The Caney Fork. Saturday, November 24th 2007

I heard “David P. what’s up man?”……

”Not much, how was Thanksgiving?” I asked the voice on the other end of the phone. As we got into our conversation I realized that Dan, who is my shuttle guy, was outside. I was in Chattanooga for a couple days; it was 8:00 pm. in Chattanooga and 40 degrees. I knew the temperature in Buffalo Valley, where Dan was, would be somewhat lower and if Dan was outside the temp by the river would be even lower. I asked Dan what the heck was doing? He told me he was sitting outside with his neighbor and a friend…..by the fire. Apparently life is good when you live where you want to live, do what you want to do, when you want to do it, and Dan would know.

“How about a shuttle at 8:00 in the morning?” I asked.

“Only if I get to go.” He said

“I already have a full boat. Is that the river I hear in the background?” I was getting nervous

“OK I will see you at 8:00 and we need to fish” Dan said, as he let me off the hook…..it was a long distance release.

“You got that right we do need to fish, are you coming to Liars and Tiers on Tuesday night?”

“Yep, I hear we are havin chicken” He told me.

“Yep, see ya tomorrow”….

I met up with Mark Griffith and Anthony Williams of Murfreesboro the next morning. Mark had been fly fishing just one other time, but Anthony and I have fished all over Middle and East Tennessee. I am not good at math, or sometimes counting for that matter, but I’ve fished more times with Anthony than I have fingers and toes and always enjoy it. Anthony is easy going, but the best thing about Anthony today…he was bringing the burgers for the shore lunch! The shore lunch is quickly becoming one of the highlights of my trips. It is not a highlight because we cook such great food, but more because it is a time to get out of the boat, slow down a little more, count the rise rings and watch the river pass by as much as anything else.

Dan was there on time and we were on the water 45 minutes before the Army Corps was scheduled to stop the release. With-in the first 200 yards of no generation Mark was hooked up with a rainbow, which he long distance released with great precision. Little were we to know, although he would make a dramatic comeback later in the day, this was the last fish of a long dry spell for Mark.

We made it to the first bend in the river and Anthony hooked up with a very nice rainbow, which he fought for awhile. Two folks, who were fishing from a rock, guessed at its length several times before it ever came to the surface. How they had any idea the length, I don’t know, but they were close when they guessed 16”. This rock is also becoming a fixture of floats because there is almost always someone there with a spinning reel. In turn we almost always boat a fish within eyesight of that rock, which I am sure gives them great joy….

We stopped just after noon for burgers, chips and drinks. Anthony and Mark discussed their favorite vacation spots and bonfires. While they were entertained with that discussion, I counted rise rings, seven (7) all at the same time was the most I counted and it was just before a wind rippled up the water. I observed this from the comfort of my lawn chair by the stove. The river was falling out and our day was now crawling just like I had planned.

We got back in the boat and headed toward the halfway point of the trip. A little further downriver we picked up a brown trout that measured 15”. It was caught on a #16 BHPT, while the clouds became heavier and darker. A little later I begged the question, too myself, as well as the others. “Why would I leave my raingear in the truck?” It started to rain.

We passed the spot on the river where Anthony was broken off twice, on consecutive casts, by two large fish, earlier in the year. He wanted a second shot at either fish and as we passed over the spot he was quietly mending. We passed through the shoal twice, and picked up a couple, but apparently the bruisers were not around. It kept raining, the wind picked up and so did the wind knots.

A few minutes later Mark said “sometimes it just ain’t your day.” I love a good challenge and I re-rigged his rod with a fresh BHPT. We hit the first set of shoals on the home stretch where Mark picked up a 10” rainbow as well as his spirits. That fish prompted a discussion of Anthony’s week which consisted of fishing three rivers in as many days. We discussed the quality of the fish on the Caney this year and how we’ve had many good days on the river. It is getting late in the season and with the change in the weather I am searching for and beginning to tie more midge patterns for winter. This all leads to the shad kill in late winter/early spring, which brings on summer and it goes on and on….

