Fly Fishing on Suwanee Creek

Evenin' folks,
 I did a little fishing in Suwanee Creek on Sunday morning. It was a gorgeous morning to be in the stream. It's really starting to feel like autumn here in north Georgia, my favorite time of the year. I didn't catch anything this time out, probably a result of higher than usual water due to recent rain, but it certainly does my disposition some good just getting into the woods. It is fascinating the amount of wildlife to be seen when you consider that this stretch of Suwanee Creek runs between a subdivision and an industrial park.
  I decided to try my hand at filming myself fishing, the quality is not the best from the iPhone, but I thought it turned out reasonably well. I'd like to share the result of the experiment with you here. I'll try to get some better footage next time.
  Until then, Tight Lines and Happy Fishing!
          Nick

Finally back on YouTube

Evenin' Folks,
  I was finally able to make a new video for YouTube tonight. I just thought I'd take a few minutes to thank some folks, introduce some new projects I have going and give a brief explanation for my absence.
  I hope you're all doing well,
    Tight Lines and Happy Fishing,
      -Nick

How To: Kayak {aka: saw} Horses

 Evenin' Folks,

  If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ or Pinterest you know that I posted a picture a couple weeks ago of my kayak up on sawhorses.  I mainly wanted to just keep the kayak up off the concrete floor when it's stored in the garage, but sawhorses are a really handy thing to have around the house.  I really enjoy projects around the house and I'm regaining an interest in woodworking for a creative outlet, so sawhorses seemed like an excellent all around project.  I searched the woodworking videos on YouTube and finally settled on a design by Steve Ramsey at Wood Working for Mere Mortals.  I changed his design slightly by moving the leg brace higher, thinking that the sawhorses would stack when not in use. 

  The one part of the project I had the most trouble wrapping my head around was how to determine a good height for the horses.  The whole "not too low, but not too high" cycle kept spinning through my head.  You can make the horses any height you choose.  I decided to go the way of economics, I wanted to get three legs out of each eight foot 2x4 and 96"/3=32" so that's what I cut the legs to.  The height just happened to work out perfectly.  

  I tried to hit the high points of the steps to making these sawhorses, once you figure out how the angles go together it all falls into place.  If you need more detail check out Steve Ramsey's video here. 

I used the hand-me-down miter saw my Dad gave me to make all my cuts.

 

Good shop help can be hard to find. Luckily I have the ever present and loyal Jelly Roll to help with my projects. Here she's demonstrating the origin of her nickname.

There are only two angles to cut, 22.5* for all the feet, the cross braces and half the tops, and 45* for the rest of the tops. 

I drilled pilot holes to prevent splits and to make running the screws in upside down and one handed a little bit easier.

 

Glue and screw the tops together. I used Titebond and 2" drywall screws. 

 

Four leg assemblies to make two sawhorses.  I can't wait to get the kayak off the floor!

The orientation for the cross brace. 

 

I measured up from a straight edge to locate and level the braces. I used glue and screws to attach, but I didn't drill pilot holes first.  No worry of splitting in the middle of the board.

My completed kayak horses. Great for projects around the house, too!

All the tools I used for this simple project. 

The kayak finally up off the floor. Now it seems a bit safer and its easier to work on and add accessories.  I might add a cross brace between the legs later, just to make sure it won't wrack.

Frogtown Creek: My First Trout on a Fly!

