Trout Unnlimited Chapter 692 Newsletter

Trout Unlimited Newsletter
Chapter 692 - May 2008

President: Doug Reid Vice President: Ken Bachman
Secretary: Mike Brewster Treasurer: Frank Glowaski

Web site: www.nagtu692.com
Doug Reid 828-494-5016

Thursday, May 8th is a Very Busy Day for Our Chapter
The day begins with the Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery Children's Day in Suches, GA. Marc Tuschel suggests volunteers be there by 8:00 (earlier will provide better parking possibilities). He needs around 15 persons to help these special children bait their hook and land a rainbow. Sign-up sheet was passed around at our April meeting, but please call Marc at 706-374-6011 if you can help and haven't signed up. Busy on May 8th? Not a bother, our Chapter is also helping another group of special children catch fish on Friday, May 9th-same time, same place. Yep, Marc could use your help. Wear your Chapter T-shirt or fishing shirt or ball cap, if you have one. This helps the caregivers of these children identify you as a "fishing partner" for the child in their care. Lunch is provided around noon; last year it was great barbecue finished off with equally great desserts.

Then at 5:00 the Tying Session begins at Cadence Bank. Bob Kern will lead the Beginners Table. Tiers should bring hooks (#14 standard dry and #16 caddis pupa), black thread (8/0 and 6/0), black wet-fly dubbing, gray dry-fly dubbing, and black 3/32nd size beads. These will be used in tying Glen's BLT.
Burl Conley will lead the Advanced Table in tying the Cameron's Caddis and the Adams.

(Note: the Chapter Board will hold a meeting during the 5:00 tying session at Cobbs Mill Restaurant on the left just past the bank.)

And then at 7:00 the General Meeting begins at Cadence Bank.

A very busy day, huh?

Second Tying Session (Saturday, May 31st at Appalachian Outfitters, downtown Murphy)
Tying begins at 9:00 and ends around noon: Steve Banakas will teach us how to tie the Tellico Nymph and the Sulphur Dun (Note Change). Recipes can be found on the Website.

Recipes for flies being tied are on the website. Attendees should come with all materials AND, for the Second Tying Session, a chair suitable for sitting at a tying table.

Catching Big Trout in Tough Lies-Final Part (Written by James Buice who guides and runs the travel desk at The Fish Hawk in Atlanta, Georgia; Part One can be found in the March Newsletter; Part Two is in the April Newsletter)

3. Dreaded Deadfalls
Deadfalls are perhaps the most challenging areas to fish because they offer such diverse obstacles. Swirling currents play havoc with dead-drift presentations, unseen submerged branches steal flies, and if you're lucky enough to hook a trout, there are just shy of a thousand ways he can tangle your line up in the mess. Sounds like fun, eh?

When approaching a deadfall, it helps to dissect the entire piece of structure before casting your fly. If you see feeding trout, note where these trout have set up their feeding stations, so next time you have an idea where to start prospecting if no fish are rising. If you come upon a deadfall and can't see feeding trout, begin looking for likely spots for trout to be.

First, study the depth of the water around and under the deadfall. Look for areas in and around the deadfall that are at least two feet deep, enough water for a trout to sit comfortably. Is there a break from the current there? If the answer is yes, then you've just found a target for your fly. Trout can hold in front of, behind, and on the tips of deadfalls, so cover them well, but don't waste your time on spots that lack the aforementioned criteria.

Once you've located a potential trout lie, observe the currents carefully. Each little branch and twig piercing the water's surface forms its own microcurrent. These tiny disturbances can be difficult to detect at first but will become painfully evident after your first attempt at a dead drift is spoiled by one. Working a deadfall may require you to cast from several different positions, each posing a fresh challenge. Studying the currents and fishing smart will yield more strikes than blindly firing casts at random points.

When choosing flies for prospecting around deadfalls, go with patterns that will not sink too deep. Submerged limbs and debris will steal your fly if you try to probe the depths. A dry fly with a nymph trailing behind will usually get the job done around deadfalls. If there are no bugs hatching, a generic pattern, such as a Parachute Adams, will work fine up top while a weighted nymph-such as a Pheasant Tail, Drifting Caddis Larva, or Copper John-will do the subsurface duty. Tie the dropper fly on with tippet one size smaller than that to which you've tied the dry fly. If you have the dry tied on with 4X, tie the dropper on with 5X at the bend of the dry fly's hook. This way, if you snag the bottom fly, you'll be able to break it off without losing the dry fly as well.

