Delayed Harvest Troutfest

Nathaniel, Asher and I had a big time catching trout in the North Carolina mountains last week. With photos being our main objective, we went for easy pickings, hitting Delayed Harvest waters on the Nantahala and Tuckasegee rivers and Big Snowbird Creek. All had gotten an initial spring stocking, so the trout were plenty plentiful, with a few large fish in the mix.

We experienced weather ranging from ice in line guides and snow falling to sunshine and high 50s, and generally enjoyed just exploring the areas. Adding intrigue, the three stream stretches we fished are all quite different from one another in character.

North Carolina's DH waters are open only to catch-and-release fishing with single-hook artificial lures from Oct. 1 until the first Saturday in June. For folks who enjoy fishing with artificial lures and don't mind putting them back, waters managed this way in several Southern states offer great trout-catching opportunities. Fly-fishermen make the most use of these waters, but spin-fishing is completely fine, as long as each lure in your possession is equipped with only a single hook, and no soft plastics have any scent or flavor.

My boys and I do our trout fishing mostly with hard baits, especially Rebel Crawfish and Tracdown Minnows, sometimes mixing in some small jigs or spoons when the fish want something different. Rebel Crawfish were easily our top producers last week. The most productive specific Rebel Craw model was a Deep Teeny Wee Craw, although Asher got on the big fish really well with a Middle Wee Crawfish one day.

One thing worth noting about DH waters. Because they are so productive, they are also extremely popular. If you decide to visit, do so on a weekday, if possible, and arrive early. By midday during the spring, accessible spots tend to fill up and the fish get much more wary.

To TJ, with Love

TJ - I wish I'd told you how much I appreciate you last week. But I didn't. And now I can't. At least not now. Not here, in person.

I also wish I could write something beautiful and inspiring and a fitting tribute to the friend you always were to me and to Nathaniel and to so many others. Words won't do that job, though. Plus, it's hard to write with a lovely flow when your mind and emotions are going in so many direction.

Pictures from trips together and memories from those trips make me laugh and cry at the same time. I'll always laugh about banana pudding milkshakes, an odd cackle from behind us at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, your ever-reliable way of bringing out a smile in photos, and so many other things. But it's still hard for me to grasp that we'll never again stand side by side on riverbank admiring a mountain landscape God crafted, have dinner together at a writer's event, or even just stand together trading stories.

I know you're where there's no sickness or sadness, and that thrills me, but I'll miss you so, and it saddens me to think about Kathy and Ron and other friends and coworkers who are used to having you in their lives on a daily basis.

You always took time to say thank you, asked how you could help me, showed genuine concern for me and my family, made me smile (made everyone smile), represented your company exceptionally well... The list could go on and on.

I guess what I'm trying to say -- and what I wish I'd said before -- is that I'm very thankful for your friendship and that I love you.

Nantahala Play Day

It had been far too long since Nathanial, Asher and I had spent a full day together trout fishing, so our recent day of work and play on North Carolina's Nantahala River was extra fun. We left home dark and early, got to the river just about the time daylight was finding the gorge, and spent the day hopping from spot to spot to catch fish and take photos. Photos were the work objective, so we each kept a camera handy all the time.

We caught a bunch, and all three of us got a slam of rainbows, browns and brook trout during the day. Beyond the catching, it was just a fun day spent together by the river.

The catch-and-release season on North Carolina's delayed-harvest streams just opened a couple of weeks ago. What that means is that these stream sections are well stocked and the trout haven't gotten too educated. Fooling fish isn't an amazing accomplishment, but it's a barrel of fun. We like the Nantahala a lot because it's a beautiful stretch of river with a lot of variety in types of water, and it's just big enough that at any given pull-off, it is practical for two or three people to spread out a bit or even to fish side-by-side. It's also nice because a road parallels the river, so you can fish an area for a while and then move to another pull-off.

We're far from alone in liking the Nantahala, and it can get kind of crowded. However, the many pull-offs and the configuration of the river make it pretty easy to find a spot where you aren't fishing in a crowd. Arriving early also helps. We had the river to ourselves when we arrived, and we got to hit a few spots first. Fishing on a weekday helps a little. Maybe the best thing that can happen for the sake of less company is to have horrible weather (not the case last week), and in truth, wet, nasty days sometimes offer the best fishing action.

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.

One on One

The run contained plenty of trout, but Asher was only focused on one. If you fish, you've probably been there, with a specific pesky fish that got in your head.

