After all the rain Friday, I spent the afternoon Saturday at Stone Mountain Park catchin' on the Roaring River.  There was a little cloudiness in the deeper pools where you couldn't see the bottom but, the water wasn't bad.  For a stream that's had 2 stockings already I didn't find huge numbers of fish but, still managed a decent number of catches during the 6 hours I was there.

Sucessful patterns were a bead head pheasant tail, roe egg, and black or mottled brown girddle bug.

If you're up for a challenge, there are plenty of brookies in Reddies River in the DH section in N. Wilkesboro.  However; it is quite difficult to get to "the honey hole" where they were most prevalent.  The current was strong, and the rocks were quite slippery. 

Princes, Copper Jaynes, Egg Droppers.

Wilson Creek is still running a little high after all the rain this past week but, the water is very clear.  Fished a 4x Flouro leader with 5x Flouro tippet for droppers.  Didn't catch as many a a couple weeks ago but, still a good afternoon and very few others fishing there.

Caught most on a Rainbow Warrior or Egan's Frenchie but, had a few on a olive/rust girdle bug and a black RS2 also.

Found the fish willing and hungry for the afternoon.  Not in some of the usual holes/runs but, they're there.  Fished all afternoon and only saw 2 other fisherman (and a NC Wildlife officer).

Caught the majority of fish on a Thin Mint Bugger.  Egan's Frenchie caught the rest.  Surprise!  Not one fish on an egg. 

On the Saturday after Turkey Day did a day of fishing on the West Fork of the Pidgeon, under the rusty steel bridge, with my daughter and son-in-law.  There were hundreds of fish just laying in the crystal clear water.   Each of us caught fish, and just about froze our toes with the cold water.  Beautiful clear day!

copper johns, bar emergers

Temperatures in Winston reaching 100+ can quickly make a mountain stream call my name.  Wet wading in the summer time is such a relief! Today I caught 9 fish, including one on the very first cast.  A few minutes later, I caught two at a time.  I saved the last one for dessert: caught a beautiful 22 inch rainbow.  As I rode into Devotion's 2,300 acres and crossed the Mitchell River a few times, I said out loud, "The water is so clear, I think they might be hitting dry flies today."  But I already had my rod rigged with wet flies, and I fished those successfully most of the day until the end. 

The fish were hitting rainbow warriors, princes, and particularly liked no. 18-20 "Copper Jaynes".  On the way out of the estate, I stopped and fished under a bridge in a deep pool after switching to dry flies: a sulpher and a no. 18 Royal Wulff.  Wham!  It seemed surreal when a 22 inch rainbow immediately hit the Wulff and took it down.  Good fight!  And I was particularly pleased with such a nice fish hooked on a dry fly.  It had been awhile since I even used them.

Hit the water for a couple hours after pickin' garbage (stream clean) and had moderate success.  Caught one really nice Brookie at the rafting launch area right near the Nature Area parking we worked the stream clean from.

The big Brookie was on Egan's Frenchie as were a number of others along with catches on a Roe colored egg pattern and my Olive/Rust Girdle Bug.

Great weekend for the spring 2012 Balsam Lodge trip.  14 people showed up for the three day fishing, eating, and drinking marathon!  Warm weather and cooperative fish.  Even the Tuck was fishing well!  Lots of great fish stories will come out of this!   

Copper Johns, Egg Patterns, Elk Hair Caddis, and just about everything else.

My Son and I went to Wilson Creek for the afternoon. There was a surprising number of people there for a weekday until the thunderstorms popped up. After the storms we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Caught lots of 'bows and Brookies, no Browns.

Continued success with Egan's Frenchie, Roe egg patterns and olive/rust girdle bugs.

Drove up to Mt. Airy after work last night to fish the DH section of the Ararat.  It was warm and the fish were willing.  Parked at Riverside Park and fished downstream for about 1 mile.  Lots of 10 to 14" 'bows and Brookies.

Continued success with Egan's Frenchie and a few on girdle bugs and eggs.

Fished with two friends.  All three of us obtained the "Holy Trinity of Trout Fishing":  Beautiful FAT browns, rainbows with purple and gold hues, and big brookies that made us proud.  Usually I say we were wearing them out.  But they were wearing US out, quite often with cast-catch-cast-catch rhthym.

