Finally Success On The Caney Fork

Sorry for the late blogging folks... But anyway I spent that night at Hayes's house on Thursday night with Jack. We were off to sleep by 12:00am and getting dressed at 4:45am. So it was a short night's sleep! We got our gear together in the back of Jack's truck and we were on the road by 5:00am. Behind Jack's truck, he was towing a River Hawk Boat with a small horsepower motor on the back and a trolling motor on the front... Absolutely perfect for the Caney Fork! We drove for about an hour before stopping at a Mcdonalds for some breakfast. After eating, we drove the final fifteen minutes to our put-in at the base of Center Hill Dam.

I tied up a variety of Shad patterns in with .20 gram Lead core, Black Thread, White Streamer Hair, Black Marabou, Olive EP Fibers, and Goggle eyes. I also tied up some Olive and White leech patterns that I thought might be of some success. Earlier in the week, Jack told me that white, olive, and black Clouser Minnows would be a killer fly on the river and as I looked through my material, I realized I had run out of bucktail and I had to butcher a clouser minnow looking type of fly. That was my arsenal. Jack had tied up some of his own personal clouser minnow patterns and these things were mean.... Jack tied up the perfect variety of material in his clouser and they killed it. Hayes (Hazel) had some big white streamer constructed with a lot of white Marabou. Hayes also had some white wooly buggers too. Jack and I both had our fair-share of nymphs too.

The lineup in the boat was Jack up front with the trolling motor, Hayes in the middle, and me in the back. It couldn't have been longer than ten minutes before Jack caught a small rainbow trout and he had also probably "stung" two more. I knew today might be a good day for us! We continued to slowly go down the river casting at the banks and stripping our streamers like mad-men and we would get the occasional follow or look from a small bow or brownie, but none would really commit and attack it like we wanted. Meanwhile, I was busy switching up streamers I had tied... which was stupid now that I look back on it. I couldn't have fished the same fly for more than ten minutes until I found one that worked. But whatever at least we were catching some fish.

We continued to slowly cruise past other fisherman on the bank and finally we got up to a longer and deeper run that Jack said held some fish. So we anchored the boat up and all three of us hopped out and began to fish. I started out at the very top of the run, Hayes took the middle, and Jack took the middle/lower part of the run. Again, three minutes later Jack caught another 10-11 inch rainbow. Hell Yeah! They were here. Jack made his way down the long run and Hayes followed. Hayes hit a deeper hole created by a drop-off from a gravel bar up ahead. I was still fishing the top of the run when I heard Hazel hootin and hollerin about a big fish chasing his streamer. He went after it a few more times but nothing and he opted to move on down the river with Jack. Well I was done with my leech patterns and I put on one of my Shad patterns with the goggle eyes and went to fish this same hole. On my first cast I had a big bow chase my fly... Again, he wouldn't commit to it or attack it but it definitely got his attention. I kept at this fish knowing that he was interested in it already, so just keep throwing it right in front of him until he couldn't resist anymore. This is a very typical thing for trout. Especially bigger trout. Anyway, I never caught him and we all decided to hop back in the boat and move down river.

Again we pulled up to another great looking run and we anchored up again and began fishing. Same lineup as last time, me up top, Hayes in the middle, and Jack middle/lower. On my first couple casts I had a big fish go at my fly but he missed it. So I threw my streamer back at him right away maybe ten more times and he wouldn't go at it again. Man I just can't get these fish in this river. But Jack hauled another one out downstream, so Hayes and I decided we would move down too. I threw my streamer in this long pool/riffle and had four different "hits" from fish. I missed all four!! I was not on my game today... Man I could not get one of these fish attached to my line. But Jack was catching fish and so I was glad to see a good friend catching fish. Something I learned this summer in JH, watching other people catch fish gives me the same pleasure as when I catch my own fish. So I was happy. But still thinking to myself "Keif... they're eating your fly. Set the hook!". But I just couldn't get connected. Well we eventually moved on and Jack hauled out this big boy from the deep with one of his own clousers! It was awesome! The fight was incredible. About a 16 inch rainbow and man was he fat. An absolutely awesome fish!

