Back to the Promise Land

Traveling is always fun, espeically when there is fishing to be done.  The best part about this past weekends travels was that is took me on a South Easternly journey.  Stright through the heart of one the best, if not the best Wild and Wonderful trout streams on the East coast.  Which happens to lie in the epicenter of Mountain Top Removal.  But believe me there is probably no other stream like it on the planet.  The water was a little to high and the clarity sucked.  But I’ve fished it during poorer conditions by far, and by poorer conditions I mean that it will actually take years off your life.

Another Reason to Protect the little Guys

In almost every corner of the fly fishing world you will find some form of protection for the little native brook trout.  Yes they are delicious, I will admit that in the past I have eaten them a time or 3.  Although at that time I considered it more a form of population control rather than a meal.  10 or more years have passed since my last taste of Native flesh and I have seen how fishing pressure alone can devastate a native brook trout population first hand.

Last Saturday I headed out for the first time in about a year to check on my little local friends. Almost immediately during my visit I got re-schooled on a few lessons that I had forgotten the Brook trout knew how to teach. So the next time you head over to your neighborhood Native Brook trout stream, not only protect it for it’s beauty and it’s rare inhabitants. Protect if for what and how the stream and it’s inhabitants can to each you to be a better fisherman.  Take and teach what we learn on our small native and wild trout streams  and apply them to other waters big and small.

A Few Lessons from the Teachers:

1.  Check your surroundings before you cast (look up and thank the fish god, then over each shoulder.)

2.  Don’t knock Small lines and small rods, they mimic big lines and big rods so bring your A game to the stream.

3.  Small flies + small lines + good knots = A happy fisherman and a happy fish.

4.  Stealth matters:  We don’t realize sometimes how much noise we project and how much backdrop distortion or shadow casting we do on a stream.

5.  Simplify what gear you take so it will be easier to find and manage.

Purification

How can something so dirty, smelly, foul, rancid, putrid, ripe, so downright awful make you feel so much better?  1 word TROUT….ok 2 words WILD TROUT…….maybe 3  BIG FEROCIOUS WILD TROUT!!!!! (ok that was 4 words).  Another successful fishing trip is in the books.  Wasn’t a huge numbered 2 days as compared to previous trips, although I won’t complain about a 50 + fish 2-day trip.  This was one of those trips where on occasion I found myself saying this is F-ing awesome. 

Day one found me on the stream around noon-ish looking at great flows, higher than the norm but a pleasant sight to see since this stream has epic nymphing/streaming potential.  After a closer inspection it did have a little greyish hue to it, which is not uncommon for this stream after a good rain.  The CFS had been on the downslope for 5 days now so why it was still cloudy is beyond me and it was not something I had planned on dealing with.  Usually that color means this stream is shut down.  Now one assumes the color is because the all of the ground in Wv feels like a saturated sponge causing a lot of runoff still coming into the stream.  The day started off a little slow, I think because of my desire to nymph.  Once I tossed aside the nymph rod hit my stride on slinging streamers it was GAME ON!!!!!  Every fish I caught day one had a big fat full belly.  I had one brown came out of the water after a fly that was so fat he just belly-flopped on the surface instead of that smooth swing and a miss roll back into the water (if I caught around 50 in 2 days I bet I had twice as many swings and misses).

As you can see from the rocks on the wall this isn't the first spewage to be dumped into the stream. Maybe it's their version of hatchery feedings.

I really have no idea what happened to this picture.

Another WMD victim.

The next stage of my trip I found myself contemplating where to sleep.  My choices were to either make the 40 minute hop over the mountain and stay in a nice hotel with breakfast.  Stay 10 minutes down the road in a shit hole that I have personally vomited in and know of at least one other that has done the same.  Or, since I brought my sleeping bag, camp out in the back of my car in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  I chose the latter.  Why?  Well….I’m cheap and it’s not that I’m strapped for cash it’s just the principle of the fact that I know I can sleep perfectly fine in the car.  It’s cool outside, I’m dog tired and probably could have slept under a bridge (which I don’t recommend).  My wife was in Canada and with her upcoming trip to Italy we had planned practicing how or if Skype would work so I needed to stay close to a WiFi source (thanks Wal-Mart for making your password so easy to figure out).  So despite my parents and wifes approval I spent the night sprawled out in the back of the Prius with my sleeping bag and blow-up pad in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  Slept like a baby after getting off the boob that had just been burped.     

Is that a Tarpon Fly in your mouth? I think so.

