The levels. However, over the years these boats Arkansas Game and Fish Commission stocks have become more comfortable with some about 2 1/2 million hatchery-raised trout in up-sizing without losing the river’s well-known the state’s more than 150 miles of mostly up-close and personal touch. You might drift tail-water trout streams. In the peak tourism leisurely down the river while bumping a hook 86 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

baited with salmon eggs, cheese, or corn off dangerous with currents exceeding 12 miles the river bottom. Or, when the river is down, per hour. you might search for deep holes known to house giant browns or rainbows.

Most days, the river starts at low water, with the generators working just enough to keep Because of the river level’s sudden fluctuations the water at about 50 degrees, an ideal caused by power generation at the dam, it’s temperature for trout. At low water, an angler recommended that the first-timers to the has a chance not only to catch fish, but also trout fishing portion of the river hire a guide. to enjoy the area’s breathtaking scenery. The There are plenty of suppliers of trout fishing landscape features steep limestone cliffs that gear on the river’s first 18 miles, from the dam are among the tallest in the Ozarks. to Cotter, and many more downstream, all offering either half-day or full-day excursions. On mornings after a warm night, a cool fog My favorite destination is Gaston’s White often settles over the river as boats slip in and River Resort (870-431-5204 or www.gastons. out of sight in search of deep holes where com). trout are known to congregate in low water.

Fog can be part of the river’s landscape at all Bull Shoals Dam, taller than a 21-story times of the year . . . even in the winter when building, has eight generators, each capable the surface temperature is warmer than the of producing 40,000 kilowatts daily, enough river. power to turn on every light and appliance in not only Lakeview, but also in the nearby The most common boat used for trout towns of Mountain Home and Cotter. When fishing on the White River is a 20-foot, 3-inch demand for electricity rises in the area, more fiberglass johnboat that is 33 inches wide generators are operated. That’s when the across the bottom, 4 feet, 3 inches across the river reaches high water, becoming swift and beam, and is capable of maneuvering in six www.southerntrout.com | December 2012 | Southern Trout | 87

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inches of water. All of the boats are equipped with director’s chairs and virtually all of them are painted green, figuring the color won’t spook fish.

‘’Pound-for-pound, they (trout) are the strongest fish alive,’’ Armogost said. ‘’I’m talking about from the smallest fish to the largest. But even when you have a fish get off, you know you’ve been in a battle . . . and Fishing in low water means, literally, hunting it sure was fun.’” for trout (or walleye) and trying to locate the fish as they feed in deep pools. When you find Even if it was a walleye. them, carefully observe the area and anchor nearby but not directly in their upstream line.

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news Southern Trout Endorsed Program Launch

news

Leah Kirk

I

n the world of trout fishing in the South, recreation time and dollars are inseparable traveling companions.

Foremost in the incredible evolution of trout fishing in Dixie has been the astonishing growth in the number of guides who offer their services to the waters of the region.

Close behind this explosion of opportunities to book the services of a trout fishing guide has been the number of resorts and lodges that market trout fishing packages. The number of each currently exceeds a hundred (and this is a conservative WAG). Fly shop numbers in the Southeast mushroomed a decade ago, and according to most head counts, they have dwindled a little in numbers during the “Obama Depression.” However, when compared to the number that was around in 1980, the number of fly shops in the world of Southern Trout is quite impressive.

During the dead of winter, we launched the Southern Trout Endorsed Program. It covers four categories: guides, outfitters, lodges/ resorts, and fly shops. We wrestled with how to qualify and quantify each of these groups where in most cases they overlap in one or all of the four categories. Another challenge was how one might make a comparison in a review between the opulence of the Biltmore Estate with that of a rustic cluster of cabins on the Tellico River. We kicked around a one to five star, multi-tiered rating system with one to ten rating points that made it possible to accumulate 100 points. Our lawyer threatened to sue us if we subjected him to working out the details of any of these plans.

In the end, we came up with a very simplified criteria. We currently have a group of Southern Trout fishermen who have been around the block enough to know a good guide from a goofy guide, and are able to identify a neat place to stay whether it be sparse or luxurious. Endorsement staff members have the privilege of arranging trips and/or stays

with guides, outfitters and resorts/lodges to experience and evaluate these businesses.

In a nutshell, staff members will note that they either liked what they experienced and recommend it, or note that they did not like what they experienced and cannot recommend the business.