I still needed a brown, and one of my friends needed a brookie to complete our Grand Slam contest...and we both succeeded within one minute of each other.  It was very exciting, indeed!  

We all 3 caught double digits, and I don't think I caught anything less than 13 inches. 

It was mostly overcast, spitting rain a little while.  The storms that were forecast did not materialize save for one blip of lightening and one distant roar of thunder while we were taking a lunch break by the vehicles.  Temps were cool but not unbearable with proper attire....and a flask full of Captain Morgan! 

Note to self:  Buy a bigger net!!!!!!

Autumn Mists, White Wooley Boogers, Chartreuse Salmon Eggs.  Stripped them like spinners...they still liked my dropped eggs better than anything else I tied on. 

Ventured over to the Mitchell Saturday.  First person I saw was our past President, Dave.  We pretty much had the river to ourselves all day.  I saw one other vehicle parked there but, never saw it's owner except when he drove by on his way out.

The river was a little high and had just enough stain to allow using a 4x leader in the deeper holes where you could not see the bottom.

Fished from 11:30 to about 4:30 and landed over 20 fish.  Not bad for the end of January!

Fished a triple rig with a Girdle Bug as the lead pattern followed by an egg and a Rainbow Warrior on the end.  I caught fish on all 3 patterns but, it was the Girdle Bug that really got hammered the most.  The fish were agressively hitting the Girdle Bug as I drifted it through faster riffles or along the edge of faster water.  What fun!

Fished the North Toe in Spruce Pine Friday.  The river was in great shape, had great weather and found lots of willing fish to catch. If you looking to catch a bunch, go here. 

Fish were hitting just about anything presented well.  Girdle bugs, egg patterns, Barr Emerger, Rainbow Warrior, Pheasant Tails,...

Lot's of fish in Curtis Creek. Only fished for a couple of hours but caught about 6 nice fish.  It was stocked a few days earlier.

Copper Johns

I went yesterday to Stone Mountain and Basin Creek.  I had pretty good luck at Stone Mountain on the Roaring River. Practically had the whole place to myself.  Someone told me that they stocked it two weeks ago.  I caught several nice trout and several suckers and one perch.  Then I went to Basin Creek and only caught little shiners although I spooked some nice brookies.

Y2K, copper johns, and rainbow warriors.  They ignored any dry fly.

Last Friday was Good Friday, and I took off to the Mitchell.  It rained mostly, and was chilly, but the fish were active enough and it wasn't as crowded as I expected, probably because of the drizzely conditions.  I caught about 18 or 20 fish on nymphs, egg patterns, and elk hair caddis dry flies.  Water was very high and slightly cloudy.

Y2K, Rainbow Warrior, Elk Hair Caddis, Gold Ribbed Hares Ear

Traveled to the Watauga DH section in Boone with Mike White.  It was fairly clear unlike many of the DH streams after all the heavy rain this week.  Had another Grand Slam indicating NC Wildlife has stocked a good mix of species this month.  Some of the deeper holes close to the road were a little crowded earlier in the day but, but late afternoon most had departed leaving the river open for us. 

Get out and do some 'catchin'.

Rainbow Warriors, eggs, blue Pickpockets fished deep in deep holes.

Allie and I ventured to Wilson Creek on Friday.  It had been stocked but, fish were spotty throughout the stream.  Some holes were full of fish while others that typically have a lot of fish after stocking only had a few.  I guess they didn't distribute them very well this time.

We had a good day with a number of fish hitting dry flies, nymphs and even a streamer.  For the second time in a week I caught a Grand Slam (Brookie, Brown, & Rainbow).

Caught fish on a variety of patterns including Rainbow Warriors, Barr Emerger, egg, olive Slump Buster, and a dry pattern from Great Outdoor Provision Co. (can't recall the name) with a red body, tan foam, and brown hackle. 

Ventured to Stone Mountain State Park today.  The water was low, clear, and devoid of any trout! All the deeper holes that usually hold trout were empty.  I even walked up Bullhead to see if there were any fish there.  NADA, nothing!  Don't waste your time until it's stocked the beginning of March.

Nothing.  Nothing there to hit anything!

