Davidson River May 4th

[spoonsou]

Hi all,

I was on my way home from Tennessee on Sunday and had anticipated making a stop on the Davidson before making to Raleigh.

Made it on the river around 1:30PM and fished until about 3:30:PM. It was about 80 degrees and partly cloudy. A lot of people on the river whether they were picnicing, swimming, or fishing. Stopped at multiple spots on the road in from the entrance to Pisgah all the way to the Hatchery.

Was surprised to find that there were not many active fish in the deeper pools but more so in the faster runs; fairly shallow. Saw multiple people with decent fish (looked to be 12-15") in these faster runs. I only caught one fish which was a ravenous brookie, I would be willing to bet it was a wild since it was only about 6 inches in length and had the deep colorations you don't alway see in the hatchery fish.

My second fish was caught just downstream from the Hatchery (which unfortunately only spent about 20 minutes) literally as I was packing up my fly box, my line was still adrift and a large slap on the water got my attention... After about 8 minutes or so finally pulled up a 20" brownie... Caught on my 3wt 7' 6" rod using what I think was a size 20 mayfly pupa pattern with olive body. (of note, I had been lazy for the first half of my session and not adjusted my leader to extend to ~9' as I have been told it is necessary; the action seemed to coincidentally pick up once i put on a fresh leader and tippet of 6x) This part of the river had a lot of algae on the bottom which I at first thought was the actual color of the water... the bottom was half rocky and half silt; the water was slow moving. These fish were mostly all just released from the look of it; they were widley dispersed and feeding a lot like they do in the hatchery (more on this below). This fish was caught in calm shallow water.

Had tried many patterns throughout the day including stimulators, caddis, copper johns, and even a wolly bugger; none seemed to work except the copper john and pupa pattern i mention both very small, and very dead in the water so to speak.

This is a river I realize I have to return to again and again as the amount of water to cover is vast, and the opportunity boundless...

Spent a few minutes at the Hatchery and came to a few conclusions or at least thoughts...
1.) Where are all of the monsters that they are growing in there? (fish obviously in excess of 5-6lbs.)
2.) Seeing the way these fish feed or are fed in the hatchery is pretty enlightening on how they feed and/or take on the river; definitely worth a stop by to see these fish.
3.) It is amazing how quickly these fish learn to dissapear and feed discreetly after a few weeks of being out of the hatchery (if they aren't poached)

Hope this report was enlightening... Tight Lines!

Spoony