Recommended guides, outfitters and resorts/lodges will be

Southern Trout Endorsed and be allowed to note this designation via advertising, websites, emails and other venues where they feel that it is a positive distinction they wish to make known to the public. There is no cost to receive endorsement, nor do any of the staff members receive compensation for evaluating a guide, outfitter or resort/ lodge. We are allowing endorsement staff members to “grandfather” guide outfitters and resorts/lodges they have used during the preceding three years, but thereafter, that option will cease.

90 | Southern Trout | December 2012 | www.southerntrout.com

In the event that a staff member feels unable to recommend a guide, outfitter or resort/lodge, there will not be a public declaration saying as much or commenting on why a recommendation was not deemed appropriate. In regards to such occurrences, we are heeding the advice our mothers which was, “If you have nothing good say about it, say nothing at all.” Our goal is not to see businesses jump

through hoops and make sure they are perfect.

Our endorsement staff is made up of reasonable, wellseasoned Southern Trout fishermen that can tell the difference in a knowledge guide or an unknowledgeable one. Plus, we trust they will know a bed bug when they see it. They also know the difference between a baloney and cheese sandwich and fillet mignon, however, please know that each has its rightful place and time in the world of Southern Trout fishing.

Fly shop endorsement is handled exclusively through our world headquarters in Pelham, Alabama. The goal here is to give endorsements to fly shops based on the fact they are fly shops as opposed to bait shops that sell a few flies, or are a convenient store with a corner full of fishing gear of various persuasions. One of the biggest questions we will seek to know is if there is a resident fly tyer who is well versed in local fly patterns. We will also ask what product lines are sold, if fly tying supplies are sold, if instruction is available, and more. Along with allowing guides, outfitters, resorts/lodges, and fly shops to make known that they are Southern Trout Endorsed, we will have a new flip-book publication on our web site (www. southerntrout.com), Southern Trout Directory of Guide, Outfitters, Resort/Lodges, Fly Shops, Rod Builders and Fly Tyers. Endorsed businesses will have the opportunity to buy pages in the directory. This is not a freebie, but neither it is a budget breaker. It is meant to be a one-stop resource where everyone has a chance to make their services and wares known on a more or less level playing field.

According to Don Kirk, “We have been very careful in selecting our endorsement staff.

Most of them we have known personally for forty years or more. They are not choir boys, but they are knowledgeable, straight shooters who we are confident will fairly assess guides, outfitters and resorts/lodges. It’s not a closed club. If you feel you are qualified to undertake such daunting tasks, by all means contact us. If all goes according to our Master Plan, the summer of 2013 will see the launch of Southern Fly Fishing. A sister publication to Southern Trout, it will cover warm water and salt water fly fishing. The endorsement program will be extended to it, so more warm bodies will be needed.” In the world of trout fishing in the South, recreation time and dollars are inseparable traveling

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contributors

contributors Beau Beasley, Virginia Editor Beau Beasley is a well-known name among readers of fly angling magazines.

His work has appeared in nearly every ma jor fly fishing periodical in the country. He is the author of Fly Fishing Virginia. Recently he won the TalbotDenmade Memorial Award for Best Conservation Article from the MasonDixon Outdoor Writers Association for his investigative piece “Where Have All The Menhaden Gone?” He’s also the director of the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival www.vaflyfishingfestival.org and lives with his wife and children in Warrenton, VA.

Bill Bernhardt Bill Bernhardt, 52, is the owner of and guide, instructor, and custom rod builder for Harper Creek Fly Fishing Company (www.nc-flyfishing.com) located in Lenoir, North Carolina. In addition, Bill is somewhat unusual in that he specialize in small streams, wild trout, and back county, remote access, walk/wade trips into the Blue Ridge Mountains. Consequently, his freelance outdoor articles along with his nature photography focus specifically on the exceptional beauty and excellent trout fishing opportunities available to fly fishermen in western North Carolina.

John Berry Located in Cotter, Arkansas, “Trout Capital USA,” John Berry provides wade and float trips on the White, Norfork, Spring, and Little Red Rivers for trout and Crooked Creek for Smallmouth Bass. A retired CPA, he has been a professional fly-fishing guide in the Ozarks for almost two decades. An active conservationist, he has taught fly fishing and fly casting at a long list of colleges and events.

Bob Borgwat, Columnist Bob Borgwat, 55, leads the team of Reel Angling Adventures at ReelAnglingAdventures.com as owner, administrator, webmaster and guide.

