David and Bob Back in Tennessee

David Popped This Brookie to Complete His Slam

Bob and David came back up to TN to fish the Caney Fork after fishing the Elk with us a couple years ago. We planned this trip as a couple days on the water and in the drifter. Last week the rain did not help the generation schedule and we had to change our first day to another tailwater. I met them at Sharp Lodge and after Treva and Roger fixed us an outstanding breakfast we towed the boat North for day one of a two day trip.

The Guys Caught a Bunch of These

We launched the drifter on falling water and soon we were into fish. Bob is an outstanding fly tier with talent most people would trade...well you know. David is one of the nicest kids, now young men, I have had the pleasure of fishing with. So, we took off and I was happy when we got into fish almost with the first cast.
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David struck early and Bob wasn't far behind. Both the guys were sticking fish on nymphs as the midges popped off the water with some regularity. We stayed on nymphs, but I couldn't resist the occasional hopper and even added a dropper a time or two. The fish were keyed into the nymph offering and stuck mostly to the bottom of the river.

That Is a Healthy Rainbow

Bob is Hooked Up on a Nice Fish

Like I Said it was a Nice Fish

Bob was on a roll while David was bringing the numbers to the boat. David has such an impressive cast and when he is on, he is on. Bob, has more years on the long rod than David and soon Bob had a big bend in that 5 weight. He was playing a big fish, however we did not know just how big until the fish rolled and we saw a side view. Are there really fish that are this nice in this river? We soon found out when we netted a 22" rainbow. Just to prove we were there we decided to snap a few pictures.

David Catching Some While Waiting on the Grilled Salmon for Lunch

Bob Didn't Wait Long to Stick This Brown

After the grilled salmon for lunch, it was tough not to nap, but we managed to continue downstream on one generator, which was a totally different flow to work with. We extended the nymph rigs and went back to the bottom were we picked up a few more bows. We tried hoppers again but we didn't get the response we wanted. After the float loaded the drifter and called back to Sharp Lodge and told Roger we were on the way in. He put on the pork tenderloin, potatos, corn on the cob, rolls, tomatos and sweet tea. When we arrived we had another meal waiting. We made our arrangements to hit another river in the early morning and I began rigging the rods for an early morning start.