My first Kayak trip on the Caney

[gutshot]

It has been a rough year for the fishing, lots of pressure on the river, the generation has been above previous years and limited wading. There is a real push by some to get some quality regs on the river before all is lost to meat hunters.
I have been thinking about getting a kayak to get away from the normal crowds which long walks just won't do anymore. A kid local to the river mentioned on another website that he is starting to rent kayaks and got heckled by just about everybody on the board. Instead of making a comment I figured I would check out the operation and decide for myself based upon actual knowledge. Turns out he lives on the river and uses locally made kayaks that are pretty nice. After work yesterday morning I drove out to his place to check out the operation. Brent seems like a nice kid had multiple kayaks of different designs and a collection of life vests in multiple sizes. I filled out his waiver and he ran me up to one of the public landings. I could use the kayak all day and he was willing to take me out at any public landing on the river......if you come down it is worth the effort of checking him out. Caney Fork Surf.....615-418-5697. I am not getting anything for this, I just want people to know about this option instead of dragging a boat to the river and I like to help out small business.....he's not the Walmart of rental places. http://www.caneyforksurf.com/ (http://www.caneyforksurf.com/)
One more thing…..he also does shuttle service…..
Now to the report….
The company vehicle….He can get six on it in one load he told me…..ask him about the highway run, very funny.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/stillinscrubs3/IMG_1584.jpg
Tooling around in the boat.
Good storage space
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The river was socked in with fog until about 2pm….unlike most rivers this place will not take off until you get full sun. If you are a streamer chucker it can be good for the browns, but the big bows love to get some sun on their backs before they get fired up……
Third fish….got most drifting in the boat today, the water never settled out like I hoped it would…..I would work through a good section and then paddle back up through it and run it until I got tired. A return trip over fish resulted in my biggest of the day, so if you give the fish 3-4 minutes to settle down after going over them, they will get back on the feed……..
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/stillinscrubs3/IMG_1587.jpg
Sight cast to this fish at about 15 feet, had a larger fish sitting just in front of it, my midge larve was just off to the side…..not bad though 16 inches….
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/stillinscrubs3/IMG_1588-1.jpg
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[gutshot]

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/stillinscrubs3/IMG_1590.jpg


A little more drifting…
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Big boy for the day, gave me two 3 foot jumps with cartwheels…..tooled my butt all over the place for about 5 minutes. Swam off strong…..19.5 inches…..
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/stillinscrubs3/IMG_1594.jpg
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Then the magic happened, ants and pods of rising fish. I broke off my first three and was down to two flies……this little brown ran off all my fly line and then wrapped in a weed bed, full generation flow…had to paddle back up stream and work him out of the weeds.
Tiny ants…..#24.
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Worked over three other pods of fish, most were 10-14 inch browns, got some nice fights……lots of jumpers in the Caney….
Down to my final ant and got this decent rainbow three big jumps and two solid runs……
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/stillinscrubs3/IMG_1602.jpg


If any of you ever venture down this way…..I’ll be happy to help you out with fly selection……

[pineman19]

Great report Gutshot! Those rainbows are pigs. Looks like there on steroids. They are obviously eating well. I would like to get a kayak myself someday for fishing the larger water in East TN for trout and smallies.


Neal

[Worrgamesguy]

Now only if I could catch fish like that.

[Stonefly]

There's a thread going on another forum, talking about a couple of new rental companies who seem to be trying to ramp up commercial exploitation of the Caney. This particular company was mentioned, though another new outfit seemed to be more the concern, advertising a high seas adventure type float complete with buried treasure and pirates.

I know I've run into plenty of drunks in canoes, paddle fighting, splashing, etc, the end result being they put down the fish. I usually try to keep my mouth shut, but I made a tongue in cheek comment to one group that they maybe hadn't scared ALL the fish yet, and their reply was that I should take it up with the outfitter, because they had a right to do anything they wanted on the river. Nice.

I have a canoe myself, and love to float the river. I give wading fishermen a wide berth and float by as silently as I can. I don't think that's the norm for the non-fishermen who you'd think are the main customers for the rental companies.

sb

[gutshot]

I actually spoke with Brent about passing on information pertaining to on the water courtesy....such as going behind wading anglers, etc.

He is interested in passing that information along to others including persons who rent from him.

Commercial exploitation sounds rather harsh.....I think this guy as providing sounght after services.....it is a cheap way to figure out if you want to uise a kayak to fish prior to purchasing one. He is not turning the river into Disney in TN....maybe the other group is....I keep hearing about explosive devices being used....

Better to have a local business that sees anglers as a client base than as a constant adversary.....

[Worrgamesguy]

My dad and I were floating our jon boat in the shallows right near the new steps that were just built when we got yelled at for improper water etiquette. The only water that was deep enough for us to float through without dragging bottom was on the far left with all the wade fishermen on the right. This fly fisherman made a really snide comment so that's where I took my grudge against fly fishermen, this guy was a real jerk. There was nothing we could have done, so we just rolled it off our shoulders and proceeded to catch monster fish downstream. I've noticed that the only ones who complain are the ones who aren't doing any good. We passed through a fisherman's water, said our greetings, and not even 50 feet down the stream from him he catches a MONSTER brown.

But, I know which canoe rental company you guys are talking about. We ran into them one day and those renters were the absolute worst type I have ever seen. They didn't know how to paddle, so they hit the side of the boat with every paddle. They would splash water on each other, and just be buffoons in every way imaginable. We played leap frog with them for about an hour, they would speed past us, we'd fish, they would stop upstream, we'd pass them, and they would get in the water behind us. They started to piss my dad and I off, which is hard to do.

I do miss how the Caney Fork used to be rarely fished.