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Floating the caney

Urban_Hunter said:
Never done it. Looking for any and all suggestions. Two dudes in Kayaks with light spinning gear. I'm guessing rooster tails? What to look for in the generation schedule? Looking for trout
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Check the generation schedule. Rooster tails work pretty well usually. I like white with black specs for color.
 
Urban_Hunter said:
What am I checking for in the generation schedule exactly 😬
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In my experience they don't bite very well unless there's at least 1 gen running, and 2 is sometimes better.
You don't wanna go if it's more than 2 running.
 
I spent a lot of time in that river when I lived in TN and I am almost exclusively a kayak angler. That being said, I would not recommend you float it when even 1 generator is running. Especially during cold months. There are a lot of trees laying down that you may barely see on higher water that could flip a kayak. Please don't do it.

Those trout bite just fine with 0 generators running. Rooster tails and Trout Magnets will keep you busy.

This is the time of year to float it. In the Summer that river turns into the cold tailwater equivalent of a booze cruise. It's filled with drunks on tubes and kayaks coming by you in waves of 50+ from just after sunrise to sunset. Luckily that goes away after Summer.
 
MidTennFisher said:
I spent a lot of time in that river when I lived in TN and I am almost exclusively a kayak angler. That being said, I would not recommend you float it when even 1 generator is running. Especially during cold months. There are a lot of trees laying down that you may barely see on higher water that could flip a kayak. Please don't do it.

Those trout bite just fine with 0 generators running. Rooster tails and Trout Magnets will keep you busy.

This is the time of year to float it. In the Summer that river turns into the cold tailwater equivalent of a booze cruise. It's filled with drunks on tubes and kayaks coming by you in waves of 50+ from just after sunrise to sunset. Luckily that goes away after Summer.
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Well said!
 
scn said:
Well said!
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I wish there was a reasonable way TWRA could manage use of the Caney in the Summer between kayak shuttle floats and fishermen. Maybe only allow it between certain hours and leave some hours nice and peaceful for fishermen?

I get that it's their river too but I just don't like our trout stamps funding a party river.

We moved in 2016 but by then it was already getting out of hand. On a visit to see family in the Summer of 2023 we stopped at Happy Hollow to eat lunch and I was so disappointed in what I saw.

The serenity of the Caney Fork has been ruined by all the kayak shuttle companies. Sunrise to sunset it's wave, after wave, after wave of 20-50 kayaks. People drunk as heck, trashing the river and making a bunch of noise.
 
scn said:
I totally agree that the canoe companies have ruined the Caney. But, the trout license, stamp) dollars have zero to do with those companies. They merely support the hatcheries and the trout stocking.
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Oh I know the trout stamp dollars have nothing to do with the companies. I meant I just hate that many of those dollars go towards stocking trout in a river that is a great trout fishery but is being taken over by large groups of kayak shuttles. So the nice trout fishing experience, that I certainly don't mind paying for via the trout stamp, is being ruined by the hundreds of kayakers floating that river every day.
 
MidTennFisher said:
Oh I know the trout stamp dollars have nothing to do with the companies. I meant I just hate that many of those dollars go towards stocking trout in a river that is a great trout fishery but is being taken over by large groups of kayak shuttles. So the nice trout fishing experience, that I certainly don't mind paying for via the trout stamp, is being ruined by the hundreds of kayakers floating that river every day.
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The trout are used to kayaks! Fish on!
 
MidTennFisher said:
Oh I know the trout stamp dollars have nothing to do with the companies. I meant I just hate that many of those dollars go towards stocking trout in a river that is a great trout fishery but is being taken over by large groups of kayak shuttles. So the nice trout fishing experience, that I certainly don't mind paying for via the trout stamp, is being ruined by the hundreds of kayakers floating that river every day.
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Same thing happened to our mountain wma's except a nonstop roar of atv riders. They've destroyed the land, left trash everywhere and ruined what used to be a really nice area. It's so sad
 
Well until they make some kind of rules/cost on non powered boat/floats it will continue, same thing on the wma's and sxs folks with nothing to do but ride around and make mud holes
 

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