Paul, Tucker and the Brookies

Father-Son Trips Have Been Some of the Best Trips

Paul came in from Virginia to visit his son Tucker and crossed the river five times on the way. The father and son booked a half day trip to catch some fish and spend some quality time together. Before we pushed the drifter away from the gravel bar the guys tuned up on some recent hatchery brats. Paul stuck the fish, with a Bust-a-Brown, early and with regularity, while Tucker and I concentrated on the brookies downstream at the boat. When we shoved off the guys were tuned up. The skies were bluebird clear and the water was about 60 degrees. 

One of Several Brookies

The tailwaters in Middle Tennessee have been running extra clear since TVA and the Army Corps dialed back the generators. This means the fish see boats and anglers coming much sooner than previous years. Long casts and quality mends will pick up more fish. Every time the fly passes, the fish have an extended inspection time and this makes refusals routine. 

Paul Hooked-Up Early

Paul and Tucker

Another Brook Trout

Now the guys didn't just catch all brookies, but they were the most colorful fish of the trip. Nope both guys got their slam. The recent stockings from TWRA have been full of smaller fish. The browns are small, but several years ago TWRA stocked small browns and some of them adapted to the river pretty well, then grew up to be healthy holdovers. 
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Spending the afternoon with Paul and Tucker was a lot of fun. Paul is an accomplished angler who adapted to fishing out the drifter, by picking his spots, setting up his drifts and then picking up fish. Tucker worked on his casting, then mending and then, he started picking his spots as well. The fish came to the fly an would eat on the best drifts.  It was cool to see these two guys picking up fish while just hanging out together on the river.