Fly fishing the Caney
 

I decided to dive into fly fishing. I'm going Saturday to the Caney and wanted to see if anyone could tell me if it's best to fish Low water or when they are generating. I'm planing on throwing Midges, nymphs or floating flys. Not ready to get into streamers. Other than youtube videos I have no idea what I am doing so any help is appreciated.

I'm not too familiar with the Caney, but I did live in Colorado for 3 years and did my fair share of fly fishing.. this time of year was always my favorite, and considering you're coming from bass fishing I would definitely try to get into streamers... it's exciting, I would get some wooly buggers, BWO's and some zebra midges... That will kind've cover all your bases. Be prepared to lose flies, and have patience. It's very rewarding when you catch your first fish on the fly!

Wade fishing, you're definitely going to want to go on low water.

This is a helpful archive post about how long it takes for the water to rise/fall at various access points when the generators cut on/off at Center Hill: http://www.fishingtn.com/showthread.php?t=6838

Zebra midges under a bobber are an alright place to start. Some YouTube videos on indicator nymphing will probably be more useful than anything I could type on the matter.

Size 10-12 woolly buggers fished the same way can also be effective. Additionally, you can lose the bobber with buggers and experiment with pulling them back in short strips and/or letting them swing in the current. Day in and day out, these techniques are usually not going to land as many fish, but losing the bobber makes casting a whole lot less of a chore. You'll deal with a lot less frustration from tangles, which is a very real consideration when you're learning to cast.

I think the least frustrating way early in the game to work on the cast, catch some fish, and have some fun is to throw some little popping bugs for bluegill anywhere you can find them. They'll take any ol' nymph or small streamer too.

Thanks for the tips Mikey. I floated a Midge under a float for most of the day. I started out in a hole a little farther down from the dam and missed 6 fish, helps if you set the hook down stream I found out. I moved farther down and did nothing really, there is so many lay downs that look great but nothing wanted to take a midge or floating fly.



Later in the afternoon I moved back up towards the dam after everyone left. I floated a midge right there by the ramp where the river narrows. I ended up catching 5 trout on a midge and lost a couple more. I noticed some trout rising and eating little brown gnats so I swapped over to a brown gnat fly and ended up getting two takers on it but I lost one and missed the other. It was a fun day, I can say I'm officially hooked.