Mornin' Folks,
  Today I thought I'd share some pictures with you.  These are all cell phone pictures, so the quality isn't the greatest.  The weekend before last I spent a great evening visiting with my grandparents up in the North Georgia mountains.  I got up and left early Sunday morning to do some small, mountain stream fly fishing.  I had yet to catch a trout on the fly, so I was hoping that this would be the day.  I stopped first at Helton Creek Falls and fished the pool at the bottom of the lower falls.  After about 10 minutes I started seeing some fish moving in the pool and showing interest in my Prince Nymph.  Just when a trout looked like he was going to take my fly, I heard a loud thud behind me and the fish took off.  I turned around to see a rather clumsy looking "photographer" had come down the stairs behind me and was jumping from rock to rock taking pictures.  The brush was just too thick to head down stream, mostly because of the cut Chestnut trees, and the "photographer" didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon, so I decided to pack it in and try to find another stream. 
  I'm a little fuzzy on the stream access laws of Georgia and it seemed like every nice place I found to fish had a house sitting next to it.  So, I headed down to DeSoto Falls Recreation Area in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. 
  In the past, I've hiked the trail of DeSoto Falls, but set out too late to make it to the falls themselves, but I was surprised to see a 24-site campground with shower and restrooms in the recreation area.  I'm going to keep that in mind for a later camping trip. 
  The banks of Frogtown Creek were pretty overgrown.  Stream access wasn't bad, but I couldn't cast from the bank.  The only waders I have are neoprene chest waders, which are way too uncomfortable for a warm, late summer day so they were left at home.  Frogtown Creek is a freestone stream so I thought I'd just rock hop.  I was wearing waterproof boots, so figured I could walk through the shallows.  After I slipped off the first rock I decided the day was warm enough to just wet-wade! 
  I had a great time fishing this stream.  There seemed to be a fair amount of fish in the water.  I got a lot of splashy refusals and a couple missed bites.  I didn't see any fish rising, and no insect hatch that I could detect, so I tried to stick with the nymph style flies.  The fish seemed interested, but I just couldn't get a hard take.  After catching my last small nymph in the trees, I tied on the only small fly I had left.  I'm not exactly sure what the fly was, I think it came in an assortment pack that I got as a gift years ago, but I think it was a deer hair Caddis fly in about a size 18 or so.  I would've posted a picture of this fly, but I lost it not terribly long after tying it on.  Makes me wonder if I tried hooking trees if I'd catch more fish...
  I wish I had tied on the Caddis sooner!  On my second cast next to a boulder in the middle of the stream I got a big splashy strike, but I missed the hook set.  Most of the reading that I've done on trout fishing says that trout spook very easily and if you recast to the same fish you can scare it off.  I think I probably cast to this fish a half dozen times and he splashed at it every time.  He finally took the fly and I had my first trout on my fly rod!  This guy put up a way better fight than the little bluegills I've been catching in Lake Lanier.  I fought him for a few minutes, reveling in the bend of my 2 weight TFO rod.  Since the water really wasn't that cold, I didn't want to fight the fish too long and risk over stressing him.  So I brought him to hand, dropped him a couple times, but I got my picture.  I had finally caught my first trout on a fly, a very nice little rainbow, about 7 inches long and full of energy.
  Having caught my first trout, and promptly losing the fly I caught him on, I decided it was getting late and I had homework and things waiting for me at home.    I look forward to camping at DeSoto Falls, hiking to the falls and doing some more fishing in Frogtown Creek.  And I can't wait to catch another trout!!!

Helton Creek Falls in Union County.

All of the American Chestnut trees were cut down along the trail due Chestnut Blight.

This is why they were cut down, otherwise they would fall. This stump was easily 3 ft. across.

The lower falls of Helton Creek Falls.

Frogtown Creek just below DeSoto Falls at the DeSoto Falls Recreation Area.

My 6 ft. Temple Forks Outfitters 2 weight rod.  Perfect for the small Frogtown Creek.

Further downstream.  Trout don't live in unattractive places.

My first trout on a fly!  Not huge, but he sure was fun. Definitely hooked now, I can't wait to do some more coldwater fly fishing!

A Midday Train Through Georgia.

Evenin' Folks,

Aboard the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway Car 2929.

