"Live like you'll die tomorrow (fish every day),
.....fish like you'll live forever (preserve the resources).
June 26 - Callaway Gardens - Another SFA group of
4 guys this morning. Halfway through the casting lesson it began to pour, but
these guys were troopers and we were soon on the water. Intermittent showers
didn't hurt the fishing, and the fish didn't seem to mind either. We caught
`em on the bank and out in the middle, busting bait and rising to midges.
June
25 - Callaway Gardens - Fished an SFA trip with a group of 4 on Wren.
We got bass, bream and some big cats. All took a black
RLD with yellow rubber legs.
June 21 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
with Jamie and James S. from Tifton, GA. We did a quick casting lesson, since
they said they had thrown a fly rod before but not very well. Let me tell you,
these boys were either sand-bagging on me or they really have an aptitude -
within 45 minutes they were booming out 50' casts with good tight loops. 12-yr
old James was doing as good or better than his Dad, too. We jumped into #1 and
James had a fish on within 5 minutes, and another soon after. He had 3 or 4
before Pop ever got one, but by dark they were even up with bass, warmouth and
big bluegill on the wall. These boys were good, and they had fun. Fishing is
great.
June 20 - West Point Lake - After a
lunch-time presentation to the Rotary Club, I was ready for some fishing. Hit
the lake and caught largemouth in some shallow coves off Yellow Jacket, some
spots on the rip-rap, then caught the hybrid jump at dusk.
June
19 - Callaway Gardens - Chester fished with me again today, but
brought his family along. We hit Wren, and everybody got into the fish,
including some big cats for the boys. In the afternoon, I fished with Mike T.
and we did just fair on Hummingbird.
June 17 - Callaway Gardens - Well,
today was an experience, and a good one. Fished with Chester T from up in
Tennessee. Chester is a self-pronounced "good ol' boy" (actually
very successful, polished and educated- he just tries not to let it show). But does he love to fish - so we got
on just perfect. He wore out those big bluegill on Upper Falls, and added a
few bass for good measure.
June 16 - Callaway Gardens - Mack
and Angie from Atlanta came down and fished the day. We got the fish on RLD's,
clousers and rattle-buggers and had just a real fine day.
June
15 - Callaway Gardens - Fished in the morn with Mark & Crissy F
from St. Simons. We had a good morn on Wren, catching bass and bluegill. In
the afternoon, Andy and Pat M. came and fished til dark. We had a good
afternoon and evening, hitting a couple of lakes.
June 8-14 - Apalachicola, Florida - Spent
a week down on the Panhandle. Tarpon were there, though we did not get a shot.
Did have quite an adventure with a late afternoon paddle out to a reef, then a
midnight paddle return, stirring the photo-luminescent plankton with our
paddles - an incredible sight that almost made up for the lack of fish. I did
finally manage to find some good spanish mackerel in the surf at daylight.
Kept a few of those to fry up for that traditional Southern beach breakfast,
fish & cheese grits - ummm.
June 5-6 - Soque River - We did a
mini-school/fishing trip for a corporate group at Brigadoon. Two of the guys
were experienced, but the other 6 had never thrown the fly. But these guys did
good, caught on to the casting and in spite of the off-color water, most
caught fish. Longtime client and friend Al M. helped me put this together, and
fellow Callaway guides Paul & Carl helped out. May seem strange to have
warm-water guides at a trout fishing spot, but it's not as it seems. Paul has
been fishing for everything, from the times when you stretched your silk lines
out on the cabin pegs overnight to dry. And Carl guided for many years in
Tennessee, including drift-boating the Hiwassee almost daily. So two better
trout anglers you will not find. Anyhow, thanks, all you guys.
June 4 - Callaway Gardens - Summer Family
Adventure (SFA) started today at Callaway. It's a family-oriented program
where we do a quick casting lesson in the grass and then hit the water for a
couple of hours fishing. We fished Upper Falls and everybody got fish.
June 3 - Callaway Gardens - Did a casting lesson
for 3 this morning then slipped out to fish #4 a bit. The bass were suspended
over deep water, but an intermediate Courtland "Lil Tunny" line got
the seaducer to `em and they ate!
June 1-2 - Callaway Gardens - This was the weekend
for our fly-fishing school. We had another great group, and almost half were
ladies. Saturday saw some good casting practice, plus lots of big catfish
landed. On Sunday we moved to the Flint River, and caught shoal bass, red
breast and two big gar!
