Cunning Outdoors

to the Boise area business trip that put me on the South Fork of the Boise River.

Man, I do love this place!

Went out to Boise, ID for work and was able to hook into some late season smallies on the Snake River!

Went out today for the first time since the accident last November. Main reason being to test and familiarize myself with the new (to me) Smoker Craft I picked up yesterday. But the second, and most important reason was to fish!

It was a little windy on Tellico today so I decided just to stick with light tackle fishing. Caught about a dozen Bluegill and had a great time doing it!

With that, I formally introduce you to the newest fleet member, the 14ft Smoker Craft Voyager!

It was a long afternoon, but I managed to pull two out of the Malad River just outside of Twin Falls, Idaho.

Pre-post: Looking forward to taking the family fishing with Tennessee Valley Anglers this coming weekend on the Clinch River!

Success!

Call it third time’s the charm, better technique or like Jemaine Clement says in the song Business Time, Conditions were perfect. Whatever it was, I caught fish using a fly rod from a kayak/SUP on a lake for the first time.
You definitely don’t see fly rods used on the lakes and rivers here in East Tennessee or really anywhere that you would normally fish from a boat or kayak. That’s why I started this project. To prove (mostly to myself) that you can bring the fly rod out of the mountains and catch fish anywhere with it. Even if it was just a couple of Bluegill and a Crappie (so far)! It CAN be done!

Decided to test run my new (to me) Jackson SuperFishal this afternoon on Watts Bar Lake, part of the Tennessee River system. I decided to take fly gear because the whole reason for snagging it is to fish with it. So after a few minutes getting my sea legs beneath me, I wet a line.

It was the first time I have ever tried to fly fish for bass and all I could hear was my grandpa harping me when I was young about not going out in the middle of the day to bass fish, that mornings and evenings were the best time for that. Well despite Grandpa in the back of my head telling me not to fish, I did it anyway. I was there, why not, right? Needless to say, I didn’t catch a dang thing. Not even a bite. Chalk it up to middle of/heat of the day being bad for bass or bad technique because hey, it was my first time bass fishing on a fly rod. I am teaching myself to do this and you have to start somewhere right?

We’ll just call this a “practice day”. Now that I feel super comfortable on the SUP, my technique will surely improve. However, I’m pretty sure there will be many more practice days to come!

Picked up some goodies this week to start stalking fish on Tennessee’s public waters!

The Green River, located in the Bridger Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. One of the best fishing days I’ve ever had.

Throwback to Dad’s Lake in the Wind River Range Big Sandy Area. Nothing like fly fishing at 10,000ft.