The River Report

Today I made my weekly stop by the Caney Fork for a couple of hours and did very well for a change. The river has been tough lately with the fish appearing to be a bit leader-shy. Today was much better, perhaps due in part to my first experience with Fluorocarbon tippet. I finally decided to shell out the extra $$$ and I'm sold. We'll see how it does when the fish get spooky again though.

The action was basically non-stop with seemingly every fish out feeding. My first fish was caught sight-casting. I had an indicator on but cast down and across to get the proper drift and watched as the fish moved over to eat as my indicator drifted over. The indicator never moved but I could see the fish had taken something and the hookset was sufficient to inform me that it had been my fly. After a lengthy battle, a chunky rainbow came to hand.

I was very impressed with the healthy and overall quality of this fish. As the day progressed, the other fish that had obviously been in the river awhile all seemed in equally good healthy. Based on what I'm seeing now, as long as no disasters occur, the Caney Fork should fish exceptionally well this coming fall and winter. I'm expecting lots of good browns to be caught this next October and November so plan your trip now.

After the first nice rainbow, I continued working up the river catching fish in just about every spot and seeing even more fish. I could have stood in one spot the whole time and caught fish but I like to keep moving around. After I had fished up as far as I wanted, I started to work back down as a storm was approaching. Lightning and graphite rods don't mix well and I wanted to get out in plenty of time. One spot needed special attention as good fish had been working on my way up but wouldn't commit to my fly. The first cast on the way down nailed the fish which turned out to be a beautiful brown. This fish I consider my consolation prize for the day.

As I fought this fish, my thoughts turned to the big fish I had missed. When I first got on the river I had hooked a large brown, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 inches. It threw the fly before I could get it on the reel and left me staring at the spot where the great fish disappeared. It was particularly tough to lose because I have been trying for this fish for around a month now. I know where it likes to feed and today was the first time I was able to hook it. Thankfully there's always another time and I'm sure one of these days I'll land it as long as someone doesn't haul it out of the river.

Once I landed the consolation brown, I paused just long enough to get a couple of pictures before the release. The fish surged back to its home to be caught another day. The lightning was closer by this time and I got out of the river and made it to my car before the downpour started, satisfied by a nice bit of time on the water...

East Tennessee

Originally planned as a South Holston trip, the Watauga was added into the mix when we discovered that they would be generating in the afternoon on the SoHo. I had been looking forward to this trip for awhile and stayed up tying flies the night before. It pays to be prepared and you can never have too many sulphur patterns.

Sunday morning I was up at 4:00 (central) and headed out the door shortly thereafter to meet my fishing buddies on the east side of Knoxville by 7:00 (eastern). The drive was uneventful but the night before I had another of my premonitions indicating good fishing was sure to follow...and it turned out to be right again. We got to the South Holston by 9:00 and were soon fishing. I got things going quickly with a few stocker 'bows and then spooked a large brown. We worked down the river with everyone catching a few and then the pulse started to come through. The water never got too high and we stuck close to the edge of the river and then worked a bit farther down to continue fishing as the water slowly dropped back out. The rush of cool water seemed to slow things down briefly but it provided the apparent trigger for the sulphur hatch to start and soon the fish were nailing our nymph patterns as the sulphur nymphs started drifting in preparation for hatching. Soon the adults started appearing on the water and things just got better. The day became truly spectacular as fish after fish fell to our dries and nymphs. We had lots of doubles and even a few triples which tells you just how good the fishing was. My buddy Kevin took big fish honors on the SoHo with a nice brown of probably 15 or 16 inches that took his dry softly and then battled for awhile until we got it in the net. I missed at least two good fish but it wasn't the day for a big fish on this river for me.

Kevin's nice brown...

After fishing up until just before the generation was scheduled to start again, we headed back to the car and then off to find some lunch. After grabbing a bite to eat, we headed over the the Watauga to check it out. I hadn't been there before but Trevor assured us that it would be worth our time. It turned out to be an excellent decision as the fishing was just phenomenal. Despite dodging lots of water snakes and lots of lightning, we caught plenty of fish and I enjoyed my first time fishing this river.

