Tough fishing on lower Clinch

[MadisonBoats]

Originally Posted by FishNHunt

Cockeye tried to carry my net once while fishing with me but, became to exhausted from landing and releasing my fish that he gave up. He is my father and he's actually a dedicated flyfishermen, maybe even border line obsessed and can catch fish. I'm positive that he didn't mean any harm when he "called B.S." and I'm also positive that he truely meant it when he said that he would "carry the net" because he truely wants to learn something.

If you aren't a liar or have something to hide then take the man (I'd say you would actually like the guy). Normally when he calls B.S. on me the first words out of my mouth are "get your old *ss up here and I'll show you".... Of course I don't wear my fly fishing feelings on my my shirt sleeve thou.

I chatted with him and we are going to try and fish in the next week or two...He does not sound like he needs any pointers from me. I think he can probably show me a few tips. Atleast it would be nice to make a new friend.

[old east tn boy]

Have another uncle James story perhaps folks can relate to on this subject.

We're fishing Douglas in the early 60's and it's slow going in late summer. Being an early riser, uncle James had us there at dawn and now it was almost noon and we didn't have anything on the stringer. So when he finally asked if I was ready to call it a day, I was elated. I mumbled something about better luck next time and maybe we needed to ask our neighbor where he was catching his fish because he seemed to always do well, never had a bad day and never, ever got skunked. Uncle James stopped in the middle of securing things for the ride back to the ramp, glared at me and right then I realized I had stepped in it.

"Let me tell you a story," he said, "about a man I used to work with." Seems there was a man, Charlie Mac, who had joined uncle James' crew from somewhere out west TN way. This fellow early on commenced to tell his work buddies how he liked to fish, knew where to find the best spots and could trick an ole bass into practically jumping into his boat. Well those old boys he was talking to knew a thing or two about fishing too but just kept quiet and listened. Every Monday morning the men would discuss weekend fishing and asked Charlie Mac how he did. "Three five pounders!" he would exclaim but he never would say from where or how he had caught them. Week after week, as the dog days of summer dragged on the other men in the crew lamented their bad luck but not Charlie Mac. "Three five pounders!" was always the reply until it got to the point where his nickname became ole Three Five Pounders. He never fished with anyone from the crew (always making excuses), never produced any photos of his fish and never invited anyone to a fish fry. And of course, after a time, no one believed him either.

"Son, everybody has a bad day," uncle James remarked. "Most mortal men will have a lot of them. It is a stand-up guy who won't mind in the least admitting it. The man that won't doesn't deserve your respect and that is a far worse thing to lose than any fish swimming."

[fourx]

Fishin's been slowwww down lowwww.

4X

[tn hound]

Originally Posted by old east tn boy

Have another uncle James story perhaps folks can relate to on this subject.

We're fishing Douglas in the early 60's and it's slow going in late summer. Being an early riser, uncle James had us there at dawn and now it was almost noon and we didn't have anything on the stringer. So when he finally asked if I was ready to call it a day, I was elated. I mumbled something about better luck next time and maybe we needed to ask our neighbor where he was catching his fish because he seemed to always do well, never had a bad day and never, ever got skunked. Uncle James stopped in the middle of securing things for the ride back to the ramp, glared at me and right then I realized I had stepped in it.

"Let me tell you a story," he said, "about a man I used to work with." Seems there was a man, Charlie Mac, who had joined uncle James' crew from somewhere out west TN way. This fellow early on commenced to tell his work buddies how he liked to fish, knew where to find the best spots and could trick an ole bass into practically jumping into his boat. Well those old boys he was talking to knew a thing or two about fishing too but just kept quiet and listened. Every Monday morning the men would discuss weekend fishing and asked Charlie Mac how he did. "Three five pounders!" he would exclaim but he never would say from where or how he had caught them. Week after week, as the dog days of summer dragged on the other men in the crew lamented their bad luck but not Charlie Mac. "Three five pounders!" was always the reply until it got to the point where his nickname became ole Three Five Pounders. He never fished with anyone from the crew (always making excuses), never produced any photos of his fish and never invited anyone to a fish fry. And of course, after a time, no one believed him either.

"Son, everybody has a bad day," uncle James remarked. "Most mortal men will have a lot of them. It is a stand-up guy who won't mind in the least admitting it. The man that won't doesn't deserve your respect and that is a far worse thing to lose than any fish swimming."

great story that most of us can relate to, I know a few Charlie Macs personally, have seen a few on here as well. You can learn as much or more from the guy that didn't catch anything than the guy that did(even if he's telling the truth).

[waterwolf]

Originally Posted by fourx

Fishin's been slowwww down lowwww.

4X

I did fair yesterday. Not great but okay. I fished at Coldwater for about 2.5 hours and probably landed 15, and hooked another 6 or so. Not bad, not great, but tolerable.

[fourx]

Originally Posted by waterwolf

I did fair yesterday. Not great but okay. I fished at Coldwater for about 2.5 hours and probably landed 15, and hooked another 6 or so. Not bad, not great, but tolerable.

That's not "lowwww" bro.

4X

[Rodonthefly]

I think I had 12 or 13 Saturday. I fished from 7 ish till the horns went off. It was slower for me then it has been

[Rockyraccoon]

I floated yesterday and it was noticeably slower than the last few trips I've had. Fish were hunkered down.....nothing like the normal view of fish darting away from the boat as we passed them. We did better in the deep slow stuff than the good drift lines.

[MadisonBoats]

I fished for about 2 hours Monday Morning. They were a little off pace with the barometer changing because of the storm front moving in. However; I see that it has settled and they should be back in the groove. I landed about 15 and missed just as many.

Fished Friday Evening on the lower end with the water on 2 generators. It was insane. Most of our fish were in the upper teens with only two around 10 inches. We were running up in down the lower tail-water with a motor. The last drift down did have a noticeable drop off in fish takes. It was much darker and I like to think this was the cause. Saw some big striper lurking around too...