May 31 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with Jim, Ira,
Dave & Robin. Bluegill were eager to take the RLD's on Hummingbird, plus a
few bass suckered for a clouser.
May 26 - Charleston, SC - Fished a little,
land-locked tidal pond with Carter Nelson, my old "boss" at
Callaway. `Had a shot at one tailing redfish and didn't blow the cast, but he
wouldn't eat. Did manage to land a big flounder (thought he was a red at
first, as he took off under the boat & ran almost hard for about 75'.
May 23 - West Point Lake - Fished the Yellow
Jacket/Whitewater area. Bass were on shallow structure and more than willing
to eat clousers. At dusk, the hybrid were up on a shallow flat near the river
channel. I was throwing a new Courtland 555 "Little Tunny" line and
is it ever perfect for this - long casts with a quick intermediate sink rate
gets the fly down to the bigger fish. They slaughtered a red & white
seducer.
May 22 - Chattahoochee River - Fished down below
West Point on the river. `Took 3 good hybrid and 1 striper early, then
fished the spotted bass down the river. They were in the mood to eat,
especially rainbow clousers.
May 18 - Callaway Gardens - Fished in the morn
with Lars O. in the rain, but the weather didn't hurt the fish. Lars nailed
the big bluegill & quite a few bass. Most of the fish came on a #10 black RLD.
In the afternoon I fished with Marty and his sons, Josh &
James. They had never thrown the fly so we started with a casting lesson -
they all caught on quick. Fishing # 2, James had the hot hand early with a big
shellcracker
& 2 big bluegill. Then Josh started to get his too. We ended the day with
a good tally of bass and bream.
May 17 - Callaway Gardens - An early morning
trip cancelled leaving Jason & I no choice but to go fishing. Explored a
new lake on the back of the property but caught only small fish. This one is
unmanaged & the difference shows. From there we moved to Robin & a
spot where we'd been catching some big bedding redears. They wouldn't
cooperate this morning, maybe because we've fished `em so hard for a while.
After experimenting a little, we found new meat out in the deeper water. We'd
throw out, sink for a 10-count, and retrieve very slowly - they were nailing
us.
In the afternoon, we did casting lessons over on the lawn at
the hotel as part of a "Courtland Day" promotion. Wayne Ingram from
Courtland was there with a bunch of rods and the new 555 lines. Wow - these
are great! My favorite was the Little Tunny line - slick as greased lightening
and shoots like a rocket. I was a little disturbed as I was having a hard time
throwing the whole line, but then I found out it was 125" long.
That evening, I took Wayne out to one of the Callaway ponds.
He's a Yankee boy, but a pretty dang good bream fisherman - we musta' caught 4
dozen on a #10 tarantula from 7 til dark.
May 16 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with a group on
Upper Falls. Bass were on the bank and the bream out a ways. They all took
bead-rattle woolies and RLD's.
May 15 - Callaway Gardens - Fished Robin with a
group of about 20 after a quick casting lesson. Fish were on and we probably
have a few new anglers hooked too.
May 11-12 - Callaway Gardens - `Had our school
this weekend with a group of 13. Turned out not to be unlucky, with everyone
catching fish & having fun. Things went so well, even to the point
that Sunday on the Flint, while we were talking entomology, a huge golden
stonefly landed on the table where we sat.
May 8 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with Richard,
Dave & Randy from the Kudzu Fly Casters in Opelika. Richard started the
day with a 40" grass carp that took a chartreuse popper. All the guys got
fish, including some huge bream and a couple of nice bass.
May 6 - Callaway Gardens - Fished #4 with Gary
& John. We spanked the bass on top with deer-hair sliders. John had never
used them and wasn't too keen too start. But by the end of the day, I gave him
his ratty tattered little chartreuse-and-yellow one to retire - guess he'd
caught a couple of dozen on it.
May 4 & 5 - Callaway Gardens/Chattahoochee River - Fished
with Peter P. from Birmingham. Peter was in our school last year, has really
gotten the bug and was back for an advanced, two-day private school. We worked
on casting and then hit the water. He nailed `em at the Gardens. On Sunday we
moved to the 'Hooch for some moving water. Peter is a paddler and caught on
quick to reading the water & finding the fish.
May 3 - Callaway Gardens - Fished Hummingbird with
a group. Caught trout(!), bass & bream.
