An Epic Battle Part 1 (rated PG - Language)

[Rockyraccoon]

An Epic Battle
December 3, 2003

This fall season has been one of high water conditions. Actually, it's not been that wet this fall, but last winter and spring were very wet and summer rainfall amounts were right on average. So, the area lakes have been up since last winter and all the dams have been releasing water constantly to keep status quo. We've all pretty much accepted this since there's not much else TVA can do. Luckily, the Hiwassee is very fishable on full flow and that has been our saving grace. However, at times, I can actually hear the fish calling me to the Clinch River. Well…I suppose that might be a far-fetched statement. Let's just say that the Clinch has magnetic draw to it that constantly keeps me checking the flow schedule for a possible fishing window.

My eyes were strained from staring at the computer monitor all day. I'd been working feverishly, making topographic fishing maps. They are very handy to have, but sometimes not worth all the trouble of building. So I lit up a Marlboro and started surfing a few of my favorite sites as a suitable break from map making. My favorite places pretty much translate into fly fishing sites, which allows me a little water time even when I can't get to the water. I'd lurked around all the message boards, leaving me with the little TVA link left to click before my break ended. At first I thought I clicked on the wrong dam because I actually spotted a few numbers on the flow schedule that were not "2 or more's". After blinking a rubbing my eyes a few times, it was confirmed that I was looking at the flow schedule for Wednesday at Norris Dam. Excitement quickly gave way to strategy when I received a call from my partner, Rusty. Within five minutes we had detailed plans for an early morning mission to the Clinch River.

My phone was ringing at 5:15 this morning. Rusty greeted me with his normal…"Twisted Mister". We spent maybe two minutes discussing the plan and then the wheels went into motion. Get in the shower, dress in layers, let the dogs out, hook up the boat, load gear, stop at Hardee's, haul some ass, and then we were parked side by side at the Peach Orchard. Boat Ramp. The weather forecasts for today called for clouds and cool temperatures. The low in Clinton this morning was 39 degrees, but you don't seem to get too cold when you're layered and busy rigging rods. We rushed through the motions and found ourselves dropping the boat in the water right at 8:00.

TVA's schedule for the day called for 1 turbine from 7am - 12pm, 0 turbines from 12pm - 3pm, and 1 turbine from 5pm - 7 pm. Now, this was a great flow schedule for us, especially considering the constant two turbine flows have seemed to be going on forever. I rowed the boat upstream about 100 yards and we started fishing. We basically had five hours to strip streamers before the water was to begin falling. So that’s what we did, we stripped big streamers with big rods and sinking lines. Very early on I hooked and instantly released what looked to be a rather nice rainbow. Other than that my fishing action was pretty much over until late in the afternoon. Yeah… I missed a few other quick flashes, but nothing was hooked by arm until we we're about ready to take out. I really cheated a shutout today but one fish is a hell of a lot more fish than no fish.

Rusty's results were slightly different than mine. He'd hooked and landed a beautiful 14" brown and a colorful 13" cutbow. Two fish during the first four hours of fishing was incredibly slow, at least I think so. While the fishing action was really slow, we didn't mind at all, since we were getting a rare opportunity to fish low water on the Clinch. We also know while fishing on the Clinch, there's always the chance that the next fish you catch is going to be your fish of a lifetime. I've personally seen hundreds of 20" inchers out there, but occasionally we run into fish that push 25 or more inches in length. With that in mind, we kept swinging our streamers, switching streamers, and scratching our heads.

Eventually, the water fell out from under us and we were left with low water. My mouth always seems to water when I hear low water on the Clinch. We both changed our setups from the heavy streamer rods to our small bug rods. These were 5 weight rods, with 5X - 6X tippets, to #18 and #20 bugs. Now this is my favorite kind of fishing, mainly because you never know what kind and size of fish your little bugs are going to bump into. All the fish on the Clinch will eat the small bugs if you bump them on the nose with it. We drifted down a 200-yard stretch of river that I've always enjoyed. I was surprised when we completed the run without moving any fish. So, I got on the oars and promptly took the drifter back upriver to the beginning of the run. I dropped anchor and told Rusty that we'd sit and wait 15 minutes for the water to drop a little more. It happened like a bolt of lightning, in the sense that it occurred without any warning and neither one of us could help but notice. His indicator slipped quickly under the surface and instinctively his arm raised the rod tip high.

Continued in next post- An Epic Battle part 2

[Rockyraccoon]

An Epic Battle - Continued


Rusty couldn't get the words out of his mouth quick enough…"Man…this is a big fish". I didn't require his verbal warning though because I caught a glimpse of a silhouette and I knew right away that this was going to be a fight. Since we were in slow water, I shipped the oars and made ready with the net. I watched the 5-wt Trident bend to the point that I thought shattering was the only option, but the Large arbor Ross reel would start singing and it cushioned every single run this monster made. Six minutes later, we still hadn't gotten a look at this huge fish. It had bulldogged us upriver on several runs and now it was held up on a rock ledge 15 feet downstream of the boat. Rusty kept constant pressure on the fish while I looked on, waiting to get a glimpse of it.

The fight had been on for at least 5 minutes when I decided to start my stopwatch to see just how long we we're going to have to fight this fish. I say we, because once you hook a fish like this, it's a group effort to try and land it. Rusty managed to gain some ground on the hog when it spotted the boat and sprinted broadside of the boat. It was hauling ass upstream, but as it went by I spotted the identifying characteristic I was looking for, a forked tail. I knew instantly that he'd hooked into a giant carp. I initially told Rusty that this carp was at least three feet long. The look I got of it was quick but the fish was about to confirm my guess and then some. Now, to some, carp are nothing but nasty nuisance fish that they would happily do without. However, we've found them to be quite a blast on the flyrod.