We continued down river and Hayes caught a little 8 inch Striper and it was pretty cool especially since it was Hazel's first striped bass. As we continued down river, I still hadn't caught a fish, but I was just glad as a group we were catchin' em' and having a good time on the river. A little down river Jack hooked up again on a Pheasant Tail Nymph and caught a beautiful brownie. Another awesome fish!

We had gone as far downstream as we needed to and decided to start heading back upstream. Jack had caught his share of fish and decided to let me take the front of the boat. You don't find a lot of fisherman who will give their "lucky spot" to you so I was thankful. Granted, being in the back of the boat and starting at the top of the pools for most of the day it was likely that I wouldn't catch as many fish, but even when I got up front for the last hour of the trip I still couldn't haul anything in. But whatever! That's fishing... Sometimes it's your day and sometimes it isn't. Either way we all had a great time and I think we might be going back again next weekend. Haha Can't Wait! Awesome trip and stay tuned folks!

Revenge On The Caney Fork

Sure enough I'm going back to the Caney tomorrow morning with Jack and Hayes... Should be exciting.
Supposedly streamers are killing it and of course that's the only thing I didn't try last weekend...But no excuses! Hopefully Jack of "Game Fair Ltd." will be able to give me some pointers on this river. I'm always open to learning new things about fly fishing and really anything in general.

I tied up a lot of olive and white streamers this week and so hopefully we'll tear em' up out there. Pictures and a damn good story tomorrow!

GAMETIME BABY!!

Caney Fork- 1 Keifer-0

Well Sure enough when Chandler and I hit the road it was pouring rain and about 50 degrees. Not so great! But we made the hour drive and got to Happy Hollow access parking lot around 7:30am and began fishing around 8:00am. Before we hit the water, a father and son came up from the river with disgusted looks on their faces.... They were the faces of defeat! :(

I got to talking with them and they delivered the bad news to me. They didn't catch anything, hook anything, or even see anything... Definitely not what I wanted to hear. And these two had fished this stretch before and knew the river pretty well. But we stayed optimistic and walked down to the banks anyway. Chandler took off down the bank with his spinning rod and Rooster-Tail attached to the end of his line. While I waited at the edge of the water looking for brown trout to either be feeding or at least sitting on the grassy bed of the river.

The river looked awesome; it was nice and clean with great looking water and great looking potential for holding browns and rainbows. But the water was low, no question about it. I'd say we were looking at anywhere from 200 to 400 cfs. And this river usually flows around a 1,000 cfs, especially during the rainy spring season.

I set up my first rig which consisted of a white strike indicator, and two nymphs ranging from 2 to 4 feet under it. I had a Scud on top and a San Juan Worm under that. Two (supposedly) deadly flies on this river. I saw no fish in my first twenty minutes of searching and I decided that blind casting into the deeper riffles was probably going to be the key to my success. I began to fish the deeper riffles expecting something to rip my strike indicator down under the water but nothing. Maybe that was the problem, I expected to catch something even though I had never fished there before.

But I continued to fish changing flies like a madman, I literally threw every nymph I had. I went from scuds, to SJ Worms, Prince Nymphs, Pheasant Tails, Zebra Midges, Hairs ear Nymphs, etc... I didn't even realize it until after we were done fishing, that I never threw a streamer. Which I said in my earlier blog that I would, but after seeing the low water I didn't think a streamer would even be worth trying. After a four hours of fishing, I saw five newly stocked brown trout in the 5-7 inch range and a rainbow that jumped out of the water, and he was probably a 13 inch bow. But I couldn't get my fly to him, he was too far out in the middle. After seeing this, we went back up to the car only to see more disappointed men getting back into their cars after also getting skunked.