May 2 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with John B. on
Upper Falls. Bass were on the banks and wanted the fly within 6". Got
some big redbreasts too.
April 28 - Flint River - Back
to the Flint with Rex & David. David is a Colorado boy who's a bit nervous
about moving to Atlanta. Long-time fishing partner Rex wanted to ease his mind
a
bit. I think it worked - David loved the Flint and said the shoalies were just
like smallmouth.
April 27 - Callaway Gardens - Helped
with the first day of this month's school. A fun group, and I hated to miss
day 2.
April 24 - Flint River - Fished the Flint
from Hwy 36 to Pobiddy today with Roy O. Fish were slow til the afternoon, and
then we started finding them in the deep rock holes. I'd always thought that
hellgrammites were the main forage on the Flint, but at a big rock adjacent to
a deep hole (where I caught my first
fish), there were thousands (well,
hundreds anyway) of dragonfly nymph cases. These bugs had crawled out of the
hole I was fishing within the last week, and apparently the shoalie thought my
wooly bugger was
one of them. On down river, I caught the shoal
bass on foam bugs up in the shallow grass and side
channels. This is a great
river, good fishing and a pretty exciting ride in spots
when the water is up.
April 17 - Callaway Gardens - Spent
the afternoon & evening with regular client and good bud, Bill T. from
Atlanta. We are always blessed by the fishing gods (it helps that Bill, aka
Flip, is a top-notch angler) and today was no exception. We banged em topwater
and subsurface, bass &
bream.
April 13 - Callaway
Gardens - Fished all day with Richard & Matt. On #3 we took
several big bass, then moved to Hummingbird for trout &
big bream.
Finished the day on Upper Falls taking bass on top-waters just off the bank.
April
13 - Callaway Gardens - Fished Robin from the boat today. My people
did great, catching bass til their arms got tired.
April
12 - Callaway Gardens - Fished Callaway with Ben, Ralph, Joe &
Ed. On Upper Falls we took many bass, primarily on rattle-buggers.
April
11 - Chattahoochee River - Fished with long-time client Jeff W. and
his friend, Pat. We ran way up the river well into the shoals to lose the
other boats and find the white bass. Pat had never caught a fish on a fly rod,
though she'd been out several times. We changed all that today, as she caught
plenty, and then some. `Was even well ahead of Jeff until she decided to take
a break & watch - there's a lady who knows how to keep a man feeling good.
It was a beautiful day on the river, even with the occasional drizzle.
April
9-10 - North Georgia - Spent 2 days fishing with Pam & Steve G. from
Gainesville, FL. They were looking for a school/fishing trip, and did they
ever get one. First day was tough with water up & discolored from rain. We
managed to land a couple of fish with a couple getting off. The next day the
water was better and Pam & Steve were determined. It paid off as they both
got several nice fish.
April 8 - Chattahoochee River - Ran
up the river to scout for 4/11 trip. Water is up & the fish are there. In
about two hours I took 2 or 3 dozen white bass form the shoals on a chartreuse
closer. These fish aren't big but they are a blast on light equipment. Only
caught one hybrid - they don't seem to be here in any numbers yet.
April
4-7 - Gulf Shores - Gave casting lessons at the Federation of
Fly Fishers regional meeting. Didn't mange to get in as much fishing as last
year, but met a lot of great people and learned a ton.
April
2 - Callaway Gardens - Fished w/ Charlie & Cameron G. on #3 and
took bass all over.
April 1 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
w/ Keith, Laura, David & Michelle today. Lots of fun with fine folks and a
few good fish.
March 30-31 - Callaway Gardens - Fly
fishing school weekend at Callaway. Another great group with Sam getting the
big fish honors for a 16" shoal bass on the Flint. Doing the second day
on the Flint River has really added another element to the school & made
it even better.
March 29 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
w/ Jay N. and his son on Robin today. Many bass and some big bluegill.
March
27 - Barnsley Gardens - Did a scouting trip with my bud, Paul, to a
north Georgia resort where we'll be guiding some this summer. Two great lakes
- many bream, big bass & gigantic crappie (Paul took this one on a
chartreuse & white clouser)..
March 27 - LaGrange - Spent
the afternoon with Shawn & Cindy working on casting to prep for a New
England trip. Cindy did good & Shawn is getting the double haul. Then it
was on to the lounge at a local watering hole to discuss "tactics."