Cherokee may be a little distant to call 'local' waters but, it's with 3 hours for most of us.  If you want to catch some really big trout it's worth the drive. My Son and I fished the trophy section on Raven's Fork saturday both of us caught new personal record fish.  My Son landed a 23" Rainbow for his best ever and late in the afternnon I landed a 26"er (photo attached). They increased the annual fee for fishing the trophy section from $20 to $75 in December 2010 and added a 3-day permit at $25 for those who don't get here very often but, it's still a bargain compared to the fees on some private waters. (There is also the $7 daily fee in addition to the annual trophy section permit).

Best pattern was a Rainbow Warrior.  Also caught fish on a black/white girddle bug, egg, blue Pickpocket.

Allie and I ventured to Cherokee for some "Trophy" trout.  The weather forecast was for mid 40's Thursday and 50's on Friday.  What we experienced was Thursday never got above 38 and it was only 41 when we called it a day at 3PM on Friday.  Saw plently of big trout in Raven's Fork but in 30ish degree water they were difficult to catch. 

Blue Pickpocket, Thin Mint Bugger, egg, Barr Emerger

Got to fish Spruce Pine for a couple hours but, the going was a little difficult.  The river is iced up quite a bit.  In some places the ice is over 1" thick.  However, where you can find open water the fish are there.

Rainbow Warrior, egg, Thin Mint Bugger

After fishing several hours in the morning on the Toe I hooked up with Peter and we went down town & got a great lunch at DT’s Blue Ridge Java….Peter got a hot dog and I tried to get it with flies (see Spruce Pine video) but they were out. We also went over to Rivers Edge Outfitters to get some fishing tips and talk with them about our banquet.   After lunch we went exploring the waters near the waste treatment plant.  In the week since the stocking the fish had transitioned from pink SJW to more normal fare.  We caught plenty of fish including one 18” rainbow on a black WB but most of the fish were caught on really small stuff like bars emerger, with a few on beaded pheasant tail, & blue pickpockets.  Peter had to go home but I stayed and had great dinner at BamBQue and spent the night at the Spruce Pine Motel.  I spent the next challenging day on Wilson Creek. It was a good thing that Peter had given me his winning combination of a beaded PT and a bars emerger because that is all I caught fish on in WC. Water was low and very clear and it was tempting to think the fish had been caught out but I saw several large schools of fish that I and several other anglers found very challenging to tempt into hitting our flies

most of the fish were caught on really small stuff like bars emerger, rainbow warrior, with a few on beaded pheasant tail, & blue pickpockets.

Spent two days in hog heaven at Spruce Pine and Wilson Creek.  During my first day on the Toe the stocking truck showed up so I got to help put a thousand fish by the park and saw them back the truck in the river to dump in the rest just below the park.  I wasn’t having much luck on the freshly stocked fish so I went down by the water treatment plant and found a pool that was tough to access and even tougher to fish but had plenty of willing fish. Spent the second day on Wilson Creek and fished 12 runs trying to cover a lot ground to ID some potential future spots. Caught fish in all of them but the last when I got hung up in a tree and decided to go home rather than retie. Maybe it was just timing but the fish seemed to be more spread out on Wilson Creek than the Toe. Ended up with a totally insane number of fish with 3 fish around 18” and 2 around 16” and am still having visions of Wilson creek trout dancing in my head.  Caught virtually all the fish on a pink SJW as a dropper on a heavily weighted wooly bugger but other folks were catching them on stuff like Y2ks and the like.  Please consider mashing the barb on your hooks (the fish are easier to release) and stressing the fish as little as possible so more folks can enjoy this amazing resource.

pink SJW as a dropper on a heavily weighted wooly bugger but other folks were catching them on stuff like Y2ks and the like.

