[slickrocktom]

Left Asheville in great weather and in a good mood, it quickly turned into a steady snowfall at Sam's Gap, this should have told me something. Got to the hotel at about 11:00 last night only to find out that they overbooked. We had made reservations at the Hilton in Johnson City almost a month ago. To beat all, we called on Wednesday evening to make sure everything was okey dokey. After some debate, I was told that sometimes booking sites overbook on purpose. He didn't like it when I explained that they were made IN PERSON AT THE HOTEL ITSELF!!!!!!!!He dissapeared to the back room and his underling came out with some cookies for the " inconvenience"......Please, eat them yourself and refund the room charges you quickly put on my card when I made reservations I guess Laura won't be sitting by the pool Not wanting to drive back through the snow, we found another hotel pretty quick. I figured it couldn't get any worse. Now to the fishing part. I started at Sycamore shoals. No hatches, high water, this was going to be rough. I got the big goose egg in all my familiar spots and offerings . I tried Sawyer's Pheasant tails ( 18's ) with a #20 Zebra dropper. I switched after a while to a #20 stripper midge. still nothing. When the wind came up, I walked below the park to the bigger holes, tied on a heavy #6 coffee/black pat's rubber leg and on my first pass I get a big take. About 16-18 inches of rainbow rockets out of the water and throws my fly. Oh well, It's an improvement. 20 more minutes pass without action, so I move down a hole and like the last, I connect with a bigger fish , maybe 20'' and this time i got a witness. A guy in a drift boat stopped to root for me, then he broke my 4x flourocarbon tippet. I am a grown man, I refuse to cry. I left there to go to the ballpark. 2 hours of nothingness greeted me. I watched a big sub surface drake hatch come off about 2:00, go for about 30 minutes, then end as fast as it started. I saw one fish rise to them. In desperation, I went big. I started throwing #4 white zonkers and more PRL's in the big dark holes. I accepted defeat and went to walk around Historic Jonesboro with Laura and eat some BBQ. I did get to test my new Simms Skeena gloves in the 30 degree weather.

They work too well. Every so often you have to take them off and let your hands breathe.

 

[dbeam]

I hope you enjoyed your walk around Historic Jonesboro, something good has to be on the horizon since you didn't waste any of your luck on the fish.

I have been saving up my luck lately as well. Little to nothing so far this year, waiting on the slump to break soon.

Darrell

 

[RouseD]

My wife and I got overbooked once in a cabin we had rented. They put us in another cabin free of charge and gave us credit for 2 more free days anytime we wanted to use them. That was near Pigeon Forge Tenn.
I would probably be happy with having your bad luck, mine has been so bad lately. Thanks for the report.

 

[Greenmonster]

Slickrocktom - I know that trip probably left much to be desired, but your description of it was a great read! I've been on the longest, driest bad luck streak of my lifetime - it started about a year ago and has continued without a break. Sometimes it's good to read others frustrations and remember that I'm not the only one that the fish turn their tails up at!

Things have gotten so bad that I broke down and hired a guide for a trip today. I figure that if I can't beat the fish into submission with perseverance, if I throw enough money at them, they are obligated to eagerly chew on my flies.

It's gotta work!

 

[RouseD]

Gm, you're in NC now, so maybe that alone will change your luck for the better, with or without the guide. The guide is still a good choice. Hope you do well with the guide.