  You know, summertime is typically a time for vacations and relaxation. My Little Girl and I (uh, significant other, not offspring) usually try to take a small beach vacation each year when we can, anything from a long weekend to a full week. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and Ponce Inlet, Florida are two of the most memorable.
  This year, due to a health scare, all of my vacation money went toward paying hospital bills so, no beach vacation. It would've been a great one, too, we found an awesome deal on a package to Aruba AND I found a fly fishing guide on the island!  But, Aruba will just have to wait until next year.
  As so often happens, the summer flew by and without even realizing it, school was about to start back.  We ran out of time for our beach trip, so instead, we decided at the last minute to do a quick over-nighter in Blue Ridge, Georgia.  We got online and started checking out things to do and see and places to stay.  This was on a Friday afternoon, we wanted to head up the next morning and spend Saturday night.  While online we found a great looking little hotel, Serenity in the Mountains, with all suites and very reasonable prices.  Unfortunately, it was too late in the evening to get a reservation.  I tried to call when they opened the next morning, but, unfortunately again for us, they were booked solid for the whole weekend.  Our quick over-nighter turned into a quick day trip.  We will be going back to stay at Serenity, I just have to make the reservations quite a bit further in advance!

A gorgeous little homestead with views of the river, when the train isn't passing.

The Suburban Angler himself.

It was tough to get a good shot of the river from the moving train.

  We were able to get tickets for the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway before leaving home, so we headed up into the mountains bright and early.  For me, there is something about being in the mountains on a cool, drizzly morning that is just instantly refreshing.  We've had an unusually cool summer here in Georgia this year (I'm not complaining) and with the rain and the smells of the mountains, it was like fall had come early.  We got to Blue Ridge with a bit of time before the train departed so we went to the L&L Beanery for a cup of coffee and some pastries.  The location the we visited (they have three) was directly across from the train station in a historic bank building.  Inside you're greeted with the smell of coffee, a very large bank-vault door and pressed tin ceilings.  There were plenty of cafe tables, but we opted for the leather couches by the fireplace.  The coffee was good, the pastries were ok, but the chai tea managed to elude them.  It was a great, comfortable place to wait for the train, though.  With my fondness for L.L. Bean pipes and outdoor sporting equipment, I was, honestly, drawn to L&L Beanery by the name!

The only bend large enough for a full train shot.

 

After killing a little time with our coffee, we lined up and boarded the train.  The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway is a 4 hour, 26 mile round trip train ride following along the Toccoa River north (but, oddly enough, downstream) to the twin border towns of McCaysville, GA and Copperhill, TN.  We were in one of the open cars, the rain was light enough that we didn't get wet, so we were really able to take in the scenery.  As is typically the case for me, we chose the wrong side of the train.  There are views to be seen on both sides, but one side has the river, so there is a better side.  Luckily the porters ensure that everyone changes sides for the return trip.  There wasn't a whole lot to see and do in McCaysville and Copperhill.  There are a few hometown restaurants and junk/"antique" stores, but, aside from the street preachers, that was about it for entertainment during the layover.  I was able to pick up a walnut pipe rack for way cheaper than ebay, so I happy about that.  I was hoping to find a fly shop to check out and possibly pick up a patch with the town's name or the river's name change.    Which, I guess, is the other attraction in McCaysville/Copperhill, the north-flowing Toccoa River changes its name to the Ocoee River when it crosses the state line.  My normally good sense of direction was way out of whack while here, I think the river running the wrong way was throwing off my internal compass.

A beautiful river.

Lots of kayakers on the water.

More kayakers and a 100 year old bridge.

I love vintage signs.

