Upcountry Kayak and Wading Excursion

Asher and I had a big time exploring waters in the South Carolina's Upcountry not too long ago. We fished mostly from the kayaks, but also spent part of a day wading the Chattooga National Wild & Scenic River.

The kayak element was extra fun because it represented somewhat of a test run. It was the first time I had loaded up both Vapor 10 Anglers for an outing to nearby waters since I brought the second one home from Old Town. We hit three different lakes by kayak, meaning 13-year-old Asher and I loaded and unloaded both boats multiple times in a couple of days, and doing so was every bit as quick and simple as I had hoped. Of course, I knew both kayaks would suit my needs well on the water because the new one is the same model as the I already had -- just a different color.

We spent time in the kayaks fishing Tugaloo Lake, Lake Jocassee and Lake Oolenoy, all tucked in the mountains and beautiful, but each distinctive in character. All three yielded some fish to go along with great paddling opportunities. 

We began on Tugaloo, which straddles the South Carolina/Georgia border and is fed by the Chattooga River and by the Tallulah River at the extreme lower end of Tallulah Gorge. We launched on the South Carolina side and spent the morning hitting pockets off the Chattooga River arm. We didn't end up traveling far because we began catching bass and bluegills almost immediately and never had need to do much searching. That said, I want to return some time soon with a whole day available to paddle down Chattooga and all the way up the Tallulah arm to fish inside the gorge section.

Next we visited Lake Jocassee, which is arguably the most scenic lake in the Southern Appalachia. Located at the edge of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, Jocassee is crazily rugged, steep, clear and deep. Most tributaries enter the lake as waterfalls, and it's nothing to be sitting over 200 feet with the boat a cast's distance from the shore. 

Our Jocassee exploration was greatly aided by Jocassee Lake Tours. Owner Brooks Wade welcomed kayaks, Asher and me onto one of the company's pontoons and took us to a few select areas of the lake that he knew would be extra cool to explore, would lend themselves to great photo opportunities and might produce a few fish. Jocassee Lake Tours

doesn't do guided fishing trips, and ultra-clear lakes can be challenging in mid-summer, so he made no promises on the fishing part. That said, we managed to catch several bluegills while paddling in some seriously beautiful areas. 

The third kayaks stop, Lake Oolenoy, is in Table Rock State Park, and the park's namesake rocky-faced mountain provides a spectacular backdrop to many parts of the lake. Only electric motors are permitted on Lake Oolenoy, and the lake is a nice size for a day of kayak fishing. It's small enough to fish your way around in a modest day, but large enough that there is room to explore and for several anglers to fish it at the same times. The bass bite was good at Oolenoy. We didn't catch big fish, but we caught quite a few bass. Making a good thing even better, the bass were coming up and blasting Pop-Rs on the surface!

We capped off our summer Upcountry tour by wading the Chattooga in a few different areas and catching both redeye bass and trout. Little is more fun in my mind than wet wading a cool mountain stream on a hot day and throwing little lures like Rebel Crawfish on ultralight gear for a mixed catch, so doing just that made for a fine trip finale.

Droppers

One of my favorite ways to fish from late spring through fall is to rig a Rebel Micro Pop-R or Crickhopper with a fly a couple of feet beneath it on a dropper. It provides a double appeal, and I'll catch some fish on the surface lure and some on the fly. Often when a fish hits and misses my popper or hopper, a moment later the lure will dart under like a bobber, and I think it's often the same fish that spotted a simple meal hanging in front of it after having been drawn in by the surface lure. The technique works well for bass, panfish and trout.

With such things in mind, I spent a little early-hours time today tying a few bugs to take with me to New England. None are specific patterns (at least not intentionally). The main common denominators, I suppose, are that they are at least a little ugly and crudely tied. With a few, I'm hopping to suggest grass shrimp or tiny light-colored minnows. The others are generalists, simply meant to look like some kinds of aquatic insect, tiny fish or critter of some other sort. Most are streamer sorts because I move the top bait a fair amount, but I'm kind of wishing now that I'd tied a few that looked a bit nymphier.

It's hard to say if I'll even break out the bug box, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have a few dropper flies handy, and if I'm going to use a fly, I'd certainly prefer to use one I tied.

#CatchFishAnywhere #NortheastAdventure

Surprise Carp

While bass fishing in a small Alabama lake last week, I was certainly surprised to catch a big carp on a crankbait, with the fish hooked in its rubbery lips. Adding even greater surprise, I caught another carp, the very next day, in a totally different lake, with a Pop-R. The second carp, with probably weighed 5 or 6 pounds, absolutely annihilated my little popper on the surface, hitting it with as much vigor as any striper or redfish I've ever caught.

I've only caught a few carp in my life, so to catch two on back to back days in different waters, and both on artificial lures, was pretty odd. In both cases, I was astounded by the fish's strength, speed and stamina. Considering that carp live fairly slow-moving lifestyles (from my understanding anyway), not doing any hunting, they seem to be amazingly fit. I actually don't know when or if I would have gained enough control of the bigger first-day carp to unhook it without "gripper" help from another angler.

Carp was species 13 on my 2015 species list. The first of a couple of spotted bass I caught the next day on the Coosa River was No. 15. To be more specific about the carp listing, I'm guessing grass carp, simply based on the fish having been stocked in small private lakes for grass control. However, if you know the carp species, based on the photo, please let me know (jeff.samsel.fishing@gmail.com).