My watch read 11:00 minutes and we began to think that the carp may be tiring because he was making the occasional roll on the top of the water. Now, with us having a good look at the fish, we knew we we're in trouble. It easily pushed 30 pounds and was well over 40 inches. Our nice big boat net wasn't so big anymore in comparison to this carp. Our nets are 48" in length, with a net area of 20" by 14". We knew that we were limited to trying to net either the front of the fish or the tail of the fish but not both. Five weight rods and 5X tippet are great for the trout in our area…even the lunkers, but this fish was pushing the boundaries like I've never seen them pushed before. We managed to pull the fish close to the boat several times but each time ended with the same result…a long 20 to 30 foot run and another sigh as the rod, reel, and line held to turn the carp.

A new plan was a must if we were ever going to land this fish. We came up with the strategy of beaching it in some shallow water. So I carefully oared the boat while Rusty played the fish. Twenty minutes into the fight, I dropped the anchor and hopped in the water with our inadequate net in hand. Rusty on the other hand had neglected to don his waders earlier in the day, leaving him stuck in the boat. We continued to fight the fish, with me getting within three feet of it once. Man was it ugly. Its scales were as large as baseballs and were colored in dark shades of gold and black.

We were 22 minutes into the fight when it was decided that we both needed to be in the water. This would require Rusty to drop the rod to suit up. So he handed the rod to me, with me being reluctant to lose the fish he had fought for 22 official minutes, with at least 5 minutes of undocumented fight time. I began to work backwards onto the shallow gravel bar. Several times I pulled him within ten feet of me. Each time the giant carp would hold for two or three seconds and then turn and burn out half the spool or more. This is when I really got to feel that reel screaming power that Rusty had been experiencing.

Rusty was in the water with our miniscule net at 28 minutes. He managed to snap a picture of me trying to pull the fish closer into the shallows. There were two different times that Rusty got within one foot of the carp's tail. Each time resulted in more of the same, run like crazy and reel him back in slowly. Thirty-three minutes on the watch and we decided that it was time…time to finish this fight. I worked the big carp back into the shallows, and Rusty positioned himself in a way that he could possibly net the fish and push it into some very shallow water. Another good crank on the reel and some heavy pressure on the rod put the carp between Rusty and myself.

It was time. Time to make our move. It was time that keeps playing slowly in my mind. Rusty made a quick dip with the net, I pulled and turned the carp toward the shallows, and the carp slapped his tail against the net, sending a shower of water into the air toward us. It happened so fast! The carp turned off the net and bolted like a shot from a sniper's rifle. The reel was screaming and all I could feel was the burning in my pinky as 80 feet of fly line coursed across it. The fish was still running in a straight line away from us as I realized the fish was about to totally spool us out. With less than four turns of backing left on the reel, I grabbed the handle to keep from losing the fly line and the tension on the other end was gone instantly. It's always a sinking feeling when you watch the line go slack, but this time it was a little more than just the sinking feeling.

Over the course of history, all epic battles have always had a few things in common. First, you always have two worthy adversaries face to face on the battlefield. You also have the environment and elements that factor into the battle. Last but not least, there's always a winner and loser. This battle was no different. In this battle we pitted a 5-weight rod with 5X tippet against a fish that we will now call the BMF, the "bad M#$%*&F*#@$R". We fought a long hard battle from the boat, in the water, and on the shoals. Of course there was a winner and loser. Rusty and I both had visions of our pictures with BMF on the cover of Fly Fishermen or a similar publication, instead we ended up being the losers. BMF couldn't stand the idea of losing and he quickly won the battle against the 5X tippet. BMF emerged as the winner after a fight that lasted 40 minutes.

I know most people were expecting us to have caught a monster brown, or a giant fish of some kind. However, there is some glory to this fight that I thought worthy of a short story. We were both really amazed that we were able to last as long as we did with such a fish fighting us so hard. But, in the end, we were both thrilled to have been a part of such an epic battle. Heck, the fish have to win every now and then anyway just to keep the game interesting. We'll meet again one day BMF.

The End

[Riverman]

Sweet story, Rocky. It`s alot of fun doing battle with them "Arkansas Shiners" .

[Tentwing]

Let me tell ya Riverman, Them " Clinch River Bone Fish" are tremendous fighters. , especially on a 70 year old E.C.Powell cane pole. All ya need is a good drag system, and a size #20 Olive Nantahala WonderBug.

Move your knuckles outta the way and listen to it sing,....zzzzzzzz,....zzzzzzzzzzzz,......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ;D.........Tentwing

[racerx]

It was a real crusher not to get this fish, it was fishing mag worthy all the way, a true monster In the immortal words of buggs bunny "of course you know, this means war"! Next time I will have gaff in hand. If any of you want to join me in hunting down one of these beasts just let me know, I'm always game. I have an 8 weight with SA steelhead line and backing for a total of 175 yds. And, I'm seriously considering a sawed off shotgun...that next un aint gettin away. One more thing, bring Valium, that first look can be a shocker ;D

[Owl]

AAAAAAAAAAAArgh!!!!!!! NO PICTURES? HELLO?
We want pictures!

Great story.

Rusty always catches the big fish!

[Rockyraccoon]

we only took one picture during the fight and that was of me trying to get the carp to beach itself. If Rusty will email me the pic I'll add it to the post, however all you can see is the bent rod...and maybe a lump in the back of my waders !

We'll get him one day!

Rocky