A Different Float

Before you start thinking I started floating another river, let's clear that up now. This is the same river I've been having some great guide trips on lately. The difference on this particular float is because I got to do some fishing as well. Shocking, right?

I've been very busy this summer with lots of guide trips. Naturally that is a good thing, or at least that is what my bank account would say. The only downside so far as I can tell is that I haven't done much of the kind of fishing where I'm the one holding the rod. It would be fair to say I have been fishing a lot, just not in the traditional sense, and I was ready for a day of throwing the fly rod.

When my friend Bill Bolinger from Little River Outfitters had to cancel our fishing trip together at the last second, I almost decided to just wade fish for the day instead. After considering my options, I decided to check with some other friends and eventually found someone who was able to go. Don Hazel heads up the Fly Fishing Club here locally at Fairfield Glade. After having an epic experience on a guide trip with me the week before, I knew he was already dialed in and ready to catch some fish.

He came prepared with all the correct flies and his rod was rigged and ready to go so we quickly dumped the boat in the river, ran the shuttle, and started floating. It did not take long to start seeing a few fish flash on the streamers we started with, but something unusual happened. The generators were scheduled to shut off at 11:00 AM but we passed right by the cutoff point with no reduction in flows. Realizing that something was up, I headed for a calm backwater behind an island to anchor the boat for a while. We relaxed and took our time messing with the streamers until the water took on that glassy appearance that signals the end of generation. That was our cue to pull the anchor up and start drifting.

Moving down the river, we took our time getting dialed in with the right depth, but the patterns were the same ones that I've been having success on all summer. Follow me on Instagram (troutzoneanglers) to see more of these big fish that we've been catching. Aren't on Instagram? You can also find me on Facebook to see some of those pictures of big fish. Sorry but I don't post pictures of the flies that are working. If you really want a look inside my fly box, stop and say hi on the river or take a guided trip with me. If it helps any, I will say that fish have been caught on dry flies, nymphs, midges, and streamers lately (as in within the last week). Hopefully that will help narrow it down for you...

Anyway, back to my day on the water, Don was the first to strike with a nice rainbow trout and from then on, we were catching fish one after another on down the river. There was only one other drift boat out on the river along with 5-10 kayaks but that was it. Boat traffic has slowed down with the beginning of school and that is a good thing. The river is still very busy on weekends. If you are going to fish it right now, please release all of your quality trout. The river is seeing a LOT of pressure right now and it only takes a few people keeping those big trout before the fishing quality goes seriously down hill. The number of people not abiding by the regulations never ceases to amaze me. If you witness anyone keeping fish in the slot (catch and release on rainbows and brook trout from 14"-20" and only one brown trout may be kept a day with a 24" minimum length requirement), please call the TWRA Poaching hotline (https://www.tn.gov/twra/article/poaching-hotlines) and please notice that the Caney is partially in both regions two and three.

As Don and I continued down the river catching fish here and there, we began to wonder if we would find any of the good fish that have been regularly showing up on every float. I had a good idea where to look but for the first couple of miles, those larger fish proved to be elusive. Eventually that would change however.

We were drifting through one long pool that sometimes has produced nice fish for me (don't they all?) and were fishing both sides of the boat. Don's indicator dove and I glanced over to see what was going on. When I looked back, my indicator seemed to have disappeared as well so I set the hook just in case. Turns out that was the right move. I immediately felt resistance and we were into a nice double.

I scooped his fish into the net with one hand while playing my trout with the other. Handing off the net, I told him to keep his fish wet and continued to battle the nice trout on the end of my own line. Eventually, my fish tired and came to the net. Talk about a great double! Two gorgeous brown trout in the net at one time and they were quality fish to boot.

Photo Courtesy of Don Hazel

We took some pictures and then calmed down enough to keep moving on down the river. Eventually we even started fishing again!

Photo Courtesy of Don Hazel

The day drifted slowly by in about the same way. Fish were caught here and there and eventually we were nearing the time to call it quits. I wanted one more fish and turned to a rod rigged with a dry fly and dropper midge to accomplish that goal. Sure enough, along a calm edge with scattered risers, I found a willing brown trout that took the midge very softly. The ensuing fight was anything but soft though as the strong brown trout ran all over the river. Before long, another great fish was in the net, and I had my picture taken with yet another beautiful trout.

