This week it looks like we will actually get some good winter weather. The main question right now is how much snow will we get, but overall things are looking good for some extremely cold air. That means I'm thinking about the shad kill. David Perry over at Southeasternfly saw some coming through a week or two ago, but so far the fish have not seen enough to be keying on them real well.
Besides, when it is truly on, the fish look like little footballs and the largest fish in the river start feeding on the white morsels. With at least the possibility of low temperatures below zero but Wednesday night this week, I'm expecting a full blown shad kill by next weekend if we are going to get a good one this year. That is always a big if.
Depending on whether the temperatures continue to be unusually low or not, the shad kill could go on for a couple of weeks or even into early March. The best year I remember had a good shad kill into March so things could be awesome for a while now.
Even if the shad kill does not get particularly exciting, the nymph and midge fishing has been good recently. When we can get good flows to float (0 or 1 generator), then it is worth getting out on the water. Things should get even better in March so if you are looking for a tailwater float on the Caney Fork in the next couple of months, please contact me and I would be glad to help you get a trip set up.
Featured Photo: Native Colors
Showing posts with label Float Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Float Trip. Show all posts
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Greedy Smallmouth
On Tuesday, I had the good fortune of getting out to chase musky and smallmouth bass and to just enjoy the warm weather we had for a few days. Dan Munger made it over to fish since it was his day off from Little River Outfitters. As always it was great having him in the boat. I also had my buddy Tyler who had not been on the boat yet.
The goal was to chase some musky. Dan did well on his first musky float a few weeks ago and got that first musky out of the way so we were hoping for a repeat performance. Unfortunately the fish had other ideas and we just didn't see very many over the course of the day but then that's musky fishing for you. Of course, Tyler is not convinced that there aren't really such thing as musky in the rivers we fish so we'll have to take him again to show him some fish.
he highlight of the day was when Dan had just cast to a nice rocky ledge. He barely started his retrieve before the heavy fly rod was bent under the weight of a nice fish. I thought for sure it was a nice musky, but he quickly announced it was a smallmouth. After a solid fight, we got the fish in the net and took some pictures. First, notice the size of the fly it hit! The fly was at least 6-7 inches long and perhaps more!
The best part though was that the fish had a large crawdad stuck in its throat. Talk about a greedy fish! It had a big meal and still wanted more.
The rest of the float was uneventful except for the one musky that taunted us by rolling 10 feet off of the takeout ramp as we were approaching it. I guess we'll just have to get back out there sometime soon and try to even the score a little. As we took out the boat, the sunset alone made the whole trip worthwhile.
The best part though was that the fish had a large crawdad stuck in its throat. Talk about a greedy fish! It had a big meal and still wanted more.
The rest of the float was uneventful except for the one musky that taunted us by rolling 10 feet off of the takeout ramp as we were approaching it. I guess we'll just have to get back out there sometime soon and try to even the score a little. As we took out the boat, the sunset alone made the whole trip worthwhile.
Monday, September 08, 2014
Evening Drifting
The main problem with our Caney Fork float trips is that the scenery is nice enough to make you forget to watch your flies or indicator. Last week I was floating and looked up long enough to notice the sky. The fly rod was soon traded in for my camera.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
A Float for Me
Guide's day off trips don't happen as often as I would like. Of course, helping others catch fish is always pretty awesome some I'm not complaining. I guess you could say that I'm simply pointing out that being the one handling the fly rod is nice on occasion. Last week I had a short vacation. My cousin Nathan came up to fish with me for a few days. We started the week fishing for smallmouth, followed that up with a trout float on the Caney, and finished up with some awesome trout fishing over in the Smokies on a day that was all about sheer numbers. In other words, I had an incredible week.
The smallmouth trip was a lot of fun, but neither of us hauled a camera along so there is no photo evidence. I guess that means I can inflate the size of the fish we caught. Really it was a standard smallmouth wade trip with some nice fish caught but nothing to write home about, the kind of comfortable every day fishing that scratches the itch but leaves you wanting a little more.
Day two started out much the same with the main difference being that we were floating in the drifter instead of wading. The generation schedule on the Caney has been a little strange lately. The Corps of Engineers can't seem to decide what schedule is the best so each float is determined the evening before after a consultation of the following day's generation schedule. We figured that we could sleep in a little and still make it in plenty of time to catch falling water.