I believe fish know when the discussion is getting deep and they use this gift to taste-test passing flies while they think no one is looking. This time Mark saw his indicator go under and hooked into a nice fish. He fought the fish as I discussed the fine art of reeling up excess line with a small arbor reel, while trying to untangle yourself and letting the fish run when it feels the need. During Mark’s fight with his fish, Anthony hooked a nice rainbow (the daily double was on), which we brought to the net. Anthony took the hook out of his rainbows sore lip and I helped Mark boat the largest brown he has caught, which measured 14”. (See 2nd photo)

We pulled into the ramp just after dark where we caught the last two plays of the Tennessee vs. Kentucky football game. Everything in the boat was locked down and we hung the rods in the truck. When we got on the interstate I called Dan.

“David P. what’s up man?”

“How about a shuttle Friday morning?” I asked.

“Only if I get to go.” He said

“I already have a full boat. Is that the river I hear in the background?” I was getting nervous

November 10th, 2007 The Upper Float on the Caney Fork

The day started off early, as usual, with a stop for the contents of a good shore lunch. Today, I would have two relative newcomers aboard. Rod Murphy and Mark Smith are in the Healthcare Industry and as with most folks who work hard they needed a day away from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. These two made the two hour trip from Chattanooga, TN. and we met at the ramp at 8:00 a.m... Getting to the river today was an experience within itself. UT was hosting Arkansas and with kick-off at 12:30 (EST) the traffic is better compared to holiday traffic on I-40. However, we all made it without incident and were on the water by 9:00. The weather was clear and sunny with a temperature of 65 degrees. What a great day for a float on the gin clear water of the Caney Fork.

We floated down to the end of the walk-in below the dam and anchored in the slack water. While I rigged rods, they solved most of the world’s problems. We were ready to start fishing as soon as the Army Corps closed the sluice gate and turned off the generator. The water went from 5100 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS) to Zero CFS and we pulled out into what was left of the current as the fish began to rise.

Neither of my guests had been on the water in a while and the fish were not fully awake. The water was still a little high and the Captain began charging the usual $2.00 as each fisherman missed their share of fish. The day was shaping up to be a good day.

When people get together from different backgrounds and different walks of life there is an opportunity to learn new jokes and steal some good quotes. The best quote came when we overheard two fishermen on the bank speaking something other than Southern. Rod said “Mark you know Karate what are they saying?” This was one of those quotes, probably better heard first hand, although certainly it is worth noting.

At lunchtime, Tennessee was in control of the football game and I am certain the traffic at the concession stands of Neyland Stadium were now much heavier than the traffic on I-40. The traffic on the river today was light, and fish were rising steadily to what appeared to be a size 30 midge. After lunch of Ritz Crackers & crab dip, chips and burgers, we were back in the boat to finish out the day of fishing.

Both brown trout and rainbow were present today. It is my understanding the browns were introduced to United States from Europe over 100 years ago. In my book, fall of the year is when the browns put on their best colors. Their overall golden brown color is only a compliment to their black and red spots. Their belly is close to the color of butter and when they strike, if one is lucky enough to see them strike, they still show the flash of silver that gets a fisherman’s heart pumping.

Mark was in the front of the boat as the sun began to set behind the ridges. By the time I saw the indicator move; Mark had seen the flash of silver and began to set the hook, and the fish on the end of the line was well on its way to putting a nice bend in the Sage rod. Mark played the fish like he fishes daily and with-in minutes we had netted and measured a 17” Brown Trout. (see photo)

We made it the ramp at Happy Hollow well after dark, put the boat on the trailer and stored all the rods. Rod and Mark headed back to Chattanooga with what seemed to be a satisfying day for them. The productive flies of the day were BHPT and Miracle Midges.

I am going to check the traffic on Saturdays before I head to the river during football season and I think I may learn how to speak Karate…Today was an excellent day for a float on the Caney Fork River.

The New Anchor 11/3/2007

Tuesday night at the monthly meeting for the Liars and Tiers…it was a night of good friends, a good show on Salmon fishing, great ribs, dry flies and the group bought me a new anchor. This anchor replaces the anchor I left on the bottom of the Watauga a year or so ago. Not only do I appreciate the anchor, but it gives me a credible reason to fish this weekend!

Up early Saturday morning, this is the last day of the year, before the fall time change. It is a little cool at thirty-four degrees, so I fixed some coffee and did the morning rituals. Guess I’m getting a little lazy in my old age because the boat is sitting the garage with stuff piled up on top of it. Once it’s hooked up to the truck I’m on my way to meet Dan the Shuttle Man for a day trip on the Caney Fork.

