Caney Fork and Elk River Reports

Revived and Waiting for Release

 Elk River- The Elk continues to fish well for us. The hatchery has released some fish, but there are less hatchery brats than usual at this time, because they missed the first stocking of the year. All that said there are still some fish at the access points. If you see the small browns rising, try running a soft hackle in front of their face or try a Stealth Bomber because they cannot resist this fly. The holdovers are still in the river, but it takes patience and it helps to know where they are located. Nymphs fished deep will bring these fish to hand. 

Stealth Bombers and Stocker Browns

The water temps continue to be good on the Elk even with the low flows of 100 CFS. The river could use a good round of generation to clean the slime off the rocks, but it is difficult for TVA to turn loose of water with the lake level at 882 feet. If you don't have a boat, be careful wading because every step sends a plume of algae and scum downstream.

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The Caney Fork- The river is a bit stingy right now. The holdovers are there, well some of the holdovers are there, but it appears the constant generation over the Winter took it's toll on the slot rainbows and smaller fish. One of the results is the shoals that get a lot of pressure are not producing like a normal year. There are some fish in the deeper pools, if you can get in there between the watercraft that are on the river. The temps are a bit higher on the Caney and the US Army Corps says the lake could run out of cold water. The Army Corps hasn't done their best this year with water management, considering the drought was predicted months ago. But, sometimes anglers just have to take what they can get and  get on with figuring out the fish that are in the river and that is what we are doing. 
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As for the hatches, the low water is producing some better hatches. The caddis are out in numbers in the afternoons as are several other types of mayflies. Nymphs have been working, as have the hopper/droppers.  The fish are not necessarily keyed into dries, however late in the evening there have been some takes on the dry fly game. It doesn't matter which fly you use, fish to rising fish and make sure to rest them every so often to get all you can out of a pod.

Holdover Rainbows