A High Water Grand Slam- May 17th, 2008

I took my brother-in-law Mark for a day on the CaneyFork. It was a planned trip that was called off and then at the last minute we decided to call it “back on”. We were on the water at 7:15 a.m. and started the float on a one generator release of 3400 CFS. We stopped at the usual wide spot so Mark could pick up his first fish of the day. We always stop at the same wide spot in the river and every time Mark goes he picks up a fish there. Today was a little different. While I was chatting with a couple of guys fishing on the bank, Mark picked up a couple 14” rainbows. It was time for him to sit behind the oars, while I caught up. We boated several more rainbows before we made it to the curve where cows walk on water. We picked up a couple more there.

Then we turned the corner and drifted off toward Lancaster. I told Mark we were coming up on the usual lunch spot and he cast right at it. His rod gave a big bend and the fight was on. Before it was over the fish had run us a couple hundred yards downstream when he got into the current. Mark boated a nice, healthy 17 & ½” rainbow. Mark got to sit down again…

We were downstream of Lancaster when we caught a brook trout fresh from the TWRA rearing pool at Dale Hollow, which measured 11”. This was our first brook trout for the year and it was a nice looking fish. The brook also completed the Caney Fork Grand Slam, which today included a couple of acrobatic shad, as well as the usual trout trifecta. Hopefully the TWRA will continue their stocking of the brook trout; because it is my understanding they grow pretty quick, as long as they can outrun the larger browns, rainbows, stripers and stringers.

We noticed after lunch the water seemed to pick up a little and when we were in the Chute it was rolling pretty good. We picked up a couple more nice bows and browns down the home stretch. When we made it to the ramp at Happy Hollow there were several boats waiting to take out. It wasn’t a traffic jamb, but it isn’t Memorial Day weekend….yet.

Dan’s dog Maggie was greeting everyone at the ramp and checking each boat for unused sandwiches and general doggy treats. She wasn’t disappointed with our boat. When I stopped by Dan’s house on the way out Maggie was back home and sunning herself on the back porch, while we sat watching the river and talking about past fishing days.

The fish were a little more cooperative in the morning than in the afternoon hours. I suspect with the high sun, high water and boat traffic, some fish decided to lie down until the pressure let up.

It was a good day and we were able to get a few hero shots to prove we did make it out to the water. The hero shots went well with our sore elbows and low back pain from casting streamers all day.

Calvary Outfitters and The Elk River

I went along with the guys from Calvary Outfitters http://www.cbcol.net/page.cfm/747 for their first outing as a group. My job was to work the net and help wherever needed. I was truly amazed at how quickly these guys picked up on fly fishing. All together we took eight people. We had six fishing or should I say 6 anglers catching. Two guys who fish regularly. The others were; one newbie who I believe just bought his stuff the night before, two just starting and one just starting back after a long absence.

Mark Joines, who fishes regularly on the Elk, was kind enough to assist Anthony Williams and myself with guiding this group. Mark practiced his guiding skills and was able to bring a few fish to hand before the day was complete.

We put the group on Black Zebras, Dan-O-Magic’s, and a sparse BHPT pattern. We topped those patterns off with a soft hackle, which was big and bulky. All the patterns produced fish for the guys.

The group caught over thirty fish for approximately four hours of fishing. Most of the fish the guys caught were the standard issue rainbows, however while I was fishing with Blake, who was one of the last off the water, we spotted a couple of bigger fish feeding, which was encouraging.

TVA has been “spilling” the dam at 100 CFS for the past couple weeks. The water level was slightly down and there was a little more algae than usual for this time of the year. The river could use a cold water flushing for a few consecutive hours and with the rain in the forecast we hope TVA will be able to turn loose of some water.

This group of fly fishermen has been meeting once a month since about October at Calvary Baptist Church www.cbcol.net in Murfreesboro, TN. They are a very enthusiastic and seem to enjoy each others company. Their enthusiasm was infectious on Saturday and a couple of them asked my favorite question: “it isn’t time to leave the river yet…….is it?”

Holston River May 2nd- May 5th, 2008

We took a few days off from work and play to fish the Holston River in East Tennessee. This year our annual trip consisted of four people, two boats and one very technical river. We decided to camp at Panther Creek State Park, which was a little bit of a drive, but as with most TN State Parks it was kept in very good condition. The drive quickly became secondary.