A quick stop by the local food store for hot dog buns and a fire log, and then I hit I-840 to meet Dan at Happy Hollow. Passing over the Caney bridges on I-40, the water looks as low as I’ve seen it all summer. For some reason when I get to Happy, Dan is a little surprised that I didn’t bring waders. I let him know I do not intend to get wet today. This is a decision Dan’s back will regret most of the morning. We move onto the ramp below the dam where we find a family of fisherman. The most interesting thing about the group is one of them is using a surfcasting rod to bottom fish for trout in the Caney. Note to self...if the fish are that big, I think we need a bigger boat.

My laziness is continued when I discover my rods aren’t rigged for the Caney, or anywhere else for that matter, because I haven’t even thought about them since the Tellico trip two weeks ago. As I rig the rods Dan is on the catch. He boats four or five before I get the first rod rigged. Two or three before I get the second rod rigged and another before I catch my first fish, which is a dink about three inches long. Dan-O is on fire with his midge. Through the narrows we see another fisherman, who is not having a lot of luck. The guy should be able to tell Dan is having a good day simply from his wide grin. I add a little fuel to the fire and let him know Dan has already landed over a half dozen. We get a bigger grin from Dan and he offers up the exact recipe for the fly he is catching all those fish on.

Through the first run and seven kayaks later it is Dan’s first opportunity to get out of the boat and……..pull it over the shoals. Like I said before “Low Water Today”. It’s my turn in the front of the boat and I promptly miss three or four fish while looking at a doe that is 50 feet down stream. Several more misses and then a couple hook ups. It is all coming back to me now. We fish down to the narrows Where Cows Walk on Water. This is where Dan has his second opportunity to exit the boat and pull it across the gravel bar. Remember, the water is low today.

We fish around the bend and the water release catches us, which means it’s time for lunch. We unload the boat on shore and start a fire as well as the grill for hot dogs, chips and an adult beverage. We put the new anchor through its paces with the rising water and it performs flawlessly. Following some good food, a warm fire and some deep discussion that you can only have with good friends by a campfire, we are back in the boat.

Past Lancaster and then the hook up with the first large fish of the day, it is a 16” rainbow (see the inset). Dan was obviously busy tying the “perfect surgeons knot” because it took him as long to tie the knot as it took me to land the fish. He did take the appropriate hero shots for me and only put his thumb over the lenses once (I’m kidding).

Anchor up….. another flawless performance by the anchor. We get the boat back into the current and another nice fish, this time a brown that measured 14”. We travel through the Crossover and it is almost uneventful other than a rainbow or two. We continue floating down the home stretch toward Happy and Dan continues his Catching Clinic. Through the Chute and we enter into stocker heaven. I get out the Thunderhead dry fly/midge dropper and promptly miss one fish, on the dry, that is less than a foot off the bank. Then another fish hits the dry and he is on his way to the boat with a Thunderhead in his mouth. This one is a brown that looks to be about 12” before I perform my near perfect sportsman’s release followed by the proper cuss words.

That ends it for me and Dan boats one more fish before we call it a day. The final tally for the day: a good number of fish, some good food, a warm fire and one sore back. Did I mention how low the water was?

Elk River Report July 29th, 2007

Mark and I left Murfreesboro just after 6:00 AM on Saturday. We dropped his vehicle at Ferris Creek then went up to the dam to launch the boat at 8:00 ish. The time was according to the watch I didn't have, so the time is somewhat fuzzy. We went passed the Bend Pool and hit the shute above the Scud Pool. Immediately we started picking up fish on BHPT, Dan-O-Magics and a bunny streamer. We caught several browns and rainbows through there and just below the shoals. We didn't spend a lot of time on this section of the river, because of the walk in access.

We passed the barn with Mark picking up other fish, also we missed a few. We found a section downstream of the barn and I picked up a few nice holdovers in the 11"-12" range, which are nice fish for the Elk. There is a long slow pool there, below some riffles, that holds a bunch of trout. I was back on the oars with Mark throwing to sunken logs, in foam lines and along shelves. He picked up a few more 11" - 12" rainbows through there.

We rowed a bit more and found a part of the river that will now be know, as Mark put it......."The Trophy Hole". There was already a Clacka anchored and fishing there, with a single fisherman from Chattanooga. The fisherman's name was Shane and he pointed out what appeared to be several 12"-16" rainbows, as well as a behemoth that looked to be well past the 12"-16" range. The behemoth was cruising the hole but was not eating at that time. After a nice conversation we moved downstream picking up several more fish and losing our share also.

