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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fish Friday

I spent the day at the Caney with the men of the Harston family.  From all accounts, it was a slow day for every one on the river.  Due to the fact that I forgot my sunglasses on the brightest day of the week and also that I threw my 2.75 reading glassed in the trash along with my empty Dr. Pepper can I didnt change flies as many times as I should have.  Excuses, excuses.  I caught three rainbows all fairly small and that was it .  I don't think the boys did much better.  I tried midges, scuds, and soft hackle and none really worked.  Earlier in the week they caught a bunch.  Other than the fishing, it was a great day spent with great friends.  We'll try it again, soon I hope.  Until next time, Pappy.

Almost a Movie

I decided to go fishing today because I wasn't sure when I would be able to go again, due to the fact I may be doing some painting for the next few days.  I was sure it was going to be a little chilly but I didn't know snow was in the forecast for the afternoon.  I got onto the water about 10:15  again below the steps at the nature trail.  Total time on the water was 5 hours, a long time to be standing and wading.  The morning started off slow with only a few bites and a couple of catches.  The aggravating thing was that the fish were surfacing all around me and would not take what they had been for the last couple of times; soft hackles, nymphs, scuds and some that don't have names.  A fellow fisherman that had caught a few told me to try a midge, that's what he was using.  Well, low and behold, that was the ticket for the next couple of hours.  When that quit, I went back to the scuds and finished the day in a blowing snow. Oh, about the movie.  Caught 22      Until next time, Pappy.

A Good Day In The Rain

Today, I was already close to the Caney so I decided I might as well finish the day fishing.  By the time I got on the water the clouds had opened up a little and the sprinkles began and continued for the next 4 hours.  I guess since the fish were already wet it didn't bother them other than they wanted to test the flies before they decided to eat them.  The first 5 trout I had on got off after about three strips to the line and that was only after I had been on the water for about 20 minutes.  About that time, a drift boat guide and his client floated up and we chatted for a few minutes.  As soon as he paddled off I netted my first, a beautifully colored Brookie. The fish today were scattered in the weedy, shallow water for the first couple of hours.  Later in the afternoon they had moved to the deeper water areas but still close to the bank .  By the end of the day, I had caught a mixture of rainbow, brown and brooks  Most were in the 10-12 inch range.  According to my counter, I ended up with  14.  A pretty good day to play in the rain.  Until next time, Pappy.

Back to Wading

I was awakened this morning by a text from a former relative around 6 am so that made my mind up to go fishing.  I decided to wade today since the last canoe trip wasn't very good.  I got in the water below the steps at the end of the nature trail close to the dam about 8:56. I then proceeded to walk in the woods another 7 minutes to an area I had never fished before.  There was only one other fisherman down that way so I figured I had a decent chance to catch a few.   I caught one rainbow and two browns within the first fifteen minutes and then ten minutes later I had caught three more browns.  By the end of the afternoon, I had caught a total of nineteen trout including two beautiful brookies.  I'm going to try to get a picture posted if I can get this thing figured out.  That's all for now, until next time.  Pappy

A little catch up here.  I finally decided to get out in my boat/canoe since I had had such good luck with Bill B.  I probably fished a total of 6 times around the dam, once with my next door neighbor and another time with my friend Buddy H. and the rest of the time by myself.  I averaged 25 trout while by myself with a high of 35 in about  4 hours.   There wasn't much of anything they wouldn't hit.  I then took off for about 3 weeks and went back yesterday.  My how things changed.  The weather had gotten much colder in that time, the time had changed; it was getting late earlier. The fish would not co-operate.  I only had 4 hits in 2 hrs. and tried several different flies.  To top it off, I almost flooded my canoe.  That was enough for one morning.  I'll probably get back to wading for a while, I don't want to go swimming in 50 degree water.  I'm going to try to go one more time before Thanksgiving and I'll report then.  Until next time,  Pappy.

Hi y'all.  I've been to the Caney maybe two or three times since my last post.  Each time the fishing was different.  One time the fish were hitting the dry fly and occasionally the nymph dropper.  The next time they weren't hitting anything.  The last time I switched to a sinking tip line with midges and bead head pheasant tails and caught 9 in about an hour and a half, even in shallow water.  Go figure.  I'm hopefully going Friday the 13th, tomorrow, maybe I'll have good luck.  Until next time, Pappy P.

I went to the Caney today after the generation completed.  Kinda slow at first and then the trout began to and I was able to catch two brookies and a brown in about two hours.  I then took a break and came back about 6 pm and stayed until dark.  I caught 4 more, 3 browns and 1 brook using a yellow dry fly with a brown zebra midge dropper.  All in all a good day.  Until next time.   Pappy P.