His freelance writing, editing, and photography covers fishing across the US, but his daily piscatorial adventures take place with fly-rod in hand just outside his doorstep in the southern reach of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. He is a former senior editor for Game & Fish Magazines, Primedia and Intermedia Outdoors, and is an active member of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association.

David Cannon David was previously a full-timer in the outdoor publication world, having worked for such titles as American Angler, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Tyer and Georgia Outdoor News and Alabama Outdoor News, but he is now a global missions pastor and photographer in Walton County, Georgia (betwixt Atlanta and Athens). He is also the author of the book Fly Fishing Georgia: A No Nonsense Guide To Top Waters. He and his wife, Stephanie, successfully spawned this past winter and are expecting their first fry - a baby girl - this fall. When he’s not working, David enjoys tearing his own ligaments, sprouting new grey hairs and making new people who will eventually replace him. For more, visit CannonTTL.com.

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William “Bo” Cash A native of Morganton, North Carolina, Bo Cash was taught trout fishing by his grandfather at the age of three in 1952. He earned a B.S degree in biology with a concentration in ecology from Gardner-Webb University and began tying flies in 1970, rod building in 1976, and opened a Table Top Angler fly shop in 1980. In 1998, he “retired” from building rods after having completed well over 500 and in 2001he retired from teaching high school biology. He is the owner of the Table Top Angler fly shop, a life member in Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers, and as had articles published in sporting journals. His first book, Water Under the Bridge, was published in 2011. Bo is married Novah Wall, who accompanies him on many of his trips.

Soc Clay Soc Clay was first published in Field & Stream and Outdoor Life magazines in the 1950s. He was one of the first members of the SEOPA, served as director for the OWAA, founded the Kentucky Outdoor Press Association, an inductee of the Freshwater Fishing Hall, and he is a poet laureate of Kentucky. A lifelong resident of South Shore, Kentucky, Clay is also known as an outdoor photographer. His photography has graced the covers of scores of magazines including in one year 11 of 12 issues of the fabled Bassmaster magazine. His latest book Soc Clay’s Mad Trapper Sourdough Baking Book, portrays the romantic history of the use of sourdough starters and recipes used to sustain rugged prospector during the Alaska Gold Rush. It is the authority for the use of sourdough in baking in the world. (www.WhitefishPress.com) Dave Ezell Dave Ezell grew up fishing on East Tennessee rivers and lakes and in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Lucky enough to make a living in sales and as a scribe for business publications, he also has enjoyed fishing a variety of waters from steelhead on the Sol Duc to tarpon off North Captiva, Florida. Dave is one of the sparkplugs in the Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited, he has been intimately involved with Troutfest since its inception.

Currently he finds himself just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Maryville, Tennessee.

Ron Gaddy Ron Gaddy grew up in Waynesville, North Carolina and started fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains at an early age. He grew up fishing Cataloochee, East and West Fork of the Pigeon River, Little East Fork of the Pigeon River, Nantahala River and Jonathan Creek. Ron left North Carolina at age 24 for a career with the Department of Defense at Charleston, SC and Norfolk, Virginia. After retiring from DOD in 2009 he returned to Waynesville, North Carolina to be close to all the great trout fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since retirement, Ron has consistently fished in the Smoky Mountains for trout. When not fishing, Ron is tying flies or building fly rods.

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contributors

contributors Daniel Brent Golden Native East Tennessean Brent Golden’s interest in photography began while studying for his fine-arts degree at the University of Tennessee.

An avid flyfisherman, his passion for the outdoors is the focal point of his photographic interest. His specialty is shooting large panoramic landscapes of North America’s flyfishing waters. A recent interest in the invisible light of infrared (IR) photography has inspired him to capture his local waters in this unique way.

George Grant George Grant lives in Johnson City with his wife and earnestly wades upstream through his sixth decade. Mountain streams large and small are his first love, but he regards the South Holston and Watauga tailwaters to be his mistresses. In addition to actually fly fishing, he enjoys the history and the craft of fly tying, especially “resurrecting” patterns that have passed from common use. For many years Grant worked in local fly shops. He also wrote columns about fly fishing for a local sports magazine and for the Bristol Herald Courier.

