Bye Ya'll

Bye Ya'll
H. Bros.

Tommy H.

Tommy H.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

1 1/2 hours of fun

I went to the Caney on Tuesday the 23rd for about an hour and a half. The generation schedule would allow 4 more hours but the weather had different ideas.  I managed to catch 7 trout, 4 rainbows and 3 browns, but none of any size.  There were only two others in my area, mostly due to the threat of rain.  Ed, the trout magnet rep, was there and he probably caught close to 10 so 7 wasn't too bad.  The thunder and lightning started about 11:30 so we got off the river.  We had about 2 inches of rain overnight, the Great Falls reservoir  raised over 8 feet so that means Center Hill will rise probably 3 feet which also means no wading the Caney for at least 2 weeks maybe 3.  Luckily,  I can bass fish on Center Hill in the meantime.  Merry Christmas to everyone.  Until next time, Pappy.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Month Later

Over a month wait, I finally got back on the Caney for a two hour break in the generation.  I wasn't expecting much, just trying to see if the trout were still here.  A couple of trout magnet guys were in the part of the river that I wanted to try, they weren't doing much so after about an hour I moved down to where they were. I know both of these men so it wasn't bad at all . They had not caught more than 5 or 6 between them so I didn't feel too bad.  I ended up with 2 in the net and lost a couple of others.  I at least found out the fish still like the same flies as before, but after 5 weeks of constant generation, they were a little shy about going any distance for anything to eat.  If the rain stays away this week, the schedule may get better.  Let's hope so.  Until next time , Pappy.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Cold Day Fishing

Got back on the water today after a break due to the generation schedule.  Just like a couple of weeks ago, I had to do a lot of scouting.  The trout are there, I just have to figure out what they are hungry  for.   It didn't take as long to find out today, I ended up with 22 mostly rainbows, a couple over 16''.  Tomorrow's schedule is ok but not enough time between church times to make it work.  Hopefully, Monday or Tuesday will be ok.  I'll let you know.  Until next time, Pappy.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Back to the Caney

This is for Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 4 and 5.  Tuesday was my first day on the Caney in over a month, I think.  I got on the river at 6:45 and fished until 9 when the generation started.  This will probably be the schedule for a while unless the rain today continues.  The river will be totally different than in the past.  The Corps has decided to do away with the 250cfs sluice which makes the water slower and more shallow.  The trout are not near as responsive and they aren't hanging out in the same spots, also the spots aren't structured like they were before all the river flow.  In short, Tuesday was a learning day. I went through 6 different types of flies and only caught 3 fish.  I had 4 more hits but lost them after a few strips of my line.  There was only one other fly fisher on the river, Roger, a man I had last seen the last day I had fished.  He was fishing with his granddaughter.  Now to Wednesday.  I started up river where I usually end up right before generation.  It was already raining when I got on the water so I didn't want to walk 10 more minutes downstream and miss the time scouting for the fish.  I started with some of the usual suspects and got a couple of hits with a zebra midge.  Then a couple of hits on a soft hackle. A lot better than yesterday.  I then went to an outlandish long hackled soft hackle that looked like nothing you would see in the water.  Apparently, the blue gills thought it was prime rib cause I caught 3 within a very short time.  After I moved away from them, I caught a couple more trout, a rainbow and a brown.  I then lost the fly, it must have gotten cut by something and I didn't even notice it for a few more cast. After that it was kind of hit or miss with more trial and error flies.  I caught a decent size fish right before generation.  But I had questioned the knot that I had tied on the small #20 midge emerger and guess what, the knot failed. One of these days I'll learn, not.  I am now looking out the back at the rain falling probably for all day.   Until next time,  Pappy.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Update

