Rachel and Jamie H Back on the Caney Fork

The Santa Ana winds (also known as Santana winds) are strong, extremely dry offshore winds that characteristically sweep through in southern California and northern Baja California in late fall into winter.

The Buffalo Valley winds (also known as Drift Stoppers) are strong, extremely gusty upstream winds that characteristically sweep through Buffalo Valley and in an upstream direction on the Caney Fork in late fall and when you least expect them.

On the drive up to the river I listened to the new Chesney CD, which is more of an island feel. After spending some time on the Gulf Coast, earlier in the month, the rasta reggae rhythm, the lyrics with boats and fishing got me back in the mood to be on the water. The weather guessers predicted sunny skies, about 65 degrees and a 7-9 mph wind. They were close…..only forgetting the warnings of the Buffalo Valley winds.

I stopped by their cabin on Saturday morning and picked up Jamie and Rachel who came in the night before from Florence, AL. We were off again for a day on the river. Jamie and Rachel have been great clients this year. We started with the Caney in June, followed by the Elk in August and what better place to wrap up their year of tailwater trips than the Caney Fork. Both are enthusiastic and appreciate a day on the water.

We were on the water staying on top of 5350 cfs of cold Caney Fork current. We stopped, threw some streamers and floated some nymphs in the slack waters. This got everyone back in practice and into the rhythm of the float. Rachel achieved the “perfect drift” and when the water stopped flowing we slipped out of our safe haven and into the current seam. Even though the wind won most of the day, Rachel and Jamie both fought fish and landed fish, which were out in their full colors as you can see from the photos below.

The Fall Colors Are Starting To Turn

The Brook Trout are in Full Fall Color

This One Had Some Tail Power

Jamie With A Nice Bow

Missed A Double By A few Seconds

They Are Eating Something

Sundown at the End of the Day...

****UPDATE****

Sunday,October 26, 2008

Mark R and I went back to the Caney for some fishing of our own. We fished the stretch from Happy to Betty's Island and caught several fish. Mostly bows and some brook trout. The brookies are as colorful as any fish I've seen and this includes the wild brookies in the Smoky's.

There wasn't much action in the deeper holes and we found no fish willing to eat by the structure. However, there seemed to be fish on every shoal and we finally managed one brown at the end of the day. Overall this was a decent day on the river.