Monday, June 25, 2018

Fly Fish Middle Tennessee

We started off the float with some banter and by tuning up some stockers. Those stockers helped to pass the time and to help the guys get into a groove of casting and mending, then the hookset and keeping the line tight to bring the fish to the net.

Tracy said early in the float that he would need to start from ground zero since he hasn’t been on the water since the last time he was on the boat, two years ago. How does that even happen?!

Marc on the other hand brought stories of floating and wading on several occasions as well as catching his share of fish on waters around the Southeast. That's more like it. I worked with Tracy while Marc quickly began dropping the flies with pinpoint accuracy. As we floated, both anglers remembered the program and we were soon catching our share.

We floated into a pool along a shelf. I adjusted Tracy’s fly for more depth. He was in the front brace and settled into a good presentation with a nice mend. This made me proud. As I was selecting a location for their next cast, Tracy came tight on a fish. Then for some reason he took the reel off and tossed it in the bottom of the boat....OK it didn’t happen exactly like that. In reality the reel came loose from the seat and hit the floor with a thud. Tracy was into the fight and the brown trout was making laps while trying to roll-off, all at the same time. Tracy did a great job getting the brown to the surface and then into the net. Score one or the guys in the green boat. Marc began immediately talking about trading the rear brace for the front. 
We grabbed some lunch in the shade. Did I mention it was hot? No? Well, I am mentioning it now. It was hot with the temps somewhere near 9,000 degrees. We ate, hydrated, and caught the breeze when possible. 
After lunch we floated on and the action slowed. With Marc now in the front and Tracy in the rear brace, we moved to a spot that had been producing real nice fish. Marc hit the brush pile perfectly. His drift was awesome with only a few minor adjustments. Tracy tossed his fly into the mix and flipped-in a mend. The fly settled and began to drift. Marc was tuned into his fly and got a great presentation for a real nice float. Tracy looked away for extremely long periods of time. Then the indicator took a slow dive. I said “Tracy”. No response. Then “Tracy". No response. TRAcy, TRACY, TRACY!!!” Eventually, and after great consideration, Tracy set the hook. The fish immdeiately went behind the boat on the first run. With a trip or two back and forth to both oar blades, Tracy began gaining control. The reel stayed on the seat this time and after a couple misses with the net, not my best effort on this one, Tracy got the head of the fish up. The net was moved under the fish and we had our second nice brown. After we took the hero shots and made sure this one was ready, we released the fish back into the area from which it came.

Tracy asked Marc “So, you want the back of the boat?” The banter never ends and that is one reason fishing with these two is so much fun.
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