....really, it's Calderwood's neighbor Cheoah Dam that provides the conditioned air. Calderwood's canyon retains the cool air of Cheoah's hydro operation for quite a ways downstream when it generates hard. I spent all day on Calderwood this Thursday, 14 May 2015. By evening when I got back upstream to the launch near the Cheoah Dam, that cold air refreshed me mightily! Me and Rosie, the fishing dog, did a lot of casting and trolling and it was a warm afternoon.
We started out the day casting spinners at the top end. I didn't even start the gasoline engine when we launched. I used the electric engine to move out into the flow and started casting a yellow Roostertail. I got plenty of follows and finally hooked a small Rainbow that jumped and escaped. The water was 51 at the top end. By the time I got down to Slickrock Creek it was near 60. It was 65 down at the dam. The lake is still cool despite light releases from Fontana upstream as of late.
As soon as I got downstream about a mile and the water was deeper, I decided to troll a little plug on one line and a hoochie on the other. Whilst I was still feeding out line for the plug it was hit and I caught the day's first little 'Bow. That was the day's theme, little 'Bows. A friend who fished Calderwood a few days back said to expect some Brookies. I saw none. I caught 5 'Bows on a hoochie behind a mini-flasher. I replaced the little plug with a spoon on the downrigger set at 40 feet. I never got a hit on the 3 spoons I tried. By the time I trolled all the way downstream to the dam area it was 1 p.m. and hot. The fishing had hit afternoon lull.
After lunch I decided to troll back up lake but the spoons and hoochies didn't produce. When I was halfway up the lake I could tell they'd started generating. I could feel the coolness and I quit perspiring. When I got back to the launch, there was traffic on the ramp. I tied on a Blue Fox spinner to a spinning rod and trolled about the shallow top end and caught one last little 'Bow whilst waiting out the traffic. I kept 4 of the 7 little 'Bows I caught. The ones that seemed less injured got paroled.
I'm gonna try Calderwood again come late summer when some of the fish grow up a bit. I'm disappointed that the deep spoons didn't yield any strikes. There's some decent Browns lurking in Calderwood. At least I had a fish to give my sister who'd been teasing me about not catching anything the last couple of trips. Me and Rosie had fish too....
We started out the day casting spinners at the top end. I didn't even start the gasoline engine when we launched. I used the electric engine to move out into the flow and started casting a yellow Roostertail. I got plenty of follows and finally hooked a small Rainbow that jumped and escaped. The water was 51 at the top end. By the time I got down to Slickrock Creek it was near 60. It was 65 down at the dam. The lake is still cool despite light releases from Fontana upstream as of late.
As soon as I got downstream about a mile and the water was deeper, I decided to troll a little plug on one line and a hoochie on the other. Whilst I was still feeding out line for the plug it was hit and I caught the day's first little 'Bow. That was the day's theme, little 'Bows. A friend who fished Calderwood a few days back said to expect some Brookies. I saw none. I caught 5 'Bows on a hoochie behind a mini-flasher. I replaced the little plug with a spoon on the downrigger set at 40 feet. I never got a hit on the 3 spoons I tried. By the time I trolled all the way downstream to the dam area it was 1 p.m. and hot. The fishing had hit afternoon lull.
After lunch I decided to troll back up lake but the spoons and hoochies didn't produce. When I was halfway up the lake I could tell they'd started generating. I could feel the coolness and I quit perspiring. When I got back to the launch, there was traffic on the ramp. I tied on a Blue Fox spinner to a spinning rod and trolled about the shallow top end and caught one last little 'Bow whilst waiting out the traffic. I kept 4 of the 7 little 'Bows I caught. The ones that seemed less injured got paroled.
I'm gonna try Calderwood again come late summer when some of the fish grow up a bit. I'm disappointed that the deep spoons didn't yield any strikes. There's some decent Browns lurking in Calderwood. At least I had a fish to give my sister who'd been teasing me about not catching anything the last couple of trips. Me and Rosie had fish too....