Lure selection is pretty straightforward. In-line spinners are a huge producer of trout. They look like small baitfish trying to get away, and few things catch a trout’s attention faster. The Rooster Tail line is my choice because they don’t twist the line as bad as some others.

When using in-line spinners, make sure you have the Caney Fork’s three “go-to” colors in your box. These colors are olive, black and hot pink. The hot pink is a great early springtime color. Although they are harder to find, I like the 1/6-ounce size because they will get to the bottom of a run even if the dam is generating and the water is running high.

Other good choices in artificial lures are small spoons in gold or silver and small Rapala crankbaits. The crankbaits seem to work best in a blue back/silver bottom color combo. Every year, there are many huge trout caught by anglers who troll with the smaller crankbaits when the generators are running water. It’s a deadly tactic.

Fishing with spinning gear here is not just a “chunk and wind” operation -- not if you want to catch as many fish as possible. One thing that I see clients doing is fishing too fast with the Rooster Tails. The blade does not have to be spinning to catch fish. In fact, especially on the Caney, I would rather retrieve so slowly that the lure rides slightly above, and at times bounces off, the bottom. If you try to keep the blades turning, you’re retrieving too fast and missing fish.

Lure presentation, as a rule, is much like bass fishing: You find structure and fish it. A stump, islands, eddies and deep runs are prime targets for the spin-fisherman.

FLY-FISHING
Before we can really discuss the most popular method for catching Caney Fork trout, which is fly-fishing, we must first talk a bit about the aquatic life found in the river.

Thanks to the water flow and constant temperatures of the released water from the dams, there are healthy populations of aquatic insects in the river.

You will find scud, sow bugs, caddis, crane flies, and black flies are the predominant insects on the river. There are hatches of blue-winged olives as well; in fact, they are becoming more common. Along with the abundant insect life comes a host of shad, minnows, crickets and hoppers that always catch fish.

Since the river is now teeming with aquatic life, the fish quality has, of course, skyrocketed as well. According to the TWRA, there is a plan in place to install a turbine that will run constantly providing a steady flow rate of 200 versus the 125 we see now. This is great news for the fishery and the anglers who frequent it.

Fly-fishing the river is the most popular method as of late. That can be contributed to the improved dissolved oxygen levels and the better insect hatches.

The river, however, is by no means easy to fish; in fact, it can be a humbling experience at times. Even with its abundance of trout and growing insect density, over 25 percent of the anglers who visit the river never catch a fish. While I was fishing with Jim Mauries, owner of Fly South, he said if a flyfisherman can consistently catch trout on the Caney, that angler would be able to catch fish anywhere in the world.