It's been over three months since I have posted anything here.  Mainly because the Caney stayed red hot and each post would have been the same basic stuff.  I have now moved to within 20 minutes of the Caney and am now looking at the Floating Mills area of Center Hill Lake.  The water has been really high for the last month which means full generation for the Caney and no wading.  The water is almost back to normal but still will go down another 5 feet in the lake for winter pool.  So wading for the next month or so will be sporadic.  Now, the good news.  I spent my 62nd birthday in CA with my daughter and two grandsons and also Halloween.  On Saturday, Nov. 1 we went fishing at Lake Chabot close to Castro Valley.  It is a nice park with lots of walkers, bike riders and just other people.  The lake is electric motor only.  We walked around the bank and fished in several spots and finally my oldest grandson caught a small Large Mouth bass, which was quite exciting for all of us, him especially. That was the only live fish we caught but we did have several nice rock mouth bass and a couple of reed bass.  It was a great day to spend with the grandkids and my oldest daughter.  Hopefully, they can come to Silver Point in the spring and we can catch some trout.  That's all for now, until next time, Pappy.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Another Catchup

It's been over a month since my last post.  I had a couple of real slow days wading the last part of June into the first week of July.  Then the fishing got hot again after the 4th.  The last three times to the Caney have been very good.  Not in the 60 range but 25-40 for 4-6 hours on the water.  I fished today with Wayne for the first time in a while.  Our best fishing buddy, Bill Bird, died of a heart attack a week or so ago so we kinda felt the need to get back together fishing.  Wayne paid me the first compliment I have had about catching fish.  He said that I had gotten pretty good.  I think I am starting to catch fish when others aren't.  We both fish the same technical way and were catching a lot of fish when others around us weren't.  That's kinda neat especially when the other four guys were wading with a guide. We each ended up with close to 40 and not all taken from one spot or holes.  We were fishing from  bank to bank and wading about  a quarter mile over all.  So again, not a bad day.   We will try to hit it again next week.  Until next time, Pappy

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Another Catch Up

I've been to the Caney maybe 3 times since my last post.  I think the glory days have truly gone by. Most of the places that were holding loads of trout are now back to normal.  Two factors in my opinion have made the change.  The 1st obvious one is the pressure.  There are no secrets on the Caney.  Some places that I have never seen fished to any extent in the last year you now have to get a number and wait in line.  And then Memorial Day weekend got here.  Enough said.  I went out today with Brett, my neighbor.  We got in the water right as the generators were about to turn off and fished for 3 1/2 hours until they came back on.  We caught close to 40, mostly Brookies and Browns.  We both caught a couple of 14-15 inch fish that were fat.  There was a real slow period from about 9-10, which is normal. But other than that is was fairly consistent fishing.  We both were using flies we had just tied in the last couple of nights, Brett's first time trying the art of tying.  Apparently, he did ok.  The river was pretty crowded from the dam down to the steps along with several kayaks and canoes.  All in all, I think it was a great morning on the Caney.  Until next time,  Pappy.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Update

I haven't posted the last few trips to the Caney, I wanted to see how long the great fishing would continue.  Well, it continues to be very good. I have caught between 28 and 66 trout on these trips.  I had always heard people say they had caught those types of numbers but always doubted the accuracy.  Now I believe it, if the conditions are right and apparently they are right now.  They are hungry for almost anything.  I don't know how long it will last, but I hope to get out at least once this week and see.  Until next time,  Pappy.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Great Saturday

