Hi Guys! I took a solo backpacking trip into the mountains of western North Carolina on a locally famous stream known for browns at the bottom and brook trout at the top protected by several barrier falls. Inspite of getting more or less totally rained out Sunday, it was an excellent trip.
At the bottom near the trail head the valley still looks of Summer
A high pass allows you to avoid many creek crossings which I dont enjoy with a loaded pack. wildflowers abound. can anyone identify them?
Six miles and a fair bit of elevation later, it looks much more like fall.
I donned my waders and crossed the creek to get to a small grassy campsite that can only be reached by crossing. By noon camp was made and lunch was eaten. I noticed two huge Sulphur duns that looked like they could fly away with you while I was eating. I was surprised to see them so late.
on my last trip to this creek it was one 7-8" brook trout after another, never 5 minutes between fish. I carried my SFG 2wt up the hill for nearly the sole purpose of getting to catch such large (
) and feisty trout on it. I tied on one of my tried and true confidence dries, a Mercers Missing Link in size 16, and commenced to fishing. The trout were unimpressed, I was amazed. I watched one 7-8" fish in the bottom of a crystal clear run reject the fly half a dozen times. that one always works.. no matter, I changed through a palate of dries in the 14-18 range with no improvement.
I decided I needed a dropper fly, dries weren't working. The SFG2 is certainly capable of throwing a small dry dropper rig, but its not as much fun as a single dry. I elected to set up the FF70-4 and tied on a size 10 royal Wulff with a size 16 pheasant tail as a dropper. very soon I was into half a dozen fish, but on the royal Wulff, not the pheasant tail! it made the choice to cut the dropper off easy.
I was Lucky to hook into the prettiest Brook trout I have ever caught. Pumpkin on Blue steel.
After catching my fill (and losing my Lucky Royal Wulff that has caught no less than 100 brookies this year with multiple re-ties) I decided to climb out of the creek and just enjoy a short walk before dinner. This didnt last long as I came to one of the barrier falls and noticed a very deep pool. after some though I decided to float a streamer through the pool just to see what would happen. I cut my 7' 5x leader back to 3x and dug through the tiny plastic box of streamers I never seem to fish but cant leave at home. Mickey finns, mickey finn bead chain clousers, crayfish, a wooley bugger or two, muddlers, a tiny zoo cougar, they were all left in the box in favor of a rusty brown Slumpbuster, size 8 with no weight beyond the cone head.
I was shocked by how well the FF70-4 cast this streamer, I have always thought of it as being a delicate dry fly rod, nearly defying its nature as a six weight. with a little bit of a Belgian back cast, the rod effortlessly propelled the streamer to 45 feet where it landed just upstream of the deep hole. As the streamer washed over the rock ledge into the 8ft deep hole, I gave it a little tug, then another, then BOOM! An absolutely savage take from a brookie a little over 9", the largest Ive ever caught in a small wild stream like this.
After releasing the first fish I made another cast to the pool and had a second large fish come up and flash at the fly twice before deciding something wasnt right and descending back to the bottom of the hole. Maybe they thought it was a crayfish crushed by the waterfall? I dont know. I did notice crayfish about the same size and color the next morning. I wont be leaving the little box of streamers at home.
The remainder of the evening was spent in a state of euphoria at the largest and prettiest trout of the day. it seems around here you have to be either a fan of Gin, Scotch or Bourbon. Im a bourbon drinker myself, and a small lab grade nalgene weighs only an ounce empty.
the rain started around 4 am sunday morning, and didnt really stop until I got to the truck 12 hours later. I briefly attempted to fish a lower stretch of the creek with my newly acquired FF856-5, but the trout just didnt want to cooperate no matter what I tried. I decided to break camp and head out early. about the time I got the rainfly off the tent, down came a real gully washer. Everything I had was soaked bringing up many "fond memories" of backpacking trips with the BSA and many of my best friends spread across my high school years.
on the hike out I found a bit of "trail magic". I dont carry beer into the woods, but Ill happily carry out steel cans for the privilege of enjoying the contents!
The trail out had been covered by fallen leaves dislodged by the storm, and it felt like fall had come the the valley while I was in it.
I stopped to fish the lower reaches of the creek figuring that overcast weather and rising water in early October were the perfect conditions for Browns on streamers but had no luck.
Over all, it was an excellent weekend.