Caney Large Browns

[BlueRaiderFan]

Got this off of another board posted by Grumpy:

They shocked from the dam to Happy recently & turned up 1 24" brown in that whole stretch as "big fish", they've either migrated down or bubba has hauled them all out. I've watched them shock before & they do a thorough job.

[Flat Fly n]

As long as it's legal, "bubba" has that right. I would rather see a big fish thrown in a cooler to be eaten later, than these sports "play" a 16" fish for 15 min. and then quickly release them back only to die.

Bubba pays for his stamp as well and as long as he is within the law i.e. the slots and limits, who cares.

Those fish are still there. Do you think TWRA and all there shocking efforts knew that monster was in the S. Holston?

[BlueRaiderFan]

I don't think there are that many Browns in that area. I've elecrto shocked for fish before and it's fairly thorough, then again, that is a big river. I think the Caney should have a longer minimum on browns and brooks and maybe a catch a release only section. Nothing wrong with taking a legal fish. I just think that most fly fishermen would release rather than keep a large brown. Playing a fish to exhaustion for fun is definitely wrong. My family has bubba's and world class engineers and diplomats. All good people. I think Grumpy was refering to the local guys that poach on the Caney. I've seen it myself. I don't think it was directed at a socioeconomic group in general. Grumpy does not come across as elitist to me. Just my 2 cents.

[David Knapp]

Last fall's spawn was very unfortunate on the Caney. I believe there are still decent numbers of large fish but LOTS of them were taken out by catch and keep crowd because the fish were so easy to target when they were on the shoals... I would be strongly in favor of closing portions of the Caney during the spawn like they do on the SoHo even if the fish aren't spawning very successfully just to protect the adult fish while they are vulnerable...

[waterwolf]

Having ridden the front a shocking boat many many times on the Clinch, and seeing how effective it can be at getting a good understand of what is around, I believe them. The Caney got so much pressure last year, and is much smaller then the CLinch, it is easy to see how they could be gone.

When we used to shock the Clinch 3 nights a week, we would turn some massive fish. Biggest two being 33.5 lbs and 34 lbs. This was back in the mid 90's, and I do not think that there are as many that size as there used to be.

With that said, even though TWRA took a baby step forward, we are still a long way away from properly managing our tailwaters.

[milligan trout degree]

Originally Posted by Flat Fly n

Those fish are still there. Do you think TWRA and all there shocking efforts knew that monster was in the S. Holston?

Yea I do believe they knew fish like that were/are there.

[ChemEAngler]

Originally Posted by Flat Fly n

As long as it's legal, "bubba" has that right. I would rather see a big fish thrown in a cooler to be eaten later, than these sports "play" a 16" fish for 15 min. and then quickly release them back only to die.

That is quite frustrating. One time on the Clinch this guy across the river had a fish on that made multiple long distance runs. I mean this guy's drag was screaming as the fish tore downstream. When he finally landed it, about 10 minutes later, it was every bit of 13". All I can figure is that he had his drag set so low that he and everybody around could hear it sing....

Regarding people keeping fish, as long as they are within the limits of the law, I don't have a problem with it. Now, I do have a problem with somebody keeping a limit of 24" fish that they caught while on redds. To me that is not ethical. However, I do keep the TWRA poacher hotline on my cell in the event that I do see something illegal.

[snaildarter]

I'll just remind everyone that the trout in the Caney Fork are all stockers. They can't reproduce there, unlike the hordes of big smallmouth that the dam mostly eliminated. They are only there because TWRA rasises them on trout chow and dumps them off a truck into the river. Much more like an agricultural operation than some wild, freeflowing trout river. To me it's irrelevant whether the trout are caught on corn and hauled out by Bubba, shot with a bow and arrow, gigged off a red, or caught on 5x and gently released. It's like hunting on a stocked game farm: fun and all that, but morality has got nothing to do with it. I rarely fish tailwaters that are too screwed up to have natually reproducing fish. To each his own, I guess.

[BlueRaiderFan]

Some trout on the Caney must survive to reach the limits that they do. I've seen some large browns come out of that river that obviously survived a couple of years or so. No way they let them get 20" plus in the TWRA tanks. Most riviers in Tennessee depend on stocking trout to allow fishing for them. Unless I go to the Smokies, I can't fish for wild trout in Tennessee, that I know of. I see no problem with having a catch and release only section on that river. Some of the trout released in it do survive and grow to large sizes.

[David Knapp]

Originally Posted by snaildarter

I'll just remind everyone that the trout in the Caney Fork are all stockers. They can't reproduce there, unlike the hordes of big smallmouth that the dam mostly eliminated. They are only there because TWRA rasises them on trout chow and dumps them off a truck into the river. Much more like an agricultural operation than some wild, freeflowing trout river. To me it's irrelevant whether the trout are caught on corn and hauled out by Bubba, shot with a bow and arrow, gigged off a red, or caught on 5x and gently released. It's like hunting on a stocked game farm: fun and all that, but morality has got nothing to do with it. I rarely fish tailwaters that are too screwed up to have natually reproducing fish. To each his own, I guess.

The Caney Fork brown trout will spawn and based off of last fall, they can do it successfully if we could just get some consistent low flows for a long enough period of time... The large browns would still be throughout the upper river if the majority weren't taken off of redds while they were vulnerable...