Beautiful Snow Day

What better way to spend a day when the Caney Fork is 14ft. higher than normal trout fishing depth and flowing like the Colorado rapids than to be home watching what may be the most snowfall in Middle Tn in many,many years. The weatherman is predicting 4-7 inches by the time this ends Saturday night. In the meantime, I'll be tying more flies while listening to my beautiful,youngest daughter practice her songs for her high school play which apparently is a musical-go figure. One of my fishing buddies,Wayne, had a procedure done at the hospital yesterday. Hope that will alleviate the problems he has been having. Another fishing buddy, Buddy, cracked his kneecap over the weekend. Bill, be careful. I got to have somebody to fish with if the water ever gets back to normal. Till next time.

Rain Again

Well, the generating finally stops and then the rains reappear. Center Hill has risen almost 5 ft. since Tuesday to 629. The elevation was 624 before the rains came and now the 5 ft. of extra water must get out from behind the dam so therefore full blown generation for the next several days. Some of the more advanced fisherman might know how to fish the river in these conditions, but not this ole boy so I stay home and tie or do house work; more tying than working. So long for now.

Beginners Luck Doesn't Last Forever

I met Bill Bird of TopFly Drift Boat Services and Wayne at Caney Fork yesterday for a great day of fishing for them and an even greater day of comraderie for me. Fishing was apparently slow for waders and drifters alike. We met a couple of young men from Maryville that put in at the dam when we did and had a 5 or 6 fish day; most others had 3 or 4 and that was about it. The bank stops were good- good food other things. The water was fairly low and real clear with a few fish seen rising throughout the day and a small hatch about midday. Maybe this wintertime fishing is a little tougher than fall. But as my college baseball coach always said "anyone can catch the easy ones".

Back to Fishing

Today was a beautiful day-Wednesday-to see how the rest of my home tied flies would hold up. The seven or eight that I used hold up very well in water. I don't know how they fare in a trout's mouth. I first drove to the dam at Caney Fork where there were several vehicles in the parking lot apparently trying their skills at the steps downriver since none were to be found at the dam area. I headed to Happy Hollow; two vehicles in the lot but no fishermen in sight. To make a short story long, I fished for almost two hours with nary a bite. Three other fisherman showed up and had the same results as I. I left from there and went to Kirby Rd. for the first time and no one else was there and I can understand why: not very accessible and too deep for a person fishing alone. I then went to Betty's Island for about 30 minutes with no luck and the end of a beautiful trip. At least my flies stayed tied.

Tie Day

Since I had a semi-successful afternoon yesterday at Caney, I decided to spend part of the day today tying. Since the trout swallowed my only fly of that type that I had tied I felt the need to mass produce "Pappy's Poison" for future use if this colder weather gets away from here. Maybe back on the water by the middle of next week. If so, I'll find out if it was a fluke or maybe it was something they like in cold,low water.

Snow Day on the Water

My friend and fishing buddy, Buddy H., decided to brave the cold and the snow to fish the Caney for the first time in almost two months. This was the only time we could find when the water was low and not generating. The river was very low. The temp. at the dam was 52 degrees. We started about 2:00 and fished until 2:45 with no luck but some great pictures. We left and went to Happy Hollow and I have never seen as much dry land as I did today; I have only been fishing there since the end of August 09. The cold front was coming through and the wind had picked up considerably along with the wind chill factor. The water temp. here was 43 degrees and very shallow. I broke off two of my self tied flies and then tied on a fly that will now be known as Pappy's Poison. My first and only cast was engulfed by a 17" Brown that for the first 4 minutes I thought I had hooked a stripe that had come up river during the high water. I finally got him netted with Buddy's help,took a bad picture and then let him go unhurt. This is by far the biggest trout I have caught in my short time of fly fishing. He was also fat, maybe 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 lbs. I wasn't able to get the fly out-it was all the way down to his gills. If anyone catches him, you can see the shank right inside his gill plate.

Happy 2010

2010 started just like 2009 ended-high water, cold and no fishing. I did take the time to tie more flies and go to the rec center to do some stretching and lower back therepy. Today, I spent the early morning with two of my fly fishing buddies-Bill Bird of TOP FLY DRIFT BOAT SERVICE and Wayne- at the Cracker Barrell and then to Bass Pro Shops to get some fly tying material. Maybe I'll tie a couple before time to go to bed. So long till next time.