The trout itself wasn't noteworthy. A cookie-cutter stocked brook trout of 11 inches or so and one of thousands in the Nantahala River. It was in a pool right at Asher's feet, though, and it wouldn't go away. Making matters worse, it showed just enough interest to keep Asher interested. It followed baits frequently and hit a few times, and Asher even hooked it briefly once.

Skipping to the end, the trout won. Asher never caught it. We fished the same run three times in two days and both caught other fish from it, but not that one. Asher tried for it all three times, switching lures a few times, and laughing at himself for being so determined to catch that one fish. When we moved along the third time, the trout was still right where it was the first time we spotted it.

Trout Itch Worse

Big Snowbird Creek, near Robbinsville, N.C.

You know how when you scratch an itch it only gets itchier? Of course you do. Well. It would seem an itch to fish for trout is much the same way.

Last week's trip to western North Carolina included three marvelous days on the Nantahala River and Big Snowbird Creek. With the weather cooling a bit, leaves changing and North Carolina's delayed harvest season opening, I had been itching to get in a stream and to catch some trout. Those waters were soothing, while I was standing in them. However, the itch has been worse than ever this week as I've been sitting at the computer, writing fish stories, and I keep finding myself wading up stream in daydreams. Some streams are nearby and very familiar. Others are legendary waters much farther from home that I've never seen with my own eyes.

At the risk of making things even worse, I really need to get back in a stream next week, if not this weekend!

Double Ugly Rig

Trout I caught on a jig/fly tandem rig last week were about
evenly divided between taking the jig and the fly.

Fly-fishermen commonly use dropper flies, drifting a nymph beneath a bushy dry fly, a pair of nymphs or some other combination, and I've recently found good pond fishing success with by trailing a No. 10 or 12 Hare's Ear or other nymph behind an Ugly Bug, which is my name for any hair jig I tie. The idea of the rig is have something a bit smaller and freer moving trailing the Ugly Bug. When a fish turns on the bigger bug but resists hitting, the smaller offering behind it provides a second chance at an easier target.

Knowing I'd be fishing mountain streams last week, I tied up a handful if "Ugly Nymphs," creating buggy offerings from fur, feathers and No. 8 (the smallest size I had at the time) Daiichi Bleeding Bait octopus-style hooks. I didn't try them at the Nantahala because the stream was high and somewhat stained, so the fish were already in reaction mode. Big Snowbird was super clear, though, so after we'd fished a while I decided to tie a bit of 4-pound leader to the bend of my Ugly Bug hook and tie an Ugly Nymph to the terminal end. The one I chose was all peacock, with a narrow, peacock wrapped body and a few short strands of peacock hurl creating a tail. It looked buggy to me, but I'm not a trout.

Some fish agreed. Whether I caught more fish than I would have without it I really don't know, but my catch was split about half and half between the jig and the fly from the time I added the trailer, so I tend to think that at least a couple of those fish would not have hit the jig alone.

I've since gotten some smaller hooks of the same style, and I have some specific bugs in mind that I want to tie and try. In other words, the Double Ugly experiment has only just begun!

Expecting a Rockin' River

The good news is the Nantahala shouldn't be crowded be too crowded today, which is rare this early in the delayed harvest season. The bad news is that the river could be pretty well blown out. It looks like a lot of rain fell overnight (and continues falling) in western North Carolina, which is going to create a serious surge in the steep-sided river.

A certain amount of surging is a good thing.  Elevated flows and a bit of stain cause the fish to become less cautious and to go into ambush mode, generally from predictable places. Too much, though, and they all find rocks to hide under and hold tight, and it becomes difficult to wade and to make decent lure presentations.

I'm fairly certain we'll use bigger, bolder baits than originally anticipated, and that the smallest ultralight rods with the 4-pound-test on them will be untouched.

We leave to cross the mountains soon, so we'll find out in a couple of hours!

October

A good thing happened while I was sleeping last night.

October arrived.

I guess there's nothing really that different about Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, but somehow it just feels different because I know it's now October, which is my single favorite month of the year. I'm an all-season angler, and there are things I like a lot about every month of the year. October tops my list, though.

Maybe it's the normal delightful October weather. Maybe it's the changing of colors (although in Georgia, our prettiest color really comes in early November). Maybe it's autumn fishing. Maybe it's the fact that my wife and I (and two of our six children) have October birthdays, so I get to eat a lot of cake this month. Maybe it's the opening of North Carolina's delayed harvest season, the abundance of fall festivals, pumpkin flavored hot drinks...

In trout, I suppose some combination of all those factors, and more, makes October my favorite month.

