Things to Come
2021 was a good year for Tall Tails. We explored and got dialed in on some local fisheries, outfitted some new boats and traveled to faraway places. Many fish fell victim to our flies from Bartrams bass, bowfin, permit, peacock bass, machaca and many others as well as our old favorites trout and bass. 2021 was a great year for learning as we really began to figure out some of our local striped bass, walleye and tailwater fisheries. With all of the great fishing we did in 2021 we want to take a moment and mention a few highlights!
2021’s Highlights - Jake
I have long wanted to pursue one of Georgia’s largest and perhaps most aggressive freshwater predators but I lacked the time and resources to do so. In 2021 though I was able to put my time in to figuring out Striped bass in the Southeast! I caught them in various rivers and reservoirs throughout the region but found my greatest success fishing for them late at night near dock lights. I ended up fishing the docklights approximately 30 times during the year and I took friends and family out to experience these incredible fisheries. Of the 30 times I fished the lights I believe that the boat was only skunked twice. I caught multiple personal best fish from 32 inch long striper to 7+ pound largemouth bass on these trips. Reservoir fishing was certainly a highlight of my year and the docklights were a prime reason for that.
I caught 29 new species on fly in 2021 and I’m absolutely blown away by that number. Some were local fish that have eluded me but others were caught in distant places and posed new challenges. Some of the more random species were tripletail, obtuse barracuda, sand divers, short spine pufferfish and even a baby goliath grouper! Closer to home I caught bowfin, Bartram’s bass, walleye and flyer to name a few.
Cicadamania! The famed Brood X periodical cicada hatch occurred in our region of north Georgia during the late spring and early summer. For approximately six weeks we targeted surface-feeding common carp with incredible regularity! Common carp, a notoriously finicky fish, became downright suicidal and gorged themselves on the 2-3 inch long insects that were falling on the water. We mostly fished for them on the north Georgia reservoirs from skiffs and jon boats but we even saw guides from across the country fishing the banks of our nearby lakes via rafts and drift boats! On average we were catching between 3-7 fish an hour, all on dry flies. The biggest we landed was in the neighborhood of 15 pounds. Thanks to the ludicrous change in carp behavior caused by the Brood X release I was able to accomplish two specific goals I had for the year:
To help my 6 year old nephew catch his first fish on a fly
Catch a common carp on my 1 weight Butterstick!
I achieved most of my bucket list goals for the year including catching fish every month (easily done), catching 10+ new species with a fly rod, figuring out striped bass, carp on a 1 weight, new species of salmonids and spending more time and effort fly tying amongst other things! I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish both as a fisherman and as a guide and hope to continue to build on this momentum in 2022.
2022 and all she may bring
My goals for 2022 are designed to keep me pushing ever forward. I always want to be learning new tactics, exploring unfamiliar water and targeting novel species. That’s what keeps me motivated!
In the coming year I want to push myself to get somewhat back to basics and fish more ‘blue lines’. I love fishing small water for native and wild fish that are mostly unpressured and willing to take a dry fly. Fishing these small, usually high altitude streams is fantastic not only for the fishing they potentially provide but also for the effort they require. That extra work appeals to me, I want to be higher up the creek than other anglers. Far up stream where the fish are fresh and beautiful, I aim to spend more time this coming season.
A professional and personal goal I have is to learn some basic graphic design abilities. I aim to develop these skills to create some designs for Tall Tails that can go on shirts and hats. This is as much about personal pride as it is about helping my business. Hopefully I will be creating logos and designs that will show themselves on our gear in the near future.
Smallmouth bass are a favorite species of mine that I don’t spend enough time pursuing. They live in a handful of reservoirs and rivers to my north and they are a perfect gamefish made for fly fishing! They willingly eat poppers at times, frequently jump when hooked and pound for pound fight as hard as most any freshwater fish. With all of their incredible features it’s a no-brainer that I should be spending more time chasing this wonderful fish!
To catch more fish in the salt! This is a bit of a cop out answer as I already put in as much available time as I have to catch fish in saltwater! That said, the diversity of fish species and tenacity with which they fight beckons to me! In 2021 I was able to catch a few Barracuda species, grouper, jacks, a pair of permit and other miscellany. In the coming year I would hope to catch some more tuna species, redfish and maybe my first species of shark on the fly! We gave it our best effort in 2021 but often were stymied by poor weather. All we can hope to do is give ourselves the opportunity to make up for that this year!
I have listed the adventures of blue lining and saltwater fishing more this year but I would also like to fish some small farm and neighborhood ponds. A few years ago I used to do a lot of fishing on small water for bass and panfish. As I now live up in the mountains and have so many more opportunities available to me, I have gotten away from fishing this small water. Pond fishing with a fly rod is an incredibly simple and enjoyable thing to do. Take a light rod, a small popper and go have some fun! I appreciate the simplicity of this style of fishing and hope to make more time for it this year.
As per usual, I will aim to catch a minimum of 10 new species on fly this year. Hopefully sharks, freshwater drum, redfin pickerel, Florida gar, greenback cutthroat, Northern Pike and others will make it onto my list at the end of 2022!
2021 Highlights - Collin
In 2021 I found myself most passionately fishing for muskie and longnose gar. These two species continue to elude me but in very different ways. Muskie being muskie, you have to put time in on the water just to find them. After hours of planning, rowing and motoring, and then finally casting, you likely still find yourself fishless at the end of the day despite the heart stopping follows. Many days just seeing a singly muskie follow is an absolute prize, let alone actually hooking one. To have not caught a muskie so far isn’t necessarily hard to believe. They are few and far between, pressured and particularly finnicky. Longnose gar though, seem to exist solely to diminish my belief in my abilities as a fly fisherman. They aren’t particularly difficult to find and they aren’t even tricky eaters, why then can’t I seem to land one? I use the right flies, I fish the places that have them in abundance and yet still they haunt me! I’m sure we all have personal vendettas with our specific ‘white whales’ and in 2022 I mean to put muskellunge and longnose gar amongst my primary targets.
While gar and musky will continue to haunt me until they are boatside in a net, I can say I was more than thrilled with my 2021 fishing opportunities. I caught loads of carp on topwater cicada patterns and striped bass on streamers. I made it to the coast a few times and landed redfish, seatrout, barracuda and plenty of other fish. On trips out West I tracked down and caught exotic trout species like Gila trout and various species of cutthroat in the hills of Utah. Hopefully 2022 will be good to me and I can continue to push myself to greater exploits.
2022 Objectives
Muskie and Longnose Gar… Obviously
Having just relocated to the greater Chattanooga area, I want to learn my local waters. This is obvious but should be a given for all anglers who find themselves relocating. Now that you are in a new place, what is there to catch? What are the local secrets? The right flies? The best times of year? All this and more I aim to discover for myself.
I want to use my canoe more in the coming year fishing small and difficult to access creeks. My canoe has taken a back seat since buying my boat but getting back to the basics and simplicity of small water bass and bream is a great pressure relief and often opens up opportunities to fish new water that may see less attention from other anglers.
Lastly, I want to push myself to start shooting and editing short, high quality videos of our fishing trips to showcase a little of what we do at Tall Tails. While photography has been a passion of mine the last few years I feel it is the next step in progressing with my camera