Caney!!!

Now that I'm blessed with tailwaters full of large wild trout, I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed fishing on the Caney Fork.  Those little stockers with rubbery fins rubbed raw by the concrete abode they call home for the first portion of their life can provide a lot more fun than I remembered.  My first venture onto the river this year finally happened on Wednesday morning.  Anticipation and excitement woke me up around 5:30.  Not too long after I was on my way.

Driving west through early morning light as the sun slowly edged higher behind me, I had a chance to recall other trips to the river.  I remembered when I first started fishing the river and discovered that the browns in an undisclosed area had a fondness for terrestrials.  Next I remembered that I had not had much luck in that area for many years now.  Past float trips were recalled with equal fondness and before I knew it I was exiting I-40 and rolling past Happy Hollow.  Crowds of early arrivals encouraged me to keep going in my search for fresh water.

The dam was conscientiously checked and also dismissed, again due to crowds.  Finally my car led me over the dam and down to Lancaster.  Only one car was there ahead of me.  I got out and chatted a bit with the two guys getting ready to fish.  Its always a pleasure meeting new people on the river.  I wished them luck as they headed down.  Remembering the forecast high of 96 degrees, I decided to wet wade, something I have rarely if ever done on the Caney unless floating.  Best decision of the day...

I decided to rig up by the water.  Normally I do this so I can first check if there is any obvious hatch situation going on.  Enough trout were dimpling the surface that a dry/dropper rig seemed a logical choice.  My long-time favorite Caney Fork rig has been a Parachute Adams with a midge dropped behind it anywhere from 1-2 feet.  Just like that I was ready to fish!

My casts unfurled so nicely that I even thought to myself, what nice casts today!  I'm rarely if ever conceited, I promise, but you know those days when you find yourself in the zone without even really trying?  Well this was one of them for me.  I haven't fished enough lately so my casting arm was fresh and....oh yeah, this isn't a professional sports report, just a fishing story.

Anyway, so here was my little #16 or #18 Parachute Adams floating high with a midge hanging temptingly below when a little brown trout swam by and noticed breakfast.  That was fish number one. The fish were all up in the riffles so I soon moved there until the sun was on the water.  About the time the sun hit I happened to look upstream.  The view was so beautiful that I just paused and absorbed the scene, until I remembered my camera that is.  What perfectly calm water!

The mist was thick for a while, but as you can see above the sun soon burned it off.  After catching 7-8 of the little stocker browns, I arrived at the stage of I wonder what the fish won't eat?  Several nymphs and streamers were attempted but the fish clearly wanted midges and not much else.  About this time, a boat drifted by, and I got to talk to another angler.  A couple of other fishermen in 2-3 hours of fishing is not bad!

I wandered down the river utilizing a favorite technique for long drifts while wading.  My reward was a fat rainbow that looked pretty healthy!

Getting bored, I decided to head back to the car and explore some more of the river.  Down at Betty's Island it didn't seem as if much was going on but the crowds were still at Happy Hollow, until I realized that there really weren't any crowds.  The number of people actually on the water did not compare to the number of cars in the lot.  This pleasant discovery encouraged me to fish at Happy for a while and I'm glad I did.  In addition to some freshly stocked browns, I also discovered brookies and some more 'bows.  A couple of the browns were a bit larger in the 12"-14" category and fought like fish larger than they were.

By the time I started thinking about home, I had caught more than my fair share of fish.  I was starting to get hungry and thought about the nice air conditioning back home.  That did it and I headed back up to the car.

Tomorrow I'm headed back.  Expect another report.  Next week?  The Smokies, and some smallmouth, and maybe even musky.  Stay tuned for more!!!