Caney Fork 9/21/08

[Worrgamesguy]

Wow, I'm the happiest I could possibly be.

Let me start off with the best moment of my fly fishing "career"- my new setup. Yesterday Grumpy was kind enough to let me cast with the TFO Pro during my casting lessons at Cumberland Transit. I fell in love, and my dad bought me the rod as an early birthday gift (not 18 yet, close) and put an Orvis BBS III and Orvis fly line on his credit card so I could pay him back when I got my first paycheck at my new job. Ronnie hooked me up with 2 birthday gifts, too! I'll tell you what they were if he gives the okay, but until then, I can't.











We got on the water this morning at a little after 10:00, and fished around under the dam. I didn't know what to fish, so I put on a wooly bugger and didn't catch a thing. Since we were getting ready to begin our float to Happy Hollow, I put on my usual elk hair caddis indicator with a midge under it and decided to flip it out there for the heck of it. By the time we reached the mouth of the river, I caught 2 brookies and 1 rainbow! I didn't think I could catch fish in still water like that. We fished all the way down to where the river bends close to Lancaster, catching fish like crazy.





The water got too deep and I wasn't doing any good, so I put the fly rod aside so I could continue to catch fish. Honestly, how do I catch fish with a fly rod in over 8' of water? I did manage to catch 3 BEAUTIFUL browns, 18" being the largest and 14" being the smallest. I was the only one to catch a brown this trip.

When we got out of the water, there were dozens of fishermen taking their boats out or wading in the water. When my dad and I got back to HH from picking up the truck at the dam, there was NO ONE. Not a soul. There were fish rising like crazy, and I HAD to try my luck. I swore to my dad and friend that I would catch one fish, and then we could leave because we were all hungry. The first cast my midge caught my rod tip and created a mess, 5 minutes later I casted to where I saw a fish rising. I saw my indicator bouncing, and then it went under and I caught maybe a 7-8" brookie on my 2nd cast, my first fish caught by sight fishing. I went to cast again, and got in a worse tangle, so I kept my word and cleaned up for the day. I'm VERY happy now

[David Knapp]

Congrats on the new setup. I'm sure you'll be enjoying that for many years to come... Glad ya'll had a good day on the water and caught some nice fish as well! Don't overlook that slooooooowww water. I fished for a few hours up there today and nearly all my fish were caught in very slow water. There are fish in that water that will surprise you...

[Grumpy]

Why, i wouldn't tell anyone that i was going to bust your butt on your B-DAY
It was good to meet your dad yesterday & i'm glad ya'll got out to fish the new rig, sounds like a fun day.
How do you catch a fish 8' deep, indicator right at the fly line & splitshot

Grumpy

[Gerry Romer]

Congrats on your new setup and your day on the Caney to christen it.

Sounds like you are hopelessly addicted! Definitely do not overlook those slow deep pools. My personal best (21" brown) came out of that first deep pool below the sandbar, just before the bluffs. He hit a #18 grey thread midge that was dropped about 3' below a yarn indicator... so you never know.

So how was that casting class with Grumpy

Again, congrats all the way around!! Happy Birthday and thanks for the report!

Gerry

[Worrgamesguy]

Originally Posted by Plateau Angler

Congrats on the new setup. I'm sure you'll be enjoying that for many years to come... Glad ya'll had a good day on the water and caught some nice fish as well! Don't overlook that slooooooowww water. I fished for a few hours up there today and nearly all my fish were caught in very slow water. There are fish in that water that will surprise you...

I love it... I caught at least a dozen fish off my fly rod yesterday, with ease. And I'm not talking about slow water, I'm talking about water not moving at all It was right under the dam, and I casted and I kept catching them.

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Why, i wouldn't tell anyone that i was going to bust your butt on your B-DAY
It was good to meet your dad yesterday & i'm glad ya'll got out to fish the new rig, sounds like a fun day.
How do you catch a fish 8' deep, indicator right at the fly line & splitshot

Grumpy

Haha... I appreciate everything buddy, it means a lot. I couldn't believe how well it casted, I thought once I got on the water it would all change but it was still just as smooth. Okay, so I put an indicator on the very top of the leader, and put a split shot how far away from my midge? How does the split shot change my casting?

