The winter solstice is not scheduled until Friday but its effects were felt on the Nantahala today. The sun never made it to the water. The word Nantahala is Cherokee for "land of the noon day sun". Today there wasn't a cloud in the sky but the sun was never seen on the DH stretch of the Nantahala. The only way you could know it existed was by looking up at the mountain top. But the trout didn't seem to mind. I had 2 anglers, new to the sport of fly fishing, but they were totally addicted by the end of the day!

The day started out slow, throwing every nymph we had while working on perfecting new casting skills. The first couple of hours saw no action at all, but while working on perfecting mends to get a good drag-free drift, I noticed a nightcrawler trying to make his way out of the river. Immediately the light bulb came on! I quickly rigged a San Juan worm with a yarn strike indicator on one of the anglers rods. Within 20 minutes we had landed 6 or 7 fish in the 8-12 inch range. The anglers were now happy and the guide was showing a lot less stress! The day ended with a total of 14 fish, two being in the 20" range, one of which was a huge Rainbow pushing 5 pounds and I had two anglers that were new to fly fishing hooked forever!

Guiding fly fishing trips in the off-season can put a lot of stress on a guide that guarantees a quality trip. Trout in a small stream can often be unpredictable when the weather is acting like a roller coaster. But they are always eating something... it's just finding out what that something is!!

In mid-winter insect hatches in a small stream that doesn't see the sun come to a sudden stop, but fish still have to eat. Fishing a weighted streamer is almost a sure bet but very hard to cast for a beginner and can be dangerous for a guide (chuck and duck).

The worst thing you can do while fly fishing with these conditions is sticking with an old favorite. It always pays to avoid narrow-mindedness in your fly selection. I seldom use a San Juan worm but today they "made the day" for 2 new anglers and one old guide!!!!