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17 | 7-27-06 ~ Hot Sunny with 40% chance of a thunderstorm ~ Small Mountain Stream |
The heat was oppressive, the humid air stagnant but filled with the promise of a thunderstorm. I left late in the afternoon hoping to get at least 3 or 4 hours on the stream before dark. The only relief would be a trip to the mountains to catch some trout and stand in a cool stream. As I drove up the mountain the clouds were growing into huge thunderheads and I wonders if they would move on or would I get caught in a storm on the stream. It started spitting a little but the sun was still shining so I headed up the trail and began to cool off in the water. The creek was in need on the rain as it was rather low despite the evidence that in days prior the water was up al least a foot higher, The grass was bend over on low islands and sand or mud was deposited at the edge of pools as the water receded. I searched for fish in the pocket water and deeper runs. I was fishing a #12 Joe's Hopper, one of my favorite patterns, although I wish I had a Schroeder's Parachute Hopper to help with the visibility of the fly on the dark tunnel of a stream. The steep mountains had blocked all of the direct sunlight and it appeared much later that it actually was. I waded carefully in the stream and crouched low against the bank as I approached each of the good looking holding spots. Even the slightest movement sent the smaller fish from the tails of the pools scurrying for cover of the deaths. I plopped the hopper into the middle on a pool and immediately the water exploded in a white froth as I hooked a brown it whipped the water it a froth as it fought. Then it dove to the bottem and ran to the head of the pool. The CFO's click and paw drag sang its sweet song. I worked the fish in and it ran again against the tightened drag. I soon had the fish to hand and tried to take its picture but it flopped loose and I got a shot of my empty hand. Next I caught a few small brookies in the shallow runs, I was surprised to see them so far down the creek, maybe the recent flood had carried them down. They looked out of place and endanger of becoming food for the browns! As the evening progressed yellow sallies began to come off the water in small numbers. I didn't see any fish rise but the occasional flash as the small ones took a nymph. I creeped up on a large pool from the side crawling on my stomach an inched to the edge of the overhanging boulder. Looking down at the undisturbed pool I noticed three or four small trout moving about. They didn't hold their position all that steadily, but down in the middle I noticed the stationary shadow of a large brown. This trout was about 18" long and just hung about 6" off the bottom waiting and wasting any energy though unnecessary movement. I studied the pool and planned my attack. I would try the hopper, hoping that this brown would be as greedy as the last one. As the line shot out from a single cast the fish bolted and it's shadows turned to mud as the fish rocketed to cover under a boulder at the head of the pool. A little later I cast to another pool and the hopper sat there in the middle for what seamed an eternity before a brown slashed and it clearing the water as I set the hook. The fish ran hard and once again the CFO sang as line ran out of the guides. This brown was bigger than the last one and put up a good fight on the two weight. As I was fighting this brown I wondered what it would be like to fight a smallie on this tiny rod. I was a good ways up the trail now and it was beginning to get hard to see the fly at the end of the cast. One more pool and then it would be time to hike on out. |
16 | July 14, 2006 ~ New River VA, Hot - Partly Cloudy to bright sun |
The easiest way isn't always the best way to do things. I put the kayaks on top of the van right side up with hopes that we would beat any thunderstorms on the way to camp. Boy was I wrong. We had to pull off in Jonesville and flip them over before they filled with water from the cloudburst. My son and his friend went inside to laugh at my attempts to flip and relash the kayaks in the storm, even under the shelter of the gas station I was still getting wet as the rain was driven sideways. We drove on up to the campground and it was pretty dry up there. Ralph, Steve and Mark were already there and after we had set up camp Mark and Ralph went on up to River Road to do some wading, but that was short lived as another storm blew trough. I left the boys and camp and drove on down to the take-out and joined Mark and Ralph for some fishing. I only managed one to hit but that was on a cast gone wrong and with too much slack line to every hope to set the hook. Ralph hooked one with a sneaky pete but Bill Danced it and then to add insult to injury the fish spit the fly and Ralph and I watched it float on downstream. I headed back to camp to check on the boys. Later Ralph told me he caught three right after I left. |
15 | July 8, 2006 ~ Smith River VA |
On a cool July morning a dozen or more friends of Ben Cochran gathered for a going away fishing trip. Even if the alarm didn't go off and I left 2 hours late I still found
Ben (OTS) in the parking lot talking to Damselfly. The mirror plant
parking lot was about full but everybody else was on the stream. I
jumped into the conversation and even after Damsel had to leave to
finish a painting (a likely story) Ben gave me the grand tour of the