Photo Courtesy of Don Hazel

Not to be outdone, Don pulled a really nice rainbow trout out just as we started pulling up to the takeout. The fish were still feeding and I was not entirely excited about leaving feeding trout, but I knew that morning and another guide trip would come early. More flies needed to be tied, especially after finding success on a new pattern I've been working on. The small number of samples I tied wouldn't necessarily last through a guide trip the next day.

As it turns out, our trip was just the warm-up to a truly amazing day, but that is a story for another time...

Watauga Morning

On my recent trip to upper east Tennessee, I fished the South Holston and Watauga rivers as well as a high elevation freestone stream.  Of the three streams I fished, the Watauga was the easiest by far.  The fish are less sophisticated than on the South Holston and would eat most any nymph I drifted through their living room.

I only fished the Watauga for a few hours in the morning but probably caught 30 or 40 trout during that time.  None were large but all were in great shape.  Some of the browns I caught looked like they were wild.  For that matter some of the rainbows did as well although I'm not sure how many wild rainbows are in that river.  Once the clouds started to break and the sun peaked through, the fishing tapered off a bit but was still very solid.

The only downside of this trip is that now I'm wishing I lived closer to these fine streams so I could fish them more often.

Here is one of the browns I caught on the Watauga that is a strong candidate for prettiest fish I've caught this year.  Just look at those spots!!!

A Float for Me

Guide's day off trips don't happen as often as I would like.  Of course, helping others catch fish is always pretty awesome some I'm not complaining.  I guess you could say that I'm simply pointing out  that being the one handling the fly rod is nice on occasion.  Last week I had a short vacation.  My cousin Nathan came up to fish with me for a few days.  We started the week fishing for smallmouth, followed that up with a trout float on the Caney, and finished up with some awesome trout fishing over in the Smokies on a day that was all about sheer numbers.  In other words, I had an incredible week.

The smallmouth trip was a lot of fun, but neither of us hauled a camera along so there is no photo evidence.  I guess that means I can inflate the size of the fish we caught.  Really it was a standard smallmouth wade trip with some nice fish caught but nothing to write home about, the kind of comfortable every day fishing that scratches the itch but leaves you wanting a little more.

Day two started out much the same with the main difference being that we were floating in the drifter instead of wading.  The generation schedule on the Caney has been a little strange lately.  The Corps of Engineers can't seem to decide what schedule is the best so each float is determined the evening before after a consultation of the following day's generation schedule.  We figured that we could sleep in a little and still make it in plenty of time to catch falling water.

We dumped the boat and were into fish before I had really gone anywhere.  There's nothing like those willing hatchery fish waiting at the ramp to get the skunk off so everyone in the boat can relax and focus on the task at hand.  I was at the oars and Nathan was wearing out the fish.  By the time we got around the first corner, I had turned the boat sidewise in the soft current so we could both fish.  Rowing and fishing at the same time presents a minor challenge but nothing that cannot be overcome.  It wasn't too long before I had caught a couple as well and decided to just focus on rowing while Nathan fished.  He quickly got several nice brook trout as well as a few rainbows but the nice browns were eluding him.

Eventually he offered to take a turn rowing and I assured him that he could take over at a certain point.  I was hoping he would catch a nice fish first but eventually we got to a spot I was dying to fish, and I let him take over rowing duties.

Sure enough, two casts later (seriously, I had barely even got to the front of the boat) something big came up and inhaled the hopper I was trying out.  Fighting the fish on one hand and telling Nathan where to row on the other kept me busy but soon the fish was in the net and we could all relax.  Nathan took over camera duty while I enjoyed the nice brown trout.

Soon we took off again, and I continued to catch fish on the dropper under the hopper.  Nathan eventually figured out how to row and fish as well and started catching some nice fish including his brown for the slam.

Not too long after that we made it to the take out just as the rising water caught up with us.  I was glad that we had finished before the water came up too much.  Nathan was getting pretty tired by the end.  The river can get awfully hot without any shade and a hot summer sun beating down.  We were soon on our way back home to get ready for the Smokies adventure starting the next morning!

Tailwater Float

On Wednesday, I loaded up the drifter and headed for a tailwater.  Rod had called to book a trip for him and his brother Barry who was visiting from out of state and wanted to show him a good time.  We decided on a half day float and confirmed details on where to meet.  Wednesday morning arrived and right on schedule they pulled in ready to fish hard!

