The Caney Fork River, Tennessee

Fly fishing on the Caney Fork River, Tennessee. On this particular day the sky was overcast and a threat of rain at any minute, but I can't remember when I had a more successful day. Rainbows and Browns seemed to like most of the flies that I cast toward them.

This is not the same fish, believe it or not. They were all really nice fish and what a fight they gave me. I used buggers and nymphs most of the day.

Another rainbow the same day. Sure glad I brought my camera, which is the first time that I had taken it in almost a year. Can't imagine how I would have felt had I not been able to get these pictures.

This big brown was caught on a prince nymph and I nearly lost him under a pile of limbs hanging down in the water.

Best fight of the day. Another big brown. I just love the Caney Fork River.

I don't always catch fish of this size and quality but I sure do have a great time trying.

Montana Fishing Trip, July 2004

When I was a young boy of about 11 years old, all I ever dreamed about was living in a log home and I wanted that log home to be in Montana. Since that time, I have realized only half of my dream; I live in a log home but it is in Tennessee, far from Montana. I will never forget how amazed I was when I first discovered how many times you could geographically fit the state of Tennessee inside of Montana; three and one half times to be exact. There are more people living inside of Davidson County, home to the city of Nashville, than are living in the entire state of Montana. It is without a doubt a rugged and beautiful country.
The river you see in the picture is one of the most famous trout rivers in Montana; the Madison River, home to some of the most beautiful Brown and Rainbow Trout I have ever caught on a fly rod. What a wonderful experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I can still feel the crispness in the air and the fresh smell of the countryside as we floated for miles down the Madison as it meandered through the valley toward the town of Ennis, Montana. Believe me when I say, it was very easy to let all the cares and worries you thought you ever had just float away beside you.

Every bend in the river seemed to have it's own unique signature. After floating for miles on our "clack-o-craft" (the boat we fished from) we soon rounded a bend in the river and suddenly we were amazed at the number of sheep crossing a hillside beside the river. What a sight. This is sheep country, I soon learned. They seemed so small as they crossed over the hill compared to the glorious mountains that rose to the sky behind them. I had to slap myself to be reminded that I was in Montana, fly fishing on a famous river, without a care in the world. Shortly after this picture was taken we rounded another bend in the river and the entire scene changed to that of storm clouds and a serious treat of a hail storm. Minutes before we were admiring a beautiful crystal blue sky. My friend, this is Montana. You never know what you might get around the next corner, but that is what I love about this country. It is so beautiful, even more so than words can express, but then it seems that can change instantly and you find yourself running for cover. Most of the time however, it is what many call Montana, "The Big Sky Country".

The bluest sky that I have ever seen. The mountain range that you see here is the Absaroka Mountain Range. The highest peak is Francis Peak at 13,153ft. There are also forty-six other peaks higher than 12,000 ft. Looking at those mountains I couldn't help but think of how beautiful heaven would be. It also made me think of how magical it would be to live up there in one of those valleys for the rest of my life. I don't think I would ever get tired of looking at the sky, the mountains every morning and evening as the sun either rose or set. If you knew how to take care of yourself and survive, the adventures you would have would be endless. It may sound silly to some but I would have loved to have seen this wilderness through the eyes of Lewis and Clark the first time their expedition made it's way across Montana.

Just in case you thought I was making all this up by downloading pictures from the internet, I thought I had better prove to you I was acually there. The first and third pictures are rainbow trout and the second picture is a brown trout. All three were caught on flies that our guide suggested that we use since they seem to look most like the ones that were flying all around our head and faces at the time. Occassionally, our guide would pull up to the shoreline to check the type bugs that were hanging out on the sticks and grass, so as to give us a better chance of catching and landing a fish. It was amazing to see the different insects that seemed to flourish along different sections of the Madison River as we floated along. Several times we changed flies to match the insects that were populating the shoreline at the time. When we had a cold spell for 30 minutes or so, we'd tie on another fly and then we'd we back in business.