March
26 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with Rick & Will this morning on
Wren. They picked up casting quickly & caught fish.
March
23-24 - North Georgia - Spent 2 days in the mountains with Joel D. A great
trip as usual. Highlight was finisher on the Amicalola with beaucoup trout,
even several on a "striper retrieve" I learned from Chris &
Chuck (below).
March 22 - Callaway Gardens - Spent
the day with Chuck from Atlanta & Chris from Boston. They're old buddies
who fished the Boston Harbor for stripers regularly. What a great day - fished
3 lakes & wore `em out on all. It's kind of amazing that guys who are
accustomed to catching double-digit stripers get such a charge out of catching
bream. But they sure did - you could have heard them laughing across the lake.
And they got their share of bass, too.
March 22 - Callaway
Gardens - Fished with Angie S. this morning. Good angler & good
angling, with plenty of bass.
March 20 -
Chattahoochee River - In the shoals above West Point, the white bass
were thick and willing to take the fly. Only caught one hybrid, but they
should be moving up soon.
March 19 - Callaway Gardens - After
a casting lesson, Jeff and Claude the wind and managed a trout and a couple of
bream. Wind was tough and the guys had to leave early, but they didn't get
skunked.
March 16 - Callaway Gardens - Paul and I
fished Hummingbird today with Cleo & AJ and Clint and Heather. Only Clint
had thrown the fly before, but everyone did good. Cleo got on `em early, then
Heather with a big bream and a rainbow, AJ let two get off but redeemed
himself with three nice ones, and Clint nailed `em in the last hour with trout
and bass.
March 20 - Chattahoochee River - Down
below West Point, we got into the hybrid this morning. At daylight, we hit the
base of the shoals and nailed three, broke off three more, and had two pull
loose. On up the river, we improved our percentages and got 4 more hybrid and
a good striper. Perfect day, fishing in t-shirts by noon.
March
13 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with James & Jamie M this morn on
Wren. The boys did good, landing several nice trout, a couple of bass, and
some big "Callway" bream. Wife and mom Kathy came for a casting
lesson in the afternoon and caught on quickly. Said she'd watched Jamie
practice in the backyard so much, it just came naturally,
March
11 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with Russ and Nick today.
March
9 & 10 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with Brian C. and Frank M.
from Wetumpka. Brian is from England and his background is fishing the famous
"chalks" there. I had lots of fun seeing and hearing about all those
distinguished wet flies he carried. He did well too, with bass, bream &
trout. And Frank got more than his share. A great weekend with good guys and
lots of fish.
March 6 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
with Darren, Ricky, Richard and Ron. The bass were doing it on Robin and loved
the rattle bogers.
March 1 - Chattahoochee River - Brought
Elizabeth up for her first lineside action. Unfortunately, cold front had them
off and they didn't cooperate today. We'll get `em next time, Liz. It was
still a nice morning (if a bit nippy).
February 26 -
Chattahoochee River - Fished the river below West Point. Up in the
shoals at first light I took a good hybrid and a small striper on white
clouser. Worked up the river and found three more. Five of these fish in the
current makes for a pretty good morning.
February 23-24 -
Shallow Water Expo - Spent the weekend doing fly-tying demos at the
show. Lots of fun meeting & talking to old & new friends. Got a quick
casting lesson from Lefty ("Boy, I believe you'd pick up a stick to kill
a snake").
February 22 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
with Doug R. from Hummingbird Sonar today. This was Doug's first time with the
fly and he did good. I learned a lot from him about fish finders too.
February
20 - West Point - Worked down toward Whitewater and found lots of
spots moving shallow. They were tight to cover in 8-15' of water.
February
18 - Yates Lake - Fished the "middle pond" on the
Tallapoosa today with Jason & Carl. We didn't find `em today, excluding a
crappie and a couple of spots.
February 15 - Callaway Gardens - With
Donna & Dwayne Cox in for the day, we found bass & bream on Chapel
plus a couple of trout. In the afternoon, Wren was better to us and gave up
several nice trout.
February 13 - West Point Lake - Fished
on the lower lake today. Lead -core shooting heads with suspending foam
poppers got some largemouths, and the chartreuse clouser fooled a couple of
hybrids.
February 8 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
with Jason and the trout cooperated nicely. Mainly rainbows with a couple of
brookies to boot. Little white zonkers and rattle-boogers were the ticket.