We headed on up the river to drop the boat in.  Right as I was about to shove off from the ramp, another truck started backing down towards the water.  Looking up, I laughed when I realized it was the trout truck!  Good fishing for all, at least for a day or two!  He waited until we had cleared the ramp so I rowed out a bit and dropped the anchor.  This was a photo opportunity not to be missed.

After joking about how guilty we would feel if we pestered the freshly stocked fish, we shoved off and caught the current downstream.  A couple hundred yards down the river we started working our flies and right away we got the first fish in the net!  Barry was the first to strike, but that made sense because he was in the front casting brace.  The usual crowd of wading anglers were working hard so we maneuvered the boat to try and stay out of their way and were soon drifting down through open water.

Not too far down the river is a hole that I like to hit.  With the boat perfectly in position, I showed the guys where to drop their flies.  Barry had the hot hand again and soon a larger fish was tugging on the end of his line.  This fish turned out to be much nicer and in great shape.  He decided that perhaps a picture was in order for such a good trout.  We snapped a couple of quick shots and then I gently cradled the fish in the current until it surged off, hopefully to be seen another day.  Check out the belly on this rainbow! It has been eating well for sure...

By this time Rod had started catching some fish as well. I turned to suggest another spot to Rod when I sensed that Barry had set the hook.  Turning around I saw that he looked pretty serious.  When he told me that the fish was ever better than the nice rainbow I got serious as well.  The net came back out and before long we were celebrating a nice brown to hand with another picture!  Barry said it was his largest brown ever so he was understandably happy about it.

That brown ended up being the highlight of the trip, but we would have some other memorable moments.  One of the strangest things that has happened to me in a long time while rowing the river was when a large dead vulture drifted down on us while we were anchored in a good spot fishing.  I'm still not sure what happened to that poor bird.  Even more strange was when his friends started circling overhead as he drifted downstream.  I know they eat dead stuff but eating your buddy seems just a little strange.

Another cool moment was when Rod and Barry doubled up.  Barry had just hooked a nice rainbow when Rod hooked up as well as I was sliding the net under Barry's fish.  I kept the net in the water and got the nice brown in it as well for a couple double shot.

Finally we saw the takeout ramp approaching.  Barry wanted to strike once more and put one more nice brown in the net to round out a good day on the water.

These two brothers were great to have in the boat.  They fished hard and even participated in the good natured joking around about who was catching the best fish that I started.  In the end, honors for this trip went to Barry, but I'll bet that next time Rod will get a big one!

If I can help you with a guided wade or float trip, please contact me at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com
I'm permitted to guide in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and also do tailwater trips and Cumberland Plateau smallmouth bass trips.  We're looking to add some smallmouth float trips in the future as well.  

Carp Afterthought

Have you ever gone fishing and had a fantastic day of catching your intended species only to come across a fish that is quite different and decide to try for it as well?  That is one of the amazing things about tailwaters, the variety that is.  You can fish hard for trout all day and then find that one 4 pound bass or 15 pound carp and fish for that as well.  Maybe you even get a shot at a striper later on as well.  When I'm striper fishing, I sometimes have lucked into trout and even some walleye.  In other words, on a tailwater you just never know what you will find.

Yesterday I headed down yet again to the Caney Fork yet again to get some trout fishing in and check several different spots on the river.  Scouting the water is about as important as actually fishing and this trip was intended to include both.  After all, when heading out on a guide trip, it is essential to be in touch with what is happening on the river.  My basic research was just locating fish and the best places to land both numbers of fish and quality fish.

The morning's highlight occurred when I saw a big brown charge into a pool full of small stockers and eat one or two while I was fishing for them.  Yes, my heart rate is still a bit elevated, but that is the beautiful thing about fishing trips; you just never know what is going to happen.  After calming down enough to actually fish, I worked a favorite section pretty hard and found a lot of chunky rainbows.  These fish are super healthy right now and providing great nonstop action if you have the right flies, the right depth, and a knowledge of where to use them at.

A little after noon, my buddy Tyler and I headed back to the car for some lunch as well as some air conditioning on the ride down to our next spot.  When we got to the next spot, things continued about the same as before.  In other words, we were both catching a lot of fish.  The insects were varied on this day and the occasional caddis and cranefly kept the fish looking up.  Our dry flies were getting enough action that we never switched over to an indicator nymph rig, preferring the dry/dropper method instead to cover our bases.

