Stephanie and Blake Fishing Hot Flies

Last year Stephanie and Blake took to the braces of the F/V Southeastern Fly and had a nice day on the river. And last year Stephanie was really just getting started and learning. Fast forward to this year she was ready to build on the things she learned last year and of course get some bigger fish on the fly. 

Blake is a very good angler and extremely competent on the small streams. He was ready for a good day and ready for the chance to spend the day with his wife doing something both love. Eventually we would get Blake into some good water and the fishing skills he has built throughout his years of fly fishing would come in handy.

The black lab? Well that was a wading angler's dog. The dog waited stream side while "his angler" searched out fish. As with most labs this one didn't meet a stranger and assumed everyone should be provided the opportunity to give it some petting...and that's just what we did.

This day would be the tale of two floats. We got on the water pretty early and our couple went to work with nymphs. The water was stained from the heavy rains the night before. It took some time to get dialed in but finally we were into the fish and they picked up some nice ones. Nymphs would be the breakfast of champions for the fish on this day and perfect presentations were key. Midges would come later. The morning warm-up was just that and as the generation release hit us we loaded the drifter, then went for some lunch...

After we pushed the drifter off the trailer the second time it wasn't long before we had some more action. Indicators and hoppers were each getting their turn to go under the surface. The action wasn't on fire, but the fish they were getting to the net were of some better quality.

The coolest take of the day? That has to go to Stephanie. The decision was made to fish the high-value areas. We floated into a normally productive spot and Stephanie dropped her nymph against a log. After a short float she lifted the fly to get past some more structure. As the fly came to the top a fish chased. Stephanie stopped the fly and then continued to raise it to the top. The fish kept coming and just as the fly came up over the log that fish ate. All this was in clear view and we all celebrated a nice take as well as a good fish. Nice work Stephanie.

The biggest heartbreak? No not that kind of heartbreak, we are talking about fishing heartbreak. Anyway that one has to go to Blake. As this report stated earlier, Blake is extremely competent small stream angler. So we tried to get Blake into as much structure as possible. The strategy was to get him close and let him place his hopper with a nymph and midge rig in all the likely places, while Stephanie fished along the outside of the structure from the front of the boat. Blake was picking some really nice spots and then a big rainbow ate one of the bottom flies. Blake set the hook then it was a battle. The fish went back to the structure and Blake kept good pressure. I've seen some big fish in the river and this rainbow was as big as I have seen. Blake brought the fish out of the first bit of structure and the fish was coming out toward the boat. Then the line went limp and it was over. The big rainbow ghost back into the structure and we were done. Blake had a good hook set and good pressure, but this one just didn't work out. He handled the lost fish well though and it wasn't long before he was back in the brace and fishing more structure. Then picking up more fish.

We continued to build technique into their presentation and had a lot, OK a whole lot, of laughs throughout the day. But the float was coming to an end and the afternoon heat pushed the fish into cooler water. So we all counted this day was a good one. 

The day started with a cool morning,  stained water and some fish, An early lunch was next and the friendly lab helped lighten the day even more. After that we were on more clear water and some fishing skills came more into play as presentations became more critical. There were also some good takes, long fights, short fights with lost fish, then Stephanie threw fish poop at me....The End

If you are a seasoned angler or have never picked up a fly rod and want to set up a day on the river e-mail or call/text 615-796-5143 to book a day on the water. For additional booking information see our Homepage and to see the latest fishing report click here.