Spent 2 days exploring the Spruce Pine (SP) area with my wife and fishing DH section of the Toe in SP. Foliage was gorgeous.  Water was low and clear and most of the fish were concentrated in the City Park and hitting pink San Juan worms.  Caught plenty of fish including two 18 rainbows. Found a great BBQ Joint (Bama Que) & a wonderful Bed & breakfast called the Richmond Inn with very reasonable rates (would you believe $70- $90/night) that we both loved in SP that is rated three diamonds by AAA.  http://richmondinn.us/

pink San Juan worms

Water in the Yadkin was low and clear so I headed out for my first expedition to the Pilot Mount State park access area for small mouth.  From a connection I made at our last TU meeting I decided to access the river from the east side and found a trail that provides reasonable access for a good long section of the river.  I ended up with 6 SM bass, two of which were 12” with one 14” fish but they were all surprisingly strong fish and that loved to jump.  They were biting grubs & 4” worms in silver flake, black, & chartreuse in pockets between rapids. I had to cover a lot of water which meant a serious amount of very challenging wading so if you go wait until the river is low and clear, bring a wading staff and come prepared for a strenuous work out.

grubs & 4” worms in silver flake, black, & chartreuse

I saw on the Wildlife Commission site that Wilson creek was stocked (with trout) this past week.  So, I thought I'd give it a shot and fished the DH water.  I caught one small smallmouth, about a dozen bream/redbreast/blugills, one un-named species with a red and a black strip on it's side near the gills, almost caught a few swimmers/tubers, had two turkeys (gobble gobble) run by AND one 21" Rainbow!  I'm not sure if he was a recent stocker from this week or a stragling holdover from earlier this year.  If they stocked this past week either they're all bait fished out or they just weren't liking the 75 degree murky water.   I guess the 21 incher made it all worth while.

Everything but the trout hit on a foam hopper pattern that was doubling as a strike indicator.  The Rainbow was on a blue pickpocket.  Several of the bream also hit the pickpocket and a Barr Emerger.  The swimmers and tubers can be caught on anything but, except for the blonde in the blue bikini, I'd throw them all back :-) !

I went out to the Rocky Fork area of Tennessee with a group from Trout Unlimited people from NC and TN to tour the 10,000 acres of wilderness that we are interested in protecting.  After driving 2 hours on a private rough "road" in 4X4's and enjoying the spectacular views, did some fishing for the wild brookies and rainbows.   Caught 10 fish.  Check out http://www.tu.org/rockyfork

Elk Hair Caddis, Royal Coachman, size 12 and 14

Went to the Mitchell in the morning and Stone Mountain (East Fork of the Roaring River) in the afternoon.  Hardly anyone fishing at either place.  Caught several on the Mitchell on copper johns and Y2Ks, and five at Stone Mountain.  Caught one big rainbow laying in a deep pool, on the first cast, with a new pattern, the Eggi Juan Kenobi (Google it).  Caught 4 near the footbridge on a Light Hendrickson dry fly. A bit murky water because of the recent rain.  It was a very hot day, very humid.

Copper John, Y2K, Eggi Juan Kenobi, light Hendrickson dry fly

I spent yesterday on the Mitchell (with a lot of other people!) and had very good luck.  Caught about 40 or so.  There were a lot of caddis, and some mayflies, in the air and on the water, but I didn't see any rising and only a few jumping.  Some nice big rainbows (18 inch?) and brookies.  Best luck on the flat water near the parking lots, and in some deep holes.

Red copper johns, and bead head caddis pupae in tan or green.

weighted Wooly Bugger with a florescent yellow or pink Y2k type dropper.

Fished the North Toe Saturday.  It's still a few inches high and the water is still stained but, that didn't affect the "catchin".  I out did my personal high from last year including 1 big FAT 22" Rainbow (see attached photo) and a nice 20" Brown.

The cream colored bugger, salmon or pinkish colored egg, and a blue Morrish's Pickpocket worked all day. 

I played "Hookie" today for my birthday and went to the North Toe River in Spruce Pine, NC.  The river was up a little from snow runoff?  Yes, there was still some snow on the mountain sides.  The runoff had the water stained some also but, that didn't bother the trout.  I started the day using my Brown Trout bugger, an egg, and a Rainbow Warrior.  I picked up a few fish but I had to work for them.  I decided to experiment a little and switched from the Rainbow Warrior to a blue pickpocket.  From that point, it was ON!  The blue PP and the egg were getting most of the action.  When I noticed my BT bugger was a little tore up I switched to a cream colored bead head bugger.  That got a lot of action too.  If you're looking for some "Pigs" the North Toe is the place.  I had 6 trout 18" and bigger including 18" Rainbows (2), 19" Rainbow, 19" Brookie, 20" Brookie, and the last fish of the day was a 23-24" Rainbow!  It was getting dark and I figured I couldn't do any better than that! (photo attached)

What worked today for me were a size 8 cream colored bead head bugger, size 12 egg, and a size 16 or 18 blue pickpocket. 

