Just completed a 5 river trout fishing adventure with a good fishing buddy during the past 5 days. The weather was not the best, but the fishing was good.
Day 1 (Wed): Fished the Green River DH section by myself for a couple of hours late on Wednesday. Overcast and showery, and the water was still a little high and off color from the dam release and rains. Caught five fish (lost just as many), all on bead head wooly buggers, largest was 13" brookie. These fish must have been at the hatchery that morning, because one of them upchucked about 15-20 trout chow pellets when I landed him in the net. The number of fisherman on the water for that river on a weekday also suggests it was stocked earlier that day.
Day 2 (Friday): Hit the Tuckaseegee River DH section early that morning and slayed them. We both caught some nice sized fish, about 20-25 each, averaging 11-12" in size. My largest trout were a 15" brookie and a fat 15" brown trout. Caught most of the fish on wooly buggers, weighted nymphs (one I had tied myself, yeah) and small streamers.
On afternoon of Day 2, we drove over to the Nantahala River DH section and continued with the excellent catching. Switched to drys (midges, caddis) and nymphs for that river. I caught another 20 fish there and my friend caught about a dozen. Fish were good sized, the biggest being about 14". The weather was not great, with off and on showers but not cold.
Day 3 (Sat.): To avoid the madness of opening day on HS streams, we hiked up Noland Creek inside the GSMP to test our skills against the wild trout. This kind of trout fishing proved how spoiled we were on the DH streams. Tough day, lots of hiking but beautiful scenery. My friend caught one 4" dink rainbow, and I caught one dink rainbow and get this........a 10" brook trout in the lower mile of the stream. A brookie at that size seemed really out of place and unexpected for this stream. But its a good sign that restoration of the brookies is occurring in the park. Sulfur duns and Light Cahill patterns were getting lots of interest and missed strikes from these fish.
Day 4 (Today): Fished the West Fork Pigeon River today for a few hours. I love this stream....the water was gin clear despite all the recent rains that had all the downstream rivers running brown. The WRC officers were out early on this stream, glad to see them patrolling. I caught a half dozen fish including a nice 14" brookie. My buddy caught 10 fish. Dries were working well, especially #16 cahill and caddis patterns. Could not get these fish to even look at a bead head wooly buggers or nymphs.
All in all, a great long weekend of trout fishing.
Day 1 (Wed): Fished the Green River DH section by myself for a couple of hours late on Wednesday. Overcast and showery, and the water was still a little high and off color from the dam release and rains. Caught five fish (lost just as many), all on bead head wooly buggers, largest was 13" brookie. These fish must have been at the hatchery that morning, because one of them upchucked about 15-20 trout chow pellets when I landed him in the net. The number of fisherman on the water for that river on a weekday also suggests it was stocked earlier that day.
Day 2 (Friday): Hit the Tuckaseegee River DH section early that morning and slayed them. We both caught some nice sized fish, about 20-25 each, averaging 11-12" in size. My largest trout were a 15" brookie and a fat 15" brown trout. Caught most of the fish on wooly buggers, weighted nymphs (one I had tied myself, yeah) and small streamers.
On afternoon of Day 2, we drove over to the Nantahala River DH section and continued with the excellent catching. Switched to drys (midges, caddis) and nymphs for that river. I caught another 20 fish there and my friend caught about a dozen. Fish were good sized, the biggest being about 14". The weather was not great, with off and on showers but not cold.
Day 3 (Sat.): To avoid the madness of opening day on HS streams, we hiked up Noland Creek inside the GSMP to test our skills against the wild trout. This kind of trout fishing proved how spoiled we were on the DH streams. Tough day, lots of hiking but beautiful scenery. My friend caught one 4" dink rainbow, and I caught one dink rainbow and get this........a 10" brook trout in the lower mile of the stream. A brookie at that size seemed really out of place and unexpected for this stream. But its a good sign that restoration of the brookies is occurring in the park. Sulfur duns and Light Cahill patterns were getting lots of interest and missed strikes from these fish.
Day 4 (Today): Fished the West Fork Pigeon River today for a few hours. I love this stream....the water was gin clear despite all the recent rains that had all the downstream rivers running brown. The WRC officers were out early on this stream, glad to see them patrolling. I caught a half dozen fish including a nice 14" brookie. My buddy caught 10 fish. Dries were working well, especially #16 cahill and caddis patterns. Could not get these fish to even look at a bead head wooly buggers or nymphs.
All in all, a great long weekend of trout fishing.