Swimming a streamer through likely holding water in and around a deadfall is another great way to draw trout from their hiding places. For this work, a full floating line and either a non-weighted or lightly weighted streamer will make for exciting takes and keep you out of the jumble. Cover the same water you would with a nymph, but don't be afraid to push the envelope a little. Get above the deadfall and back the fly down under large limbs and even the main trunk to knock on doors that nobody else would try. To back your fly down into the cover, stand nearly directly upstream of where you want the fly to go. Make your cast a little upstream of the deadfall and allow the fly to deaddrift downstream, allowing the pattern to sink and slide up under the tree, getting to prime lies that cannot be reached any other way. The fly will present itself right in the face of any trout there. Sure you may lose a fly or two doing this, but the risk is worth the reward.

Once everything has come together and you have a fish on in the deadfall, don't try to muscle the trout out. Power seldom works, so try finesse instead. Once the trout strikes and feels the hook, it will usually try to run directly back into the tangled mess. Instead of hauling back on the fish, try to lead it by gently pulling the direction you want it to go. By leading the trout as you would a horse on a rein, it is possible to coax it from the tangle and into open water where you can apply the opposite-pressure technique to tire it out.

This method works great until the trout decides to run directly away from you and jets into the protection of the deadfall before you can coax it out. Don't panic. This is not always a lost battle. If a trout has taken you far into the deadfall, try letting up on the amount of pressure you have on the fish. Sometimes, once the trout stops feeling resistance, it will relax a bit, giving you a chance at working it free from the cover.

Fishing in and around woody cover is challenging and it can do a number on your fly collection. Lost flies are just the cost of doing business, but when the chances of catching one of the largest trout in the river is on the table, it pays to take a gamble every now and again.

The Forum is "For 'em"
It's so great to see Chapter members posting information on the Forum Section of our Website. Just imagine how great it is to be able to communicate with every member with a current website on record. Post fishing reports, invite others to fish with you, tell what flies are working, offer information on great equipment deals you've found, post news of fellow members, and much more. And all with the click of a button. You post it once, then Larry Bundy, our Webmaster, sees that it gets out to members' emails. How simple is that? Remember: there's more 'em on the Forum.

By the way, are you sure your contact information is correct on our Official Roster? To make sure, go to the Members' Only section, type in the password, and then look on right side of next page for Current Roster. The Printable List Word and PDF formatting versions do not require the re-entering of the password each time you scroll to another page of members. Contact Larry at lbundy@ngatu692.com if your information needs updating or you need the password.

Opening Day is Saturday, May 24th
Gretchen Telke, Steve Banakas, John Urani and friends have been hard at work for weeks getting the "Art of Fly Fishing" exhibit ready to open Saturday, May 24th at the Hayesville Historical Museum (the "Old Jail"). On opening day tents will be set-up with chapter members tying. There will be a raffle and snacks available. The exhibit will run through Labor Day weekend.

Meeting Minutes on the Website
Missed a meeting? A little fuzzy on a motion that passed regarding a pending Chapter activity? Well, within days of the regular monthly meeting the minutes are posted on our website. Go to the Members' Only Section and "click here" under Our Documents. You can view minutes for the last six months.

May North Georgia and Southwestern North Carolina Hatch Chart (Click Here)

Fishing Reports
For the Toccoa River tailwater from Blue Ridge Dam to McCayesville (from April UNICOI Newsletter)--for dry-fly fishing in the coming weeks: #20 and #22 Griffiths Gnats, #18 tan caddis and #14 Blue Duns.

For Georgia DH streams (from April UNICOI Newsletter)-US Fish and Wildlife Service generously stocked some surplus brook trout this spring in DH waters. Try Hurless Nymphs and pheasant tails-both standard and soft hackle. Note: The Georgia DH streams revert to general fishing on May 15th.

For Chatooga DH (from April UNICOI Newsletter)-for dry-fly fishing, look for Blue Quills, cream caddis and speckled caddis. See Rabun TU website (http://tinyurl.com/6jxhsq) for regional hatch chart.

For the Nantahala River (from Roger Lowe's April 17th Ashville Citizen Times article), recommended hatch patterns are No. 20-16 Blue-Winged Olive, No. 12 Dark Hendrickson, No. 16-14 Black Caddis, No. 14-12 Quill Gordon, and No. 14-12 March Brown. Attractor patterns: No. 16-12 male Adams, No. 20-16 gray Compara Dun, No. 18-12 Gray Hackle and No. 16-12 Royal Wulff. Nymphs: No. 18-14 bead-head Pheasant Tail, No. 18-14 Prince, No. 18-14 red Copper John. No. 14-12 red San Juan Worm and No. 18-12 olive Hare's Ear.