Friday evening was spent scouting the ramps and looking for additional access to the river. After spending some time in the water and chasing a few rainbows and a carp, the group stopped at Breeding’s Restaurant in Blaine, TN for a cheeseburger. Then back to Panther Creek to plan Saturday’s float and listen to the coyotes throughout the night.

Every good day of fishing starts with breakfast of a sausage biscuit and coffee. We found the local Mc Donalds and loaded up for our morning meal on the road.

Dropping off the boats at the ramp at the Indian Cave access was somewhat exciting. Backing down the long, two rutted ramp was a challenge, but with fishing ahead the ramp was easily put behind us. On the water and with the ramp still in sight we began picking up fish on Zebra Midges.

We ran into local guide Tim Doyle www.smokymountainfly.com who offered up sound advice on how to navigate the shoals and falls in the river. As we floated the river Tim’s advice was taken into account and helped us to get through the rivers many challenging obstacles as well as preparing us for the long flat water ahead.

Thanks to Anthony Williams we can bring you this photo of a couple of us “middle aged daredevils” navigating the second set of falls. Although they are not Class II the falls did offer an adrenaline rush that we don’t get in Middle Tennessee.

We did not experience the spectacular Caddis hatch, the Holston has become known for over the past years, we did see Caddis as well as Sulphers come off the water throughout the weekend. We picked up fish both days on Zebra Midges, Stimulators, Hares Ears, and Partridge & Orange soft hackles. The most productive fly for my boat over the weekend was a #10 Bead Head Pheasant Tail.

According to several local guides the Holston is becoming a much better tailwater than in years past. The trout are healthy and with the opportunity to catch a smallmouth I would recommend stopping by for a shot. Overall the trip was a nice relaxing weekend which tested everyone’s boat handling and angling skills. Now the only question left unresolved is….where do we go in the fall?

Mid-Week Elk River Trip 4/3/2008

On Monday, March 31^st, I went with Mark Roberts to meet Paul from Hyde Drift Boats. Paul was delivering Mark’s Hyde Skiff. After several minutes of conversation we left Paul who was back on the road to Idaho Falls and his home. The conversation between Mark and I continued over lunch and evolved into the maiden voyage of his new skiff. We decided to take off Wednesday and break the boat in on the Elk River.

Wednesday, April 2^nd, 2008- I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and began getting ready for a long day fishing the Elk. The trip is approximately nine river miles which includes some deep holes, small riffles and a lot of slow moving water. I made a quick stop for gas and coffee, then met Mark at the usual rendezvous point. We were on the road toward Tullahoma by 5:45 a.m.

We dumped the boat at the dam and I went to meet Rhonda from Tim’s Flies and Lies www.timsfliesandlies.com for the shuttle. Rhonda and Tim Page run a local fly shop which has a nice selection of fly fishing and fly tying materials, on the square in Lynchburg, TN.

When we got back to the dam Mark was making adjustments on the boats oars. After a few minutes getting things where he wanted them we were off. We had the first fish in the boat by the first dogleg in the river. Before lunch we had several fish including the largest fish I have seen caught from the Elk the river. We won’t be showing the picture of the fish Mark caught here, but this fish is certainly a trophy brown trout.

At lunch time, Mark prepared grilled Chipotle Steelhead with black beans while I did some phone business. Lunch was topped off with a cigar by the river and then we were back in the boat.
The final half of the day is when the water began to pick up more of the brown run-off from the rain earlier in the week. As we passed each feeder creek the water began to darken more and more. We did pick up a few more fish, but the catching was a little patchy. We made it to the take out and were off the water by 7:00 p.m.

Although this trip makes for a very long day the scenery on the Elk is something to mention. There are hills, small waterfalls and people have described some stretches as western type rivers.

This was Mark’s day and a day he had been waiting on for several years. With a new boat and a trophy brown he was on cloud nine. We reviewed the events of the day several times on the hour drive back to the usual rendezvous point.

Elk River, Saturday March 29th, 2008

The forecast on Saturday called for rain and approximately 60 degrees. I met Jim Allen from Ohio and we discussed lunch. Because the float at the Elk takes all the light of day, this time of year, we settled for lunch of bologna and pimento cheese. Jim told me he had never had pimento cheese. A person with a passion for fly fishing needs to appreciate the finer points of pimento cheese like the pimentos; the mayo, the different cheeses, the list goes on and on. Besides pimento cheese is one of the necessities of a quality float trip as well as quality southern living.