It was definitely a rough day on the Caney but I'm eager to go back. I know way more now about the river than I did. Sometimes it takes coming back from the trip and recapping in your head what you could have done to be more successful. It wasn't a great trip in the "catching fish" category, but it was a blast to get up early and see a new river I had never seen or fished before.

Now I'll be headed back this Friday with another friend from my grade named Jack. Jack works in the Orvis shop (Also known as "Game Fair Ltd.") here in Nashville, and he has more experience on the Caney than I do so hopefully we'll be able to get into some fish this time. Stay tuned!

P.S. Definitely Pictures this time!! Sorry I keep forgetting the camera!

Practice!!!

Yesterday on the Harpeth was actually really fun. Both friends Hayes and Chandler came with me and although I didn't catch anything on a fly rod, Hayes caught three Smallmouth on a spinning rod. I tried everything from crawfish patterns to little leech patterns and then to a hopper pattern on top, nothing!! But I kept trying and finally I hooked a bass and of course, I wasn't paying attention and I missed him! ****!!! But whatever it was a fun day on the water with two good friends.

After fishing, I realized I definitely need some more practice to get ready for this summer so today I'm going out again after I get my homework done and I mow the lawn, today I'll have my mom's camera too so we'll see if I can get some pics up on here. Wish me luck!

Harpeth River Madness

Today, I'm hooping to get out on the Harpeth River and do a little Smallmouth Bass fishing with my good friend Hayes Brown. Hayes is in my grade and we do a lot of hunting and fishing together throughout the school year. First I'll probably make a stop at Fly South for some new crayfish flies and maybe some fly tying material too!

Not exactly sure what today will bring but hopefully tonight I will have the pleasure of uploading some pictures of Smallmouth Bass on here. The Harpeth River is definitely a fun river to fish and it really doesn't get much pressure at all mainly because it isn't really that great of a river to fish. But it's one of the only ones close to home so it'll have to do. A buddy of mine said he has seen 4lb Smallmouth pulled out of here before so I know that they are lurking around in there.

Smallmouth aren't the only species of fish in the harpeth either, I have caught both Largemouth Bass and Redeye Bass . And some say that there are Rainbow trout in there too but I haven't seen any and if there are, there are very few and they definitely stay out of the shallows because this small Tennessee river would be too hot for them to survive abundantly. But maybe there are, and maybe I'll hook one today.

One thing to watch out for tough while fishing the Harpeth is snakes. Copperheads and Cottonmouth snakes are what you need to look out for. Those things are thick in there! They lay all over the banks under brush and rocks. Just make sure to watch your step and maybe flip over a rock or two before entering the water. I personally don't have that big of a phobia of snakes but I still would rather not get tangled up with either of those species. But besides that, the fishing will hopefully be awesome and I'm lookin' forward to fighting some smallmouth.

Crayfish patterns are my favorite types of flies for this river... I'll be using something like this Bachman's Crawdad fly. I'm stoked to get out on the water and hopefully I'll have some pics to upload later!

Can't Wait Any Longer!

The title explains it all. I am out of patience, all I can think about now is getting out to JH and begin fishing and working. Although I have done more fly fishing here in Tennessee this year than I ever have, the scenery obviously isn't even close to being the same. I just want to be out there already! School is just getting old. As y'all can see, I have to entertain myself in school because I don't know what to do with myself anymore, I have to get out west. Another month and a half and I'll be on the voyage with my momma once again.

Up and At Em!

Whats up everybody! I'm back with another blog about my adventures in Jackson, Wyoming again for the summer of 2012. My mom and I will be starting our two-day voyage back out there on May 26th, the day after my last exam. I can't wait to get out there! Can't Wait! It's going to be another incredible summer with awesome stories, pictures, and VIDEOS!!! I hope...

Sometime in the near future I will purchase a GoPro camera and hopefully be able to get not only some awesome pictures with it, but also some really cool videos of me fishing and just hanging out. I can't wait to get out there and I hope everybody who reads this blog enjoys it. Look forward to beginning my journey out west once again. Take it easy everybody and stay tuned.