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Remember that Warren is going to pick us up at 9 am. Central
time so Mike set's his cell phone alarm to what he though
was 8 am. Central Time. We didn't know Cell Phones change
time zones automatically. Fortunately a call of nature
awoke me about 45 minutes before Warren was to arrive.
When he arrived he was greeted by two half-asleep fly fishing
wannabe's still loading gear into Mike's jeep.
Warren had tied six flies for us two Poppers and two each
weighted Nymph's. Neither Mike nor I had much experience
with nymph fishing and were eager to try them.
Soon we were off with Warren leading the way. We wound
our way through the sleepy town of Normandy to the foot
of the dam. Here Warren led us down stream about a quarter
mile and soon we were knee deep in the Duck River. A truly
beautiful river.
Warren is a gifted instructor. His K.I.S.S method is easy
to understand and put to use. "Cast up stream and across
that deep run, make a mend upstream to help the fly sink,
let the current take your line, and watch your line for
a hook up". It wasn't too long before I had my first trout
on my 'Boo. Hoo Boy! Is this fun!
Mike was having some problems casting and again Warren
applied his K.I.S.S. method and soon mike was catching
trees instead of grass. He was also catching a lot of trout.
About noon the skies became very unfriendly and we decided
it was time to break for lunch instead of waving lightning
rods in the middle of the river. We were having a nice
tailgate party at Warren's pickup when the sky's opened
up with a vengeance and we ran for cover at Warren's home.
Not a bad first morning. I had caught and released three
Rainbows and Mike had scored seven in just a little over
two hours. (I'm a slow learner.)
Shortly after arriving at Warren's the power went out,
it actually went out several time but the last one looked
like it would be our awhile. With no lights to tie flies
or learn how to make furled leaders we headed up to
Lynchburg to visit "Tim's Fly Shop."
left to right, Mike, Warren and Jack
Tim and Warren are good friends and we had a nice visit,
made a few purchases and when the rain eased off took a
walking tour of the town. If you like Jack Daniel's
you will find everything from "T" shirts to fly rod's
with their logo on them.
About five the sky's had cleared and we voted to go fishing.
So off we went to a different section to the Duck River
and one I'll never find again. There are no straight roads,
but we learned there are also no dirt roads in Tennessee.
I guess we were only about 600 yards from that morning's
session and I don't think Warren has ever told a lie in
his life.
As we worked our way down to the river Warren's warning
to "Watch out for snakes" was a little unnerving! We
worked our way upstream this time drifting nymph's through
the fast runs and catching fish. This is where Warren
showed us the art of high-sticking to get the fly deeper
in the faster runs.
I was quickly catching up to Mike's morning count and had
waded out in front of him and Warren. I was cookin', this
was the best day on the water I'd ever had. I spotted what
looked like a promising run and sent a fly it's way when I
heard Warren holler "Hey Jack, I'm proud of you, most guys
just walk right by that one. I pulled five out of there
the other day!" I was not that lucky but had a few strikes.
It was dark when we got out of the river and that "Snake"
thing had Mike and I a little worried. We had both caught
ten Rainbows and lost as many in just a few short hours
of fishing.
Back to Warren's for a great dinner. Ham, cornbread, mashed
potato's, creamed corn, tomatoes and cucumbers. Cold beer
of course.
It was one am when we left for the motel with a start time of
8 am. Saturday. We would return to the Duck on a different
section. Warren felt the Elk would be too crowded and knew
we would get fish on the Duck.
Saturday morning found us a little better rested and up early
enough to have coffee and meet "Pop," the first face put to
a name before they became a member.
Warren led us over to Cortner's Mill and the fishing was
even better. The fish were bigger and Mike and I were
catching on to the tricks of getting them to hand. We
both caught several more before the sky threatened again
(a daily occurrence this time of year).
We headed back to Warren's for some fly tying and furled
leader making. My first leader sort of exploded! But I
managed to complete two, just enough to get me hooked and
turned to "The Dark Side." This evening dinner was on us.
We agreed to meet for breakfast at ten Sunday before we
headed back to Canton, OH. It started raining hard
during breakfast and it was a welcome delay to saying
good bye. It was around 1 pm. (2 pm Ohio time) when
we finally got on the road home.
We arrived back in Canton at 12:30 the next morning.
Two very tired and happy guys. Thank you Warren for
a terrific time. ~ Catcus Jack
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