Craig Haney, Editor-at-Large Craig Haney has spent a lifetime chasing trout on the streams, headwaters and tailwaters of the southern Appalachians and elsewhere. After graduating from Auburn University with an animal science degree, Craig has spent the ma jority of his career in the outdoor industry as a manufacturers’ rep for fishing, boating, camping and hunting gear as well as operating partner of Riverwoods Outfitters / Haney-Mullins Orvis for eight years. He has taught fly tying and fly casting at his shops and community colleges. Additionally, he has written on fly fishing and other outdoor subjects for a variety on national and regional magazines. Craig and his wife Lynn live on Shades Mountain in Hoover, AL in the southern Appalachian foothills.

Kevin Howell Kevin Howell fished 38 states before college. In 1997 Kevin took a job as Manager of Davidson River Outfitters. He was also helping his father run Dwight and Don’s Custom Tackle. After his father passed away in 1998, Kevin took over the operation of Dwight and Don’s Custom Tackle while remaining the Manager of Davidson River Outfitters. In 2000 Kevin purchased Davidson River Outfitters and combined the operation of the two businesses. He is also a Federation of Fly Fishers Certified Casting Instructor. Kevin is also a nationally known fly tyer and is currently the FlyTying Editor for Fly-Fishing the Mid Atlantic States. He has also had several of his original patterns published in various magazines as well as being produced by some of the national tying companies.

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Jimmy Jacobs, Georgia Editor Jimmy Jacobs is with Game & Fish Magazines. He also is the Outdoor Columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper and online Atlanta Outdoor Travel Writer for Examiner.com. Jacobs has authored five guidebooks to fishing in the southeastern United States, including Trout Streams of Southern Appalachia; Trout Fishing in North Georgia; and Tailwater Trout in the South. His writing and photography have earned Excellence In Craft awards from the Florida Outdoor Writers Association, Georgia Outdoor Writers Association and the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association.

Jeff “Owl” Jones, Columnist Fly Fishing Film Maker Owl Jones is a something of polarizing figure among the fly fishing community. He first came on the scene during the messageboard craze of the mid-90s. Since the late 90s, he has been banned from most of the larger forums due to his ability to ruffle the feathers of fellow anglers and state wildlife agencies alike. In late 2010 he started his own blog which is now called “OwlJones.com” where he has not yet been banned.

Owl currently lives in Gainesville, Ga., with his lovely wife and their invisible dog “Snickers” who always does what he’s told and never barks at night.

His goal is to get famous, and to take over the fly-fishing world.

Dr. Todd Larson, Columnist A dedicated fisherman and college history professor, Dr. Todd Larson writes and publishes everything related to the history of fishing, including the history of baits, (lures and flies), rods and reels, techniques, and people important to the history of fishing (Zane Grey, Ernest Hemingway, etc.) As an owner of Whitefish Press, Dr. Todd is dedicated to publishing a wide variety of works on fishing history and fishing tackle. Founded in 2006 by Dr. Todd, The impressive Whitefish catalog includes some of the finest in fishing history. He also writes and publishes a fine blog called Fishing for History: The History of Fishing and Fishing Tackle. More recently, he acquired ownership of The Classic Fly Rod Forum.

Roger Lowe Roger Lowe is the owner of Lowe Guide Service & Outfitters, located in the heart of the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains in Waynesville, North Carolina.

The area offers some of the best fishing in the eastern United States. Being a native of Waynesville, he spent his childhood summers camping and fishing with his father and grandfather in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. He learned about insects indigenous to local streams and the trout’s feeding habits. Roger developed his own technique for tying effective imitator patterns and became a master at catching the wild and wary mountain trout. He has been tying for forty years and fishing all his life. Today, as a professional guide, his fly patterns are used extensively by local fishermen. Roger’s book, Roger Lowe’s Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains is a fly tying and identification guide. He also has a tying video, Smoky Mountain Fly Patterns. It shows how to tie a lot of the Smoky Mountain Patterns. He also has a hatch book, Smoky Mountain Fly Patterns which is a guide to the patterns to use each month.

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contributors

contributors

Harry Murray Harry Murray was born, raised and still lives on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in the village of Edinburg, Virginia where he owns and has operated Murray’s Fly Shop for over 40 years. He has published eight books on fly fishing, including Trout Fishing in the Shenandoah National Park; Virginia Blue Ribbon Streams; and Murray’s Fly Shop Exclusive Fly Patterns.

His articles can be seen regularly in many national fly fishing magazines.

Harry conducts “on the stream” fly fishing schools each spring and summer out of his fly shop. He has designed over 50 fly patterns and provides guide service in the Virginia area.