I'm looking forward to enjoying a few of those things -- the beginning of the DH season, the wonderful weather, and the first decent hints of changing colors -- next week when I fish the Nantahala River and then spend a few days at a conference at Fontana Village, which looks is right across Fontana Lake from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I'll likely also do some fishing in the park, in the DH section of Big Snowbird Creek and/or in the little lakes just downstream of Fontana while I'm up there. Those plans aren't settled quite yet.

I might actually have to sneak out to the pond today. I have some photos I'd like to shoot. More importantly, I just want to do a little October fishing!

No Georgia on my Species List

Saturday's catch on the Nantahala River included a couple of brook trout -- my first brookie of this year.

When I added brook trout to the written list that I keep I couldn't help but notice that I've added fish from five different states, but not my home state of Georgia. Don't get me wrong. I've caught fish in Georgia this year. As recently as Friday, in fact. I only record the first fish of any give species, and none of the first fish have come from Georgia waters.

The brook trout, which came from North Carolina, was species 15. I've also caught "first fish" from Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New York. I also noticed that so far I've added at least one new fish each month of the year. Given fishing travel plans to South Dakota, Wisconsin and Mexico in June, it seems likely that streak will continue.

The Black Hills region, where I'm headed next, offers a big variety of species, so I won't try to guess what kind of fish I'll get to add next. Of course, I might end up slipping out and fishing somewhere close to home between now and next Monday, when I fly to South Dakota. So maybe Georgia will be next!

Go Early & Then Go Home

Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, final few days of the Delayed Harvest release season and beautiful weather all suggested that the Nantahala River was going be a popular destination. With that in mind we left the house dark and early and arrived at the river just a little after first light.

Good thing.

Only a couple of pull-ins had cars in them when we arrived, but each time we moved to a new spot we passed a few more parked cars and fishermen nearby in the river. The plan was to start with the obvious spots and then spend some time in a gorge section, which is more work to fish through and gets far less fishing pressure than most spots. Seemingly others had the same idea, though, because we had a pair of anglers trailing us through the gorge and we came to another pair ahead of us. At that point we climbed out of the gorge and went looking for other available pull-outs down river.

We did find space in a few other places, and we caught a few more trout. The bite slowed as the morning progressed, though, and I think the main reason for that was that wherever we stopped to fish someone else had just left. By 1:00 enough folks were dotting the river that we decided it was time to put on dry shoes and head back over the mountain.

I'm glad we went, but I'm even more glad that we went early!

Favorite Fishing Days

When I consider some of my favorite fishing days from the year that's about to depart, they seem to have something in common. I just can't pinpoint what that something is.

A couple of days that come quickly to mind occurred on a pond near hom. One was on Eli's 5th birthday, when he went to work catching birthday bluegills while sporting the colors of Cheetos and Powerade on his face. Another was with my 7-year-old daughter Autumn, when she not only helped with the fish-catching duties, but she did a fine job taking pictures of a surprisingly big bass I caught on a little lure.

Another pond outing of note was with Nathaniel, my 15-year-old son, but on a different pond. The fishing was crazy good that day, and we caught bluegills, bass and crappie. I don't recall the tally, but I believe we concluded that it was as many fish as he and I had ever caught together in a day, and it all occurred in only a couple of hours.

A few other favorite days took place on streams. Two were with Asher, my 9-year-old, both on the same stream. One yielded his first trout, a pretty brook trout. The other, which was a dark an oddly warm afternoon only a couple of weeks ago, resulted in his first brown trout. Two of my other favorite trout outings were with Nathaniel at the Nantahala River in North Carolina. One was in May and one was in November, but both involved him systematically targeting extra big trout and succeeding in finding what he was seeking

Ponds, streams, bluegills, bass, brook trout, brown trout, warm weather, cool weather... I just can't quite put a finger on what all those favorites fishing days in common.

22 Species in 2013

North Carolina's Nantahala River accounted for rainbow,
brown and brook trout on the list, with all three coming on a cold
January day.

I suppose it's probably safe to sum up my 2013 fish species list. I may sneak out to a pond or creek before Tuesday, but I don't see myself wetting a line in any places where I'd be likely to add to this year's list of species caught.

Assuming that's correct and assuming I didn't miss any, I ended up catching 22 different kinds of fish in 2013. That's down from 30 in 2012, but I think that was an unusual year in terms of opportunities to travel farther from home and fish for different species than I normally encounter.

I always list the first of any given kind of fish that I catch each year and include the location, state and month. In terms of states, Louisiana accounted for the most listings (four, all salt), but Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Pennsylvania each added three, so places were pretty nicely distributed. May was the top month, with six new listings.