We arrived at the river at 8:00 a.m. and headed out among moderate fishing pressure on the upper part of the river. Before we got to the bend pool we had removed the skunk with a brown on a Tutto. At the bend pool we boated the second fish with light rain coming down. We headed down river and brought out the streamers. Immediately Jim was open for business with several strikes and some misses to keep him honest. We stopped at my favorite run and pulled out a black Bugger. This fly caught the fish quality brown of the day. I tied on a U-Tube Streamer and on one cast we had a brown hit the U-Tube, come up out of the water and then come back for a second shot. The fish missed the point of the hook, but it was an exciting thing to witness.

Further down the river the rain became heavier, the thunder became louder and the lightning became brighter. We pulled over and anchored up to wait out the storm. After the storm passed we moved down to a nice long pool which produced a healthy rainbow. We parked at a run where Jim caught another nice rainbow on a Tutto with a miracle Midge dropper. The water was becoming a little more clouded due to the creeks after the rains.

Lunch time we downed a couple sandwiches with pimento cheese, added some chips and then we moved into the middle portion of the river. We boated two of the nicest fish of the day within 100 yards of each other. The first was caught on the U-Tube and the second was on the BHPT.

As the light began to dwindle we headed for the ramp at Ferris Creek Bridge. We had to wait out one more thunderstorm on the way out and it was almost dark when we arrived at Ferris Creek. We were packed up and off the water by about 8:00 p.m.

The Elk is in good shape. The light pressure down stream is giving fish a chance to recover from the drought last year and a chance to grow a little more. The middle portion of the river is still a great place to spend a large part of the day, but an angler needs to keep an eye toward the sun and not get caught upstream after dark. If you get caught on the river after dark make sure you have some of these to curb that appetite.

The Elk River- Scouting Report

Today Anthony Williams from Calvary Outfitters took me out for our second scouting trip of the year to the Elk River. I plan on doing some trips down there this year and wanted to try out a few patterns as well as to take a look at some of the better spots we’ve found over the last 6 years.

When we arrived at the river we were surprised at the lack of people on the river. There were exactly….no people within eyesight and only one vehicle in the parking lot. As we were suiting up a gentleman from North Carolina and his daughter arrived. He was teaching her to fly fish and I can’t think of a better river to teach the mechanics of fly fishing than the upper portion of the Elk. We exchanged pleasantries and while they went back to their car to get suited up, we backed the canoe into the water.

As I said before this was more of a scouting trip, so my job was to sit in the front of the canoe, look for fish and watch the bobicator. The usual suspects were in the usual holes along the river and before we arrived at the bend pool we had a couple strikes. A quick stop in the bend pool and we picked up a couple rainbows on the Tutto. Moving downstream from there we were under crystal clear skies and on crystal clear water. The river is in very good shape particularly when we consider last years summer drought.

I have a favorite run on the the upper portion of the Elk. This run produces fish most every time and Saturday was no exception. The run yielded two very nice holdover browns with outstanding color on a small Clouser. Then I moved onto a long run and caught another brown. This opportunistic brown was a little larger, but the color was more memorable than its size. The fish had the butter color belly and golden sides. The spots were vivid black with bright red mixed among them, but the most distinct features were the white at the tips of the fins. This fish was in great shape.

While Anthony fished downstream, I took a lunch break and sat down next to the water. Between bites I turned over a few rocks and found………..sow bugs. The largest sow bug I found was approximately a #18, which explains why the Tutto worked out so well. Anthony continued working a run and came up with a nice rainbow of his own on a Clouser.

We did see some younger folks turn over a canoe, which yielded some colorful language and shouts of “this water is cold, this water is cold” and “this water is cold!”. After that we fished downstream a little longer and then decided to call it a day.

Anthony’s canoe gets a lot of attention while it is on the river. There were some long looks on the way back to the ramp and several people stopped to discuss the distinct lines of his River Ridge Custom Canoe.

My seat in front of the canoe, over the past couple weeks, revealed there are not as many fish in the upper river as in previous springs. However, it is still a little early for the TWRA to stock the upper part of the river to its normal capacity. Down river the fish seem to be as plentiful as previous years. The holes further downstream should hold the bigger fish that we know are there just waiting to be caught.

