Favored leech colors include black, maroon, brown, olive and various mottled combinations.  Matching marabou tail works well when steelhead or trout seem wary of the traditional solid color cuisine. Keep in mind that leeches come in a myriad of colors including brown, olive and green. On bright days the earth tones of a brown or the camouflaged mixture of a green and olive leech should not be overlooked. I keep a mixture of somber and bright patterns within my fly box, somber for moody days and clear waters and garish patterns for clouded water or aggressive fish.

If steelhead or trout are in an active mood, leech patterns that are retrieved using either slow 12 inch or steady 4 inch pulls work like magic. During these active phases, gaudy leech patterns draw fish from quite a distance. The jigging action of a bead head pattern is another trick of the trade for successful leech designs.

Leech Pattern for Trout and Steelhead
Hook: TMC 7999 or Daiichi 899 or 3X nymph hook Sizes – 10 to 6
Thread: Black 6/0
Body: Green Crystal Chenille or straight cut strip of rabbit fur no more than ¼” long
Weight: Optional lead 0.015 or dumbbell eyes
Tail: Black Marabou
Flash: Krystal Flash – Pearl or Green
Eyes: Optional lead dumbbell eyes (not shown)

Many thanks to those TU members who braved the cold weather in early December to attend our fundraiser at the Caney Fork Fishing Camp and helped us reach our goal of initiating our first ever Trout in the Classroom demonstration project. We netted almost $ 2,900 profit from the event.

The TU board has approved and we have received a signed letter of intent for our donation of equipment for Trout in the Classroom at the University School as a demonstration school. Cynthia Lee, outdoor education teacher and long standing TU member will oversee the project. Click here for an update from the University School about Trout in the Classroom. When additional funds are available, the program will be expanded to other schools in Middle Tennessee. In addition many thanks to those individuals who donated items and services to the silent auction.

TU Meeting in Murfreesboro, TN at Logan’s Roadhouse for February 2009 Featuring Steve Nix, Guide and Jason Henegar, Rivers and Streams Coordinator, TWRA

As many of you know, we split off 400 members of the Cumberland Chapter to form the Delta Chapter of Trout Unlimited based in Memphis leaving us with 670 members. This was done to better serve TU members living in West Tennessee. In an attempt to better serve some of the Cumberland Chapter’s members living in Southern Middle Tennessee, we are going to have our February 16, 2009 TU meeting at Logan’s Roadhouse on 740 NW Board in Murfreesboro, TN in their private dining room. Steve Nix, Guide, will be giving a superb talk on “Tactics for Streamer Fishing.”

In addition, Jason Henegar, Rivers and Streams Coordinator for TWRA will be at the February 2009 TU meeting also to provide an update on the Elk River and provide an opportunity for Q&A about TWRA’s management plans for the river.

Fly tying and Social hour will be at 6 pm, dinner concurrent with presentation starting at 7 pm. Members of the Lynchburg Fly Fishing Club will also be invited to attend. As always, the event is open to TU and non-TU members alike. I will be sending e-mails to those TU members in the areas to have them mark their calendar for this superb evening of learning how to become a more effective fly fisherman.

We will be returning to the Caney Fork Fish Camp in Nashville on March 16, 2009 for our monthly TU Meeting. Please check your e-mail for the speaker yet to be announced.

The long awaited TU specialty license plate should be available in Mid to Late February 2009. Watch your mailbox for a notice from your county clerk’s office you plate is ready for pick up! You can check www.tuplate.org for more current updates.

In addition to Steve Nix, our featured speaker for the evening, I have asked Jason Henegar, Fishery Biologist from TWRA to update those in attendance on the Status of the Elk River and TWRA plans for the Elk River in 2009. Jason has gotten off to a fast start as TWRA’s Rivers and Streams Coordinator since joining TWRA in 2008. If you have not had the opportunity to meet Jason, then please come and give him a warm welcome. I promise you his knowledge and dedication to the fishery will be readily apparent. Please come and learn more about the Elk River, one of our best kept tailwater secrets in Middle Tennessee!

