Short,Wet Day

I headed toward Caney Fork with two purposes in mind. One was to fish for a little while and the other was to meet my mother and step dad at his camp on Center Hill. Well, I accomplished both and to make a short story long here goes. I arrived at my fishing spot about 9:30 and the setting was perfect. The water was still down, the sun was shinning and the cows were mooing. I started casting into some still water that turned into ripples and nothing happened. As I moved downstream into the more calm and deeper water, I thought that the water was getting quite a bit colder. It wasn't getting any colder, it was getting closer, as inside my waders closer. I then remembered scraping them on a fence earlier and low and behold a small tear. Well, not to be denied, I continued to fish and did hit a hot spot with five casts in a row resulting in a bite. I only hooked two but that wasn't bad the way things had been going over the last few weeks. The water had started to rise and I figured I better get out of there. Oh, when I got out of the water, I guess I looked like Chester, walking with one leg full of water. I guess if I had taken my wading belt off, I could have filled up both sides and looked like the Michlein Man. Anyhow, that was pretty much all the fishing that was done and then off to the camp to spend a little time with the folks. The end of a beautiful day. Until next time Pappy P

On the Road Again

The H. Bros. set the meeting time for this morning (Sat) at Cracker Barrel at 6:15. I get a call at 5:55 wanting to know where am I. Just getting on the interstate I reply, I'll be there at 6:15. Your posed to be here at 5:45 I hear on the other end of the line. My text said 6:15 I reply, oh well I meant 5:45 he says. Anyhow, I get there at 6:15 and we get to Caney at a little after 7:22. The skies were overcast with a threat of rain that never materialized into the real stuff. We put in at Happy Hollow and went up to the first island and casted our way back to the ramp. Nary a bite amongst the three of us, even with a spinning rod. We had to leave at 11:00 to get one of the Bros. back for whatever. When it was time to get the boat out, one of our neighbors from down south had parked his truck right in the turnaround spot on his second trip of the morning after disposing of his limit of fish earlier in the morning. I asked him to move his truck so I could turn around and he kind of looked at me indifferently and then I told him that the sign stating no parking down here was at the top of the ramp, but it was written in English. He finally got the message and politely moved his truck to the top of the ramp. I think this was the same fellow that had a few fish on the gravel bar when we got there and one of those big, long nosed birds carried off two of his fish. Pretty entertaining. We may have learned how to say "nice bird" in Mexican if we knew exactly which words were which. Another good day to enjoy fellowship with friends and enjoy Mother Nature and her marvelous works. Until next time Pappy P

New Waters,New Fish

What could be more appealing on a Friday morning after a theraputic workout at the gym than to fish some fairly new waters. My friend Buddy and I went to the dam area of the Harpeth and immediately saw a whole lot of fish in the shallow water where the rippling waters flow. I guess the theory that if you can see the trout they can see you. They hit at my first couple of offerings and then nothing after several changes. I then moved down river after hearing Buddy holler twice that he had fish on. I then proceeded to catch a 14", then an 18" and then a 16" rainbow in the swift water. Buddy had caught a 14" rainbow and then a smallmouth bass a little farther downstream. All this occurred in a 30 minute period and then it stopped except for maybe a couple of small hits. We left around 11:30 to make sure Buddy had enough time to attend to his his gold business. What a life,huh? That's all I got for today. Until next time Pappy P

O What A Beautiful Morning, O What............

Saturday was a perfect day to be on the water. Nice and cool early with a hint of an early spring breeze followed by a rising sun that brought chirping birds, a few gobblers gobbling and a few hunters hunting. Oh,and a bunch of fisherman fishing,uh, casting. According to all up and down the river reports, catching trout was slow. There were a couple of bank bait fisherman that apparently weren't able to read the new creel limits. Maybe the game wardens will be out before too long. Overall, the fishing was real slow but the beauty of nature and the friendships made during the trip made it a pleasurable voyage. Thanks to Bill Bird of Top Fly Drift Services for another enjoyable trip. Even will the lack of fish, we are still able to see the changes in the river bed to use for future reference to spot places where the fish will be holding when the water returns to some sort of normalcy. Thanks again, Bill. Until next time Pappy P

Cloudy Days and Thursdays Always Get Me ........

To the tune of an old Carpenter's song. I had some spare time today, Imagine that, so I decided to try the Caney again. What a contrast from yesterday. Wednesday it was almost possible to wade with no long handles or shirt. Today, expecting about the same water temperature I waded long handless and like to froze my handles(legs, mama) off. But I digress. I put in at the dam about an hour after the generation subsided. The sky was cloud covered with a stiff breeze blowing up river, so therefore I casted,well, my line ended upstream most of the time anyhow. Within 15 minutes I had teased the first rainbow to engulf my #18 doberman midge. From that catch it was another hour before I landed another bow with Pappys Poison on a #18 hook. I had found a spot that was holding several fish. I didn't hookup but with one more; with a little more experience maybe I could get at least one more out of there. By this time, my legs would not work in unison so I knew it was time to get out of the water. After warming up for a while, I decided to try Happy Hollow for a little while. The current was still flowing at a pretty good clip so I didn't venture very far out. To make a long story short, no luck down the Hollow. All told, the trip from Williamson county was well worth the time and effort. Gas at #258 was 2.649 cheapest around. That's all, folks. Until next time Pappy P

New Spot

I went to Silver Point today to my step dad's camp to watch him reopen for the new year. I only had a short amount of time to fish due to the generation schedule. I got to the river at 10:30 and finally found a spot below betty's island that wasn't in the current very much. There were two men already fishing so I went further to find a secluded spot before the water got too high. I managed to find a spot where the rapids and the calm water came together that was holding fish. I tried for about 15 minutes to get a fly to do what I wanted to in a 15 mph wind, which was 14 minutes more than I should have. I just happened to have my lite spinning rod with me so I proceeded to throw my Rapala and within the next 25-30 minutes I had managed to catch 4 rainbows; a 15,13,11,and a 9. I guess it was their 30 minute lunch break cause after that they quit eating and went back to work. They must not have been gov't employees. Maybe if the big storms don't come tonight, the generation schedule will be a little more conducive to better fishing time. Until next time Pappy p

Happy Easter

I hope everone had a good Easter. The weather was beautiful and the Pizza for lunch was great. I haven't been fishing for a few days due to the lack of fishable water or time constraints. My friend Buddy and I did some expeditioning? on the Harpeth in Cheatam County to maybe find some bass areas to fish. Not being well knowledged in the Harpeth river system we weren't real sure where to look. We did find a few places that could be reached by walking a short distance. We may try them later.
My greatest pleasure of the day, at home, was making a video of my youngest daughter learning to fly cast. For someone who has never touched a fly rod, she had the motion down pat whithin a few tries. Whithin 5 minutes, she was adding line to her cast for a fairly good distance of 20-25 feet without touching the ground on her backcast or her foward cast. Much better than her dad after 6 months. She may not ever get to the water, but I will have a good video for the people that want to learn the basics from the beginning. Thanks darling. Until next time Pappy P