Eventually the heat and sun took its toll, and I was ready to call it a day.  Heading back to the car, I stopped at a spot where there are usually some carp and buffalo hanging out.  While this was definitely a trout trip, I had no problem at least looking at other fish.  Of course, you can guess where this eventually took me.  Upon seeing all those carp, I naturally had to at least cast a couple of times.

I've fished this spot and a couple of others nearby many times over the years.  In fact, given the opportunity, I would rather catch at least one or two carp on each trout trip.  Not that I'm ready to turn my back completely on trout.  Its just that carp are some of the toughest fish you will ever fish for.  Being a carp fisherman automatically makes you better at catching other species as well, trust me.  The crazy thing about this particular spot is that while I've put in my time to attempting to catch these fish, I've never really had any success.  Oh, I've caught carp other places on at least a couple of different rivers, but these particular fish had always outsmarted me.

So here I was casting to fish that I could see just fine but really didn't expect to catch when lo and behold one of the fish ate!  Seriously, it was all so easy that I pondered momentarily why I hadn't caught one before.  Then the fish realized it was hooked.  If you've ever hooked a carp, even a small one, on 5x, you know how I felt as this fish started running directly away from me for a underwater log.  I really had no chance, or at least that's how it felt.  By some miracle, the fish always came out on the right side of those logs.  All the pressure I thought the tippet could handle was brought to bear. Once the fish ran under another log and only came back out when I kept muscled it back.  I know, it's hard to believe all of this happened on 5x, but in the end, the best moment of the day came when my buddy slipped the net under the finally tired fish.  A couple of pictures later and the fish tore off back to its pool to rest up for our next meeting.

If I lived close by, I would chase these fish all the time.  Seriously.  They are that much fun.  Every one I've caught has been memorable.  Oh, sure, the trout fishing was awesome too, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but as an afterthought, those carp sure provide a lot of fun!

If I can help you with a guide trip to the Smokies or the Caney Fork tailwater, please contact me.  I'm not booking trips through July.  

Tailwater Update

Finally, the high flows are abating on my nearest tailwater.  The fishing should be good now although with the low flows and nice weather expect to see a lot more people out on the water.  Thankfully there are lots of options including smallmouth bass streams and the wild trout streams of the Great Smoky Mountains and the rest of east Tennessee.

On the tailwater scene, the usual flies are getting the job done.  Midge fishing is coming on really strong and we will begin to see some dry fly opportunities as we head into summer.  Sow bugs and other nymphs will pick up some fish in addition the the usual midge patterns.  The lower Caney Fork is seeing a few bugs hatching including some Light Cahills and Sulfurs.  These are generally only sporadic hatches but they can get the fish interested sometimes.

The other day I stopped by the Caney Fork on my way home from Nashville.  The fishing was excellent during the 3 or so hours I fished.  Fish were feeding on a variety of flies and were in great shape.  There was a good range of sizes from about 8 inches up to 14 inches so we have a good mix of fish.  The majority of the fish were rainbows but I did manage a few browns as well.

If you need any help or advice or would like to set up a guide trip, please feel free to contact me.

A Well Spent Sunday

A couple of months ago, my friend David Perry contacted me about helping out with a great cause, Casting for Recovery (CFR).  Put on locally by the Music City Fly Girls, CFR is an opportunity for breast cancer survivors to try out the sport of fly fishing while enjoying a relaxing weekend retreat with others who have experienced breast cancer.  The last day of the event was the on the water day where each of the ladies would be paired with a guide and given the chance to hopefully catch some fish.

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!!!

Last Chance

Being a tailwater fisherman can be a roller coaster from joy to disappointment and back again.  Hours are spent poring over forecast rain amounts, then analyzing actual rainfall totals during and after a precipitation event.  If you live out west then you might spend your winters checking out the latest Snotel information to see how the snowpack is coming along.  Long term generation guidance is also consulted on a regular basis, all in an effort to figure out when your favorite tailwater might be fishable.  Of course, in a dry year, all of this becomes unnecessary as anglers enjoy the rare opportunity to fish whenever and wherever they desire.

