Southeast Alaska on the Fly - Day One

Ketchikan is an island town in Southeast Alaska.  Located in the Tongass National Forest, the area receives a significant amount of rain, and has a prolific Salmon run.   Once a logging and fishing town, the loggers have long since disappeared, being replaced by the thousands of tourists that flood the small city every day in the summer.  I was born and raised in this area, and a lot has changed.  I guess I'm getting old, because I long for the days when the town was a little more rough and authentic.  The town is one thing, and the area is another.  A person would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful area.  My folks live on Pennock Island; a place some would call "no-where Alaska."  There are no roads, fishermen are their neighbors, and they still live in a small rustic house more akin to a cabin.  I could talk at length about the area, but I guess I better talk about fishing....

The Caney Fork on Father's Day

I drove the kids to Cookeville on Saturday night to spend the night with my Sister. I was able to get away on Sunday morning for a couple of hours to fish the Caney Fork below Center Hill dam. The Caney is known for having really large brown's, but the recent flood in Nashville has really put a dent in the trout population. I did some reading before I left and the only thing people were catching are "stocker brats"......6-8 inch fish. There were also reports of catching stocked brookie's.  

Deep contusions on the HI

I met The Big EZ and The Gubna at 6:30am  in the parking lot at Big Bend. TVA was going to start pulsing 1 at 8am then 2 starting at 11. The Gubna wanted to take me into the Quality Zone on this trip so we hiked downstream to an area called the Stair Steps. The delima I was facing was whether or not I should take my 8 1/2 ft 5wt or just the Tenkara. I decided to just take the Tenkara since I still haven't figured out a good method to carry my normal fly rod. I really need a 4 piece rod. We hiked down about 1/4 of a mile then waded out just above the Stair Steps. The Gubna caught a decent bow within 5 minutes. I tied on a Teds Stone, the current wet fly of the month, at landed a 10 inch bow on my 3rd cast. He put up a really nice fight for a little stocker.....

Toonin the HI

A last minute trip came together and by 2:00 p.m. on Friday we set out from the boat launch in Rob's Toon. It started out slow.  But after about 30 minutes, Ted's Stone fly started producing for me.  Soon Rob got a couple, and just below Snake Island, MP3 found the right combination and dialed in on a handful of nice bows.  We all caught bows that were in excess of 12 inches.  The quality of fish on the HI has improved drastically from a year ago. I lost one that was at least 15 inches, and MP3 lost one that size as well.  MP3 jumped out at Big Bend....

Below the "stairsteps" we dropped anchor and waited for the sulfur hatch. Although the hatch was a little disappointing, the fish were quite active and Rob and I both landed numerous bows on a dry sulfur. Another 1/4 mile down we found a nice run and landed a couple of more bows on sulfurs. 

Toccoa Report

I was able to find a few hours for fishing on Memorial Day. I left the house at around noon, and had a decision to make: where to go. The HI was pushing 2 generators. The Elk was an option, but it's not my favorite river. I settled on the Toccoa hoping to catch a brown. After a rather long drive, I got to Horseshoe Bend and discovered that the river looked like chocolate milk. I drove on up to Curtis Switch. The water was a little better, but not much. I had driven too far not to fish