Fast forward to yesterday, and I found myself getting up at an unearthly hour to make the drive over to the Duck River below Normandy Dam. The drive over was mostly uneventful other than the random cop that decided to come out of nowhere and terrorize me for a minute or so by riding my bumper in McMinnville. After my heart rate came back down to normal and he had pulled off somewhere, I was back to the races, trying to make it to the event site by 8:00 a.m. At least I would have had a good excuse for speeding if he had pulled me over.
Once I arrived, I was surprised to find out how small this tailwater is. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this is a small stream compared to other tailwaters I fish. Small is good though when it comes to putting people on fish who are new to the sport. Trout were rising to a healthy caddis hatch and the occasional Light Cahill and even a Sulfur or two. We had a delicious breakfast prepared by the Music City Fly Girls and got a nice CFR hat.
Eventually the ladies showed up and we headed down to the stream to fish. The lady I was assigned to was pleasant and we quickly hit it off. Once we got on the water, we covered some basic casting to reinforce what she had learned the previous day and then started working one of my favorite patterns for stocked rainbows through a good looking run. Only a couple of casts later, she hooked her first fish! Okay, so it was just a chub of some sort, but we were still glad to see a fish. Not long after, we started catching trout, and missing trout, and catching some more trout.
Photo by David Perry of Southeastern Fly
She did a great job and finished the morning with close to 10 trout. Not bad for a first timer on the fly rod!
After the fishing excursion, we headed in for lunch and a short program. There, the lady I had been working with was the lucky recipient of a CFR fly rod and reel combo! The day couldn't get much better, and by the time I headed home, I was tired, but also happy to have been a part of this great event. Special thanks go out to David Perry for inviting me to help and the Music City Fly Girls for putting on such a fantastic weekend!!!