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

I was up early Saturday morning cooking baked potatoes for the trip. I was out the door and onto McDonalds for coffee with a pile of streamers in my hand that I tied the night before.

I met Anthony Williams who is a co-founder of Calvary Outfitters http://www.cbcol.net/page.cfm/747 and Chris Robinson who is a regular attendee at the monthly meetings. Anthony and Chris live in Murfreesboro, TN, Anthony is a regular on the boat, but this was Chris’ first time on the boat as well as his first time fishing with a fly rod. Anthony had set up our trip by telling Chris “the weather looks good for Saturday”.

We were on the Caney Fork about 8:30 a.m., The Army Corps was cranking one generator and the snow was coming down sideways. Yes, Chris did mention Anthony’s statement of “the weather looks good for Saturday”. I’ve been out in worse weather, but Chris was a newbie……at that time in the float anyway, and had yet to experience a truly bad weather day.

For the first few minutes we worked with Chris’ timing, but it did not take long for him to get into a rhythm. Within 15 minutes Chris caught his first trout, had the hero shot and was casting for another. Before we left our first stop Chris had 5 fish including a brown.

Anthony was trying several different streamer combinations, fielding weather questions from Chris, while catching his share of fish.

We were off to pound the banks. We watched fish after fish come up from the deep to chase, examine and even hit the streamers. There is nothing like seeing a trout chase a streamer, take a shot at it, miss and come back for two and sometimes three more takes.

Before lunch we ended up back on Clousers, similar to what we fished this time last year. We started picking up larger fish as we hit the better lies in the river. Anthony caught a large bow and a nice brown when we stopped at one of the better lies in the river.

Then……we had lunch, which consisted of:

Ritz Crackers and Crab Dip
Chicken Sandwiches
Baked Potatoes
Fruit Salad
Soft Drinks
and a warm fire.

Since it was my “lunch break” I took a few minutes to fish. Chris came down to join me and landed the biggest bow of the day, while I managed the net. After lunch the water began to go down and we began our float out. We lost a nice fish a few miles down from the dam , but before we made it to the ramp we had a nice double of two 16” bows.

It did stop snowing, but the weather never really did warm up. We pulled into the ramp just about dark, we were off the river and on the road just after the sun went down. On the way home we stopped by McDonalds for one more cup of coffee, which ended the day much like it started.

February 2nd, 2008

The day started early watching the Weather Channel and getting flies ready for a float with Brent Fuller and Mark Smith from Chattanooga Tennessee. During the stop for gas, coffee and an apple pie my phone rings. I look at the clock and it is 5:30 a.m. Mark is on the line and they are at the ramp…one hour early. They have the bug bad, which is evident from a couple of things. One, it’s dark at 5:30 and two; it’s less than 30 degrees. But, having “it” bad is not always a bad thing.

I strung up the streamer rods and put one in each of their hands. With one generator running we began pounding the banks for opportunistic browns who want to attack unsuspecting bait fish. Brent and Mark have spend more time nymphing than anything else and on this day they received a crash course in Streamer 101. I would rate their grade an A considering they didn’t know what I was going to get them into.

Brent was the first to hook up and soon had what he said was the biggest brown he had ever caught. Mark wasn’t too far behind catching browns. We fished down the river and Mark’s Wooley Bugger found a tree limb sticking out over the water. He finally shook it loose and we floated on. Mark missed several fish against the bank in an extremely good stretch of flat water. After a quick inspection of the Wooley Bugger we found the point was missing. So we stopped and changed flies and fished a run above Lancaster where we picked up a couple more nice browns. Brent caught another brown, which was larger than his previous record.

Below Lancaster we stopped while Mark picked up a few by swinging a midge pattern through some swifter water. I re-rigged the rods and we floated into the middle of a real life Caney Fork traffic jamb. We picked our way through the boats and people and stopped at Camp Crossover for a good shore lunch of burgers, chips and drinks. Anthony Williams made a drink delivery in his canoe to help quench our thirst and to join us for a burger.

The water had pretty much fallen out after lunch, so we tried a couple different nymph and midge patterns. These patterns did not reveal huge results, so we got back on streamers and picked up a couple more browns.

Overall it was a pleasant day. Brent and Mark were fun to fish with and their excitement was notable. Thanks to Anthony for stopping by with the drinks and snapping a couple photos as well.

When in Doubt....Throw the Meat..January 26th, 2008 ...