Smith. We spent the next three hours traveling up and down the river
stopping at a dozen access points and discussing, in detail, the nature
of the currents and holding patterns of the fish in each section. Ben
recalled the 19" brown taken out of one spot and a 20" from another. He has been fishing the river since he was eight year old. I a way he was saying good buy to a good friend. Even though he will be living in Europe for the next several years he will always carry the memories of fishing the Smith with him. I began casting a cdc pattern into the scum line and had a couple of hits, changing flies several times as the evening worn on I finally hooked a fish but it though the hook shortly into the game. A little latter while retrieving the fly it skated across the surface and a fish rose to it. I began using this technique and caught an 8" brown. Ben and I caught a couple and Ralph got five. We fished till dark when the bats came out and were feeding on the bugs that we couldn't see. Then we talked for another hour before saying our final goodbye's to the master of the Smith. Thanks for sharing your river with us Ben! |
13 | June 27, 2006 ~ Watauga River TN |
Chris and I booked a trip but then the rain came and there was a lot of flooding on the eastern side of the mountains. The Watauga was up for a couple of days. For out trip the river was back down to a normal flow with a slight green cast. I
was a lot clearer than we had anticipated due to the recent rains. We
floated from the put-in below Elizabethon and floated through the
trophy section. My son joined me reluctantly, his ideal summer vacation
involves sleeping till 11 and the 6 AM wake-up call put him in a
teenage mood. I tossed a bunny leach for a while and then switched over
to the standard double nymph watauga rig. I foul hooked four bows in a
row. Now these 22 ~ 24 nymphs were just outside of the mouth, left
right, up and down... It was not until the fifth fish that I actually
got a decent hook set only to be followed by yet another foul hooked
fish. Yikes. The fish just weren't hitting and things were pretty slow
for much of the float. Even "productive" runs and eddies proved to be difficult. Chris caught a couple but was bored and ended up having more fun rowing the raft. "Guide in Training". |
12 | June 17, 2006 - James River VA |
As Lauri and I got back into the truck for the long ride home we noticed that the little yellow stone flies were copulating right there in front of us on the wind shield. This was better than a drive in movie and I decided right then that the title of this trip report would be "Sex on the Windshield" |
6 | May 12, 2006 - The Mitchell River - Delayed Harvest Stream 70's Sunny |
I don't know why I went to the Mitchell, sure it's nice to catch fish, but the river isn't all that attractive and the fish, well the fish are hatchery rainbow and brows that have been recently tossed into the river. They behave differently than wild trout. So the experience isn't exactly rewarding even if is nice to spend some time wading in the stream. It was Friday morning and I could get away for a couple of hours and I had read that the Smith was generating most of the day. The Mitchell is the closest "trout" water, so I guess that's how I ended up there. I parked in the lot off of the paved section not willing to suffer the sometimes malodorous section off of the dirt road. There was only one other car parked and I hoped for some "private water". I didn't see the other anglers as I walked downstream. I started fishing a long deep run and convinced myself that I should be able to get these hatchery trout to rise to a dry. The trout didn't want anything to do with the numerous dries that I offered even though I saw an occasional fish rise to a natural. I finally gave up and tied on an Original Cat Caddis, tied by John Thomas himself. Soon after I had caught a nice little brown, but was puzzled that I didn't get quite a few more from this usually productive run. I was going to work downstream but another angler was moving up behind me. So I fished back upstream but soon ran into a guide and his client. I waited and then fished through their water picking up a fish or two that they had missed... Then at the run by the bridge a spin fisherman came down the bank at I was getting the fish that run. He cast his wiggle worm without success but I hooked a nice 14" brown out of the deep run... |
4 | March 16, 2006 - Mitchell River Delayed Harvest Fishing - upper 50's sunny - March Browns |
Brookies,brows and rainbows...the DH grand slam.....Well it is a shorter dirve to the Mitchell, and there are a lot of eager fish in the water but it is such an unnatural way to fish. Not that it's not fun, but it sort of takes the sport out of it....I was a little surprised to see as many cars parked along the river, but it really wasn't crowded and I did get to fish one of my favorite stretches just above the low water bridge. March browns were coming off the water but the fish weren't really looking up, took the first couple on an improved cat caddis, then I managed to coax a couple more to hit an adams, and then went back under with a copper john to finish up with a dozen or so. The last one was a brookie and rounded out the delayed harvest slam....Nice day in the upper 50's with a breeze and some clouds mixed in with the bright sunshine...some of the fish were going ballastic chasing emergers, and I managed to get some on the copper john... |