My memories of the Elk have been river banks lined with river gravel, however now the Elk's banks are growing over with weeds. Apparently this years drought is limiting TVA's water release schedule and allowing the weeds to grow where they have not had opportunities to grow in previous years. The water was flowing at 170 CFS, which is a very good flow for drifting. Hopefully future generation will clean the banks and return the gravel bars to what they were before this year.

At 4:00 PM (again by the watch I didn't have) we finally rowed up to a bare gravel bar and our first opportunity to get out to fix our shore lunch/dinner. We set up on the gravel bar and fired up the Weber Grill. Mark had marinated chicken for approximately 24 hours and brought along some strawberries, which went well with our chips and drink. It was an excellent meal and made even better by our location. (see the attached photo).

We finished out the day picking up and missing a few more fish, before the torrential downpour came at Ferris Creek, while Mark was gone to get the truck. It was dark-thirty before we pulled out of the river access to head for home.

We saw a few canoes, another drift boat and even a three man raft. But, once we passed the barn the fishing pressure for the most part was non-existent. Very little fishing pressure is a good thing especially for such a nice Saturday in Middle Tennessee.

It was a long day of fishing and rowing, but a very nice float and a nice change of scenery. I got home about 10:30 PM. It looks like I may do one or two more floats down there this year. The fall would be a good time to float the Elk considering the scenery and even lighter fishing pressure at that time of year.

The "Big Girl and the Rainbow"

“The remnants of Tropical Storm Tammy are producing heavy rainfall over Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. The rain will continue throughout tonight and into the early part of the morning for much of the area. Flooding is possible in….” the Weather Channel Girl’s voice faded as I woke Friday morning and tried to clear the cobwebs from my head. I need a cup of coffee I thought to myself. Wait I don’t drink coffee, but if I did I would need a cup to jump start the last full day of our family vacation in the Smokey Mountains.

All week we’ve vacationed in Gatlinburg and experienced most of the tourist traps that any good “Touron” could be expected to experience in only a week. We received directions from the twenty four hour “Touron Channel”. People tune into the Touron Channel when there is nothing to watch on the sixty available channels of cable TV. We’ve watched the Touron Channel a lot this week.

When we lived in Knoxville my neighbor and I made fun of the Touron’s that clogged the roadways, hotels and walked the streets of Gatlinburg. Now I find myself doing those same things except we found a cabin in the woods, with a nice view of a man made pond, instead of a hotel, and we remember the back ways into town. I guess that still makes me somewhat of a local, although I can’t complain how much things have changed there, because the only time I spent in Gatlinburg was passing through the narrow streets to fish the streams of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

My focus is back to the TV where elevator music has replaced the verbal predictions of the weather channel girl and the five day forecast is showing for Knoxville. Today, seventy five degrees and raining, also the picture has a lightning bolt through the block for Friday. Saturday half the block is rain and the other half of the block shows clouds. The temperature for Saturday shows us a cool sixty two degrees. Good, a cold front is coming tomorrow, so today should be a good day to fish or today could be a bad day to fish. I try to remember which one it is supposed to be. The moon phase figures into it somehow, or did I read that on the Internet message board? I think to the day ahead.

Today my daughter and I are supposed to go fly fishing for trout in the mountains. I can't wait for her to catch a trout on a fly rod before we head back home and I jump on a plane for a week long meeting in Chicago.

It’s pouring rain now. I ask her if she still wants to go trout fishing. “Yes. We need stop and buy me a new fishing pole, because my fishing pole is for little girls and I am almost seven. Daddy, girls who are almost seven do not fish with little girl fishing poles. So, I need a big girl fishing pole. I will get dressed” She says and moves toward the stairs. I tell her I brought her fly rod, which is a “big girl fly rod” as she disappears downstairs.

As far as I am concerned a fly rod is different than a fishing pole. To her it doesn’t matter, she just doesn’t want to be seen with a pink fishing pole that has a cartoon character printed on the reel. She comes back into the living room wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon character printed across the front. I realize it is the same cartoon character that is printed on the reel of her now old fishing pole. This would be the same fishing pole she was just talking about replacing. I am not sure of the differences between a cartoon character printed on a t-shirt and a cartoon character printed on the pole, but I am sure we paid too much for both of them. It all seems complicated to me. But, a “big girl” who is almost seven is a complicated thing. I need some fresh air from the mountains.