Trevor fighting a hefty rainbow...

We finished up the day at a heavily used access and I finally got my nice fish for the day. I was fishing a series of deep and very swift runs with a big Tellico nymph. Working almost to the top of one run, I cast up above it to allow my fly to sink all the way to the bottom of the run. Suddenly my line stopped and then darted upstream. Pulling back gently but firmly, I found what felt like a good fish attached to my line. Thankfully I was able to get it on the reel before it really took off and then the battle was joined. The fish bulldogged at first and then made short scorching runs downstream with my reel screaming. The fish finally came up and rolled a couple of times allowing me to realize that it was a nice rainbow. Eventually the fish tired and I worked it into the shallows where Kevin helped me land it and then we got a couple of pictures before watching it swim away. This spot proved good for a nice brown and another good-sized rainbow in addition to some smaller fish. I also had another big rainbow on but the fly popped out as I was applying a lot of pressure trying to keep it out of the rapids.

My nice Watauga 'bow

Shortly after this, another storm was approaching and we all hurried back to the car and decided to call it a day. The trout of East Tennessee will be glad we don't make it up there often as we all caught lots of fish over the course of the day.

Tour de Rockies

No it isn't a bike race... Originally supposed to be a Yellowstone trip (to go fishing of course), my trip west is starting to gain momentum and destinations. Colorado is most likely being added and hopefully this means I will once again fish the Gold Medal waters of the Gunnison for big hard-fighting rainbows and browns that will bulldog deep in the strong current. My last experience with this special place left me yearning for more and it looks like it might happen.

Remember this fish? A nice rainbow from the Gunnison...

This year will bring a new experience for me on this stream. Supposedly the terrestrial fishing is excellent in August and the way things are looking, the flows shouldn't be too bad this year as compared to last year where I was chucking heavy nymphs along the banks. Even with last years high water I still caught around 20 fish in probably 3 hours with lots in the 14-16 inch range and one big brown pushing 18 or 19 inches.

Hopefully I'll be able to hit some small streams for Cutthroat in Colorado also. If I'm really lucky I'll get my first shot at the Greenback Cutts in Rocky Mountain National Park. The chance to add another strain of Cutthroat to the list is one that will be hard to pass up. Of course, when one covers as much ground as I will be, interesting ideas start to develop. For instance, how many different types of Cutthroat could one catch on such a trip? I can think of several and maybe it will happen. Time will only tell...

I could go on and on about how tough life is when you have to fish as much as I do, and I could mention a few more of the streams I hope to fish where the average trout is around 5 pounds, but probably it isn't my place to make everyone jealous. Did I mention I'll be on the South Holston in a week or two? This should be a fun fishing trip since I've never fished it in the summer... In the meantime, I absolutely must start cranking out some flies.

Current Fishing Report:
Not all fishing is in the distant future. Today I hit the Caney Fork for an hour or two and did okay catching several fish. Once again I saw some bruisers but as usual they were excessively spooky. I even dropped down to 7x for awhile and it didn't seem to make a difference. However, persistence is key and one of these times I'll catch one. Today I got chased off the river by lightning so maybe I just need to put in more hours. Back to the river on Sunday so check back for a more enthralling report...

More From Oklahoma

Oklahoma can get pretty interesting once the sun goes down. For starters, the sunsets can be spectacular. We didn't get to witness any particularly interesting ones but they were quite nice still.

As the darkness deepens over the landscape, the creepy crawly critters come out to play. I've always been intrigued by snakes despite a rather healthy respect for them. This has led to the enjoyment of slowly driving back roads at night after the sun has gone down looking for new and interesting snakes to photograph. My goal is generally to find a rattlesnake but usually the best I can come up with is a copperhead. This night was no different from the norm except that the copperhead I found had a serious attitude problem. The little guy wanted to chase me around. After getting back in the car and letting the snake cool down a bit, I cautiously got out again and this time it stayed still for some decent pictures.

Getting chased around the dark Oklahoma countryside is tiring business and shortly thereafter I retired for the night. The next day would bring slower fishing but I did manage the best bass of the trip, albeit not very large.

