Caney Fork 07/07/08- A trip of firsts

[Worrgamesguy]

Well thanks to all the members on this forum, I caught my first, and only trout on a fly rod today. My dad and I woke up at 3:30 AM and got our boat on the water by 5:30. We caught a few 12-15 inchers under the dam waiting for the water level to reside.

1st first: My dad caught a rainbow that was severely deformed, it had a tumor on it's stomach. We called it the hunchback of the trout world.

We started the float down to Happy Hollow when my dad's spin rod trailing a worm behind the boat bent double. 20 minutes later this badboy was brought in:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b161/Worrgamesguy/100_1328.jpg
He weighed well over 4 pounds, pushing 5 pounds.

Later down the stream neither of us were doing very good with spin casting, so we both switched over to our fly rods. My dad caught a 10 inch rainbow almost immediately on a black zebra midge, and missed quite a few more.

2nd first: I caught a trout on a fly rod for the first time. I was using an Elk Hair Caddis when a trout absolutely slammed it. I got him up to hand, and not only is he a decent sized trout at 14", but a brown! I was extremely excited to have my first fly fishing trout catch be a brown.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b161/Worrgamesguy/100_1329.jpg

3rd first: We were floating still, when we saw a massive fish hiding deep under a log. My dad screams "LOOK! A gar!" but when we got closer I realized that it was a MASSIVE paddlefish that was at least 4 feet in length. Sorry, no pictures, we were moving too fast.

After that, flies weren't the flavor of the day so we both switched back to spin rods. We stopped at our usual spot (#4 and 5 firsts, all in this one spot) and did absolutely fantastic on nightcrawlers. I caught a 19" brown, my dad hauled in a few good trout, and lost even more. My brown:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b161/Worrgamesguy/100_1330.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b161/Worrgamesguy/100_1331.jpg

4th first: I caught a 10 inch brookie, my biggest from the Caney.

5th first: We almost lost the boat because the water level started to rise from the generation. I had just hooked into a nice 15" rainbow when my dad screamed "TREY! The boat!!!" and I looked as it was sliding off the rocks into the fast current. I dropped my rod and ran after the boat, caught it, and drug it onto shore to where it would not come off again. I went back to my pole and the fish was still on :biggrin:

6th and final first: When they start generating, we NEVER catch any fish unless it's an extremely hungry brookie or some little scrapper occasionally. My dad was fishing with nightcrawlers again when he hauls in this monster brown:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b161/Worrgamesguy/100_1332.jpg

I thought he got lucky, so I continued to practice my fly casting. Not even 10 minutes later, he brings in this huge rainbow:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b161/Worrgamesguy/100_1333.jpg

Happy Hollow was in sight when I decided I wanted in on some of the monster fish, but it was too late for the bigguns. I did catch another brookie though, so I'm perfectly content with today's outcome.

THANK YOU ALL FOR ASSISTING ME IN CATCHING MY FIRST TROUT ON THE FLY ROD!!!

[TroutAssassin]

Congrats on your first trout on fly!

[ChemEAngler]

Congratulations, and those are some nice fish you have there. Thanks for the report and pics.

Travis

[ALflygirl]

Nice fish! Congrats!

[Worrgamesguy]

Congrats on your first trout on fly!

Thanks, it felt a lot better to bring him in by hand rather than be lazy and reel.

Congratulations, and those are some nice fish you have there. Thanks for the report and pics.

Travis

We've never caught so many large fish, it was new to us. It sure was a ball though, hope to use the fly rod more next time.

Nice fish! Congrats!

Thanks. And I left the EHC in my brown's mouth so you could see that I did catch him on the fly ;)

[BlueRaiderFan]

Dang it...It'll take me two years to get in all those firsts!:redface:

[Gerry Romer]

Congrats! Those are some nice looking Caney trout. Careful though... a few more like that and you may get hooked on that fly rod!!

Nice report and pics.

[Worrgamesguy]

Well, some of them aren't necessarily good.

1: Who wants a deformed trout?
2: I did catch my first trout on the fly, so that's good. Haven't you?
3. Paddlefish look extremely scary, and they're endangered.
4. Brookies are pretty spooky, so I am shocked at catching a 10 incher.
5. Almost losing the boat is a bad bad thing.
6. Shouldn't be hard to do, they were still generating when we got to Happy Hollow and there were fly fishermen out there slaying trout.

And Gerry, only that little brown I had was caught on the fly rod. We couldn't get them to take anything but nightcrawlers, and that last brown my dad caught slammed it when they were generating.

[white95v6]

man those are some nice Fish.

glad to see the Caney is fishing soo well. i will be makeing a two day float this weekend.

[heyski]

Congrats on the first trout on a fly rod. Great pictures and nice fish.

[Worrgamesguy]

man those are some nice Fish.

glad to see the Caney is fishing soo well. i will be makeing a two day float this weekend.

It seemed like nightcrawlers were the ticket this trip. I think we were doing something wrong with the fly fishing because I would do an excellent cast down, and see fish all over the place under my fly but none would bat a fin at it.

Congrats on the first trout on a fly rod. Great pictures and nice fish.

Thanks. I can't wait to catch more on the fly, it was a blast. I was so relieved when I hauled in my 19" brown, here's why:

I saw him at first, tossed in an unweighted nightcrawler and as soon as the worm hit the water and sunk a little he swam up to it, and chomped on it. I waited a few seconds for him to get it swallowed, and pulled the rod up and the hook came out of the worm. No biggie, I tied another worm on and he took it immediately once more. I waited longer this time, and tried to set the hook but this time, the hook stayed in the worm and the line broke at the knot. I was so pissed off because I knew I had just messed up my chances at catching him. I kept my eye on him as I tied another hook and worm on, making sure it was perfect, and he actually went back for thirds. I FINALLY got him, and when I brought him in to take out the hook, I grabbed the line to see where it was, and it was on the soft spot of his jaw and ripped out with ease. I was sweating in all the effort, I think it was well earned.

[jzimmerman]

Congrates on your first trout on a fly! Sounds like yall had a heck of a day on the Caney. And I also must warn you if you not careful you will become a fly fishing addict :biggrin:.