The rain is letting up so we jump in the truck and head down the ridge toward the local fly shop. When we stop at the first light I ask her if she is excited about trying to catch a trout. “I am excited, but what if I get wet?” she asks me.

“We will buy a poncho for you so you don’t get wet. We need to pick up a couple more flies to replace the flies I lost while I was fishing alone up in the mountains earlier in the week” I tell her. She nods her approval.

I don’t mention the fact that she has on flip flops so wet feet are a given, she is almost seven and I know she will figure it out on her own. I just want to find a poncho that covers her entire body, so Mom doesn’t get mad at me for bringing a soaking wet child back to the cabin.

We pull up to the local fly shop in Gatlinburg. She says “I want to fish where the big girls fish, not where a little girl would fish”.

We walk into the fly shop, the gentleman behind the counter smiles and asks if he can help us. I explain we need a couple of #12 Thunderheads and directions to a fishing hole where a big girl, who is almost seven can catch a trout. He says he has a map for us that would lead us directly to a very likely spot where a big girl could catch a trout. The flies are right back there in wooden cabinets". I head toward the cabinets of flies and she moves toward the fly rods that are laying length ways in nice wooden displays. Just as I select the proper Thunderheads she decides on a fly rod.

“Daddy, I believe this is the one I need”. She says. I know better than to ask, but sometimes it is interesting to find out what her thought process is on the selection of an item. As I walk toward the display of fine rods I ask, “why that one”?

“Oh it is so pretty and look at the brown handle, see the little cracks and holes in the soft spongy stuff here on the big end.......that is the one I need” She explains.

“It doesn’t have a cartoon character on it, oh and by the way do you have $695.00”? I ask

She puts her hands on her hips and looks at me out of the corner of her eye. I make a mental note to discuss her current posture with my wife. She tries to pout as I grab two ponchos as we head for the counter.

The man behind the counter has the Gatlinburg Trout Fishing brochure in hand when we get there. He shows me the “hot spots” that are stocked on a regular basis. Then looks at her flip flops and says Mynatt Park has the “best” access. He explains that the city stocks trout every Thursday and sometimes they stock some large fish for the kids. I pay him for the flies and ponchos and thank him for the information. She takes one last look back toward the fine rods on display and we head out into the rain toward the waiting truck.

We drive up the main street through the Gatlinburg traffic. People walking in the rain, riding trolleys and in the bumper to bumper traffic. We turn left onto a side street and head up to Airport Road. I wonder if there is an airport up there somewhere or was the name of the road just a Snipe Hunters cruel joke.

We arrive at the secret fishing hole and we are the only people there. The rain was coming down in sheets and sideways. We put on our ponchos, which were really clearish green extra large garbage/leaf bags with a hood.

We walk along the creek until we see a nice 11" rainbow relaxing at the back of a pool. We climbed down the rocks and get her into position to catch the trout. She expertly, if I do say so myself, cast that Elk Hair Caddis just above the fish and let it swing down in the current. The rainbow bolted from his position, took a slag at the fly and missed it. After several more passes over the fish we change flies to a Tellico Nymph. Again the trout tried his best to eat the fly but each time she pulled it from his mouth before he could get a firm grip.

I decided we needed to change positions and let the fly swing directly thought the pool and into the feeding lane. We moved, don't forget the rocks were wet and slick. Imagine trying to get an "almost seven year old" who is wearing blue flip flops, to move 10 yards up stream in the pouring rain. After two falls and one tearful “I want to go back to the cabin" we were above the pool and just in time I might add.

I took off the Tellico and tied up a “Huber Gnat". When I got the Huber Gnat all tied up she points into the run above the pool and says “Daddy look at that leaf". That was no leaf, but there it was, a rather large trout fanning in the run. I told her to cast into the run and we would try to catch the bigger fish instead. I thought this was a great plan and I was showing my hunter/gatherer instinct. She didn’t notice. After convincing her I wouldn't kill the fish if she did catch it, she cast over the fish, under the fish, beside the fish, on the other side of the fish. FINALLY she cast that Huber Gnat above the fish and trout moved from its feeding position and grabbed the fly. She wanted to hand me the rod but I made her fight the fish and get him on the reel. After a couple of minutes she brought the line to me and I grabbed the fish by the belly. This was one time I wished I hadn't left the net at home. I picked up the fish, a fat….healthy rainbow. We took a couple of pictures, none of which she would get close to the fish. Also, none of which developed as anything other than a white blur after we got home. I did cut the fly line at the tip of the fish’s tail to measure the length later.

