Revenge of the Me

Still being bitter about losing two good sized trout in Oregon some weeks ago, I decided to get my revenge on the Caney Fork - some of middle Tennessee's premier trout water. This was my first trip to the Caney and it took me no time at all to appreciate it's beauty - high forested banks and clear cool water. The width and depth or the river, the moderate strength of the current, and the gravel bottom make this truly ideal trout water. On the other hand, it took me several hours to figure out how to actually catch the fish, but catch them I did:
I had been nymphing with an indicator, one of the new Thingamabobbers which have gotten so many rave reviews. I don't know if the Caney Fork is just heavily fished, but I felt that the indicator was scaring the fish and so I eventually took it off. Anyway, I had some bites and hooked up two fish, one of which threw the hook on a acrobatic leap, while the other simply broke my tippet and swam away. Eventually though, I got my tackle sorted out, pretty much the same rig I use for everything, but with a #20 bead head nymph tied on. I found that the fish were holding in shoals of maybe 10 fish, and so I cast upstream and let my fly drift down through the group. The #20 was too small to see, but I could see the fish chasing it and after a few casts I landed my first fish. My second came shortly after. I let it go without a photo, but Tara took a picture from the bank while I was playing it:

There is some slack in the line - I think the fish may have jumped just before the photo was taken...

The catch of the day!