Kickin' Among the Lilies

By the look on this guys face, he is not a fan of Gamakatsu Stinger hooks.  

This weekend found the Bull Gills colored up and aggressive, along with almost every other fish in the pads.

I love the myriad of colors found when Gills are spawning

Rust Breast and Blue

Black and Green

Yellow Hen

Red and Bronze

Even the Pickerel were chasing the WOG

After a half dozen of these I was tired of retying chewed tippet

It was the first trip to this particular water where the bass were looking up as well. A welcome sight to see them cutting beds in the shallows.

A CGR 7/8 Five Year Review

After 5 years one thing has remained consistent....the CGR 7/8

5 years ago I strung up 3 CGR's, the 7' 4/5wt, the 7'6" 5/6wt and the 7'6" 7/8wt.  All three have been very nice rods on the water, yet with rods time is the true test of a rods performance.

The 5wt took damage in a fall and was repaired with a new reel seat.  Yet even after repaired with an upgrade it seldom gets used, as personally it really has average qualities as a 7' 5wt.  

The 6wt is a great rod in its on right, proving its worth on both warmwater and as a great winter trout rod. But it is now at a friends house in Florida, which tells me it was replaceable in the end. 

The 7/8 however, is a warmwater companion that I have had trouble leaving behind. It has kept several much higher end rigs gathering dust. Lined with an Orvis WF7F Warmwater line, it casts like an extension of my hand and has stood up to some rough work. The spigot ferrules are as tight as when new, as with the rest of the rods build quality. It has the strength to lean on bass in vegetation, the backbone to muscle inshore bluefish on the coast and has done very well with heavy streamers for trout.  But first and foremost, it is my rod of choice for float tubing.

Day 1 with the CGR

5 years of hard labor has proven the CGR 7/8 to be not only an exceptional rod value, but an exceptional rod all around.

Float Tube and Summer Bugs

First 2019 outing in the tube

With the weather cooperating, it was time to dust off the Cumberland and prospect for gills.

A bluebird day with just a tad bit of a breeze.  It was enough of a breeze however to wear my but down quickly.  

1st fish of the year from the tube was a fat colored-up Bull

After running through my box on a particularly picky day, they settled on a blonde Foam-Butt Caddis

Tying the FBC

All Bulls on the day. No Hens and no bass.

Some big fish for this early, and all very aggressive on the rise

A nice start paid for with wind-beaten legs and hip-flexer's

Its that time of year again

SUMMER BUGS Time!

Restocking The Original

Original Version of the GRHE Tied and Fished

The first nymph I learned to tie

I learned this pattern, minus the bead and on a standard nymph hook, during a tying class in 1989.  It was the first nymph we were shown.  I still tie and fish it often along with a number of other GRHE variations.  I think after 30 years, it is here to stay. I was down to 2 of them in my box.....time to replenish.

Beadhead GRHE

HOOK:  #16-12 Scud

BEAD:  Gold

THREAD:  6/0 Black

TAIL:  4-5 Pheasant Tail Fibers

RIB:  Fine Gold Wire

ABDOMEN & THORAX: Hareline Haretron Natural Rabbit

WINGCASE:  4-5 Peacock Herl

The three variations I keep stocked in my boxes.
Rear to Front
(The Original GRHE, The C2C Nymph, The GRHE tied with Ginger Haretron and PT wingcase)

The C2C tying Video covers all tying steps required to tie all three patterns.

Let it rain!

Let it Rain

When you're 2 hrs away with only one afternoon to fish...and its raining?  

You fish.

It was my second trip hitting a new stretch of water, and once again high water.  Thankfully not off-color, but being shorter in stature the higher water limited my ability to fish most pools how I would have liked to.  But no fish has ever been caught by sitting in a living room complaining about the rain, so as my dad would say, "Fish don't mind rain Bud...cinch up your waders, pull up your hood and get in the water". 

The day would eventually prove a challenge. My line/rod proved to be not quite what I needed for a heavy nymph rig, which caused much more time untangling and re-rigging than normal.  Throw in a stumbling fall forward in knee deep water which my knuckles took the brunt of as I tried to save my rod. An event punctuated with a bit of colorful narration by yours-truly as the sleeves of my waterproof wading jacket quickly filled with trout temperature water.  Fortunately for us all, the rain had driven the ears of children from the stream. 

In the end, both due to a bit of diligence and a lot of pure stubbornness, I did manage to bring one nice brown to hand.  An event courtesy of the TC2.

My kingdom for a collision of time and nice weather!

Spring Bass on Top

Spring Bass on top

Courtesy of the X-Gurgler

Spring Bass are warming up along with the weather.  Cutting through the shallows and aggressive on top.

They are looking up.  Have to love that.

Just about time for the tube.