2011 Fishing Reports

December - Trout fishing at Callaway continues to be very good. After Christmas, I began to find a few stripers on the Chattahoochee. Even though I've been fishing these guys for over 20 years, it's difficult to recall just how hard they hit (and pull) - it's nice to get reacquainted.

November - I spent most of the month on the road, starting with the WNC Fly Fishing Expo in Asheville, then  across NC and down the coast through SC (where I managed to slip in a little redfishing). My few in-town days were spent chasing trout at Callaway - as usual, the fish are good ones and very hot.

October 14 - Fished today with Gretchen and Tim from Tampa. We've started fishing together in 2007 at Callaway, but last year they fished Callaway one day and then the next on the Flint. They loved the water and came to slip in a day before the weather gets cold. We got on the water about 8 am; by 10, Gretchen had lost count. Tim banged `em too, including a big shoalie that his guide popped off when he grabbed the leader (sorry, Tim) , plus a big sucker and a giant turtle. Luckily, Gretchen and Tim fish the salt a lot and had little trouble dealing with the winds that hit near 20 mph in the afternoon,

October 13 - Went over to the Flint today to scout for a trip tomorrow. In spite of the rain, water was in good shape and the shoal bass were definitely on the chow.

Along with the shoalies, I even found a white bass willing to eat, of all things, a rubber-legged dragon.

October 5 - Bill T. came down to Callaway from Atlanta today for his semi-annual bluegill trip. I've been fishing with Bill for many years now and, as usual, it was a blast.

In addition to the bluegill and bass, the shellcrackers were eating too. This one ate a stealth bomber...

September 28 - Fished the Hooch today with my buddy Paul. Doesn't appear that stripes have moved into the river strong yet except for a few little guys.

September 24 - Today I fished with Steve's daughter, Laura and her husband Brad (while Steve kept the grandkids). Water was in much tougher shape today, but we still managed to catch fish. Here's one of Brad's with Laura hooked up in the background.

September 23 - Fished with Steve K. from Jacksonville, FL. We'd had heavy rains in the preceding week and much of the river was blown, but we got really lucky and found a section that was low & clear (it was near blown the next day). Steve took excellent advantage of his good fortune, landing many shoalies - not giants, but several in the 2-lb range. They were blasting stealth bombers out of the water. By mid-morning we had both lost count.

September 11 - The Flint has been fishing good all week. Today I had Adam and Claudette chasing shoalies. Both are fairly new to the fly and had never fished shoal bass, but they did good in the low clear water. Here's one of Claudette's...

September 2 - I had my old friend Rex, along with Diane, down for a day on the Flint. Great fun to be back on the water with Rex. we fished a far north section of the Flint - the water is very, very low and crystal. We didn't find but one big fish (Rex's), but had a blast pulling spunky, chunky little 10"-14" fish out of shin-deep water. They were blasting wiggle minnows and stealth bombers. Rex got about 6 out of this skinny little 20' run.

August 13-21 - Took a trip to Louisiana for the annual TFO meeting followed by the IFTD fly tackle dealers show in New Orleans. No fishing this trip, but plenty of fish talk and tales. `Good to see the new products and old friends.

August 9 - The Flint is awesome. Still very low and very clear, but the shoal bass are wide open. My last 4 trips have included bass in the 3 to 4 lb range - they're taking the stealth bomber, rubber-legged dragons, and big striper-sized whistlers. Oh yeaahh!

July 18 - The Flint is ultra-low and clear, but the fish are still on the chow. `Slipped out today with Paul H. and we paddled the Freedom Hawk kayaks downriver a ways to a seldom-fished set of shoals. Paul got sidetracked with dozens of red-breasts that were sitting on their beds - had one string of twenty-something where every cast was a fish.

As much as I love catching the bream, I left him to his hole and fished deeper runs for shoalies. Take it as you like it, boys...

June - Started June off with the southeastern FFF fly fishing expo in Helen. It was a fun time - make plans now to attend the 2012 event in Helen, GA..

Then, the next weekend was a trip to Beaufort for the grand opening of new Tailwind Fly Shop (located inside Butler Marine). Danny Rourke, who runs the shop, is my kinda' guy - he planned the event to coincide with good late afternoon tailing tides. So we had to get out after the open house and chase some reds on the flood. Then on Monday, I had the pleasure of fishing with Capt. Rick Percy of Reel Chance Charters, and we spanked a few reds then too.

Callaway bass and bream were on the prowl. Long-time customers Bob and Paul  were down and managed to spank `em good even on a tough day. Here's one of Bob's bass...

May - One of May's highlights was Troutfest in Townsend, TN - a great weekend with Lefty, Bob Clouser, Joe Humphries and many more.

Finally, we managed to put a good end on a not-so-good striper season, finding some late fish way down the Hooch.

And the skipjack showed up too. They were some of the bigger skippies I've seen in the last several years, with some fish up to 24". They didn't lose their willingness and were eating two at a time.

May 24 - The rains have subsided a bit, and the Flint has finally gotten fishable. The water is in great shape after all the spring rain and the fish are hungry. I finally got Wanda and Gary Taylor down to fish the Flint with me (after 15 years or so). 

The Flint is still fun for me even after fishing it for 25 years, but it's a special treat to have the chance to show it to old friends (and superb anglers). We had some fun...

It's also the time of year for fishing Callaway Gardens. The bream and the bass are busting on topwater early, and eating deep through the rest of the day.

March & April - The high, off-colored water has made striper fishing tough so far this year. The Franklin run was pretty much spoiled for everyone but the cut-bait fishermen. We've found a few below West Point and have caught a ton of white bass up the little creeks between rains.

Trout are still eating at Callaway,  and Joel and I caught it on a day when the grass carp were rampant (to the point they were willing to eat a big royal wulff).

I spent a couple of weeks down on the SC coast. The first weekend was at the Charleston Angler's Spring Fling, then the second at a big event at Pawley's Island Outdoors featuring Lefty Kreh. We had Lefty out at the Rice Plantation on Saturday for a private day with 15 anglers, then at the store on Sunday for casting demos/lessons and book signings (here's a write-up by Jay Nelson on SaltyShores.com).

Then, as if spending the weekend with Lefty was not a big enough treat in itself, I was able to fish the skinny water redfish with Capt. Jay Nelson of  Winyah Guide Service   and  Capt Newman Weaver of Kingfisher Guide Service.

January & February - More travel than fishing so far this year, with 2 shows in Raleigh, the Fishing Expo in Gwinnett and the Atlanta Bass Pro Classic ( the shows are fun, but after a while they make you feel like Joey . Even so there were a number of good days fishing the Callaway trout - one of my favorite days was fishing with long-time customer Tom T., who brought his daughter along. As always when Joan joins the party, she out-fished the old man.