[Crummy]

Ok, anybody catching any trout? Locations? Wild or stocked? Nice keepers? Water levels?

 

[Slowriser]

Crummy, I haven't been up there in a while, but have you gone up to Little Helton? Or the Holston? Or Watuaga? With the lack of rainfall this early, something tells me we are in for a slow season this summer. If the water is low, the fish will be lower, less active, and even more skiddish. In years where the water levels are like this, I try to go over to the Tenn side of the mountains. Cause of the TVA, who does a good job of water resources, they always have water. Down past Bryson City to Abrams Crk or any spots out on that side. Beautiful virgin forest, and plenty of room to roam.

 

[Crummy]

Haven't been to any of those. I agree with the low water reasoning. Kinda makes you take a different approach. I did go to the Foscoe DH water. Decent fish there. Our local streams are slow. Poor stocking? Who knows?

 

[Slowriser]

You can't just dump fish in the water and rely on pot luck. Our Wildlife Commission is out of touch with what is going on in our rivers and streams. Especially in the mountains! They cut positions(rangers and game wardens) for the area and expect some hand fed fish to live in waters that are poached and polluted. Dump sites along the streams and roads, trash floating or hung up on banks, broken bottles, plastics everywhere. The poaching is what bothers me. They list the stocking areas and the dates, and poachers mend their nets and check their lines. They can pretty much ruin a stream in a few days. We need the law and the WRC to protect our streams and resources. A little proactive action instead of reacting. Our water management is more important than the fish. They don't have a chance if the water isn't free of chems and acids. The EPA has all but been out of the loop for the water conditions. I'm not sure how to manage it, cause that is not my particular background, but I know that Tennesse does a good job of it.

 

[Crummy]

Yep, alot of pressure on these streams. Getting hard to find those remote streams without well worn banks.

 

[Nantahala Fly Fishing]

Amen Slowriser, You are preaching to the choir brother! If something is not done soon
we will be in trouble. N.C just lowered the price of non-res license 300% TN just uped theirs. Our wild trout waters are being destroyed by bad regulations and even worse enforcement of laws that haven't been up-dated in 20 years. In N.C a slot limit means a vacant spot to stand on the bank on stocking day!

Crummy, I'll stop griping on your post now and answer your question. The water is real low and the air temps seem to have the aquatic insects confused. Yellow sallys, Sulphur Mayflies and Caddis flies have all been hatching unpredictably. I have seen a few Giant Stones hanging around in the mornings.

The Nantahala DH has been stocked but not like last year, the Tuck did get a gooooood stocking but they are releasing the water different from last year, mostly at night. This makes it better for wading but I have found that the big guys seem to bite better during the release.

We are averaging 12 to 15 fish per angler a day on flies in the Nanny. We have had a few days with over 25 per angler but these were good anglers. This time last year we averaged over 30 fish per day with novice anglers. This year the fish are just not there. I don't know if it has been poached or they just didn't stock many....most likely it has been poached.

SAVE THE TROUT.....SHOOT THE POACHERS

 

[sandmc]

Havn't been to the mountians in a month, the hills are calling me. Heading to WV this weekend for some smallies and maybe some trout. Sometime in June or July my boss and his biker friends take a trip to Graham Co. to ride the Dragon I usually go with the truck to haul the supplys to there camp, then go fishing for 2 days, can't wait!

 

[Slowriser]

Good Luck with that trip. Hope you have some luck and catch a few. When the water is low like NFF and I said, the fish are hold up in deeper pools where the water is cooler and they are not moving out into the shallow water because the oxygen is depleated in warmer water. We need a lot of rain. Everywhere!

 

[gambusia]

Not much.

Hit DH water in Henderson and Transylvania Counties earlier in the year and caught four nice fish but overall numbers seen were poor.

Stocking for hatchery supported has been poor this year too.

Have managed to catch a few fish but nothing close to 7 in a day (the daily limit).

 

[NCtrouter]

Hit the N Mills week before last with the nephew and had a great day his second time with a fly rod and he landed almost a dozen had him on 5x tippett and he only hit the first one like he was bass fishing. water was down pretty far even then so I'm sure there are ticks on the trout by this time. Year before last when we had that horrible dry spell and the water got so low I almost quit fishing the streams because of all the stress on the fish. when I do go out in these type of conditions I generally go from 7x to 6x or 5x tippett so I can horse the fish in a little quicker, you catch a few less cause they are more leader shy but in my opinion it's a good trade off.