A Trout & Trash Float

The First Fish of the Day

David and I got out on the water for a trout...and trash float. The day started out hot and continued to warm up from there. We waded around at the ramp for a while fooling with some browns that others said were no where to be found. David wanted to experiment with some different patterns and I had a few tricks of my own that I just "had" to try out.

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We floated for a while and fished to rising fish. I saw a nice rise down river behind some structure and verbally noted it with "d*%#n did you see that? As we continued down the river the big fish and a couple others were eating in a back eddy. As we slipped into a comfortable casting distance and David in the front casting brace, I offered the rising fish. David politely declined the offer. A second try at getting him to cast to the fish resulted in another decline of the invitation and that was it. I launched the newly tied Capt'n Obvious into the back eddy and with a huge splash the fish ate.

We Will Try to Catch This Fish Again

The fish went straight to an old blowdown, that I had never given more than a passing glance until that very moment. The BVK was now low and to the side and the fish shot out of the edge of the blowdown like a rocket. We made the usual comments that we all make when we are fighting a nice fish. The fish went under the boat on the left side and then on the right side. It was a long fight that was fought completely from the rowers bench. The big brown finally began to give up and after two more runs- one under the boat and one back to the blowdown- it began to let me make big pulls and finally the head came out of the water. David was there with the net and just like that the fight was over.

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So just like that the fish was in the net and the skunk was off the boat. I have caught bigger browns and even bigger fish of other species. Those fish are all memorable in their own way, some of them, heck most of them are on streamers and some on nymphs, this fish was a fish that was eating with other fish, it was in a great location that was hard to get to and it ate as soon as the bug hit the water. What more can any angler ask for, it was shaping up to be great day and I have to admit I am a lucky guy.

You Never Know What is Going to Show Up on the Drifter

Everything was Trying to Keep Cool

David Working on the Rewards of a Successfully Tied Pattern

We were ready to hit the first good run that had a lot of recently fallen blowdowns and lots of overhanging trees. We stopped just before the run and David prepped his 5 weight. He tied on some new tippet and a new fly. After checking the knots and stripping out some fly line he was ready. David was locked into the front casting brace when we slowly rowed into the run. There were fish feeding and David placed the fly above the strike zone. The fly floated helplessly into the feeding lane and a nice brown raised it's head and struck. David grabbed a handful of cork and stripped in some line, which set the hook nicely in the browns lip.

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The water was about knee deep and the current was strong. The only groove was just wide enough for the boat. The heavy brush on one side of the run provided the cover the brown was looking for. David was spot-on as he worked the brown out of the brush and into the fastest water of the run. He played the brown into the slack water of the pool below the run. The anchor was now resting on the bottom and it was time to grab the net and go to the fish. With David in the casting brace and the net now in place below the fish, David slid the fish into the net. After several rainbows we had another quality brown on a steamy day.

Another Quality Brown from the Caney Fork River

The Sun and Flip-Flop Followed Us Most of the Day

One of the Several Rainbows Caught on the Dries

We stayed on top water for the most part. Now that I think back we only caught two fish on a streamer and not one on a nymph. For the most part we didn't give the nymph a fighting chance as we were too busy selecting spots for the dry flies to land. "Fish to feeding fish" and fish to likely looking spots, that is what we have been concentrating on over the past several weeks.

David- Pre-Testing His 5 Weight?

The Usual Fight from a Rainbow...Trying Every Trick in the Book

The trout were responsive for the most part early in the float. The weather was so hot, it felt good to completely submerge yourself in the cool waters of the Caney. Wading from time to time helped as well. The sun was brutal and we slipped into a lull of cast drift repeat. Finally we stopped in the shade to cool off, but not before we saw some visitors in the form of the those sleek, saltwater turned fresh water, eating machines, known generically as- stripers...

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There are some stretches of the river that are known to hold stripers and when moved toward them David was asking for the streamer rod. David loves the streamer as much or more than I do and he is accurate to within a few inches when it counts. We moved into the run and David tossed the streamer into the heavy current, I saw the rod bend and the fight was on. The fish pulled hard but the fight was over pretty quick. This striper was a mere baby, but there are some bigger fish in the river right now. But, you can't catch the bigger fish if you aren't Getting Out There. Then We Saw These & Some Other Trash-Stay Tuned for Part II