We dumped the boat and were into fish before I had really gone anywhere. There's nothing like those willing hatchery fish waiting at the ramp to get the skunk off so everyone in the boat can relax and focus on the task at hand. I was at the oars and Nathan was wearing out the fish. By the time we got around the first corner, I had turned the boat sidewise in the soft current so we could both fish. Rowing and fishing at the same time presents a minor challenge but nothing that cannot be overcome. It wasn't too long before I had caught a couple as well and decided to just focus on rowing while Nathan fished. He quickly got several nice brook trout as well as a few rainbows but the nice browns were eluding him.
Eventually he offered to take a turn rowing and I assured him that he could take over at a certain point. I was hoping he would catch a nice fish first but eventually we got to a spot I was dying to fish, and I let him take over rowing duties.
Sure enough, two casts later (seriously, I had barely even got to the front of the boat) something big came up and inhaled the hopper I was trying out. Fighting the fish on one hand and telling Nathan where to row on the other kept me busy but soon the fish was in the net and we could all relax. Nathan took over camera duty while I enjoyed the nice brown trout.
Soon we took off again, and I continued to catch fish on the dropper under the hopper. Nathan eventually figured out how to row and fish as well and started catching some nice fish including his brown for the slam.
Not too long after that we made it to the take out just as the rising water caught up with us. I was glad that we had finished before the water came up too much. Nathan was getting pretty tired by the end. The river can get awfully hot without any shade and a hot summer sun beating down. We were soon on our way back home to get ready for the Smokies adventure starting the next morning!
The smallmouth trip was a lot of fun, but neither of us hauled a camera along so there is no photo evidence. I guess that means I can inflate the size of the fish we caught. Really it was a standard smallmouth wade trip with some nice fish caught but nothing to write home about, the kind of comfortable every day fishing that scratches the itch but leaves you wanting a little more.
Day two started out much the same with the main difference being that we were floating in the drifter instead of wading. The generation schedule on the Caney has been a little strange lately. The Corps of Engineers can't seem to decide what schedule is the best so each float is determined the evening before after a consultation of the following day's generation schedule. We figured that we could sleep in a little and still make it in plenty of time to catch falling water.
We dumped the boat and were into fish before I had really gone anywhere. There's nothing like those willing hatchery fish waiting at the ramp to get the skunk off so everyone in the boat can relax and focus on the task at hand. I was at the oars and Nathan was wearing out the fish. By the time we got around the first corner, I had turned the boat sidewise in the soft current so we could both fish. Rowing and fishing at the same time presents a minor challenge but nothing that cannot be overcome. It wasn't too long before I had caught a couple as well and decided to just focus on rowing while Nathan fished. He quickly got several nice brook trout as well as a few rainbows but the nice browns were eluding him.
Eventually he offered to take a turn rowing and I assured him that he could take over at a certain point. I was hoping he would catch a nice fish first but eventually we got to a spot I was dying to fish, and I let him take over rowing duties.
Sure enough, two casts later (seriously, I had barely even got to the front of the boat) something big came up and inhaled the hopper I was trying out. Fighting the fish on one hand and telling Nathan where to row on the other kept me busy but soon the fish was in the net and we could all relax. Nathan took over camera duty while I enjoyed the nice brown trout.
Soon we took off again, and I continued to catch fish on the dropper under the hopper. Nathan eventually figured out how to row and fish as well and started catching some nice fish including his brown for the slam.
Not too long after that we made it to the take out just as the rising water caught up with us. I was glad that we had finished before the water came up too much. Nathan was getting pretty tired by the end. The river can get awfully hot without any shade and a hot summer sun beating down. We were soon on our way back home to get ready for the Smokies adventure starting the next morning!
Thursday, June 05, 2014
What Happened?
On yesterday's float, we were anchored up in a really good spot and the guys were working hard to nab a few fish. While they were fishing, something strange was spotted floating down the river behind the boat. The slow current eventually brought it right up to the boat. How in the world did this large vulture end up dead in the river? Any ideas? Stories? Original works of fiction involving a dead vulture on a fly fishing trip?
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