Interestingly, one of my favorite single fish on this year' list (if not my favorite) was somewhat of a confused listing. I caught a crappie this spring in Tennessee that very much looked like a black crappie, not only by its darkness but by a lack of distinguishable bands. However, it came from a place that normally produces white crappie and a friend counted the fin rays and said that was indeed a white crappie. It didn't matter on the list because I caught several other crappie of both varieties this year. I just thought it was interesting.

With two ice excursions on the books for early 2014 and a couple of other possible early trips in the works I hope to get next year's list off to a quick start. But first I might need to catch a few more pond bass or bluegills!

Thursday Tips: Believe the Fish

When I fish in current with a Road Runner Original Marabou or Pro Marabou 2.0, I almost always let the current do the bulk of the delivery work by casting to the upper ends of runs I want to fish and either twitching the rod as the bait drifts downstream or keeping the rod tip high and reeling just enough to keep the bait from dragging bottom. Not surprisingly, that was how I began fishing my Road Runner this week on the Nantahala River.

Sometimes I'll let the lure drift past my position and then tighten the line and let it swing in the current downstream -- and occasionally a trout hits it on the swing. Most days such hits are bonuses and make up a small piece of the action. It took me a while to notice yesterday that most of my strikes were occurring duringdownstream swings and longer to begin shifting the angles of my casts. It took even longer to truly believe the fish about their preferences and to mostly abandon the normally productive upstream casts.

Yesterday's specific presentation isn't as important as the often-stated but too-seldom-followed idea of truly allowing the fish to dictate things like casting anglers, color choices and presentations speeds. I still ended up catching quite a few trout, but I believe I would have caught quite a few more had I done a better job of following advice I sometimes give and often hear stated by pros and guides. It's one thing to listen to the fish. It's another to believe what they tell you and evidence that through the way you present your baits.

Better Bring the Gloves (or Stay Home)

Western North Carolina forecast calls for an overnight low in the bottom of the 20s or upper teens(possible record low for the date), ushered in by a brisk north wind. Chilly for standing knee deep in a mountain river, but I figure that's why we have quality cold-weather gear. I know Nathaniel can handle the cold because he spent a late November day out there with me five years ago, when it was 17 degrees at starting time, and he was only 10 years old at the time. And then there was the ice trout excursion in Colorado when the huge cold front pushed through!

I'm admittedly hopeful that today's forecast of afternoon rain and snow showers, followed by hard cold, will lessen the number of other folks standing in the creek. I don't really mind other folks, and I know they have every bit as much right to be in the stream as I do. Still, I can't deny that I prefer less company when I'm trout fishing.

Plans are to spend some time fishing the Nantahala River (which, of course, is a highly popular stream this time of year and doesn't lend itself to much solitude). We also plan to explore a section of Big Snowbird Creek that was just added to the Delayed Harvest program this year. I'm eager to visit Big Snowbird, which is located just outside of Robbinsville in Graham County.

All that said, we may not go at all. I'm still watching the ever-evolving forecast. I truly don't mind the cold, but I don't want to drive two hours to spend half of tomorrow sitting in a motel room, waiting for ice to melt on the driveway so I can fish a few hours.

Bonus Catch

At first I thought a small bass had blasted out of the brush and pummelled my Money Craw. Then. when I got a glance at the hooked fish I thought it was an overzealous bluegill. When I pulled the fish into the boat I happily discovered that it was actually a warmouth, which is sort of like a bream with a bass' mouth. The fish wasn't very big and it didn't put up and impressive fight, but I was happy to have caught it because it was the first warmouth Nathaniel and I had ever seen come out of that particular pond. For me, a novel fun comes from catching something new from a given waterway and learning a little more about what lives there.

The warmouth also helped me add to my 2013 species list, which has been slow getting going. It marked species No. 6. Of the species I've been able to put on this year's list, three have come from the same ponds in my home town, and three have come from North Carolina's Nantahala River. I have big hopes of building the list next week through fishing travels planned in Tennessee and Arkansas. Black and white crappie, smallmouth bass and rock bass are among the most likely additions.

Gear: Hodgman Hickory Swale Waders

 

My last few trout trips have provided fine opportunities to put my Hodgman Hickory Swale Waders to work. The Nantahala was still pretty chilly last week, and it was downright cold in January when we arrived at the river with air temps in the upper teens. The waders themselves are lightweight, so they'll remain comfortable when the days are warm, but they've performed beautifully, and with fleece wading pants beneath them and the built-in neoprene stocking feet on the waders, I've stayed completely dry and plenty warm.