  When we got back to Blue Ridge we took a stroll around the sidewalks and checked out some of the little shops in town.  Mostly junk/"antique" stores, there is a vintage book store (E. Quinn Book Seller, I think) in which the proprietor is a pipe smoker and fly fisherman, a stand-up guy in my book.  Being a fly fishing town, there were no vintage fly fishing books to be had.  Blue Ridge does have two fly shops in town.  Sorta.  The first I stopped into was Blue Ridge Fly Fishing.  This was a full service fly shop with everything from fly tying supplies to waders and full rod outfits.  They really seemed to have a fantastic selection for such a small shop, they carried all the best brands like Sage, Orvis, R. L. Winston, Patagonia, Simms and others.  It's probably a good thing that I didn't have much spending money, because I could have easily signed over a few paychecks to them!!  The next shop, literally next door, I liked even more.  Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods is a rod shop.  The store is quite small, but there are picture windows in the rear of the store looking into the workshop classroom.  Not only does Oyster Rods build and sell rods, they also teach rod building in the store!  My bucket list has just gotten one item longer!  When you walk in the store you are greeted, not only by the gentleman behind the cash register, but by the smells of a woodworking shop, leather and gun oil.  In addition to the displays of bamboo flyrods that scream to be picked up against better judgement, are traditional clothes that would make Orvis take notice, a glass case of Hardy reels easily worth more than my car, and half a wall-full rack of some of the finest double guns going.  Oyster Bamboo Rods didn't look like a fly shop, it looked like the man cave of my dreams!  As soon as I win the lottery I'm signing up for one of their rod building classes and buying two of everything in the store!  I wanted to take pictures while I was there, and kick myself for not asking permission, but it was the kind of place that I felt taking pictures would just be impolite.  So just take my word for it, and go yourself if you get the chance. 
  Believe it or not, we were able to cover just about all of Blue Ridge in just the one day, but we certainly plan on going back soon.  The Toccoa River was busy with fisherman, but I think I'd like to take a stab at it myself.  It looks like the perfect river to flyfish out of the kayak while the Little Girl is getting spa treatment and I wouldn't mind drooling in Oyster Bamboo Rods a bit more.
  I'll put links below for the businesses we checked out, but leave me a comment if you've been to Blue Ridge and know of something we missed that we need to see next time.  Thanks for reading.
  Tight Lines and Happy Fishing,
        -Nick

Links:

Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods
Blue Ridge Fly Fishing
Blue Ridge Scenic Railway
E. Quinn Booksellers
L&L Beanery
Serenity in the Mountains Spa and Suites
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Lifeproof iPhone Case Review

Evenin' Folks,

  Well, I'm finally all moved in to my new apartment and I'm a week into the new semester at school, so I wanted to take the time to get another post up here.  It's been too long!  Unfortunately, I've been so busy lately that I really haven't been getting a whole lot of fishing done.  I did go fishing shortly after my last full blog (Skunked.....again!), and actually did quite well.  I went fishing for a few hours this past Sunday morning, as well, and did ok, but had some tackle issues (see A few quick fish pics).  For tonight's post, I thought I'd try something a little different.  I'm going to attempt to do a product review, fingers crossed!

   I try to have a lot of pictures on my blog, but all I've got to take the pictures with is my iPhone.  After my soggy canoe trip with my anonymous friend, I've been pretty nervous about having my phone around water.  I've already had to replace a broken screen on it, I sure don't want it to drown!  So, once I got the kayak, I started keeping my phone in zip top sandwich bags.  They work well at keeping the phone dry and they are very inexpensive (and I'm cheap!), but my pictures didn't turn out too well when I tried to shoot through the bag.  So that meant removing the phone from the bag and exposing it to wet hands and slippery fish and a very large lake every time I wanted to photograph a catch.  Not to mention the poor fish dangling from the line while I was futzing with the phone!  I started looking around and doing a bit of research on waterproof cell phone cases.  I liked my plastic faux-woodgrain case, but it had already proven to do nothing for protection.  It seemed the waterproof phone cases rain the gamut from what was basically a fancy, overpriced zip top bag for around $30 all they way up to $200 high end camera box looking cases.  I knew that I'd have to spend more than the cost of a sandwich bag, but I didn't really want to get into grocery-money-for-the-month territory.  While at work one day, I was listening to Rob Snowhite's Flyfishing Consultant podcast from IFTD 2013 and he mentioned the Lifeproof brand cases and how much he liked his.  I looked them up, read some reviews, and started hunting for a bargain (I do hate paying full retail for anything!).  I know ebay can be a crap shoot when it comes to a real item versus a knockoff, but I took a chance and got a genuine Lifeproof case for about half of the MSRP. 