I tied up another Elk Hair Caddis and asked if she wanted to go downstream a little further and try for another fish.. She said "no that's OK I caught a fish. So we can go back to the cabin and see what Momma's doing". I wanted to fish the rest of the day, but I knew 2 more minutes would be out of the question, much less the rest of the day.

When we got back home today I took the line out and measured it. From the Huber Gnat to the end of the cut tippet, which is the length of the her first rainbow, the measurement is just over 16". The Huber Gnat and tippet will go into a scrapbook. My daughter fished 30 minutes to catch a fish that some people fish all year to catch. This was pure quality time.

Fishing Alone. Saturday, April, 14th, 2007

Spent Saturday on the Caney Fork River. With turkey season, family obligations and some friends under the weather I ended up fishing alone on Saturday.

Shuttle Dan gave me a lift to the dam and I launched the boat about 8:30. It was a nice float down to the first stretch of the river and the first stop was the bluffs where I picked 5 "little" brown trout on a black Bead Head Pheasant Tail (BHPT) fly. Then moved onto the bend where Cows Walk on Water. The first of several rainbows were caught there on the same black BHPT and then I turned the corner to start toward Lancaster.

The rain came!! So, I did some manual bailing of the boat and pulled out the streamers. I had a few looks on shallow running streamers when the water hit. As soon as the water hit I started picking up fish, all rainbows and nothing under 12"s (no fish tails here and the fish are

still fat from the shad a few weeks back......it was good!). The water got a little high and the anchor rope got a little short so I moved down river with the flow. Floating past Lancaster there was a guy that practically ran to a mud puddle where he picked up about a 14" - 16" rainbow and started shout "white" which I am assuming means he caught it on a white streamer.

The rain was torrential for about 30 minutes, followed by more manual bailing of the boat. I stopped at my favorite bend and fished there for about an hour or so. That is where a nice brown trout responded to a Raider Clouser (a black and silver Clouser). With high water and larger fish I saw the backing on the 5 weight twice yesterday, which is a welcome change. I picked up several more rainbows there and moved down to my new favorite stretch of water on the crossover. I tried several different colors of Clousers http://www.clouserflyfishing.com with none really working better than the others, however all color combinations produced at least one fish.

It started getting late so I cruised on into Happy Hollow, put the boat up and changed into

dry clothes. Then drove home in another torrential downpour. The weather guessers did good with their 90% chance of rain prediction.

Did I mention it rained Saturday!

"Wildlife", Streamers and Family Day on Friday, April 6th, 2007

My bride, my 8 year old daughter and I hit the Caney Fork just as they began a 1 hr pulse and caught the rising water today. We were on the water about 30 minutes when we had our first strike and.........a miss.

I told the girls they would see some wildlife, because 'we always do', Sure enough we did and it went like this......there were four guys fishing and one guy who had obviously fallen in. He was stripped down to his drawers and drying out his pants and shirt, which was a 'wild' thing to see in 40 degree weather. After I covered my daughter's (and wife's) eyes we were finally out of sight of the 'wildlife'.

About 10 minutes later we anchored to a shoal and my daughter caught a few fish on a streamer. We had a fish on that broke the 3x leader. I lost an entire box of freshly tied streamers somewhere today and had to dig down deep in the boat for another. I found a shrimp pattern and tied it on. We moved down about a quarter of a mile and she caught a few more on the shrimp pattern. I dug through the boat some more and found a poorly tied (by me) streamer wannabe. We floated through Lancaster without a bite, then I hooked up with a nice FAT 14'er. At a deep pool my daughter caught several more fish before we called it a day and headed for the takeout. It was a great day that ended at the local Mexican joint and some chips, a beer and Margarita's. Our daughter had sweet tea ;^}

Streamers were the fly of the day, we caught (0) zero on nymphs. According to my automatic fish counter (my 8 year old) we caught 11 fish, all on streamers. It was a great day.