Trout fishing is a sport for everyone. The Caney Fork River is a great place to start a new hobby. The river is stocked with brown trout and rainbow trout.
Brown trout (from Europe) are the most difficult of the two to catch. The fish are wary and must be stalked with patience. The fish can see your shadow on the water and it will "send them down" for an hour or two. The brown trout require overhanging cover like undercut banks or fallen trees. The fish will be found in the deepest pools, moving into the shallows (riffles) to feed in early morning and late afternoon. The fish feed actively on emergent insects like caddis flies and mayflies. Brown trout get larger than rainbows and brookies; 14 to 18 inch fish are common and browns over 25 inches have been taken in the southeast.
Rainbow trout (a west coast native) are the most abundant. The rainbow trout occupy the fast, big water, utilizing different habitat. Rainbow trout are famous for their acrobatics (tail-walking). The rainbows will give any angler quite a thrill.
Catching trout has many methods, but most novice trout anglers begin by learning to catch them on light spinning tackle.
Try fishing with the nightcrawler first. Hook half of a night crawler just once at either end. Cast upstream over the pool allowing your crawler to drift naturally back towards you. Fish carefully and be patient and. Learn to cast with accuracy. If you have disturbed the pool, move on to another. If you want to release a deeply hooked fish just cut your line.
Hellgrammites and water worms are very effective when allowed to drift naturally into a pool. You can accomplish this with a gentle upstream cast or by drifting the bait down to the pool from upstream. This technique is also useful when fishing a pool that is protected by a fallen tree.
To sum up bait fishing, fish natural (natural drift, no bobber, no sinker, light line), keep hidden, don't walk in the water,make accurate casts, and fish afternoon hours in springtime, early morning hours in summer.
When casting hardware you don't have to worry about an unnatural drift. Minnows swim in all directions. You still must make a cautious approach to the pool. A favorite strategy is to bait fish a stream, working your way upstream, and then cast spinners to the same pools on the way back.