It's hard to explain to you in words the feeling I had of catching a wild trout on this river. You would have had a better understanding if you had been there just to see the expression on my face. It was worth a thousand words. The initial indication that you actually had a " fish on", was the ever so slight "rise" as the trout took the fly and when I say "slight", I do mean "slight". If you weren't watching your fly floating along, the trout might take it in and spit it out just as quick because it had determined very quickly that it was artificial. I missed several nice fish that way, but when you did manage to set the hook, the fight was on. Most of the time the trout would head straight up the river, against the current and that was ok until he headed downstream and you were fighting the current trying to bring him back to you and then it felt like you had on a 10 lb smallie. You will notice in the picture that the guide is holding a landing net. We tried to land all the fish in the net, so as not to injure them. Then, of course we released all the trout we caught. The water was not all that deep either as you will notice, but it was iceberg cold and rather swift at certain spots. To stand in the river, you had to brace yourself so as not to fall because the stones ranged in size from softballs to basketballs, that is of course the ones beneath the water and it was tough to get your footing. Well then, had enough, do you think you would like to go to Montana with me next time ?

As I stated before, things can change in an instant. During this particular instant, hail fell from the sky about the size of marbles and we headed for the shoreline to scramble under a few trees that offered a little shelter from the pounding we were getting. Then as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared and we were back on the river and enjoying our adventure. I probably failed to mention this before, but it was July 1st, 2004. I didn't think it was possible to have a hail storm in July. I was thinking of all the scorching hot days I had endured in Tennessee, when in July you could hardly breathe when you were outside, due to the humidity. One good thing about Montana though, you have extremely low humidity or not at all. The individual that owned this home was definitely above the 100 year flood level for this area. Imagine waking up every morning, looking out your front window at the Rockies with the Madison River meandering its way along your driveway. What a life.

This is Bill Pomakoy, one of my best friends and fishing partners, who is ready to go fishing at the slightest hint. I could call him up at 10:00 pm at night and ask him to meet me at the Waffle House at 4:30am the next morning and he would be there before I was. We both made the trip to Montana together as part of a Christmas present from my wife Connie. I'll never be able to thank her enough even if I live to be a hundred. The fish Bill is holding, with that big Tennessee grin on his face is a nice brown trout, which was also released shortly after this picture was taken. He is a great fella, born and raised in New York, but now makes his home in Hendersonville, TN. The second fish Bill is holding is a rainbow, that is what you can see of it. (Just kidding Bill). Actually, he was holding on for dear life. Trout are very strong fish and can jump right out of your hands if you are not prepared. Anyway this young ranibow went back into the drink, just like the rest. From this angle you can get a good look at the bushes and small trees that lined the river for most of our trip. We were floating down the river approximately 20-30 feet from shore and most of our casts were made toward the shoreline to allow our flies to drift along very close to the edge of the bushes, etc. We did this because trout either wait for insects to fall into the water from the foilage or to get out of the stronger current to wait in ambush for insects or small baitfish to come along, however they are also out in the middle of the river as well, usually downstream behind large bolders. He only gets two pictures to my three because this is my blog site. Thanks Bill for making the trip with me. I would go again with you in a New York minute.

Building a wooden boat

Have you ever imagined building your own boat ? Well, I did in October, 2006. Afer searching the internet for plans, I finally decided on a company that sold plans for about 8 different models. I picked one that I thought I could navigate down the small streams and rivers in Tennessee and the rest is history. It is 11'8" long and has a 44" beam. It is made entirely of plywood, poplar and oak. The hull has three coats of epoxy for protection and the inside has about five coats of Spar Varnish to seal any cracks. I built the cleats out of oak. I don't know that I've ever built anything out of wood that I have enjoyed so much. I use a trolling motor with a 45lb thrust which is plenty of power to move around in the streams and small rivers that I love to fish. Each time I take it to the river, I'm always asked the same question, " hey buddy, did you build that boat yourself". Of course I try to wipe the proud look from my face and respond with a very sutle, yet deliberate, "yep". Everyone wants to know how long it took and what it is made out of. Only once have I been asked to build one for someone else. My wife have been it only once. She went fly fishing with me one morning to the Caney Fork River, about 50 miles east of Nashville, toward the larger hills of Tennessee. The Caney Fork holds rainbow and brown trout year round. In July the water holds steady at about 55 degrees. In case you are wondering at this point how much I have invested in this project, you might be surprised. In fact, I have only spent about $200 total. You can actually build the same model for about $100, but I spent a little extra on some of the wood and the epoxy. I also changed the design a little to for the seating, which cost a little more than normal.



