I haven't been posting much lately except asking for some electrical help. For which CB was willing to enlighten me. However, I have been active with sailing at the club on Saturdays doing practice starts, spinnaker sets, fast and smooth tacks, and practice races. We have several new boats with new sailors that are joining our Flying Scott fleet the Lake Murray Bombers. The name Bombers comes from the fact that Lunch Island on lake Murray was used by the Dolittle Raiders of WW2 fame to practice bombing with the B25 bombers they would use to take off from an aircraft carrier to bomb Tokyo and then land or bailout over China The locals all call it Bomb Island. Also known as Bird Island because more than one million Purple Martins nest on that Island.
I am also driving to the Mountains (about 3 hours to where I fish) once or twice a week to flyfish for trout. Although, this winter I have not actually been using my fly rods and reels but instead using my Tenkara rods. They are a traditional Japanese version of flyfishing for trout with a modern telescoping rod with the line tied to the very thin tip of the rod. The line is a fixed length about the same length as the rod. Though that can vary and be as long as twice the rod length which requires hauling the fish in by hand at the end of the fight. The tippet is tied to the end of the line (5X or smaller), and the fly to the tippet. There are no guides or reel. This makes for a rod that collapses down to under 2 feet in fact I have a short 10-foot pocket rod that when collapsed is only 10-inches long. My 13' 8" rod reduces to 22". makes for walking the overgrown river trails much easier than with a fly rod.
Enough shop talk. What's important is the time spent on the water absorbed by the sounds and sights of a wild mountain river. I find the cold water often in the low 30s to mid 40s to be good for my worn-out knees and the slippery rocks a challenge to my balance. The physical nature of hiking the trails and wading the river is good for my old body and helps keep me somewhat limber. Then my mind switches gear from daily concerns to a focus outside myself as I read the water and test all the places, I suspect the fish to be with a cast and a lure.
The fly I have been catching almost all the trout on this winter is one I tie. It is a size 14 or 16 jig hook with a heavy shiny black tungsten bead head a short brown or light color hackle and a green with a bit of green flash body. I patterned it on a green caddisfly nymph found in the Chattooga River. They are the immature aquatic phase of the Caddisfly.
The fishing has been good, but we are in the delayed harvest time of year on the section of river I have been fishing and can't keep the fish, so it is catch and release for now. I am usually fishing with a friend, either Frank or Rusty. We have walked further upriver lately and found several productive stretches. This time of year, I like to keep a tight line with a weighted nymph near the bottom along the edge or a run and where it enters and slows entering deep water. I have caught some nice size fish of all 3 of the species of trout in the river. they are Brown, Rainbow, and Brook Trout. The Brook Trout are native. What follows are some photos from recent trips.
One of the new upriver sections we like to fish. You might be able to just see Frank on the right edge of the river in the distance.
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Rusty with a rainbow jumping on the end of his line.
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Brown Trout
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Me with that trout in the net.
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Brook Trout, you can see the green caddisfly nymph hooked in its jaw.
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Rainbow Trout
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Female Snapping Turtle having just finished burying her eggs in the sand bank. You cans see the depression at the top of the photo and her track going down from there to the water.
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You know spring is here when you see the Trillium.
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Great pics! Watch your piggies around that snapper! ;D