A Learning Curve---Plus Jason Landing Rainbow

My phone alarm went off at 5 AM and I was up and ready by 5:45 for my next fishing class on the Caney Fork. That’s what my trips are like every time I wet a fly on this beautiful tailrace now. I arrived at 7:30 suited up and made my way to some new areas on the river that I’ve not fished before. As usual, the fog was present with no surface activity at all. With expectations of landing stocker trout again today, I decided I would use my 3 wt. 9 ft. Streamflex.    

Any of you guys think the brown is more of a fighter than the rainbow and brook?

How I wish I could get my grass in my front yard to look this green----a trout supermarket for sure.

I’m still trying to break the 14” mark here and so far those size trout have eluded me. Fishing the Caney is going to take much more work on my part to equal the success I had on the Sipsey in Jasper Alabama.

Thought I would share some images of my son Jason who lives in Sacramento fishing from his new Hobie Kayak. Fuller Lake north of Sacramento is one of the mountain lakes he fishes there.

 One of the colorful rainbow he landed for the afternoon fishing Lake Fuller!!

Fishing the Flats

I was back on the Caney again today fishing the flats that level out from the main channel. Some of these areas can be less than a foot and some areas can be knee-deep. I seldom wade in the water on the Caney anymore deeper than knee-deep. I don’t have to wade any deeper than that to land trout there. This tailrace is packed with stocker trout in the size range from 8 to 12 inches. Of course, there is the occasional 16” and above but most of the time the stocker trout is the main course. I’ll take the stocker trout all day on a 3 or 4 weight fly rod in the fast-moving water. If I’m lucky enough to connect with a bigger trout then I consider that a bonus. All I need to make my day a success on the Caney is outstanding scenery, crystal clear water, beautiful rainbow, browns, and brook trout to bend my fly rod and I’m happy. That’s what I encountered on my Caney outing today. 

Quality brown just over the 12” stocker size put up quite a fight just off a gravel flat in a fast run. This was my only trout to land on a near-perfect drift, “is there a perfect drift” for the morning. I landed a couple more rainbows at the end of the drift just letting the midge flutter in the ripples. No mistaking the take when the trout nail the fly on this type of presentation. Presentation and patience were the main elements for today's trip, in other words, the trout made me work for the takes.

It's really easy to wade here because most all the time you are wading on gravel beds, and occasionally submerged vegetation. The vegetation produces an abundance of food to support a healthy trout population.

Cathey and I have always been a collector of nice driftwood stumps and branches for landscaping, but I think this one is a little out of our range!!! I spent the morning roaming these flats enjoying another relaxing trip on my favorite southeastern tailrace.

P.S. I have found out that a 5-hour wade trip is about my limit here, the back starts to act up beyond that. There are no boulders to sit on here like the Sipsey but lots more trout, I will take the trout over the boulders!!!  

Camera "Malfunction" Fishing the Caney Friday

The title of this post pretty much sums up the mishap that occurred while landing lots of stocker size trout early Friday morning. In fact, today’s trip was my best this year for the trout count on the Caney-------but a minus count when it came to camera work.

 I dropped my camera in the water while trying to take a picture of one of the rainbows I landed. I knew it was gone when I couldn’t get it to turn back on, needless to say, I lost all the images of today’s trip.

 A short recount of the morning trip, arriving early at 6:30 and was met by lots of other fishermen and a super cloud of fog on the water. I started fishing with size 20 midge using an indicator in 2 to 3 ft. -depths. I got to touch a few rainbows, using the tiny fly, but as usual, I kept losing too many to continue fishing with it. So mid-morning I decided to go with 18 size midge. The 18 sizes proved to be my success ticket. I landed numbers of trout standing on a shallow sandbar and letting the midge drift into two seams, one to the left of the sandbar and the other flowing in at an angle; where the two deeper seams meet was the sweet spot. I know I landed at least a dozen trout in that one spot.
 I would land a few more browns and rainbows fishing small pockets closer to where my truck was parked before the generator forced me to leave. All the trout today was not anything larger than 12” but lots of fun to land using my 4 wt. 9 ft. Redington.

 So I’m looking for a new waterproof camera, any suggestions???