Swan Lake and Little Smoky Report for Sept 13,14

[SNAPFisher]

Took a trip to Swan Lake by Valleyview this past Saturday. My buddy Ayr has been telling me about the great average size of the bows in this lake. It is all true! The average we caught was between 2.5 - 3 lbs. Very fat and healthy fish too.

We started the day trolling and exploring the lake a bit as it was my first time. Only 10 minutes in and I had my first bow of the day which was about 2.5 lbs. It made a very decent account of itself. We continue to troll for another 2 hours with moderate success. The most notable was a big bow that lept twice before I tightened down a bit to much and it snapped me off.

Ayr talked me into using a slip bobber for the next 2 hours. We quickly added up on the numbers including some of the biggest fish of the day. It was very gratifying to have a technique that I am new to work so well.

After some great fishing we went back to shore for a quick lunch. After the break the weather turned even better. So did the fishing. We started out trolling and were rewarded with a constant bite.

We stayed out until late evening and fished into dark. We ended up casting hoppers into the last bit of lit water. I was surprised when a fish exploded on one of Ayr's casts and he landed another decent fish that inhaled the hopper. Extremely fun!

Sunday we headed back South and fished the Little Smoky. We got there at the crack of 11 a.m. By noon the pool we were at was pretty much full of anglers. Didn't matter. The weather was spectacular and the fishing matched it. Ayr managed grayling after grayling on a slip bobber. He was up 18 to 0 and all I had was my frustration. Everyone had caught a fish but me. I did try a slip bobber finally and did get a small grayling.

After a bit everyone seemed to go in search of other water but we stayed put. Clouds covered the sun and the surface activity picked up. I switched to a white dry fly and was quickly rewarded with eager grayling. I managed to get up to 10 fish before we decided to move.

We fished the head of the pool and were instantly rewarded with surface hits on dry flies. The average size of fish increased to about 12 inches.

We spent the later afternoon and evening in the same area and had a complete and total blast catched nice grayling after nice one. All on dry flies. Some right in front of us and some 100 feet away.

We both did manage a few bigger grayling in the 14-15 inch range. I believe the count at the end of day was 78 for Ayr and about 50 for me. All but one of mine caught on a dry fly. What a great fishery!

Here are some pics:

First decent bow of the day at Swan.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR008.jpg


Fat and healthy fish!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR010.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR014.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR016.jpg

Biggest of the day.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR018.jpg


Average size of grayling that day at the Little Smoky.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR002.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR003.jpg

One of the nicer grayling.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR004.jpg

What a beautiful fish!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/APetesky/SwanAndLSR007.jpg

What a great weekend!

[Morph1]

What a great weekend you guys had indeed ,
From looking at the pictures the weather was just perfect, I love the calm water, what else can I say,
I wish I was there LOL, I sure folded my boat way too early...

Great pictures and of course great fishies !

Cheers !:wave:

[KyleM]

Cant beat the glass in the morning.....

The more threads I see, the more excited I get for spring.

Nice report

[BigRackLover]

Nice trip and thanks for sharin'

[Chung66]

I have a newby question?
What is a slip bobber rig?

[SNAPFisher]

Thanks guys!

Chung, a slip bobber is a style of bobber than you can buy that has hole through the entire length of the bobber so that you can feed your line through it. Mono style lines work best. Then, I used a fly line backing to tie a knot further up the line that "slips". This way you can adjust the knot to the desired length and when you cast it out the knot stops right at the bobber. That is the great advantage of this technique is that you can fish the desired depth and also quickly reel in and readjust the depth when needed. I am a newbie to this technique.

Cheers!

[-NDN-]

hey SNAP. great report again. photos look fantastic. how was Bigstone to travel along?

[bearbait]

big stones not bad graded on thursday to first bridge so so to second...i drive it all the time so i may think good is your bad...water looks good..
ndn if u want some great grayling fishing and dont mind the rough ride pm me and ill give u a good spot on the berland river..at hunting camp i pulled 40-50 out of one hole...never brought the camera as it was just to kill time one afternoon between hunts...only spent 2hrs fishing...all were c&r but you can keep them now..
rob

[SNAPFisher]

Hey NDN!

Bearbait pretty much covered it. To the first bridge was pretty good and poorer to the 2nd. I was driving an RV and pulling my boat as well, so, I think I got to "experience" the road in one of the worst vehicles possible. I don't think I would go as far as the 2nd bridge again with an RV. No trouble though with smaller vehicles. It has been very dry and the roads are generally in great shape in most areas.

Cheers!

[-NDN-]

very familiar with the whole area in general, there, but thx for the offer of info. there is so many places to fish there:D in one day that one can not cover them all