Over the past 35 years I have witnessed just about any type of bait being used for Trout. I have seen the usual baits such as Corn, Dough Balls, Worms, Crickets etc etc along with a myriad of plastic baits such as rubber Hellgramites and Grubs down to the lowly Spinner. Of all of the above mentioned baits the most misused and misunderstood baits is the spinner. In line Spinners come in a variety of sizes and shapes and colors as well as weights. I figured out years ago that they make all these different sizes and colors to be more appealing to the customer not the fish.
I started out using a Spinner as a child in Washington State. The tried and true Rooster Tail was made not far from where I grew up and the bait was a standard in the Wenatchee River for Trout and Steelhead. After moving to Tennessee in 1974 I soon realized that there was many different ways to fish a spinner. In Washington State most anglers Jigged the Spinners up off of the rocks in the larger pools to get the big Steelheads to bite, mostly on instinct of the flash. In Tennessee most anglers retrieved the Spinners so as to cover allot of water and not get hung up so much on the bottom. After many years we locals here in the Gatlinburg Area found a very nice in between Spinner that could be jigged, retrieved and even casted upstream and would not hang up when fishing with the current.
This Spinner is the "Joe's Fly Spinner". It is a copy of a Mepps In line wire Spinner with a nice Trout Fly attached on the end. This Spinner has no weight to it so you must attach a couple of BB size split shot up the line about 8-10 inches. This Spinner can be cast upstream and fluttered with the current in a more natural presentation. It can be retrieved much slower than a weighted Spinner so it is very fishable in colder water such as in the middle of winter. When it comes to colors there is one basic rule of thumb, Black Body, Gold Blade. A number 8 size Spinner Blade in Gold seems to draw out the most strikes and we all know that a Black Body is the best color to be highlited against the sky. After all, Trout eat for two reasons, hunger and natural reaction. So, like Henry Ford, you can choose any color you want as long as it is BLACK.
With the advent of many different weighted spinners most anglers only knew to quickly retrieve them from across the current and hopefully a trout would catch up to them to bite. There is no greater shame than to see a misinformed angler reeling a Spinner at a very fast pace and the Trout just can't catch up.
The next time you head out to the river to catch some Trout take along a few Joe's Fly's and rig them up on some 4 lb test with a couple of spit shot and see if they work as good for you as they do for me.
dale noland
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Trout Report for 11/26/11, 11/27/11
This is the first of many articles to come concerning Trout Fishing in and around the Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge area.
My name is Dale Noland and I am a semi-retired Guide from the Sevierville Tennessee area. I have been writing Freelance articles about fishing and the great outdoors for over 20 years. This past weekend myself and my son, Andrew Noland, 14 yr , decided to hit the river for some early winter Trout fishing. We found the water alittle on the high side but perfect for this time of year. We decided to start on the spur (road between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg) and proceeded to one of our favorite holes to see if there was any feeding going on. We found that the majority of the Rainbows were setting at the lower end of the pools of water and they were actively feeding.
We were using 7'6" flyrods with spinning reels spooled with 4 lb Trilene XT. We were using approximatley 30" of 3x leader and a single #6 Aberdeen Hook and 2 split shots for weight. Today we were using our old standbye for bait, Dough Balls, hand made from bread and finished off with Garlic Salt. In the first hole of water we caught and released 23 Rainbows with a Large Trout in the 25" range. That one is the cover picture for my Blog home page.
We proceeded up the Spur, stopping at about every hole of water and at each hole found the same response. We caught about 20 or so in each hole of water we visited and finished up with approximately 135 or so Trout caught and released.
On Saturday 11/27/11 Andrew and I had the priviledge to fish with Lance McQueary who is a pilot for the Tennessee Air National Guard in Nashville Tennessee. Lance was sent to me by my niece Danielle who is also a pilot in the Guard. She wanted me to show him how to catch fish here in the mountains and we were happy to ablige him. Andrew showed lance how to bait up and where to throw and in just a few casts Lance was reeling in a very nice 15" Rainbow. Lance was very excited and asked if all of our Trout were gonna be this big and we both told him no, he would probably catch some even bigger on this trip. He was eager to move on so after catching 8 nice Trout in the first hole we were up the river to another hotspot. Keep in mind that on any given Saturday in the Gatlinburg Area you will find someone fishing in just about every hole of water in the river. Fortunetly for us, most of those out of state anglers are not as proficiant at catching Rainbows as we are.
We fished hard for about 5 hours and Lance ended up keeping his limit for dinner, he caught and released about 30 or so Trout and had a very good time fishing with our light weight tackle. I am sure he was impressed with Andrews ability to find and catch good quality Rainbows but after all, he did have one of the best teachers around, me.
On Sunday 11/28/11 I received a call from Donnie Ball of Pigeon Forge (long time fisherman and my best friend) wanting to go catch some trout for a local resident that can't get out and fish due to health concerns. Myself, Donnie, Andrew and my future son-in law Stan Morris headed up towards Gatlinburg for some friendly competition. In the first hole of water we fished I took andrew downstream with me to show him one of old dad's secrets. We fished one of the many rock wall curves between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and I showed andrew how there is always a big hold over Trout in one of the pockets beneath the walls. On Andrew's first cast he set the hook only to find a very pretty 15" Rainbow with all of its fins and color fighting on the end of the line. Talk about a proud dad, seeing my son pick up on one of my many secrets so quickly and then seeing him swing that large rainbow up onto the bank.
In the next 2 hours I witnessed about 40 Rainbows caught and released along with 20 that went into the cooler for our family in need. We all kept a limit of Trout and had a blast trying to out do the others. I find allot of fun can be had in teaching someone new how to Trout Fish, but, theres even more fun when you keep a few tricks to yourself and catch several good trout out from under your son-in laws feet while he scratches his head. All in all we had a banner weekend, lots of fish in the river and the best part is the majority of all of these Rainbows were released to fight another day. I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy a day on the river, light line, light rods and a little luck and you to can catch some of our local Rainbows.
One last thing to remember, starting December 1, 2011 , the river is shut down to catch and release only , single hook only and Artificial Baits only. No Corn, DoughBalls, PowerBait etc...etc.....only spinners, plastic baits or hand tied flies can be used and DO NOT KEEP THE FISH !
I hope everyone gets out and enjoys the areas many streams and rivers, give thanks to the Lord, and above all, GOOD FISHING!
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