A stroll down a country road allowed me to check on the local bovines. They all seemed to be doing rather well but were very curious. I decided maybe they just wanted their pictures taken and obliged with a few shots.

I'm always glad when the cows are behind a good solid fence. There were a few frightening experiences I had earlier in life involving free-ranging cattle hanging out on roads I was travelling. The funniest was when I was headed south back to Arizona from Moab, Utah. I was rolling through the Navajo reservation when suddenly, ghostly colored forms appeared to be floating all around me. Probably the sheep and cows were more frightened than I was but you probably won't be able to actually convince me of the fact. Whatever the case, ever since I've believed that the place for such creatures is behind a fence, or at least, not wandering the highways in search of some poor traveler to terrorize.

Scheduled for the fourth day of the vacation was a trip to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska. Normally we slowly drive the roads through the preserve, viewing plenty of bison in addition to the wide array of local birds. This particular day the bison were not cooperative. The nearest we came was probably a solid half a mile away. The scenery was still nice though and well worth our time.

I decided ahead of time that the last day would be dedicated to the long rod. By mid afternoon I finally got away down to the creek and started fishing. Right away I had a nice fish on the popper but then things slowed down. Finally I settled on the popper with a simi seal leech dropper and this seemed to be the best solution. The gar never did come around much so I didn't really get any good shots at it. The panfish were more than cooperative though and made the afternoon enjoyable.

As always, it was a great trip to Oklahoma. Hopefully I'll be able to return again in the not too distant future. I'm usually doing pretty good if I can make it out there every couple of years so we'll see. In the meantime, I'll be trying to figure out what exactly gar eat and how you go about catching them...

A Caney Outing and Vacation

The first of at least two summer trips for me has finally rolled around. Tomorrow I depart for Oklahoma and while I won't be sampling its trout waters this trip, I will be spending an inordinately large amount of time down at a small creek casting for whatever is out swimming.

Since it will be a while before I get close enough to a trout to be dangerous, a stop at the Caney Fork River seemed in order today. I was passing through on my way home from Nashville and stopped to fish for about 3 hours. Enough fish were fooled to keep things interesting but the severe headache I got kept me from doing too much damage. Word of advice for the day, stay hydrated if you want to catch lots of fish. If you don't, your reflexes will suffer... Several large fish were spotted throughout the afternoon and I got a few to eat but my feeble attempts at setting the hook (this was later in the day once the headache had developed) only worked on one of the better fish, and this was nowhere near the largest. Despite my troubles, I had a nice outing and then went home to sleep off the migraine.


Another recent stop at the river was good for this nice brown.

As you can see, the fish are healthy and quite colorful. As long as a catastrophe doesn't occur, this fall should bring excellent fishing with lots of good-sized fish. With this river it can be tough with the late summer and fall dissolved oxygen posing a problem. We can only hope...

I'll hopefully be bringing reports on my warmwater exploits in Oklahoma within a few days so stay tuned for details...

Epic Day

This week started just as most weeks do during the summer with me going to work on Monday to make some $$$ to pay for school next fall. However, I had two days off, Thursday and Friday. I planned to make the most of my time by making another trip to the Smokies. Most likely I won't be able to go again for awhile so I wanted to do something slightly out of the ordinary. A backpacking trip fit that bill well but I got lazy and decided to just car camp at Elkmont instead.

Thursday found me at Elkmont campground setting up camp in the afternoon and then off for the evening hatch. Despite casting over numerous risers and hooking up several times, I only managed a couple of fish. During a stop at a nice hole that I hit for large fish, I lost my last large Tellico to a big rainbow that snapped the 6x like a twig as the fly hit the water. It would have probably gone an easy 16 inches and perhaps 18. "At least it can't get much worse in the catching department" I muttered to myself. Surely the next day would yield different results, it just had to.

A great nights rest in the woods found me completely refreshed the next morning. I woke up and finally crawled out of my sleeping bag, then put together a quick fire to ward off the morning chill and sat enjoying the cool mountain air. Easy enjoyment when you have a nice hot fire. As I sat there, something clicked. Today was going to be like no other. Each year I have some good days and some great days. This would be one for the ages. I tied a few Tellicos in case I would need them but I was hoping the fish would hit dries.