I reviewed a Department of Biology, Tennessee Technical University study which states “there is no evidence that brown trout reproduce in the Caney Fork River”. This may be true, but if this is true the brown trout, that are stocked in the Caney by the TWRA, are doing relatively well by anyone’s standards.

I floated Saturday with Anthony Williams and Mark Roberts of Murfreesboro. We launched below the dam on a cool and cloudy morning and after a few pulls on the oars we were hooking up with several brown trout on streamers. Once someone gets a taste of browns on streamers it is difficult to sway them back into any other type of fly fishing. The strike is as exciting as anything in fly fishing and the reward can equal quality fish. Some days, like Saturday, these rewards came early and often.

We fished everything from sleek Clousers to big bushy bunny strip flies. Down river, Mark decided to change flies and selected a big bunny strip. Anthony and I could tell by the jumbo jet sound the fly made, when it came by our ear that this fly was meant to drum up the big fish. Several healthy browns had been boated, but Mark was in search of big game. Twice the fly was flashed by big fish. The bunny strip didn’t let us down and the big fish of the day, a rainbow, came from the deepest part of the river. The fish hit (fishing term: Hit- "tried to kill") Mark’s fly and won a chance to have its photo on the internet.

After the shore lunch of juicy hamburgers we got back into the boat and onto the river. We struck out for a while, just watching fish chase the streamers back to the boat and refuse at the last second. Seeing the chase is part of the fun, but seeing the take is the Cool Whip on the Key Lime pie, and toward the end of the float we rallied catching a couple more browns before the take out.

Despite a misstep in the forecast by the weather guessers, overall it was a very good day.

Planes, Trains and the “Tutto”

Friday (the last day of November, 2007) found me on the water with Jim Allen of Johnstown, Ohio and Barry Huber of Murfreesboro, TN. The temperature was 24 degrees when we launched from below the the dam on extremely low water then began fishing just a short while later.

Barry was the first to hook a fish, which was a rainbow that put up a good fight. The low air temperature seemed to give the rainbow extra spunk. We all know fish are weather-smart; and this rainbow looked as if it recognized we were moving a little slow due to the crisp air. But, Barry got the fish to the net which removed the skunk early.

The Army Corp released one generator of water at 8:00 a.m. as well as a sluice for good measure. With 5100 CFS of water the drift picked up speed in no time. We floated to Where Cows Walk on Water. There we found some slack water, structure, and a lively discussion concerning Rodney Carrington songs.

We moved downstream, continuing the discussion along with our search for rising fish. Rising fish were few and far between. I like to say “with that much water coming downstream they were probably just dodging moss and trying not to drown”. We also discussed the train tracks that run along beside one part of the river. We talked about how the tracks are hovering up on a ledge, moreover how I had never seen a train along those tracks.

It was cold in addition to our hunger so we stopped for lunch of burgers & chips. We also enjoyed a nice camp fire that without Dan’s Shuttle and Wood Service we would not have been able to enjoy. We had one taker on a streamer just before lunch was ready, but the fish didn’t hang around and was long distance released soon after the hook-up. During our stop the water began to fall out to a more fish friendly level. Shortly, after that we heard a rumble, then a train came along the edge of the bluff. (See photo). The noise was loud but not deafening and the fish didn’t seem all that bothered by the extra activity.

After the break for lunch we floated through one of my favorite stretches of river. It was still a little slow, but fish were rising. We pulled out a Sage rod and the fly of the day. The origins of this fly come from many long hours at the bench and lots of thought or as Barry found out from continued discussion, I tied this fly with everything that just happened to be lying on the bench one evening. We will call it a “Tutto” which is Italian for “Everything”. Catchy name huh…

The quote of the day came from Jim and soon after the third fish on the Tutto. “If I wasn’t such a nice guy I would be really mad at you”. Shortly after that, Jim was holding the Sage, a Tutto, plus his first rainbow of the day.

We found a good quality shoal that was holding a fair number of likely suspects. Barry and Jim took turns with the Sage/Tutto combo catching fish as we passed over the shoal a few times. On the second pass Barry and Jim both caught nice healthy browns as well as several rainbows.

The sun was going down and Jim had a plane to catch back to Ohio, so we headed to the ramp calling it a day. Overall we probably boated a couple dozen fish. For the most part we caught them on a Tutto, but we did have some success with other flies. Most of our luck came late in the day, on low water, that was similar to the water we started on early in the morning.