Over the past few weeks, I've been checking the generation schedules daily, sometimes even multiple times a day.  I guess I'm just optimistic.  Maybe the schedule will change for the better, and of course, eventually it did.  Unfortunately, the theme this year is that low flows signal the next round of heavy rain.  Streams here on the Plateau shot up from around 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) to over 15,000 cfs over the last few days.  One stream went from 70 cfs to over 3,500 cfs. That's a lot of water no matter where you live, and when you consider that 3,500 cfs is approximately the amount of water that one generator releases at a time on my favorite tailwater, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that many days of generation are on the horizon.  All that water here on the Plateau eventually drains into the valleys on either side and into either Tennessee Valley Authority or Corps of Engineers controlled dam systems.

As the major weather system this week started to really get cranking, my nearest tailwater finally cut back on the generation.  I planned to fish Monday morning, but early day storms were already rolling in and prompting the first local tornado warning of the year.  My fishing trip became a storm chasing trip, and I was stuck waiting for the next opportunity.  Tuesday morning was shot as well, and Wednesday was the last day of low flows, my last chance to get on the water.

My friend Tyler, who has quickly become addicted to fly fishing, had never fished a tailwater before.  I explained that the water would be cold but that people had been known to wet wade there before.  He was all for it so we planned on when and where to meet.  Wednesday morning couldn't come soon enough for me, and before long I had scarfed down a quick breakfast, made a sandwich, loaded my gear, and headed out the door.  Tyler was on time and we were soon headed for the river.

Muddy water...

Upon arriving, I headed straight for a favorite run that requires less wading than some spots.  After all, I knew Tyler was excited but if he didn't have to freeze then all the better.  Driving along the river, the first thing we noticed was mud thick enough to walk all the way across the river on.  On second glance, we realized it wasn't quite that bad but we definitely weren't going to fish in the slop.  Back up the river we headed to the clear water just below the dam.  Several other anglers were already crowded in the best spots (for easy wading that is), and I was concerned that Tyler was going to be stuck getting soaked and cold.

One possibility remained and we headed down to a favorite spot of mine.  Another angler was fishing just upstream but otherwise we had the water to ourselves.  Showing Tyler a rising trout and explaining the process of mending and fly placement, I started downstream to get some fishing of my own in.  Just as I was getting my own rod ready to cast, Tyler yelled as he hooked the first trout of the day.  It turned out to be his first brown trout so I brought the net and camera for a quick picture.  As I made my way back down the river he hooked another, and another, and so on and so forth.  In fact, he soon lost track of how many he had caught.

I found a nice hole and started catching a few of my own, and then more, until I was catching fish after fish as well.  Over the next two hours, we never ventured far.  Tyler didn't have to wade deeply to fish, and I was having some of the best midge fishing I've had in a long time.  Both of us quickly lost count of how many fish we caught and even had several doubles as the fish were almost racing each other to get to our flies.

Now that tailwater is pushing a lot of water down the river as the lake continues to rise.  We'll be lucky if it is fishable anytime in the next two weeks and if we get more rain it will take a lot longer than that.  A more realistic prediction is a minimum of 3 weeks but we'll have to wait and see what happens.  When it does drop again, I'll be back looking for another fantastic day on the water.

Oh, and I should mention that Tyler forgot to be cold.  He was catching so many fish he didn't even notice the 50 degree water flowing around his legs.  His comment to me was, "Knapp, you've created a monster!"  Yep, tailwaters can be fun, and I'll look forward to getting on one again.  Hopefully it will be sooner instead of later...

On our way home, we stopped to chase some bass, and I had my best bass day on this particular lake ever, but more on that a bit later.

Midge Fishing

Rescheduling a trip is always frustrating, mostly because you are looking forward to hitting the water and then something goes wrong.  In the case of the trip Chad scheduled, the Caney Fork was rising quickly when we originally planned to do our trip.  We rescheduled and then waited.  As Sunday approached it was painfully obvious that we would either have to reschedule again or change the game plan.  Thankfully Chad was flexible, and since his main goals were to learn to fish midges more effectively and possibly some other good tailwater techniques, we decided that the Clinch would work just as well.

When we arrived at the river, things were just reaching a good fishable level after the morning generation and we started up high. Finding open water was easier than I would normally expect on a pretty Sunday in April.  The Clinch is known as a "bring your own rock" type of river but on this day we were able to find water without too much trouble.  The bright sun and quickly falling water meant that we would be looking for deeper runs and holes with current moving through them.