After a quick breakfast and packing up the camp, I wandered over to the Little River Trailhead and started hiking. Just a short distance into my hike, something else clicked. I would see a bear for the first time while out hiking and fishing. I've seen plenty from the car but none while out fishing and hiking before. This was a strange revelation because there was really nothing to make me think this, yet the thought persisted and was so strong that I really just had no other option than to believe. With this in mind I kept hustling up the trail at my usual fast pace. I passed many fisherman on my way and was doubly thankful that my plans involved a good hike.

After hiking for about an hour and 15 minutes, I finally was in the vicinity of where I wanted to fish. I slowed down and watched for a good place to get in the stream. An opening in the solid thicket between me and the creek finally showed itself and I quickly scrambled down to the stream. I sat down on a rock to look around and make my first fly selection. A yellow stonefly buzzed by about that time so I pulled out an imitation. As I was tying it on, I eyed the little pool just below me. There it was, the obvious rise of a fish taking something on or very near the surface. I slowly moved down and made the short cast with only a couple feet of line out. The very first cast rewarded me with a chunky little rainbow. Slight nervousness set in as I snapped a picture of the first fish of the day. A fish on the first cast is NEVER a good sign. But then I remembered. I KNEW I was going to have a good day. I made another four casts before the next fish hit, just on the other side of the little pool beneath the other main current tongue. Relaxing, I allowed myself to take in the moment and just enjoy the day.

I kept working up the stream and surprisingly caught a brook trout before any browns. "Just one more fish for the slam" I thought. Then it was rainbows again for awhile, constantly falling to the dry with reckless abandon. Finally, at fish number twenty I saw the buttery brown flash I had been watching for. After a quick picture for documentation, the fish slid back into the current and was gone.

Moving quickly, I covered a lot of water before I decided to take a break for snacks. It was great to take off the small hydration pack and relax beside the stream for a few minutes. The brilliant green hues of spring merged with the foaming white water above the small plunge pool to paint a perfect picture. A few minutes were spent trying to recreate the scene with my digital camera but in the end, I knew you just can't reproduce a picture like that. While I was eating, I noticed some bugs starting to hatch a bit more consistently.

If the fish had been looking up before then, they were doing so even more now. Once again I started moving quickly up the stream. A couple of casts here and three there and it was time to move on again. I didn't want to miss out on this golden opportunity of perfectly stupid trout. And the number of fish just kept rising, 30, 40, 50. Somewhere in the forties I surpassed my best fishing day in the Smokies and with my 56th fish it was officially my best day ever personally. I don't know why but for some reason I kept fishing. I've had other days where the pace of catching was just as good but I quit fishing after catching 40+ fish or moved elsewhere to seek a greater challenge. Today, I just enjoyed the moment. At one point I jokingly wondered to myself if I was going to get to 70. When fish number 60 came to hand it became a legitimate possibility. Finally, as I was approaching the point where I would get out and hike back, number 70 hit and came to hand.

I couldn't believe it. My best day of catching (notice I didn't say fishing, its not all about the catching always...) was finally done, or so I thought. In the end, the fishing part was done and in the excitement, I forgot that I was going to see a bear. Or maybe I was just hoping it was a silly thought. Regardless, when I rounded a bend shortly into the hike back, I was still surprised to actually see the large bear wandering around in the trail. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAIL... "What now" I wondered. I had to get back to my car and I was exhausted. Seventy fish in 6 hours is hard work on anybody and I still had to make the two hour drive home. I thought for a couple of minutes and remembered that you should make noise so the bears know you are around. He was still around 200 feet off so I started whistling and then slowly waved my arms so he could see me. Bears have poor eyesight so I bent down to pick up a couple of rocks to toss in his direction. When I stooped over, he realized how big I was and took off up the hill. Glancing nervously at the spot where he had evaporated into thin air, I hurried on past and back towards my car. As the last bit of daylight was leaving, I made it back to my car.