My next door neighbor and I spent the night in Silver Point TN to try to get an early start on the fish this morning, Saturday.  He didn't get off of work until 10 last night so  it was close to 12 when we got to the camp.  We slept until 4:30 with the intention of getting on the water by 5:30.  Well, I piddled around too long and we didn't get to the water until 6:30 and as luck would have it, a couple of guys were already fishing where I wanted to start, and they were catching a lot of fish, which was a good sign.  I moved on down river about 40 yards and started throwing a soft hackle that I had retied from my last trip.  It took a while but they finally started hitting.  I was loosing about as many as I was catching, this being the same area I have had trouble with in previous trips. I ended up with 10 in the net with 7 lost in transit.  My neighbor, Brett, was fishing further upstream and caught close to 10 I think.  After the horns went off, we stopped at Happy Hollow and there was a couple of guys there.  There was a couple of spots there that were holding fish, I should say holding school.  I was fishing about 20 yards up from a guy that I know and I watched him catch at least 25 in about 30 cast, all in the same clump of grass and I found a spot not quite as good but still enough to keep it interesting.  We stayed there until 10:30 and headed home.  What a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  Until next time, Pappy.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The rains subsided overnight so I thought I would try the Caney for my second day in a row, which hasn't happened in a very long time. I got to the water at 7:30 at the tail end of a slight drizzle which continued off and on for the next couple of hours.  The water that was half clear yesterday was completely muddy today, in the run that I fished yesterday.  I tried two or three different flies and only caught one small rainbow, this was over an hour and a half time period.  I trudged back, 30 minutes worth, to where I saw some clear water earlier.  I had about 2 hours left before the generation started.  I tied on my light colored soft hackle that I had rebuilt from yesterday and began to cast.  I caught two small browns pretty quick and then preceded to have the next 9 bites to get off after a couple or three strip retrieves.  I then changed to a #20 zebra midge and started to catch and get to the net 10 more within about 45 minutes.  I changed to a dry fly on my sinking tip line and was still able to catch 6 more, combination of browns and rainbows.  By this time, I was about wore out from fishing and standing and walking, I was glad to hear the horn go off at the dam to let us know that in 15 minutes we better get out of the river or find a tall tree to climb for the next 12 hours.  This was another great day to be alive and to enjoy it fishing.  By the way,  Mark if you read this I saw David Knapp today and told him you said Hi; he was impressed with the fly info from you a couple of years ago.  Until next time,  Pappy            TIME FOR A REBUILD

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Not a bad work day

I had set my alarm for 4:30 am this morning, Tuesday, to be at the Caney at 6:30.  I looked at the overnight weather and decided not to go due to the water probably being muddy.  At 8 I decided to go to Silver Point to cut my step dad's lot at his camp.  I carried my 4 wt. just in case I could fish a while.  When I got to the Caney only the water closest to the bank was muddy so I tried my luck for an  hour or so below the dam.  I had my first rainbow within the first ten minutes and my second within the next 5 minutes.  I ended up with 7 browns and rainbow all about 9 to 12 inches.  The generation started so I left and went to Happy Hollow to see how the water was there.  I was able to fish there for an hour or so using a light colored soft hackle on my sinking tip line.  The water was as clear here as it was below the dam.  I had my best day in a long time at Happy with a total of 10 more fish, including 1 brookie.  That was the end of my fun for the day as I spent the next 2 hours weed eating.  The fish catching did make the weed eating a little more palatable, though.  Until next time,  Pappy.

Friday, April 18, 2014

I went to the Caney yesterday enjoying great temperatures and blue bird skies.  Not so sure about enjoying the blue bird skies.  They were beautiful but not real conducive for a great day of fishing.  I started off with soft hackles for awhile with no luck at all and then switched to a wooly bugger, also with no luck.  About the time I reached the spot that I normally have decent luck, another fisherman had moved in front of me with a spinning rod and proceeded to catch an 18" brown. Not to say that I would have caught the same fish, but.  The water finally receded to its normal level after the generation turned off.  I move downstream to the opposite side of the river and changed to a grey scud.  I began to get some hits and caught a few.  Most were fairly small but I did have a 10"  rainbow.  I switched to a beige sowbug,#16 after about 6 catches and caught 3 more.  I also had 6 more on but lost them after about 6 or 7 strips.  This same thing has happened to me the last two times I have fished this side with the scud type hooks.  Maybe they hook set has to be different,  who knows.  All in all a great day to fish and to be out in God's great outdoors.  Until next time, Pappy.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