Almost as important as keeping me dry, the lightweight material used for the Hickory Swale Waders allows for great mobility. My favorite Appalachian streams have steep beds, and getting to good spots calls more than a little rock climbing and rhododendron tunnel crawling. That's a tough task in bulky waders, and I've been thrilled by the mobility I've enjoyed in these. I'll still shed 'em as soon as I can stand to do so and will wade wet when water temperatures allow; however, for most trout tailwaters and for cool-season fishing days, waders are necessary, so I'm grateful for a good comfortable pair to wear.

These waders are also really well designed in terms of stuff like gravel guards, padding, reinforcements in high-wear area and strap adjustments, and the Hodgman folks obviously gave good thought to practicalities of fishing with a removable fly patch (which works nicely for spinning lures too, by the way), lined hand-warming pockets and a full length, fully waterproof front zipper. Those seem like little things until you spend a few days in a pair of waders. Having stuff well designed and in the right places allows you to be more comfortable and more efficient, which can result in more opportunities to catch fish!

And I'm for Fishing in the Rain

Rain is falling steadily from very dark skies as we prepare to pull out from Fontana Village Resort. The river is on the way home, though, so we're going to press on and try a little fishing. I'm actually hopeful that the dark skies, broken surface and rising river will make the fish extra aggressive, and I believe we could have a very good day. I'm also pretty confident that there will be less folks in the river, which adds to the likeliness of less tentative fish. Photo opportunities might be limited, but I'll have my favorite waterproof point-and-shoot around my neck and ready to go.

Yesterday was fun and productive on the river. Fontana was fun too, an we went out with a great guide who has grown up fishing the lake. Last week's snow had too much cold water flowing into the lake, though, and the bite was off. We spent the afternoon hours in the Nantahala catching rainbows, brook trout and brown trout. Of course, Fontana Lake and the Nantahala River, both deep in the western North Carolina mountains, are great places to fish even if the fish don't bite.

Marabou Madness on the Nantahala

With the Nantahala running fairly hard today, I decided I'd fish with a bigger than normal jig, figuring I might get less action but that I also might find larger fish. As it turned out, fish of all sizes gladly attacked a Road Runner Marabou Pro 2.0, which is about 2 inches long, and I managed to catch brook trout, brown trout and rainbows in a few hours of fishing. At one point, I caught three trout on three consecutive casts. I didn't catch any giants, but I did land a couple of good-sized brook trout and rainbows.

The Pro 2.0 has a long marabou skirt, which causes a slow fall and subtle action. Therefore, I was able to fish a 1/16-ounce jig as slowly as I normally fish a 1/32-ounce jig, and the larger hook in that bait actually did a great job of hooking and holding the trout. I caught most fish by casting upstream, letting the bait sink almost to the bottom and working it just a little bit faster than the current with quick little lifts or twitches of the rod tip.

After a great day on the river, we're settled into the lodge at Fontana Village Resort and are looking forward to fishing lake tomorrow. I'm not sure what we're going to be fishing for, but I'm going to bring my Road Runner Marabous -- just in case.

Destination Smokies

This time tomorrow, I'll be knee deep in the Nantahala River, hopefully releasing yet another trout. We'll arrive early in the afternoon, and hopefully the catching will commence in a hurry. The highly familiar four miles of delayed harvest waters on the Nantahala tend to produce very well during April. High numbers of rainbows, brook trout and browns get stocked in these waters, and all fishing is catch-and-release with single-hook artificial lures this time of year.

I typically visit the Nantahala a couple of times during the "delay" period, and I've been doing so for close to 20 years. Therefore it's runs and pools and the behavior of its trout have gotten fairly familiar. Not quite predictable. They still baffle me sometimes. Familar, though. It's a favored photo destination because it's easy to get in and out of the river in a lot of places and the habitat ranges from gentle riffles to long runs to crashing rapids with big plunge pools beneath them.

We'll also spend a day fishing on Fontana Lake on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and will be staying at Fontana Village Resort. I've fished Fontana a handful of times over the years, but it has been several years, so I'm really looking forward to spending time there. I'm not sure yet whether we'll be fishing for smallmouths, walleyes or something else, but on a lake as pretty as Fontana, there really aren't any bad options.

On Thursday we'll hit the river again before starting toward home. At least that's the plan right now. The weatherman says there's a 90 percent chance of rain on Thursday, so I suppose plans will depend on what time the rain sets in (if at all) and how heavy it is. Either way, we'll fish a day on the river and a day on the lake, so keep an eye out for reports.