Streamer Fishing Tactics

Whether you are fishing a Wooly Bugger or Clouser Minnow, conventional wisdom has always said, “…the easiest way to catch a big fish on a fly is on a streamer, a wet fly that imitates a small baitfish that larger fish feed on.” If you can cast 20 feet, you can catch fish in streams and rivers on a streamer. You can even strip line off the reel and into the water and let the flies drift in the current and catch fish. The line swims the fly, making it look like a swimming baitfish. However, are tenets really true? Well, to find out the answer to this question and how best to tie an effective streamer yourself, you’ll need to attend the November meeting of Trout Unlimited and learn from one of the best streamer fisherman in these waters, i.e., Steve Nix, local guide.

Steve Nix…Guide and Conservationist

Steve has been guiding well over ten years and is as experienced and knowledgeable a fly fisherman as I ever known. He never guesses when asked a question because he already knows the correct answer. As a FFF (Fly Fishing Federation) Certified Instructor since 2001 and graduate of Hyde Outfitters Guide School, he knows the water and above all how to read the insects in the river. He uses the information garnered to make a successful fishing trip a reality for those of us like me who are “trout knowledge challenged.” Having fished throughout the West including Montana, Alaska and Michigan for Steelhead to Salmon, he is the near perfect guide with tremendous experience on all types of waters.

Steve is a passionate and thoughtful individual who believes in not only catch and release, but restoration of the waters to better than he found them. Steve has served as Past President of the Middle Tennessee FFF chapter and is currently serves on the Cumberland TU Board with key responsibilities for our First Cast program reaching out and teaching young people not only how to fish, but conservation as well. In addition, he serves on the planning committee for TU’s Casting for Recovery (CFR) Tennessee 2 Retreat and has worked as a volunteer for the past two years with CFR.

Come Learn to Tie and Fish an Effective Streamer

If you would like to hear more about how to tie an effective streamer or to fish them better, then you’ll want to welcome Steve Nix of Fly South and Jason Henegar of TWRA at the next TU meeting, Monday Feb 16, 2008 at Logan’s Roadhouse, 740 NW Broad Street in Murfreesboro, TN 615-895-4419. Click here for a map.

Social hour and fly tying at 6 pm/dinner with presentation at 7 pm. and Chapter of Trout Unlimited can do to voice our opinion about this important conservation issue.

Fishing in St. Andrews Bay or has enough species large and small to satisfy all types of anglers, from the amateur who is happy to catch a trout to the seasoned veteran on the hunt for a trophy tarpon.

There are dozens — maybe even hundreds — of spots where anglers consistently catch redfish at various times of the year. No doubt some areas are better than others, but the bottom line is, if you want redfish, the Panhandle is the place to be. Many people believe that redfish action shuts off during the colder winter months, but that’s not true. It just gets a little harder to find them. In the winter, the fish move (sometimes in a matter of days) from inshore flats to river and creek mouths, then on up the rivers. At times, they may go miles up those waterways seeking the right temperatures.

Preston Sutter…Guide Shallow Water Expeditions

Growing up in Atlanta, Preston began fly fishing early at age eight with his father. Most of his fishing was fly fishing in the Northeast Georgia in the mountains around Helen Georgia. As he grew older, he began fishing further away from home on the Nantahala and Toccoa Rivers in Georgia. In high school while other kids in his class were playing sports, Preston would grab his jeep and head out for a weekend of camping and fishing venturing as far as the South Holston River in Tennessee. At the University of Alabama, Preston majored in political science and history. After graduation, he worked for Stryker Medical Device Corporation. With many 60 hours weeks, there was little time left for his passion, fly fishing. He took the plunge and began working for Shallow Water Expeditions fly fishing service based in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. He had found not only an exciting job, but began immediately working to attain his guide license in Florida. He has never looked back and now is part of the team at Shallow Water Expeditions www.shallowwaterexpeditions.com. Most of their fishing is within four minutes of their offices in Santa Rosa Beach in the Choctawhatchee Bay area extending eastwards towards St. Andrews Bay near Panama City, Florida (See Map).