Working across one good area resulted in spotting a few fish and one missed strike, but other than that things were looking slow.  We changed flies early and often and kept moving, looking for willing fish.  Finally we got into a spot I like that has a nice riffle dropping away into a nice run.  Trout were moving around on the bottom feeding as evidenced by the occasional flash we could see as the fish turned to eat the meal of the day.

With the greater depth, we changed to an indicator rig with a tiny #24 midge pupa on the bottom.  Chad was soon working the hole like an expert, polishing his mending skills to get perfect drag free drifts.  It didn't take too many drifts until the indicator dove and the fight was on!  He soon had the first fish in the net for a quick picture and then it was back to work the hole some more.

I had spotted a much nicer rainbow feeding on the far side of the hole but it required a fairly difficult presentation.  The flies and indicator had to be thrown over the strong current of the riffle and into the softer water on the other side.  Next, the angler would need to throw a huge mend to get a clean drift down to the fish with more small mends throughout the drift.  Chad was up to the challenge and after a few good casts, the indicator dove again.  This was a much nicer trout and soon Chad was admiring his new personal best trout on the fly rod!

Both trout showed a preference for the tiny midge pupa.  It won't be too long before they start taking Sulfur nymphs with regularity and they are probably already starting to key on them on the lower river.

We finished with another hour of covering some more techniques and working on distance casting when we found some large rainbows rising in a nice flat further down the river.  Chad was a pleasure to guide and I'm sure he will be putting his new skills to work to catch some more tailwater trout in the near future!

If I can help you with a guided trip, please contact me at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com.  

Colorado Outing

Even though I've moved back to Tennessee, I still love fishing in Colorado.  Yesterday I made it out to the stream to battle the wind and hopefully find a few fish.  Initially I was thinking of hitting Boulder Creek, but at the last second I decided to make a run over the mountain so to speak and fish South Boulder Creek instead.  I'm glad I did.

When I arrived at the trailhead, I could see glimpses of the stream below and the most obvious feature was a distinct lack of snow and ice on the pools.  Looking good so far!  When I got down to the water after a short walk, I tied on a streamer to bounce around a couple of pools.  When absolutely nothing seemed interested, I quickly changed over to a two fly rig consisting of a mysis shrimp pattern and a small midge.  A little stick on indicator a couple of feet up completed the rig, and I got back to casting again.  It only took 3-4 casts before the indicator hesitated.  When I set, I saw a flash but missed the connection.  Thankful that the fish were at least interested, I worked the pool a bit more before heading on downstream to some new water.  

I came to a favorite pool that reminds me a LOT of a pool in the Smokies on Lynn Camp Prong.  The water flows through both holes in an almost identical fashion and it just so happens that it makes for some very tough drifts.  I was fishing in hiking boots so repositioning across the creek wasn't an option.  Thankfully, since it is winter, several fish were stacked in a slow back eddy on my side of the pool.  Several drifts around that eddy and 3 fish later, I was pretty happy about how things were going.

The wind was becoming increasingly annoying however.  It was blowing straight down the canyon in fits and bursts that made casting frustrating from time to time.  After another pool and another trout, I decided that it wasn't worth fighting any longer and headed back towards town.  

Stopping by Boulder Creek, I made a few half hearted casts with a streamer for old time's sake but there was very little open water.  That should be changing in the next few days thankfully with highs forecast to be in the 50s and even 60s for the next week or so.  I'm hoping to get another chance to wet a line while I'm here in Colorado, but the big news is that all my paperwork is back to the NPS for my Commercial Use permit to guide in the Great Smoky Mountains.  I'm predicting that late next week into next weekend will see some fantastic fishing in the Park.  More on that over at the fishing report on Trout Zone Anglers.  

Attention TN Tailwater Anglers

Good news for those of you who live in Tennessee!  The current forecast for the Caney Fork (and the Cumberland as well) indicate that flows are going to be decreasing within the next week or so...finally I might add.  Since I'm planning on heading back to TN for a couple of weeks in the middle of June, I like the sound of fishing my old home tailwater.

If you want to see for yourself, check out this great spreadsheet from the Army Corps of Engineers.  It includes lake elevations as well as predicted inflow and outflow for all area lakes.  The interesting piece is that they plan on cutting back generation once Center Hill Lake reaches an elevation of around 633.5'.  In recent years, with work taking place to address seepage around the dam, elevations were kept below 630'.  Thankfully the target elevations seem to have increased a bit which will be a good thing for the tailwater fishermen!