The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Män Som Hatar Kvinnor)

My wife is a fan of Stieg Larsson and his "millennium trilogy. I remember when they first were published in Sweden and all the hoopla and excitement about his books. Unfortunately the author died of an apparent heart attack in 2004 and he never got to experience the fame and fortune from his work. Stieg was an investigate journalist and his books has sold very well world wide. The first movie in the series just opened here in the U.S. and of course being a swede I had to go see it. I guess I was biased beforehand because I read the book in English translation and wasn't impressed. I blame some of it on bad translation from the original language. I know from experience that a book in it's original language is usually better. I also felt that the story was not so good and I honestly don't know what all the hoopla is about. What about the movie? Well, it has an elite of Swedish actors, both young and old. Old stand by's like Ingvar Hirdwall, Marika Lagercrantz, Björn Granath, etc. The lead is played by Michael Nyqvist and supporting actress Noomi Rapace. Peter Andersson and Peter Haber, as well as Lena Endre appears. As you can see, if you are swedish you know all these actors. They can't save the movie however. I was also shocked to see how much Sven-Bertil Taube has aged. This shows how long it is since I lived in Sweden, and based on my hiking experience yesterday. I am no spring chicken either.

Skunked on Abrams

I did a pretty tough hike today, tough for me due to being out of shape from the winter doldrums. I went with a friend from Maryville and we took off from Abrams Creek Ranger Station at about 7 am. We got to the falls area right at 9 am, and began fishing after we rested for a minute. There were heavy hatches of tan and green caddis, gray foxes, and Green Drakes. I even saw a left over Hendrickson. Yellow Sallies are beginning their dance. This should have made for easy fishing right? Well not quite. I only had one strike and I lost the fish. My buddy didn't do much better. We fished under a threat of severe storms and after cooking lunch we decided to walk out of there. It was raining on the way out but the skies cleared up again when we got to the cars. Isn't that the way it always works out?

Quick Clinch River Outing

Managed to get out to the Clinch Wednesday afternoon after work. It was a nice and clear evening but not much activity. I saw one fellow with a fish on but none of the other half a dozen fishermen there caught anything while I fished. Sporadic hatches of Sulphur duns were coming off but no surface feeding. I eventually caught two small rainbows and when I left the river I spoke with one gentleman who said he had a difficult time also. Maybe next time....

Three beautiful creeks and a tired man

Gee Creek Rainbow



What a beautiful Saturday we had in the Knoxville area. I left town at 5 am and after much soul searching decided to visit Gee Creek. This is a stream in which I have had numerous 50 to 60 fish days on. Mind you most fish were in the six to seven inch range with the occasional 10 "lunker" I have always considered it a nice and relaxing place and it has always been a respite from the masses on other trout streams. I was somewhat discouraged today when I found plenty of litter to pick up. It seemed to be mostly from last years swimmers and picnickers. There were major hatches in the 56 degree water. I saw, Hendricksons, both the duns and later in the pm the spinners. There were Gray Foxes duns and some Slate Mahogany Duns in the pm. A small tannish and some green caddis showed up also. The problem: None of the fish were taking on top. I had to resort to a BH Prince Nymph, after one rainbow and several hours I managed to catch the above beauty on a tan EHC size 14.

I stoppedfor lunch and headed back up north to hike in to Bald River Gorge area. I fished the bald for a couple of hours and only caught one small brown and another rainbow right after that. No hatches to speak of. Hiked back out to finish up the evening at North River Campground are on North River. I once again saw Hendrickson duns and some caddis. Tied on my EHC tan size 14 and lost two good sized bows before I was able to catch one. I was exhausted by now but happy. Nothing beats a solitude day on three different and beautiful mountains streams. The air temps were in the low 70's and the water in the high 50's. I got home late and crashed in to bed, with tiredness in my body.

Hiwassee River

I usually fish the Hiwassee river in the spring. No different this year. I got there at about 9 am and rigged up for nymphing. Hiwassee is a real bug factory and a fish factory also. The only negative with this river is that it is very difficult to catch anything of size. Hiwassee is mainly a put and take fishery and doesn't have many hold over Rainbow trout. Temperature issues and possibly other factors limit the survival rate of the fish. The river does have some hold over browns and they can get huge. They are however not easy to catch and I would say almost impossible during low flow. It has to be a high water float to even have a chance to catch the. Hiwassee river could be a gem if the hold over trout was there. The river is a literal bug factory. I saw BWO's in the morning, along grannom (Little Black Sedge or Caddis), and you would thinkg they would take on top. Not so today. I had to stick with nymphing, although I tried a Black EHC several times. I managed to catch 28 or so rainbows today. I caught them all on BH princes and some black spiders and Iron Blue Dun wets. But it is somewhat disheartening that not one of the fish was a keeper. They were all 9 to 10 inches each and looked like they had been recently stocked. I do however love the rive and the nature surrounding it. It is one of my favorite places in TN. I have fished Hiwassee river of and on for almost a decade now. I used to do it more often but lately it has been a spring trip every year. Mainly a practice run for more technical waters to come. If you ever have to take a beginner out, this would be one of my top choices. The river is choke full of fish and with some practice and help with the entomology a beginner should have a field day. The water temp was 60 degrees today and I fished about six hours total with a break for lunch in between.