This is normally my favorite time of year for fishing: small crowds, cold weather, decent river flow, clear streams, and a requirement of decent angling skills when the fish are hunkered down. Unfortunately, after a stellar month in November, I have had the worst month of fishing that I can ever remember. December has been brutal!
I have spent some time fishing; but as the old adage goes, "it's called fishing, not catching." And that's what I've done. I've fished without much success. First, there was the Davidson, the subject of a prior post. Then, a few days before x-mas, I made a last minute trip to the Toccoa, only to find heavy and muddy flow. It wasn't even fishable, so I drove to the upper Hiwassee in North Carolina, but they were pushing water. I made a side trip to Fires Creek, which is beautiful, but there was so much water from the rain that I didn't even bother to put on my waders. I drove back to the non-trout waters of the Hiwassee in N.C., and waited over an hour for the water to drop after they turned off the generator. I started with a big dry fly and a small prince dropper. I hooked a decent bow fairly quickly, but couldn't keep him on the line. I missed a handful of light strikes, and ended up without a single fish to hand. Oh well, it was a beautiful day.
A few days later, we stayed in Townsend, TN for 3 days. I thought I would have time to fish the Smokies. I forgot my guide book, and because I was with family, I really didn't have much time to fish. I chucked streamers outside of the Park in the Little River, just for fun one evening. I then spent 30 minutes fishing the Little River in the Smokies, but didn't get a hit. It was about 35 -40 degrees, so I wasn't too surprised. The following day, we drove over to Cherokee so my son and father could see some Elk. I thought about fishing the Raven's Fork for a few minutes, but it was 2-3 times more flow than I've ever seen. Going back through the Smokies, I thought I would take the last 30 minutes of daylight and take my dad and son on a short hike to Road Prong. I had one of my best days fishing on Road Prong a year ago, but with only a few minutes of fishing, and snow coming down hard, I didn't even get a strike. Nevertheless, we had a great trip to the Smokies. Considering the conditions, it's probably just as well that I didn't have time to fish. Hopefully January will bring me better luck and more opportunities.