Originally Posted by Gerry Romer

Congrats on your new setup and your day on the Caney to christen it.

Sounds like you are hopelessly addicted! Definitely do not overlook those slow deep pools. My personal best (21" brown) came out of that first deep pool below the sandbar, just before the bluffs. He hit a #18 grey thread midge that was dropped about 3' below a yarn indicator... so you never know.

So how was that casting class with Grumpy

Again, congrats all the way around!! Happy Birthday and thanks for the report!

Gerry

Haha speaking of christening it, 5 minutes after we got on the boat I put my fly rod up towards my dad so I could run the line through the eyelets, and when I went to pull it back, the reel caused the rod to bend and it dipped in the water, baptised in the Caney Fork.

The casting class was great, I would have liked to have a little more personal instruction but for $10 and 10 people, I'm very satisfied. I still make little "oops" moves, but who doesn't I guess. My birthday is on Halloween, so I've got a month to go but the gifts have already started coming in

[BlueRaiderFan]

Nice! I have the same reel in Titanium.
Congrats!

[Crick Addict]

Worrgamesguy, once you learn to use that new rig, you
can progress to a sinking line, and strip streamers in
deep water. I caught this one Sat. in about 15' of water.

[Worrgamesguy]

Originally Posted by BlueRaiderFan

Nice! I have the same reel in Titanium.
Congrats!

I love it so far! Nice, light, and the drag feels nice and even when you pull line out.

Originally Posted by Crick Addict

Worrgamesguy, once you learn to use that new rig, you
can progress to a sinking line, and strip streamers in
deep water. I caught this one Sat. in about 15' of water.

What a fish! So how would I use sinking line when I have floating line on there now, buy another spool? I've always wondered about fishing deep water, I saw a 30"+ brown that was feeding like crazy in about 10 feet of water. It was clear, and I could see every bit of him- huge tail, orange belly with his spots, and a HUGE white mouth opening about every 10 seconds feeding, definitely had a huge hook jaw.

[Crick Addict]

Originally Posted by Worrgamesguy

I love it so far! Nice, light, and the drag feels nice and even when you pull line out.



What a fish! So how would I use sinking line when I have floating line on there now, buy another spool? I've always wondered about fishing deep water, I saw a 30"+ brown that was feeding like crazy in about 10 feet of water. It was clear, and I could see every bit of him- huge tail, orange belly with his spots, and a HUGE white mouth opening about every 10 seconds feeding, definitely had a huge hook jaw.

I usually float fish, I'll have a couple of rods rigged with a
floating line, and one with a sinking line. You can have an extra spool loaded with a sinking line, but it takes a bit of work to go back and forth. Sinking lines can be difficult to
cast if you've just started fly fishing. If I were you I would
concentrate on the floating line rig for awhile, yet. I was just
making a point about using your flyrod for all types of
water. I used a spinning rod for many years, and I caught a lot of fish. I picked a fly rod up 20 years ago and I've never used a spinning rod since. You've got a great rig to start with.
Keep on flogging the water and you'll get more comfortable
with the longrod...good luck!

[Worrgamesguy]

Originally Posted by Crick Addict

I usually float fish, I'll have a couple of rods rigged with a
floating line, and one with a sinking line. You can have an extra spool loaded with a sinking line, but it takes a bit of work to go back and forth. Sinking lines can be difficult to
cast if you've just started fly fishing. If I were you I would
concentrate on the floating line rig for awhile, yet. I was just
making a point about using your flyrod for all types of
water. I used a spinning rod for many years, and I caught a lot of fish. I picked a fly rod up 20 years ago and I've never used a spinning rod since. You've got a great rig to start with.
Keep on flogging the water and you'll get more comfortable
with the longrod...good luck!

I appreciate it, fly fishing is a blast. The most difficult part of fly fishing is the knots, I use a 9' leader with about 18-24" of tippet under an elk hair caddis indicator. The line flies great until the elk hair stops motion and the midge continues the motion, that's when it starts to fly awkward. But I still caught A LOT of fish.