I tried to post this yesterday, Saturday, but I deleted it accidentally and didn't repost.  Anyhow, I spent 3 hours or so on the Caney Friday and did ok.  I caught a total of 8, all rainbows.  Three were over 12 inches and were fat.  I used a variety of flies including, but not limited to olive wooly buggers, BH Pheasant Tail, various midges, scuds and sowbugs.  In one twenty yard stretch, I lost 4 fish in a row.  I checked my scud and realized that I had too much body that had the hook almost covered.  After changing to another, I caught 2 of those again.  Hopefully, the generation schedule will be more condusive to fishing over the next two weeks.  Until next time,  Pappy

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

I took advantage of the lack of generation today on the Caney to fish for 3 or 4 hours,  The air was chilly and very cloudy but the weatherman said that would change around noon.  He didn't say where, because it didn't clear up until maybe 3 o'clock and never did warm up.  As I was about to go down the path to the steps my Trout Magnet friend Ed drove up so I waited for him to get his stuff ready and we headed to the river together.  The water was still about a foot or so high but that was fine with me.  I got to my spot with a wooly bugger with some red flash tied on.  I had a fish on in about 10 minutes, a decent size brown, 13".  I tried to take a picture but couldn't get my phone to work.  I was hoping that wasn't my only fish for the day.  A few minutes later after I had tied on a green worm, I had a decent sized rainbow.  I changed flies again to a bright green sow bug to see if the bright green was the color.  With in a few cast I had another brown on.  This all happened in a thirty yard stretch and about 30 minutes.  For the next 40 minutes I tried a beaded zebra midge, a sparking white I don't know what, and a darker wooly bugger.  I had some hits but none to the net.  I moved on downstream and went back through my wooly bugger along with a beaded pheasant tail nymph.  I ended the day with 7 in the net and 6 that didn't make it that far.  Not a bad day for me.                     My friend Ed had his usual good day with his spinning rod and trout magnets.  He caught a 20"brown that he almost didn't land and three or four more that were close to that size.  Maybe some day I'll try it.  But not on the Caney.  Until next time,  Pappy.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Yesterday the Corps was nice enough to give us a two hour window to fish on the Caney.  I'm trying to blame the lack of catching on the small amount of time and hurrying the cast,retrieve etc.  I threw nymphs, scuds, midges,and wooly buggers and finally after 1:45 I tied on a Bead Head  Pheasant Tail and caught a small rainbow and that was it.  Oh, I should have known it wasn't going to be a good day before I ever got into the water.  As I was approaching the spot to enter the water, I slipped and fell for about 2 minutes and then went head first into a laydown tree.  I heard a small crunch, I thought I had either broke my nose, because it hurt, or knocked out my two front teeth, because they hurt.  As it turned out, I had only scratched my nose and busted my lip.  Part of my mustache was gone and that's probably what saved me from losing my teeth.  My mustache absorbed most of the shock.  The only good thing that happened on the river was that I got my water thermometer that I had dropped in the water 3 weeks ago back. Yeah Rah.  Until next time.  Pappy

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Should have known better

I'm a day late with my post.  I went to the Caney on Wednesday, against my better judgement.  The temperature was barely above freezing and there were occasional wind gusts.  I got to my spot at 11:00, the same place I had a small amount of success the last couple of times.  I tried the all purpose wooly bugger with no luck at all.  I then switched to a #18 sowbug.  I had move on down the river a couple hundred feet.  I had three fish on but only got them about halfway landed and then they got off.  I went to a bigger sow and proceeded to catch three fish.  By this time, ice was forming on the guides and my hands were non functional so it was time to go.  It looks like the generation schedule will not be conducive for fishing for the next few days.  It's just as well, the weather isn't going to be very good. Maybe in a few days, back to fishing. Until next time, Pappy

Friday, January 31, 2014

Another Day on the River

The generation schedule was favorable yesterday so I decided to visit the Caney again.  I got into the river at 11:45 and by 12:00 I had a rainbow and a brown in the net. Both were 12" and appeared to be well fed.  That was all for the next hour.  I did have enough hook ups to keep my attention but just couldn't get them to hold on.  By the time I left the river I had netted eight fish, mostly rainbows.  The only drawback on the day was the gusting wind.  I had several times I caught my own  line which I think actually caused me to lose my leader off of my main line on my last hookup.  This is the first time this has happened to me.  The ragged way the line was cut leads me to believe it was partially torn and the the hit caused the line to pop.  Or I hooked  that 28" brown people have talked about.  Whatever.  Until next time.  Pappy

