OBEY RIVER, CLAY COUNTY, TENNESSEE, February 24, 2007, 10:00 a.m.: Sixty-two degrees, overcast, and the water was very low. One could wade forever. The deepest pool was waist deep and most of the time it was ankle to knee deep. I started at Moody Landing and headed downstream. I started with two fly rig: 8 elk hair with an 10 inch trailer 18 FTBH. Although there was visible activity on top, no luck. After fishing the usual spots, I changed the trailer to a 20 black gnat, on top. No luck. As I began to wade into unfished territory, I came across a bend with a deep center that ran under a canopy of trees. The trout were on top, all over, at the same time. I looked like feeding time. After several casts and no strikes, I added an attractor fly, 16 san juan worm, brown, weighted with wet fly dressing, on an 8 inch trailer behind the elk hair. From the worm, I shortened the black gnat on a 6 inch trailer. The cast had no more than hit the water, when the trout took the black gnat trailer. It was an 8 inch stock rainbow that put up quite a fight. I was unusually tired. After releasing the rainbow, I continued to wade downstream rather than cast again. About 100 yards on down, directly below where the road is cut through the bluff, I found a pool that was alive with fish, they were feeding from the top and in some instances, jumping out of the water. What I found unusual, was that the activity did not stop even when I waded close to the fish. After several casts, I replaced the black gnat trailer with a 20 zebra midge. On the first cast, immediate strike. Just like before. The trailer fly had little more than sunk to depth when the trout hit the zebra midge. 8-10 inch stock rainbow. The three fly rig works great for me, with few tangles. I fished for 3 hours with only two tangles. The attractor fly is key. The trailer fly was not effective without the attractor san juan.

Obey River, Clay County, Sunday 3:00 p.m., February 11, 2007. Generally, I fish in the early morning. Today, it was the afternoon, and I had two and a half hours until dark. The water was lower than I had ever seen. The rock bar at Keisling's Bottom was as large as a football field. The only flow was eight to ten feet wide running along the east bank. Past the rock bar, the water was generally six to eight inches deep for as far as one could walk. At different stages down the river there are landmarks. Downstream from the rock bar you first find the tire rim at one hundred yards and then the upside down double sink at about two hundred yards. Today I fished past the sink, down to the steel ladder (probably from the dam or its construction) submerged along the east bank. The ladder is located just short of the bend in the river. Each of these spots is reassuring to the fisherman; providing confirmation of an exact location in the river, much like a GPS. I began fishing down stream with a three fly set up: 10 elk hair on leader with eight inch trailer 18 salmon egg on 7x with a final 4 inch trailer 20 BH zebra midge. With each known landmark, nothing. At the new landmark, nothing. It took an hour to travel the 400 yards. I was 60 minutes into the trip. I crept, bent over, stayed out of the water where possible and created no ripples when I waded. Nothing. After such disappointment, I needed to take a break and collect my thoughts. Just like Jackie Gleason. I removed the salmon egg and decided to fish back upstream with a two fly rig: elk hair and zebra midge. I found no better luck. At 90 minutes into the trip I was passing the tire rim. Just downstream from the rock bar, the water came together at the leaning tree to make a fifteen foot run of current. Under that current was a deep channel. I floated the flies through the current ten or twelve times. Nothing. On the last pass my slack line caught on a rock and pulled the floating line onto the shallow bank. As I stripped it back in a large stock trout exploded from five to ten inches of water to take the elk hair and headed to the channel for deeper water. The hook was set good. I began stripping in my line while the trout played. It did not occur to me that I was standing out of the water on dry rock. I have landed all my fish waist deep in water. For lack of experience, I made the cardinal mistake. I allowed the trout to lay on the bottom in three inches of water. With the leverage gained from being on the bottom, he took one big jump and was off. What heartache and exhilaration, all at the same moment. Undaunted, I quickly cast again. Bam. Fish on. Two in less than two minutes. After a shorter fight, the second trout was off. Two strikes are as good as a catch to one who has been on a dry run for too many months. I had no other luck for the rest of the day. I finished at 130 minutes as the light went to black standing waist deep in water that was as smooth as glass.

CABIN FEVER

I generally believe that it is never too cold to fish however the past few weeks have found me clinging close to the fire. The handy respite has afforded me time to organize my fly boxes and catch up on some reading.

Field and Stream have posted excellent trout articles of late. This one deals with seeking cutthroats high in the Colorado mountains. If the pictures don’t immediately make you want to pack a napsack and a flyrod and head out you have no soul.

The second article is really eye-opening. It is an underwater study of the feeding habits of trout. I am a noob to the world of trout fishing so this article offers a wealth of knowledge. I highly recommend it.

OBEY RIVER, CLAY COUNTY, February 3, 2007. At 4:00 p.m., I waded out below the parking lot to the middle of the stream, knee deep and began drifting flies downstream along the east bank deep channel. I was covering 30 feet of water. I started with a 10 Elk Hair Caddis dry with a 20 Zebra Midge black bead head extended off the bend of the Caddis hook a on a 15 inch piece of 7x. I fished this for one hour. I took a light hit on the Midge at 30 minutes and a hard hit on the Caddis at one hour. I could not set the hook either time. The fish began to feed from the top. I was nearly frozen from the 35 degree weather plus wind chill. As a last attempt, I tied on a 22 Midge Dry black with white pattern. I was so cold it was uncomfortable to tie. As I secured the knot and began shadow casting to release the slack line, I turned to talk to two fishermen who were calling it a day. In turning my head, the line fell, the Midge falling six feet in front of me. No sooner than the fly hit the water, a trout erupted and rolled over the fly. I saw this out of the corner of my eye. I heaved on the slack line floating around by feet in an attempt to set the hook. When I finally found the end of the line, I yanked the hook right out of the trout’s mouth. I was cold and went home.