I got the case in the mail and immediately popped my phone into it.   The plastic seems of good quality, it doesn't have that cheap, flimsy feel that some things can have.  It seemed to fit together well and fit the phone equally as well.  I was impressed that Lifeproof included a microfiber cleaning cloth, a waterproof headphone jack adapter and a spare headphone jack plug with the case.  Everything is sealed with silicon o-rings and it seems to be a diaphragm-type system for sealing the speaker holes.  Sound quality through the case is excellent, you really can't tell a difference between call quality with the case on or off.  Listening to music or a podcast without the headphones does have a little bit distant sound, but nothing that would put me off.  

  One of the points that Lifeproof advertises for this case is that it doesn't add much to the bulk of the phone.  According to the packing, the case adds only 1.5mm to the width of the phone.  And, the plastic is such that it slides easily in and out of a pocket, making the slight additional size even less noticeable.   Even the buttons on the sides of the phone still seem to work without much additional effort, but the slide to mute the phone is a little more difficult to operate.  

  I had seen online during my research that there is an available charger extension adapter.  Without doing any investigating, I took that to mean that the phone couldn't be charged with just the OEM charger without removing the case.  I was, luckily, mistaken.  When the waterproof door is flipped open on the bottom of the case, there is plenty of room for the original Apple charger.  No adapter is necessary.  

  When I first started using the case, I was disappointed in the film like cover over the screen.  It doesn't seem to sit down flat on top of the phone screen, but, instead, tends to be slightly raised above it.  I do, occasionally have to repress an icon on the phone because I didn't make good contact, but now that I've grown accustomed to it, I hardly even notice anymore.  

  Over the camera lens of the phone Lifeproof used an optically clear glass lens in these cases.  With the photos I've taken so far, I can't tell any difference between pictures taken with the case and without.

  All in all, I am very satisfied with the Lifeproof case.  It does seem to offer a higher level of protection than most other cases on the market.  And, it really doesn't look bad in the process.  I've also recently found self adhesive "skins" for the Lifeproof cases, so I'll have my faux-woodgrain look back soon enough!

  There's just one more thing before I wrap up this review.  If I'm going to continue to use my phone to take pictures while fishing and kayaking, I had to know if the case was truly waterproof.  According to Lifeproof, the case will protect the phone during submersion up to 6 feet deep for up to an hour.  I don't have the proper equipment to do a very scientific test of that claim, however, I do have a large mixing bowl full of water!  I'll let the following photos tell the rest of the story.  

  I'm glad I purchased the Lifeproof case and would definitely recommend it to anyone who might also use their phone for fish pictures.  Like the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  If you don't want to spend a few hundred dollars replacing your phone, it might not hurt to spend the $80 to get a good, quality phone case that will protect it.  

  Thanks for reading my first product review, and as always, Tight Lines and Happy Fishing!

       -Nick

My largest mixing bowl.  An acceptable analog for a lake!

Here goes the first dunk!

The Lifeproof case for iPhone 4. I used green tissue paper for leak detection.

I pushed it to the bottom of the bowl and held it for a full minute pressing the buttons and on the screen.

I rotated the phone on both axes to ensure that bubbles were released.

And the tissue paper is wet.  Turns out the gasket was seated incorrectly.  I fixed it and repeated the entire test.

Phone is out and water is dripping!

Second try- NO WET SPOTS!!

After fixing the gasket the tissue paper came out completely dry.  Definitely happy with the Lifeproof phone case!

A few quick fish pics.

Mornin' Folks,

  I finally got out and did a little fishing for a few hours yesterday. Moving into the new apartment and starting back to school ate up all my fishing time over the last few weeks. I took the kayak to Lanier Park on Lake Lanier again. I got a lot of good bites, but seemed to have a lot of tackle issues. The three in the following pictures are all I got to the boat. This is just a quick post to let everyone know I haven't forgotten about the blog, I've just been awfully busy. I've got a full write-up in the works that I'll have posted this week, plus my Lifeproof phone case review and a few other things. So keep checking back and/or follow on social media. 

  Tight lines and happy fishing!

          Nick