Ham

I had hoped to fish with Hoglaw, but his work schedule changed and so that did not work out. I did not get out until the afternoon. I arrived at Rim Shoals and got fishing about 1 PM. The cold weather trip with Bret had zapped my energy level a little bit so I wanted it to be above freezing before I hit the water. In the past, I had done an OK job of predicting when water would have reached a certain part of the river. However, my last two trips, I have failed badly to predict when the water is going to be at a spot. I'm sure the physics of water getting downstream did not change. I will have to adjust my thinking. Heavy generation amounts get down river faster. Much faster. Hours faster than light generation. Generation augmented by precipitation or previous generation also gets there much faster. Most of my calculations have been for < 5000 CFS generation. Also, I need to remember that the hourly lisiings are snap shots of the generation. Generation changes DO NOT only occur at the top of the hour BUT The generation change that occurs 10 minutes after the top of an hour is reported at the next hourly reading. For example : Yesterday, the generation of 7970 was first shown at 0700. In the past I have figured on having ABOUT 8 hours from generation until arrival at Rim Shoals where I fished. I rolled up about 12:30 and the "7970" was coming so much as it was there. . Any way you look at it, the water got there much quicker than 8 hours. My guess is that it started not too long after 0600 and that higher flows move quicker and snow melt added to that. I had pre rigged with 1/16 oz jigs because I was sure I would have minimum flow when I got there. I don't like higher generation. I like lower flows, but I was stubborn enough to fish anyway. I didn't even change to 1/8 oz jigs, I just started fishing. I found a hard current seam. I actually threw an anchor on dry ground and kept my boat out of the flow. I threw the little 1/16 oz into the 8000 CFS and it would quickly blow to the seam and drop where a trout would eat it. My third fish of the day was a new personal best Brown trout for me. In my haste to get started, I had failed to get the net out of the back of my truck. I stuck that fish and I immediately knew it was big. I fought it in high current on a barbless hook from a stationary boat and some how got the job done. I quickly measured it at over 22 inches, but not an exact measurement. I got a quick photo and released him to go eat everything in sight. I had the world by the tail there for a little bit. I wasn't fishing anymore, I was catching UNTIL the flow jumped from 8000 CFS to almost 17000 CFS and the water trashed up. My current seam disappeared and my dry ground wasn't dry and I wasn't stationary anymore. I pulled up and relocated to another seam where I caught a couple. I blew downstream and caught a few in the high flow. I did eventually switch to a 1/8 oz. I would find a spot and catch a fish or two from slow water that was less trashy. I found a large area with conflicting currents that kept the trash down to a minimum and caught several more there. I ended up miles downstream and noticed the flow was falling off and the generation pattern shows that. I fished falling water on the way back when I would find a set up. It was slow, but not painfully so. I wanted to hang a 50 burger on them, but I settled for 42. I quit about 4:30 PM