I think the biggest shock I had, once I received the plans, was the simplicity of the design and how few tools are required. You will of course need a table saw. That is the largest piece of equipment that you would need. Other than that, all that is required is a hand jigsaw, a drill and sander. You will also use a lot of glue for the joints. I would suggest the top of the line wood glue on the market, if you attempt this yourself. You will also use a lot of wood screws of several different sizes. As you can see from the picture below, I mounted a small depth finder and plastic seats, but you can get by just fine without either of these additional features. I just got carried away.
















I guess I've had it in the water about 10 times so far and I haven't seen any leaks ........yet. I've even hit a few rocks that made me cringe with fear, but nothing happened that I noticed. All in all I am really proud of this little boat and I do love it when people ask me about it. If you are interested in building your own boat, you can visit the site that chose; at gatorboats.com . The plan that I chose is called the "Croc".

I am planning to build another boat, that is as soon as I get the approval from my wife, Connie, who is telling me that she gets a "screened in porch" before I get to build another boat.

Anyway, in case you are wondering, the next boat will be a little bigger and a little bit fancier, capable of withstanding the currents associated with bigger rivers with stronger current and longer runs of white water. (Pictures you see here)

Rivers such as these would include the White River in Arkansas and the Madison River in Montana. Until next time, remember, don't wade where you need to be fishing and don't fish where you need to be wading.

Let's Go Racing

I have to admit something that perhaps you didn't already know, I love Nascar. Growing up not to far from Concord, NC helped a little, but I also had an uncle who loved listening to Nascar Races on the radio. He was my Uncle Jim. His favorite driver was Richard Petty and I can't remember a time when Uncle Jim was not glued to the radio on Sunday afternoon listening to the race. I miss him very much. Not only did he create within me a love for stock car racing, but he knew a little bit about fishing as well.

Over the years I had many drivers that I liked to pull for, but about 6 years ago I began pulling for Jimmie Johnson, one of Rick Hendrick's drivers. I liked the way he handled himself when he spoke and he seemed to have a knack for finding ways to get to the front. Other than the fact he was a Hendrick driver, I knew very little about him. Now 6 years later he has won 35 races and two consecutive Nascar Championships and the year is not even over yet as of 8/26/08.

For a long time I would ask Connie to go to a race with me, but she always came up with a reason that seemed to keep me quiet for the moment. Finally, in 2006 we planned our wedding anniversary to include a trip to the Pocono Mts. in Pennsylvania. Little did I know, but Connie had purchased tickets to the Pocono 5oo before we made the trip and what a surprise it was when she told me we would be going to the race. It was her first race and it was very cold, even in June. What a great time we had. I will never forget the look on her face as the cars came down the frontstretch at over 200mph into turn one.

This is the Martinsville, VA track where Jimmie happen to be the winner that Sunday. We traveled with some friends from Nashville, Rob & Julie Parrish. Rob had some contacts that enabled us to actually be in the infield, where we could speak with crew members, owners and sometimes even a driver if you were lucky. Most of the time those guys are getting ready for the race and have a hundred other things on their minds.

Since then we have been to two more races, one at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC and also the race in Martinsville, VA. I did manage to catch Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus just outside the garage area and he allowed me to get a picture with him. Jimmie was hard to find though.

A little later I was walking around some of the haulers and I saw Rick Hendrick standing outside of Jimmie's hauler talking with some of his friends and he also agreed to take a picture with me. Rick is sure a nice fella. It was hard for him this weekend at this particular track however, this is the particular race track where his son Ricky along with several other family members were killed in a crash in route to the track in a small aircraft. He was kind enough to put his feelings aside for a moment to greet a fan. This was one of the most exciting races I had ever been to, mainly because I was able to meet some of the crew members, etc and see first had how the guys in the pit crew handled a pit stop. I was standing only 20 feet from the pit wall as the 48 crew completed a pit stop for Jimmie. Well as they say in racing, "gentlemen start your engines, let's go racing boys".