By Jim Parks
In July, I was fortunate to travel to Montana for my 10th trip to that beautiful part of the country. One lesson I’ve learned in making trips to other areas, including Alaska, Arkansas, Wyoming and others, is that there’s always something to bring back. Whether it is a fly, a technique, or how to fight big fish by not breaking off on a 12 lb. silver salmon for the 3rd time! Those experiences become invaluable not only in the memories of the scenery and fish caught, but in the techniques and skills to which we are exposed and learn that will become part of our fishing arsenal. Still, when it’s all said and done, as we travel to any unfamiliar water, we take our cumulative experience and skills with us with the hope of returning home richer in our own personal fly-fishing journey.
Always the one for preparation, I spend considerable time prior to departure monitoring various social media sites and having discussions with others who have knowledge of the area to get the latest information. Currently, there’s more fishing knowledge and stream specific information available than at any time in history. Unfortunately, too many anglers fail to properly apply that knowledge because of lack of experience and being too insecure in their skills to think outside the norm. So, if you’re the type who has limited time, wants to pay for expertise, and prefers to hire a guide, that’s understandable. But, for those of you who love the challenge of unlocking the mysteries of fooling a wild fish in unfamiliar waters, or even resolving puzzles on familiar waters, this is for you.
“Knowledge is the accumulation of information, whereas wisdom is the proper application of knowledge.”
Our fishing trip to Montana at the time didn’t sound promising with reports of record hot days, low water conditions, and the potential for stream closures due to high water temperatures. The best-case scenario for the area to which we were headed called for satisfactory fishing in the morning, with the bite all but shutting down around 2 pm. Our destination stream was one I had fished before on two occasions, albeit 22 years since my last visit. For reference, that was during the era of whirling disease, but reportedly the fishery had improved since its recovery. Since the time of my last trip, I doubled my years of experience from 22 to 44. Though it’s always a great idea to learn as much as you can beforehand to have the flies, etc., that you think you’ll need, at some point, decisions and adaptations will likely be needed.
“Where planning helps you to cover the adaptations, experience directs them.”
Realizing the reports were from anglers, some local and some not, they all came with a certain perspective. Those perspectives are based on THEIR experience and how THEY fish this area. For example, many of the anglers were using dry flies, so the 2 pm rumor of the bite shutting down generally applied to dry fly fishing. What about nymphs and streamers? Also, the water was “low”, to them. Upon arrival, I found the “low” water level to my liking and did not care to consider what the wading would be like if it was “normal”, or heaven forbid, “high” flows. Personally, I tend to like higher water as I enjoy using streamers and heavy nymphs, but what I saw was well to my liking.
“Often becoming an above average fishermen means fishing outside the norm.”
Stopping by the local fly shop, the “flies du jour” were small dries and attractor nymphs. Keeping those in mind, I even bought a few of the nymphs to try later and to bring back to test on my home waters, as well as to support the local shop. Critiquing the recommended attractor pattern caused the tiny, well-worn cogs in my jet-lagged brain to begin working the possible combinations, knowing my preference and skills lean toward subsurface offerings. Looking into my fly boxes (I had arrived with several), I brought out my go-to patterns from the Smoky Mountains, where I predominantly use attractor nymphs. Around 7 pm, after setting up camp, I stepped into the creek to “get my feet wet” as a warm up for the week ahead and to unwind from the long trip from Tennessee. With another angler upstream, I headed down. The water was flowing knee deep with very few holding lies that were limited to “soft” water along the banks, where I surmised the fish would likely be holding. These holding areas were no more than 2 feet wide and typically ranged from 15 to 20 feet long. Fishing downstream led me to casting a streamer with my go-to being a bead head, olive wooly booger, a fly I had brought back from Arkansas twenty years ago. When on heavily fished waters, sometimes I like to break the norm by trying flies unfamiliar to the fish. Aiming toward the far bank, the hardest to access and thus the likely least fished, I cast beneath the overhanging brush. On my 2nd cast, I saw a nice trout blast after the streamer as it left the soft water, swinging into the current. I was immediately into a heavy fight with a nineteen-inch bull trout bolting downstream in the fast current. So much for the 2 pm shutdown and dry flies! I wound up with 13 in that one hour. Now for some R & R around the campfire and time to think about tomorrow.
The next day, as others tossed the dry fly version of the “fly du jour”, I sought and found the type of water that best suited my fishing preference and skills for casting heavy nymphs. Though I had left the Smoky Mountains, they had not left me as I pulled out my two favorite attractor go-to patterns from home, Jim’s Grampus and the Guinea Fly. Both were size 8 and heavily weighted. As I worked the deep pocket water around large boulders, I focused on eddies, seams, and drop offs allowing my flies to bounce along the bottom, places preferred by large browns and bull trout. As with yesterday, I also knew there was a slim to no chance the trout in this heavily fished stream had ever seen these two patterns, one personally invented, and one ancient to my home waters. For disclosure, I didn’t want to stop for lunch because the fishing action was so furious! The lesson for the morning was to NOT let a huge bull trout anywhere near a log jam!
As mentioned earlier, another tool I use when fishing is to work areas where most anglers don’t. I make a point to give the extra effort to wade within casting range to fish a hard-to-reach area, and I have the scarred shins to prove it! While there’s often a desire to fish “unfished waters” in strange rivers in distant valleys, there’s likely plenty within casting range in the creeks you regularly frequent. Sometimes a small pocket of water, seemingly too shallow or too small to hold a fish will reveal a trophy! I once landed a twenty-once inch, wild brown by casting well over a dozen times to get the fly in just the exact spot beneath an overhanging rock. Nothing like seeing a big mouth opening as your fly passes by! It took a lot of effort but was well worth the extra casts as I returned that brute into the little creek, where it immediately swam beneath a rock.
I will end with this thought. In the movie, A River Runs Through It, the narrator states, “I then saw something remarkable. For the first time Paul broke free of our father’s instruction, into a rhythm all his own.” If not already, I hope this is the year you find a rhythm all your own.
To see the flies, go to my Instagram page, “TailsOfTheSmokies”
Jim Parks, a native of Newport, Tennessee, has spent forty-three years fly-fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which he considers his home waters. Jim currently resides in Kodak, Tennessee, with Trena, his wife and best friend of thirty-four years. Check out his book, “Tails of the Smokies” on Amazon and in Kindle and iTunes formats.