Mike White and I both had a 'Grand Slam' on Wilson Creek today.  Brookie, Brown and lots of Rainbows.  Some of the holes and runs that previously trips had fish stacked up in them were bare today but, there was still trout to be found.  We just had to look a little harder.  Mike was the 'Pig' Master today with a 21" Rainbow and another slightly smaller but FAT Rainbow.  I had a real nice Brookie.  Between us we landed 42 fish on a nice day.

The water is still 38-40 degrees, a little lower than last month and clear.  There's no ice now either.

I landed fsih on my Brown Trout bugger, egg pattern, a Tungsten Rojo Midge, pickpocket, and (of course) Barr Emerger.  Mike was using an Olive bugger, pickpocket, and (after watching me) Barr Emerger.

Gorgeous sunny but breezy day with air temps up to hi 30s and water temps mid 30s.
Water flow 178 cfs level 2.38.  I saw only one other fisherman who left at noon.  Judging from the tracks in the snow I was fishing a lot of water that had not been fished since the last snow.  Caught 3 nice fish including a brute with the snagle jaw of the maturing adult. Two of the fish were in surprisingly fast pocket water in the heads of pools and one was in long deep pool.  Was using beaded nymphs and wd 40s.
The other fisherman reported caught two in the fast water at the head of a pool on Wooly boogers

beaded nymphs and wd 40s.

Recent rain has brought water temps into the mid 40s and increased water level to 161 cfs. Clarity slightly murky. Partly cloudy in the morning and rain in the afternoon.  5 fish on beaded copper johns in long moderately deep pools and fairly fast water in heads of pools.

beaded copper johns

Fished the DH section of Wilson Creek all day.  Water is clear, a little lower than it was on Jan 2, and temp is 36 degrees.  There's still good populations of fish although, I found a couple Power Bait jars along the bank and one still had some in it.  They're recent!  The warmer weather brought higher numbers of fishermen out and I had to detour around others a number of times.  The fish have spreadout through the stream more and become a little more selective.   However, that didn't dampen the 'catchin'.

Mike and I had success using olive/brown buggers as a lead pattern (and as weight) followed with a red pick-pocket or egg pattern and a really small dropper below that.  Mike was using WD40's and I was using a size 24 Rainbow Warrior.  It may be hard to see the eye of the hook of that RW but, the two 18" rainbows I caught on it didn't have any trouble seeing it.  It was a good day.

Cold day, high might have been 30 and windy - had to rig in the truck.  Wind and icing guides made line management a little challenging but the fish were cooperative.  Fished ~10-2 and caught > 20.  Fish were fairly shallow feeding in the riffles at the heads of pools.  I saw 1 other nut fly fishing.

#18 Soft hackle and #14 BHPT

If you plan to fish the Catawba below Lake James, check out the stream flow schedule.  Here is the link to Bridgewater   http://www.duke-energy.com/lakes/scheduled-flow-releases.asp?sec=subnav

 

Date is for Squeak's presentation at the November chapter meeting.

Fishing much slower than yesterday.  Caught a couple on nymphs.  Switched to a streamer and managed to catch 2 ~16" bows - very fun!

Ultra Zug (nymph) and Rag Wool Sculpin

Tried fishing Curtis Creek last Sunday.  It had just been stocked, and the fish were visible but not taking flies.  Maybe in a few more days.

On Sunday the water was low and slow and crystal clear. I didn't see much activity. Eventually I found a small run that had trout feeding top water and caught 6.

Black ant, Parachute Adams

Took a short after work trip to the Mitchell today.  Started off really slow.  Barely saw any fish let alone hook them.  Finally started getting some action on Light Cahills at about dusk.  Caught a nice Rainbow and few small brookies and bows.

Light Cahill at dusk

fished 21th  river bank full  caught several fish

copper johns and small bead heads