Day of Almost Trout

Rarely have I ever caught fewer fish for the amount of activity seen than was the case yesterday. The trout are definitely plentiful in the Nantahala River right now (as they will be until the first Saturday in June, when the catch-and-release season ends), and they were chasing, swiping at and even hitting the baits that Asher and I was throwing all afternoon. The hits were mostly slaps, though, and we missed some fish that hit more decisively.

We didn't get skunked. We caught a handful of trout including at least one representative of all three species. It was just far less than it seemed like should have been the case.

I've seen the same thing occur before (although maybe not quite to the same extent) late in the season. Some of those fish have been caught and released for several months now, and even the newcomers, from the early May stocking, have seen lots of anglers offerings every day since they day they hit the river. That section of the Nantahala gets exceptionally popular during May. At the same time, more insects are hatching, so it can be a better time for a well-fished dry/dropper combo or dry midge on a fly rod than the spin-fishing offerings that I most commonly throw.

Despite no big catch, Asher and I had a big time stomping around in the creek. We arrived at the same time as a big summer rainstorm, but fortunately it didn't last long, and the day turned out to be beautiful. I also consider each day we spend traveling to a stream and fishing good training for the #RebelTroutTrek, which is now less than two months away. In much the same fashion as we often will be traveling this summer, we drove four hours, round-trip, to fish about six hours yesterday.