I still can't believe everything that happened yesterday. Some of it is just too crazy. Even the 70 fish and especially the bear, the part where I knew I was going to see one. That's the way the mountains are though. They always provide great moments. You can just count on it. That is probably why I keep going back. The fishing is a great excuse though and next time I get a chance, you'll find me hustling up a trail away from the crowds to find the pristine wilderness experience I left up there somewhere.

Annual "End of School" Trip

The last week has been very busy for me. Semester finals and the end of school meant it was time to go fishing for a few days. Each year I do a trip, sometimes brief, sometimes long. This year I had planned a long weekend in the Smokies. The weather forecast was for a 60% change of rain for Friday night and Saturday. Usually this means you will have some showers or storms but they will not last too long. Throw in a variable in the form of the Trout Underground's Tom Chandler visiting on his yearly Tennessee trip and you should expect a significant rain event. Significant rain is usually not good for the streams. Little River still looked like this on Monday.

I had forgotten the strange effect he has on Tennessee weather so I went ahead with the camping trip. Thankfully, we had changed from a backpacking trip to just car camping at the last minute and this made things much better.

I met my cousin and his girlfriend at Little River Outfitters in Townsend before driving up to Elkmont to camp. This gave me the opportunity to drop off my St. Croix Legend Ultra that had broke just days before to be sent back to St. Croix for repair. After getting fixed up at LRO, we went and set up camp.

Friday evening included the traditional drive around Cades Cove to gawk at the everpresent wildlife. After seeing plenty of deer and turkeys, I managed to get a few minutes of fishing in on Abrams Creek. This nice trout took a #16 sulphur parachute pattern.

A few other fish came to hand on nymphs and then it was back to camp for a hot meal. We sat around the fire sipping hot cocoa and roasting marshmellows, enjoying the warmth in the cool mountian air. Then it was off to bed, presumably to wake up to a nice day. Instead, it started raining at some point during the night and didn't let up until well into Saturday afternoon. I can't complain though because my Big Agnes tent kept me dry the whole time and the streams never really got blown out.

Saturday morning, we finally got up in the light rain and cooked a huge breakfast that included the staples of eggs and hashbrowns. Once again, I was glad I wasn't backpacking. We then all piled into my car to drive over the the North Carolina side to drive a small park road up Straight Fork and then back down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Straight Fork turned out to be a beautiful little stream and I got in some more fishing time. Only a few minutes were necessary to catch several rainbows and one brown, all on a Tellico nymph.

I also saw this nice March Brown flying around. We continued on up the road only to find a "Road Closed" sign blocking our way. So we drove back down and then headed back over the hill. As we came over the ridge, we saw just why mountains are named "Smoky." Shortly after this, I got a few minutes on a brookie stream and caught this beautiful fish while wet wading in the chilly 51 degree water.

The rain had finally quit so we went back to camp and started putting a fire together to cook supper. After a bit of effort splitting wood to get dry kindling, we had a great fire going and supper was soon cooking. We were tired and so we just ate and went to bed.

The next day I had made plans to fish Deep Creek with a buddy. He showed up promptly at 10:00 and we drove over the hill. I had fished upper Deep Creek before but this was my first trip to the lower end. It proved to be a beautiful stream full of healthy rainbows and browns. The fish seemed to all be sitting down on the bottom and despite what turned out to be a gorgeous day, would not take our dries. Tellico Nymphs accounted for plenty of fish however. Later, we drove back to the Tennessee side to hit the evening hatch at Metcalf Bottoms. The fishing here was excellent. I caught rainbows and browns and broke off on a couple nice fish. The hatch was incredible as well with Yellow Sallies and Sulphurs (two types) coming off in large numbers plus lots of other random bugs. Most of my fish here came in the heavier pockets and runs but I managed a few on dries as well.

Monday was my last day in the mountains and I decided to just fish Little River. I packed up my stuff and tied a few Tellico nymphs before heading out to fish. The fish were cooperative again but they were still on the bottom. Tellicos and George Nymphs accounted for most of my fish. I got a nice brown to eat a midge in one of the large pools on Little River but didn't get the hook set. Later I broke off on a good fish in heavy pocket water. The nicer fish were obviously feeding but catching them was a different story.

There were more snakes around then I care to ever see while fishing...

Overall, this was a great trip!