High Stickin'

[Jim Casada]

Shawn--I used that minimalist approach quite a bit as a boy, and there was an old fellow in Bryson City whom I mentioned on another thread who was a master at it. George Monteith could catch more trout with a nymph and a cane pole than virtually anyone. He also used the same "high sticking" approach to catch catfish in the shoals on the Little Tennessee River, with the only difference being that he used live bait rather than a nymph.
I don't know that I want to go back to days of a long cane pole, black line with a bit of monofilament, a piece of the lead covering for old-time roofing nails, and a Tellico nymph as my equipment, but it's nice to think back on it (and when it comes to effecitiveness, it flat-out works.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

J

[duckypaddler]

Originally Posted by Grampus

Things I've learned over the years that makes high-sticking easier. When teaching newbies how to high stick, the most common mistake they make is to not keep their rod tip up, thus keeping slack out of their line. If you allow slack, you delay the time you are able to detect a strike, if at all (depending on amount of slack). Keep your line as tight as possible without pulling the fly while allowing a natural looking dead drift. As a disclaimer, I've seen some get by with slightly pulling their fly...go figure!

• Keep rod tip up, keep rod tip up, keep rod tip up!!
• Keep slack out of line
• Follow your fly with your rod tip. A longer rod (9ft) helps, but you will get hung up more. It takes getting used to.
• Hold rod in one hand, fly line in the other. You can use your line hand to pull slack out and to help set the hook. Setting the hook with your line hand is helpful in tight quarters.
• Don't pull the fly. It doesn't look natural.
• Shorter leaders are easier to control. I rarely use over 7 1/2 ft tapered down to 4X in the Park. On smaller streams, I use 5 ft. Shorter tippets are also easier 12-18 inches. The faster the water, the larger tippet size you can get away with, because trout have less time to inspect. 3X to 5X works.
• Wear camo or other drab clothing (including hats). High sticking is close quarters, so stealth is a must. I love a UT hat, but so do trout because they can see it
• Weighted nymphs are easier to use because they provide resistance which assists in keeping slack out of leader
• Polarized glasses.. they help reduce glare making it easier to see your line. Many fish can be spotted before during or after the strike. If you see a flash, but not a strike, cast back immediately!
• When fishing tight quarters, overhanging limbs etc, the "bow and arrow" cast works well.
• Practice roll casts, not just overhead but sideways
• Watch for an "unnatural" twitch in your line. If you wait to feel the strike, you will miss a lot of fish.
• The best place to watch your leader is where it comes out of the water.
• Practice with 1 fly before going to a tandem rig.
• If in doubt....jerk
• In lieu of strike indicators, knotted leaders help you see your leader.

A great place to practice is in shallow pocket water where you have plenty of space behind you to prevent getting hung if you miss a strike. The pocket water above Metcalf Bottoms bridge is good.

Persistance pays off

Grampus
Jim Parks

Great advice, and thanks for posting.

Now if I could only put your words to practice

Let me know when you have some free time. I'd love to learn some more from you.

[Knothead]

I did this on the North River several years ago, but didn't know the technique had a name. It was a very successful technique. It was a bit like bass fishing with plastic worms; watch the line. Believe it or not, I caught a 12 inch rainbow from a pool about the size of a bathtub on Gee Creek, off the Hiwassee, in the widerness area. Talks about a surprise! I have also used it with dry flies.

[MadisonBoats]

Originally Posted by Jim Casada

Shawn--I used that minimalist approach quite a bit as a boy, and there was an old fellow in Bryson City whom I mentioned on another thread who was a master at it. George Monteith could catch more trout with a nymph and a cane pole than virtually anyone. He also used the same "high sticking" approach to catch catfish in the shoals on the Little Tennessee River, with the only difference being that he used live bait rather than a nymph.
I don't know that I want to go back to days of a long cane pole, black line with a bit of monofilament, a piece of the lead covering for old-time roofing nails, and a Tellico nymph as my equipment, but it's nice to think back on it (and when it comes to effecitiveness, it flat-out works.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

J

Jim,
I remember a [Heartland Series] Episode that featured one of the Smoky Mountain great 'High-Stickers'. I used to see many of the locals in Campbell/Anderson County doing this back in the creeks for bluegill and other fish when I was younger.

[Jim Casada]

Shawn--Man I would have loved to have seen that show. I almost never watch TV (I'm an avid reader) but that's the kind of program which really strikes my fancy.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

[MadisonBoats]

I think this is an excerpt of the story line for the first-show.

The First Heartland Story: The Bohanan’s “There were two old guys fishing. We could see them from the bridge. They kept catching trout, one after another. It was pretty cool. They didn’t look like fishermen. They looked like mountain men. And that’s exactly what they were.


One was tall and lanky. He wore hip boots. He didn’t have on full body waders that fancy trout fisherman wear. Not this tall drink of water. He was a lean mountain man and wore old school black hip boots that tied to his belt.


The other guy, his brother, was a little heavier and shorter. He fished with two little split shots for weights. He used nymphs and wet flies that sunk the fly down near the bottom of the river, because they always told me that’s where the trout are!


The tall guy used, and this is unbelievable, twelve-pound monofilament fishing line on his fly reel! He had it tied to a little leader, then to two flies separated by a split shot. The flies looked like doodlebugs or big gobs of knitting wool with a little thread around them. Because that’s about what they were: big gobs of wool tied to a huge number 4 or 6 size hook. Boy, did they catch trout!


… That’s when The Heartland Series was born.


… Like he was befriending us, A. D. proceeded to tell us what it was like to grow up in the Great Smoky Mountains. He said, ‘Tell those park rangers, if they want some of these brook trout, tell ’em to go away up in the high mountains and catch some. These trout they got down here, they ain’t brook trout. They’re the rainbow. They got them big heads. Those brook trout got them little bitty heads. These trout down here they’re all mixed up! They’re not the native trout. Now my brother, he’s been here fishing for ’bout sixty-nine years. I reckon he’s been here long enough to be called one of the natives! Ha! Now, we don’t want to argue with no one. Trout’s trout! We like to fish.’


We showed Steve the interview with A. D. and Walter Bohannon… Steve got real excited and completely forgot about the brook trout story for the time being.
‘Here’s the show,’ he said. ‘Listen to what they’re saying. They’re telling you what it was like to grow up in the Great Smoky Mountains! They’re as good as any man and they know it. Listen to how they talk, like they’re sons of these mountains, and they know them because they are!’



It wasn’t so much what they said, but how they said it that Steve was talking about. Quickly, Steve wrote a little introduction for me to say, and we began putting together the story and called it “Fishin’.” It began with me saying something like, ‘I’d like you to meet two new friends of ours, A.D. and Walter Bohanon, streamside philosophers.’
And then, we simply aired the interview and let A.D. talk. We didn’t interrupt him or overwrite the story. This is important: WE LET HIM TELL HIS OWN STORY.”