February
7 - XXX River - Found a few stripers in the shoals and the holes down
below. Chartreuse clousers as usual.
February 4 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
with my ol' bud, Bill T, a Callaway regular who fishes every season, every
year. This was to be the trout trip, but something happened. The trout were
scarce with the cold temps and high wind, but Bill caught what may be a
Callaway half-day record of bass. He landed so many we lost count; he caught
`em on Chapel and Wren, he caught `em on clousers, crawfish, and
rattle-buggers; and he caught `em deep & shallow. Our 10/24/2001 trip had
us catching bass at dark - today was no different.
February
2 - Callaway Gardens - Fished today with brothers Mike & Ricky B
- good anglers who love it. They got in early so we hit the water about 12:30,
and got into the trout immediately. About mid-afternoon, we moved to Chapel
and found the fish rising to little midges. We threw some small flies, but did
just as well (quite well indeed!) on bead-rattle buggers. Everybody had good
fish, but Mike's rainbow was huge - wheweee!
January 31 -
Callaway Gardens - Did a full-day private school today with Josh
from Atlanta. He recently got the fly-fishing bug and wanted a quick start. He
did well, and landed some nice fish.
January 29 - West Point
Lake - Fished up around Snake Creek. With the water pretty stained
form all the rain, I found only a few whites, a hybrid and two largemouth. On
down the lake in the creeks, lots of folks were wearing out the crappie.
January
28 - Chattahoochee River - With round-the-clock generation, Jason
& I couldn't resist. A beautiful day, warm enough to fish in t-shirts,
with some good striper - `nigh perfect as you can get!
January
27 - Callaway Gardens - Don and his 11-yr old son, John, fished Wren
with me. John had a good day, as did his dad & I.
January
26 - Callaway Gardens - With Mike & Hugh F. Hugh hit `em hard
& Mike did OK on rattle boogers
and big soft-hackles.
January 23 -
Chattahoochee River - Fished down below West Point. Only one striper
and one big hybrid, but found enough spotted bass to make a good day. Fly of
choice was a chartreuse clouser (of course) plus a big white seaducer on
a sink-tip line.
January 19 - Callaway Gardens - Fished
with Greg & Larry and had a great day catching trout, bass, bream and
cats.
January 17 - Tallapoosa River, Alabama - Fished
with Carl & 
we ran all the way up to the Martin dam hunting the stripes.
They weren't there so we dropped back. Ran up Sougahatchee Creek and found the
stripers bashing bait on and off the bank
January 14 -
Tallulah River - Fished the upper river & feeders with Ralph G.
from Tallahassee. We found some big fish right at the confluence at a little
creek, and finally found the ticket with a flashback scud. There are no scuds
here, but the fish loved `em - including a 15" brown.
January
13 - Soque River - Fished with Richard, Danny & Cary. Richard,
who's fished here with me a couple of times, landed the biggest fish - a
19" rainbow. But Danny & Cary were into good fish too. This was
Danny's first trout trip & first fly rod trip, and he loved it, especially
the "hunting" aspect of small stream trout fishing.
January 12 - Callaway Gardens - Jason &
Michelle came & fished the day with me. Jason, as much fun as we had
with Brennan & Tim last month, Michelle is much better company (and a good
angler to boot!). Good trip with lots of fish despite the cold & rain.
January 7 - Chattahoochee River - Fished the DH section
in Atlanta with Jason. Fish were scattered and deep with the cold. We'd
scheduled to leave around 4 for a FFF-club meeting in Opelika that nite - we
found the trout rising at 3, so we were a little late (but caught a lot of
fish - #20 midge emergers).
January 4 - Lake Seed/Tallulah
River - Towed the jet boat to north GA with Jason. Ran up to head of Seed
& caught trout at the dam, the followed the dropping water downstream
after generation. In the afternoon, we hit the headwaters of the river on
foot, catching mucho more.
 |
January 2 - Callaway Gardens - Fished with Calvin B. from
Chattanooga today. Calvin is a regular and one of the best anglers I
know - he does this little "jigging thing" with his
double nymph rig at the end of his retrieve and hooks more fish within
a rod's length of his tube than most people do in the whole lake. Oh,
did I mention that it was snowing a little today? We fished Lower
Falls in the morn, taking brookies & rainbows. After lunch, a
move to Wren
added more rainbows, with some on midge dries & emergers. |
