JC Coots
Active member
Not sure if it's alright to post locations other than Chattanooga area so mods, please pull if this is outside the lines.
Posted this on other sites I'm on but thought I would share these two trips with ya'll....try to get this Fly Fishing Forum going.
This was from 5/2:
Beautiful weekend camping and fishing with my wife and two sons this weekend at Woodring Branch, the good Lord blessed us beyond my dreams.
The weather and campground were perfect....
They caught quite a few small bass and various bream on crickets, beetlespins, jigs etc. I'm strictly a fly chucker. I don't know how many I caught on with a popping bug and a dropper but my gummy minnow pattern I tie flat hammered the big bream and even some respectable spots.
No real giants but this 4# spot was some serious fun on my 3wt. It was everything I could do to keep it out of the branches/brush during the fight. My wife said she had to get a picture of my smile cause I looked like I was going to bust. Great fighting fish.
Louie, if you read this, I didn't find any big crackers in the structure you mentioned but we mainly only fished the coves around Woodring. We were having so much fun with all the stuff that was hitting shallow we forgot all about targeting those. Hopefully we will take some time and specifically try to find them next trip.
Hope ya'll had as fine a weekend as I did. Get out there, the fishing great.
Then on 5/15:
y oldest son got a new to him 1970 Johnson 9.5 outboard for his John Boat and has been dying to try it out but we have had other obligations this past week. Today after church we decided to head to the lake and even if we couldn't catch any fish after this front we could at least try out the new motor.
My new buddy PJ had given us a tip so we went there first to check it out. Of course, the motor worked great and we pulled up to the first spot not expecting much because the wind had picked up. 3rd cast I caught a lil 6" spot...then my son caught one...then we hit another, and another. We hammered the dinks for a few minutes with fly rods but needed to get out of the wind.
We found a close cove with a big rock garden in 4-8' sloping flat at the edge of deep water. I don't know how many this size we hit...
But they sure were fun on on the 3wts. The greenies were everywhere, and provided a lot of hits in between the spots.
We fished our way down a cove and I made a cast to a floating tree and let the fly sink, tiny strips just enough to keep tension. I saw the line tick and set the hook, expecting another small spot....but something much bigger pulled back. I fought what I thought had to be a monster spot for 10 seconds and pressured, as much as I could with a 3wt flyrod, it too much to get it away from the tree and pulled the hook. I was sick. I made a few more casts around the tree and then dropped one in the exact same spot I got the hit. As the fly sunk out of sight, another tick in the line and I set the hook, again a much bigger fish pulled back....but this time I had a good hookset. Slowly the fish pulled our little boat into deeper water, thankfully away from the tree. I knew from the fight it wasn't a striper...and really didn't feel like a bass but if it was, it was a good one. 2-3 minutes later, I never expected to land this....
Great fighting fish, the scale showed it at not quite 6. Another predator falls for my skinny minner fly.
So even with the front, the Lord blessed us with cooperative fish. Reminded me of something my Pap-Paw taught me many years ago...."The best time to go fishing is when you can." Thanks for looking.
JC
Posted this on other sites I'm on but thought I would share these two trips with ya'll....try to get this Fly Fishing Forum going.
This was from 5/2:
Beautiful weekend camping and fishing with my wife and two sons this weekend at Woodring Branch, the good Lord blessed us beyond my dreams.
The weather and campground were perfect....
They caught quite a few small bass and various bream on crickets, beetlespins, jigs etc. I'm strictly a fly chucker. I don't know how many I caught on with a popping bug and a dropper but my gummy minnow pattern I tie flat hammered the big bream and even some respectable spots.
No real giants but this 4# spot was some serious fun on my 3wt. It was everything I could do to keep it out of the branches/brush during the fight. My wife said she had to get a picture of my smile cause I looked like I was going to bust. Great fighting fish.
Louie, if you read this, I didn't find any big crackers in the structure you mentioned but we mainly only fished the coves around Woodring. We were having so much fun with all the stuff that was hitting shallow we forgot all about targeting those. Hopefully we will take some time and specifically try to find them next trip.
Hope ya'll had as fine a weekend as I did. Get out there, the fishing great.
Then on 5/15:
y oldest son got a new to him 1970 Johnson 9.5 outboard for his John Boat and has been dying to try it out but we have had other obligations this past week. Today after church we decided to head to the lake and even if we couldn't catch any fish after this front we could at least try out the new motor.
My new buddy PJ had given us a tip so we went there first to check it out. Of course, the motor worked great and we pulled up to the first spot not expecting much because the wind had picked up. 3rd cast I caught a lil 6" spot...then my son caught one...then we hit another, and another. We hammered the dinks for a few minutes with fly rods but needed to get out of the wind.
We found a close cove with a big rock garden in 4-8' sloping flat at the edge of deep water. I don't know how many this size we hit...
But they sure were fun on on the 3wts. The greenies were everywhere, and provided a lot of hits in between the spots.
We fished our way down a cove and I made a cast to a floating tree and let the fly sink, tiny strips just enough to keep tension. I saw the line tick and set the hook, expecting another small spot....but something much bigger pulled back. I fought what I thought had to be a monster spot for 10 seconds and pressured, as much as I could with a 3wt flyrod, it too much to get it away from the tree and pulled the hook. I was sick. I made a few more casts around the tree and then dropped one in the exact same spot I got the hit. As the fly sunk out of sight, another tick in the line and I set the hook, again a much bigger fish pulled back....but this time I had a good hookset. Slowly the fish pulled our little boat into deeper water, thankfully away from the tree. I knew from the fight it wasn't a striper...and really didn't feel like a bass but if it was, it was a good one. 2-3 minutes later, I never expected to land this....
Great fighting fish, the scale showed it at not quite 6. Another predator falls for my skinny minner fly.
So even with the front, the Lord blessed us with cooperative fish. Reminded me of something my Pap-Paw taught me many years ago...."The best time to go fishing is when you can." Thanks for looking.
JC