Steve Moore A native of northern Virginia, Steve Moore grew up fishing in a fishing family. Steve’s father, much to his mother’s chagrin, was fishing in a local bass tournament the morning Steve was born. Steve has published five books on fishing in Virginia and Maryland including Maryland Trout Fishing, Wade and Shoreline Fishing the Potomac River for Smallmouth Bass, Wade Fishing the Rappahannock River and Wade Fishing the Rapidan River. Steve provides frequent updates on fishing these waters and others on his popular blog at www.CatchGuide.com.

Oak Myers Native West Virginia resident, Oak Myers has been a full time trout fishing guide for decades. His company, Cranberry Wilderness Outfitters (wvoutfitters.com, 304-651-3177) is based out of the mountain town of Richwood. A talented writer and fly fishing instructor, Myers is best known for helping his clients use bicycles to access the bowels of the rugged Cranberry Wilderness.

Marc Payne Marc is a Knoxville, Tennessee based fly fishing enthusiast. His popular blog, The Perfect Drift, has been up and running since 2019. Riverdale Classics Bamboo is a one man company Marc started seven years ago. His first stab at bamboo rods was purely economic, as he says that he could not afford a bamboo rod but wanted one badly. So he read on techniques, took a couple of gratuitous classes with rod makers, and bought several old rods to restore. From there, he began repairing and restoring old rods for friends, and as word of his skills grew, he began building for others. Now he is repairing, restoring, and building new rods for folks from all over the country. His email address is riverdaleclassicsbamboo@gmail.com Larry Rea, Arkansas Editor Larry Rea is the seasoned, retired Outdoors Editor for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN, where he held that post between 1967 and 2001.

Currently he is the host of Outdoors with Larry Rea on Sports 790-AM in Memphis; www.lroutdoors.com. He is also free-lance writer for The Commercial Appeal’s DeSoto Appeal (Sunday outdoors column). A master scribe, for five consecutive years he was a double award winner (first and second place) in Tennessee Outdoor Writers Association’s Excellence in Craft Broadcast category. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Writers Association’s Hall of Fame in 2010 where he is now an honored lifetime member. Larry also serves on the board of directors for Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (2010-present).

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Scott Spencer Scott Spencer is a freelance writer who was born and raised in Alabama.

An avid hunter and fisherman, he learned about fly fishing nearly 40 years ago when he first picked up the flyrod at the age of 12. He was tutored in the art of casting and fly fishing using my father’s 1952 Phillipson bamboo flyrod. A banker by profession, he has hunted across the United States and has done both television hunting programs and hunting DVD’s. A passionate fly fisherman, Spencer frequently fishes the streams and tailwaters of North Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. He is married with three children.

W. H. Bill Stuart, Jr Bill, a fourth generation Floridian ES (ES stands for Endangered Species), was born and raised in Bartow, Florida. He is a retired businessman, the former owner of Bagley Bait Company, and the former director/curator of the Museum of Fishing. Bill is the principal author of Florida Lure Makers and Their Lures which, so far, is up to six volumes of history and identification. He is a past president of the Florida Antique Tackle Collectors and was selected as an Honorary Member by the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club and by the Florida Antique Tackle Collectors. In addition to collecting Florida lures, he is also a collector of fly rod lures. Bill and his wife, Nancy, have two grown daughters and five grandchildren. He is active in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Rotary International and the E. B. Kennedy Scholarship Program at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina.

Benjamin VanDevender President of Team Dead Drift, Georgia’s Competitive Fly Fishing Team, Benjamin VanDevender, fell in love with fly fishing and chasing trout across Georgia. In recent years he has won accolades and awards for his fly-fishing expertise. Ben started fly fishing competitively a few years ago. Through competitive fly fishing, Ben learned more advanced tactics than some have ever thought possible. Already a fan of fly fishing for trout, his entry into its competitive side has given him a new appreciation for all aspects of the sport we call fly fishing.

Greg Ward, Tennessee Editor Greg Ward lives in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains, where he has been a full-time hunting and fishing guide since 1989. He owns and operates Rocky Top Outfitters, a hunting and fishing guide service specializing in stream fly-fishing, spin fishing, and guided turkey and bear hunts. His articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and outdoor magazines.

He is the co-author of the Ultimate Fly Fishing Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains. Greg has hosted several radio shows and has been a popular presenter at Pigeon Forge’s annual Wilderness Wildlife Week. He lives in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, with his wife and daughter.

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