Promised Nantahala Report

Just home from North Carolina's Nantahala River. Here's the promised report:

Some days trout want Road Runners dead drifted; other times, swimming the bait is the only way to go. This week the truth seemed to fall somewhere in-between, and it seemed like "the swing" was a critical part of many presentations. When my lure would get slightly downstream of me, if I would keep a loop in the line, stop reeling and lift the rod gently a few times, the result often would be a strike. Key areas to swing the bait, when possible, were the edges of current and slack water, preferably over boulders or broken ledges.

Trout -- especially brook trout -- did not seem as abundant to me as they normally do during May in the Nantahala. On a typical May day, you can't swim a bait through a small pocket along the edge of a big pool without either spooking a brookie or drawing a swipe. I didn't really see many of those pocket-guarding fish in two days of fishing, and the big pools didn't seem as full. Whether that was due to poaching, flooding, a shift in stocking or simply my observation skills, I'm not sure.

Either way, there were more than enough trout in the river for TJ and Ron Stallings, Nathaniel and me to enjoy two fabulously days of fishing, with plenty of catching action spread throughout the trip. Rainbows were the most abundant, by far, but we caught a handful of brookies and a single small brown trout to complete the slam. We caught most of our fish on Natural Science Trout and Panfish Series Road Runners.

Of course the river was beautiful as ever, and it felt great to be standing knee deep in the cool river.