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Catching Up

Well, I've fished 3 different places since my last post.  One was after a stocking in Lewisburg at the park.  The weather wasn't very good.  The air temperature was maybe 40 degrees with a 10-15 mph wind.  The fish had just been put in and not very hungry.  There were maybe 7 people fishing off the bank, all with spinning rods.  I was there with my friend Ed who is a rep with trout magnet lures.  Even his lures didn't do much so you know the fish weren't hungry.  We didn't stay long and decided to take a trip to the Elk as soon as the weather permitted.  That was a few days later.   We made it to the Elk around 11am and started about a hundred yards below the dam, at the start of the bend.  I was throwing flies and Ed was doing his thing with the trout magnet.  Well, his thing did a whole lot better than mine.  That's all I'm going to say. My third trip was finally to the friendly confines of Caney Fork.  The wierd thing is that I hadn't intended on fishing.  The weather was terrible.  I was going to check on Gordon's place, which was fine, and I then went down to the dam and some people were at the dam fishing and the wind had died down quite a bit.  I then decided I was try my luck below the steps.  The water was still a foot or so high even an hour and a half after the generation had stopped.  I didn't get a bite for the first 45 minutes using various midges.  I was about to leave because the wind had picked up but I decided to tie on a wooly bugger.  Long story short,  I had caught 6 trout in the next 30 minutes. Another dry spell for about 30 minutes and then one final trout, a brookie, which gave me a triple play.  I had 5 rainbows, 1 brown, and 1 brook.  Not bad for a day that I hadn't intended to fish.  Hopefully, it won't be another month before I get out again. Until next time,  Pappy

Monday, December 16, 2013

High Water Fishing

I went to the Caney today for the first time in a couple of weeks.  I got there an hour or so after the generation was over.  The water was still a foot or so higher than when I usually get in the water but I didn't have much choice since there was only going to be about  2 1/2 hours until the water release was scheduled.  I tried a couple of midge flies to begin but no luck.  I then tied on a medium size streamer, white in color, and that did the trick for a couple of quick rainbows.  Then a purple emerger midge caught another and then a red with bronze rib midge caught a couple more.  Other than not landing 3 others, that was it.  Not a bad afternoon.  Probably the last chance to fish before Christmas.  Until next time, Pappy

Monday, December 2, 2013

Post Dental Fishing

My day started at 7:30 in the dentist chair having my teeth cleaned.  Out by 8:00, I decided I would spend the rest of the day trying to make up for a slow fishing day last Friday.  I got onto the river at 10:00 and had my first fish by 10:15, a small rainbow.  Within the next 20 minutes I had caught a small brookie.  I thought to myself,  uh oh, what a day.  Well, by 1:00, I had caught a grand total of 3 fish.  Not very good.   It was now a good time to have my vienna's and beanie weenie's for a well deserved lunch.  I started back at about 1:30 with a new fly and a new approach.  The fly was a #18 white fluorescent that I had tied up a couple of weeks ago.  That was the ticket.  The fly lured the browns out of the shallow grass and the bows out of the grass in the deeper water.   By the time I had left the water at 4:00 I had caught 11 more trout after my lunch break for a total of 14 for the day.  Not bad, a whole lot better than the dentist visit.  Until next time, Pappy

Rainbow on the Harpeth

Rainbow on the Harpeth

9" Rainbow

9" Rainbow

First of the Day

First of the Day

Yes Honey, I'm Working

Yes Honey, I'm Working

Nice Rainbow

Nice Rainbow

Elk #2 Rainbow

Elk #2 Rainbow

Snow Day Trout

Snow Day Trout

Snow Day Fun

Snow Day Fun
Jack and Skipper

Time to go home

Time to go home