Ecology of the Choctawhatchee Bay

Like any bay of the southeastern U.S., Choctawhatchee Bay and Santa Rosa Sound are sandy, shallow, greenish-brown expanses of brackish water surrounded by marsh grasses and oyster beds. At the east end of the bay, the Choctawhatchee River winds its way through a swamp to dump its tannic stained water into the bay. At the west end of the bay, Santa Rosa Sound connects the bay to Pensacola Bay, as a 40 mile long saltwater river that daily reverses course on the tide change. At the south end of the bay is the Destin Pass into the Gulf of Mexico. The arrangement of these passes and saltwater channels forces large shifts in the salt concentrations of the bay on each tide, making the growth of some type of sea grasses impossible.

Energy or Food Chain of Choctawhatchee Bay Florida

All ecosystems are linked by how food energy is passed from smaller organisms, to larger organisms that eat the smaller organisms. Each layer of organisms are called Tiers. Each tier can consume all tiers below it. The higher the tier number, the farther up the food chain you are, terminating here with Tier 6. People are by far, the highest predator on the list, but since we are concerned with the aquatic system, we will start below the ‘People’ level. Like all ecosystems, the energy that drives all life in the bay starts with the sun (Tier 0). The solar energy is used by microscopic plants or Phytoplankton (Tier 1) to build them and drive their lives. Slightly larger animals, such as immature crabs, oysters, fishes, along with rotifers and microscopic shrimp eat these phytoplankton and are lumped together as ‘zooplankton’ on Tier 2. Another addition to the second tier is the mullet, which though much larger than other members of Tier 2, eats only phytoplankton and algae. Yet another filter feeder on Tier 2 are oysters and clams. Larger than all but the mullet, are other animals that eat the zooplankton, such as shrimp, baitfish (glass minnows, sailfin mollies, shad, herring, menhaden, etc.), small blue crabs and sand crabs, form Tier 3. Tier 4 is formed by large blue crabs (over 3″ in width), squid (which eat minnows and shrimp), and smaller predators such as pinfish, grunts, Atlantic croakers, sheepheads, sand perch, lizardfish, blue runners, and smaller grey and lane snappers. Tier 5 hold the bulk of inshore saltwater gamefish: Striped Bass, Drums (Redfish, Speckled Trout, Black Drum), Largemouth bass (which venture into the fresher northern parts of the bay), Bluefish (summer), Spanish Mackerel (summer) Jack Crevalle (summer migrants), tarpons (including Ladyfish-summer), flounder, and grouper. The top of the aquatic end of the web, Tier 6, includes the top aquatic predators: Porpoises and Dolphins (the mammal), Alligator Gar, and Sharks.

What does all this mean and how can anglers use this information? 1) Timing-the fish you are pursuing will move to the salinity level that suits them best, or suits their prey best. 2) Choosing flies: The food gamefish pursue will likely be in 1 to 2 tiers below them-make the flies look like baitfish and lure match accordingly.

Bay Fishing …99% of the time

Sight Fishing Most of the bay fishing is for redfish in estuaries and along the edges of the bay is totally by sight. Preston will discuss methods, techniques and flies to make this a “How to…” presentation using DVD’s and real action videos to demonstrate his points. The water is clear enough water to sight fishing 99% of the time. If you’re interested in tarpon and cobia, then the salt water gulf coast beach is only a few minutes away fishing about 100 yards or less from shore.

When is the test time to fish along the Gulf Coast? Anytime you are ready for a family vacation and ready to mix in a little saltwater fly fishing is the best time to travel to the Gulf Coast. Peak times are Spring/Summer months, i.e., January to September in the Choctawatchee Bay and June/July in St. Andrews bay when the summer migration of fish occurs from the ocean to the estuaries. If fishing for redfish in the fall is your choice, then Shallowwater Expeditions moves their base of operations to Biloxi, Mississippi or along the SE tip of Louisiana from October to December.

Make a new years resolution which will be fun and easy to keep. Come to more Trout Unlimited meetings in 2008! Please come and welcome Preston Sutter at Caney Fork Restaurant (directions in NR) for a wonderful evening of fly tying saltwater flies and presentation on sight fishing for redfish. Social hour will begin at 6 pm, presentation begins at 7 pm.