Post by Tentwing on May 15, 2008 13:12:49 GMT -5
After being in Nashvegas Thursday for the birth of grand baby number #2 
....... ( yeah yeah I know I will post all that in another thread when I have pictures to post along with it ) 
.... ,and staying with the kids Friday and Saturday. Til the nervousness had worn off 
Well.... then came Sunday and i noticed that the generation had slowed on the Caney after pretty much high water all winter 
So,.......I decided to hit the Caney for the first time this year. Within the first hour three things were apparent. First the constant generation had been great for the fish they were all bigger and healthier than I had ever seen on the Caney. Two they were not at all fly shy ;D.................And third I would have to apply the Rule of 17's
The Rule of 17's??
.....Whats that ?? You Say ?? 
....... Well OK here goes 
For me a dozen fish is a fun day, and 2 dozen fish is a great day. You know well worth the gas it took to drive there and time missed at work 24 fish is good, but before you can count number 25 you must catch a significant fish before you can hit that quarter century mark 
And ,.... for me a seventeen inch fish is a significant fish
Now it must be a true 17 incher...... 16 and 7/8.... this does NOT count ;D This keeps a great day from becoming one of those repetitive " Oh well lets see what else they will take " days. So if you fishing for 2 hours and you already at 24, and you decide you want to keep counting. This might force you to take off that "magic bug", and put on a big meaty fly and even look for different water, so you can catch that bigger fish (17+ incher )
This makes the whole trip more fun. You don't use the same fly or the same technique over and over again all day, and catching a bigger fish is always fun too and if your having a really great day and you knock out that second batch of 24 ........ guess what ?? Yep you gotta bust out another big fish to count number 50 ;D
Now I change the rule a little on really great water for instance when I'm on the Norfork or White in Arkansas or even the Cumberland it becomes the rule of 19's because on rivers that good 17 is a just too easy to hit most days.
For instance a few years back we were exiting the water and walking up the bank of RoundHouse Shoals on the White river listening to GrayGhost talk about wanting to buy land out there ( because he had had such a good day) When Petey ask me how I did? I told him " You wouldn't believe me if I told ya" He then said no really how'd ya do? i then said ' Well I had to stop counting at 50" Judging from the look on his face I didn't tell him about the Rule of 19's , cause I don't think he believed about the 50 anyway ;D ;D
Well now back to the Caney. It is fair to say that I had my best day ever for the Caney, and If it fishes like that many more times I might have to start using the Rule of 19 on it instead of the Rule of 17's.......On a sad note there were two bad things about the day. One no fishing partner to share it with, and two I left the camera at the hospital with Miss Cheryl so she could take more grand baby pictures, so the only pictures I got were cell phone pics
Oh yeah your 17 incher can't come in the middle of you dozens. It only counts after you hit 24 or 49 or 74 etc......
Of corse being stuck on 74 aint nothin to complain about ;D..........Tentwing
....... ( yeah yeah I know I will post all that in another thread when I have pictures to post along with it ) 
.... ,and staying with the kids Friday and Saturday. Til the nervousness had worn off 
Well.... then came Sunday and i noticed that the generation had slowed on the Caney after pretty much high water all winter 
So,.......I decided to hit the Caney for the first time this year. Within the first hour three things were apparent. First the constant generation had been great for the fish they were all bigger and healthier than I had ever seen on the Caney
. Two they were not at all fly shy ;D.................And third I would have to apply the Rule of 17's The Rule of 17's??
.....Whats that ?? You Say ?? 
....... Well OK here goes 
For me a dozen fish is a fun day, and 2 dozen fish is a great day. You know well worth the gas it took to drive there and time missed at work 24 fish is good, but before you can count number 25 you must catch a significant fish before you can hit that quarter century mark 
And ,.... for me a seventeen inch fish is a significant fish Now it must be a true 17 incher...... 16 and 7/8.... this does NOT count ;D This keeps a great day from becoming one of those repetitive " Oh well lets see what else they will take
" days. So if you fishing for 2 hours and you already at 24, and you decide you want to keep counting. This might force you to take off that "magic bug", and put on a big meaty fly and even look for different water, so you can catch that bigger fish (17+ incher )This makes the whole trip more fun. You don't use the same fly or the same technique over and over again all day, and catching a bigger fish is always fun too
and if your having a really great day and you knock out that second batch of 24 ........ guess what ?? Yep you gotta bust out another big fish to count number 50 ;DNow I change the rule a little on really great water for instance when I'm on the Norfork or White in Arkansas or even the Cumberland it becomes the rule of 19's because on rivers that good 17 is a just too easy to hit most days.
For instance a few years back we were exiting the water and walking up the bank of RoundHouse Shoals on the White river listening to GrayGhost talk about wanting to buy land out there
( because he had had such a good day) When Petey ask me how I did? I told him " You wouldn't believe me if I told ya" He then said no really how'd ya do? i then said ' Well I had to stop counting at 50" Judging from the look on his face I didn't tell him about the Rule of 19's , cause I don't think he believed about the 50 anyway ;D ;DWell now back to the Caney. It is fair to say that I had my best day ever for the Caney, and If it fishes like that many more times I might have to start using the Rule of 19 on it instead of the Rule of 17's
.......On a sad note there were two bad things about the day. One no fishing partner to share it with, and two I left the camera at the hospital with Miss Cheryl so she could take more grand baby pictures, so the only pictures I got were cell phone pics Oh yeah your 17 incher can't come in the middle of you dozens. It only counts after you hit 24 or 49 or 74 etc......
Of corse being stuck on 74 aint nothin to complain about ;D..........Tentwing