After getting micky-D’s breakfast I hit up a stretch of water that I have nicknamed Raul’s Miracle Mile (much more than a mile).  Last November Ryan managed something like 200 fish in 2 days of fishing this section with quite a few being over 16 inches and a few pushing the 22-24 inch limit.  So Ryan when that train full of bad karma finally smashes into you we will be sure to have this section of stream dedicated to your glory’s.  Thankfully the water had cleared about 50% and dropped about 6 inches so it was NYMPHING TIME!!!  After 3 days on the South Holston and Watauga rivers then my first day on this trip throwing streamers was getting old.  Plus my arm and wrist were starting to feel the effects.  Within 15 minutes I managed to pick up several fish.  When the bite cooled off I switched over to the meat rod and swung a WMD through a few zones .  I picked up a nice kyped up male that was sitting about 10 feet downstream directly to my left (rookie mistake not letting my flies completely swing out).  The next 7 hours basically played out like this.  Nymphing for a while until the bite stopped, switch rods and bounce a streamer, then move upstream and repeat.  The last hole of the day turned out to be the best.  After switching to the streamer rod, which I think at this point had a white/red muddy buddy on it, I had a massive rainbow come from the bottom and completely circle my fly.  One of those hold your beath mind blanking WFT misses.   He, which turned out to be a she, did this about 3 more times, each time a little less aggressive.  So I switched flys….olive muddy buddy….WMD….Black Muddy Buddy…..Orange/Yellow Tarpon fly, Yellow Muddy buddy, some angel hair pike fly.  Just before I decided to pack in up for the day I ended up tying on a 3-year-old fly that I got from where I have no idea.  I would describe it and show you all a picture but I think i’ll keep it to myself for a while.  Basically it was a black streamer with a REALLY heavy body.  1 cast and a slow strip is all it took and WHAM (an old school batman WHam SHazZam).  Great acrobatic fight with a short bulldog session and in the net she went.  Now I’m alone and it’s a bitch to photograph fish by yourself, especially a big fish.  The mark I made on the net later taped out at 24-26 inches but without a good picture I guess I have to go with a lower number like 22 since I have no evidence.  Regardless of its size a great fish.

Why would you walk down this road? A. To buy something illegal. B. To brush up on your arson skills. C. To get to the car quicker in order to fish longer. D. All the above.

 

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Tuesday Rationalization: Transylvania County

06/22/2010:  The catch and release fly fishing only regulated section of the Davidson is known to many anglers as one of the top fly fishing rivers on the east coast. This is due in part to its excellent population of fairly large trout and it’s regular hatches……..http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/nfnc_fishing/davidson_river_area.htm

Scratching the Itch

With no one to accompany me on a float trip I spent Friday night going through my fishing gear preparing for our New York trip. I’ll probably still forget something I’m sure. Saturday morning came despite trying to fight it off by staying up till 4am watching Eastbound and Down. Bored to death and debating wheather or not to go fishing or stay home and watch the Wv Mountaineers try to embarrass themselves. I’m glad I did not choose the latter. WVU 17 LOU 9….come on Stew. Should have been a tune up game for the rough road schedule ahead. At least we are bowl eligible.

Streamside by 11, I fought back the urge to tie on the White Ghost Woolybugger and rigged up the 4 weight for some double nymph high sticking action. I haven’t fished this spot for about a year or more. A small stream with tight banks filled with laurel. Decent flows with water temps in the low 50’s. A perfect day to be on the water. Very little wind, 70 degree temps and clear blue sky. The only problem was the GIN clear water and the sun at my back casting a huge shadow in front of me.

I set up my first cast about 15-20 yards from the head of a big plunge pool, best hole on the stream. I inspected my backcasting surroundings and picked spot to cast to. My caddis and copper john double nymph rig did the job on the 1st cast, picking off a 9-10 inch wild brown. My first brown trout from this stream. After about 3 dozen more casts I moved on to the head of the pool and into the woods to walk the banks and sight fish. Being that it’s the beginning of Salmon Trutta spawning season I tried my best to stick to the bank and watch for reds. Although I was disappointed not to see any REDS the technique paid off for me. I spotted a rainbow cruising the banks sipping midges from the surface. I watched him for a few minutes trying to figure out how the hell I was going to cast to him and where the best place would be to plop in my fly. I circled back around and dropped in behind to make the best cast possible. After some tree trimming my copper john came through….TWICE. One wild brown and one wild bow.

 

I spent the rest of the day walking the stream. Spotted a few fish, 2 of them 18-20 inch browns. The stream really surprised me and I’ll be back to do some more scouting.

**BayE**

Preparation: Part 2 New York Style

Another trip planned, this time Western New York for those massive Salmon Trutta, Oncorhynchus Tashawytscha, and Oncorhynchus Mykiss.  Making their annual migration out of the Lakes and into the tributaries, some to get laid and some to gourge themselves on caviar.  This trip has been in the making since returning home from our trip last year.  Last years trip still brings a southern WV stream like taste to my mouth.  A dysentery feeling still comes over me when thinking about dealing with delayed/cancelled flights back home.  A fucking shame what our airlines have become.   It’s like everyone that works for the airlines is from Ashville N.C.  All they were missing was a 50 year old woman, with a cat on a leash playing a banjo at the check in counter…..poor cat.

Mitch again started planning the trip around his tough banker like schedule.  He either found a holiday, Veterans Day, or since mitch looks like a terrorist after a few days of dischevelment took the day off to remember Yasser Arafat (Died 11/11/04).  4 days penciled in and I tagged in myself to work on my schedule to make it happen (Done).  Ryan followed up with confirmation that he will be there like a mexican at home depot.  Dave “Nymph-O” has another appointment with his doctor to deal with his never ending E.D. that he can’t miss.

With the dates set and cabin rented for a few days of our usual debotchery Ryan sends Mitch and I an email throwing a wrench into everything because he is still a little kid at heart and wants to still be a policeman.  Which he had to let that dream go when they raised the height requirements for the job.  But he’s better off, more time to fish now.  He tell’s us that he has some type of recertification requirement he has to attend and we have to move the trip back 1 day.  Of course after we made schedule changes and reservations.  Thankfully it wasn’t that big a change and we all made it work. 

Ryan will once again try and find his way to our destination and back relying solely on our airline system.  God speed my friend.  God Speed.

**BayE**