Blue Ridge Trip - Day 2

The Gubna!

We woke up Saturday morning and drove to Curtis Switch on the Toccoa Tailwater to meet Doc, who was driving over from Chattanooga.  We then went to the dam and started our float.  The weather was shaping up nicely.  The flow was a little lower than I remember, but not too bad.  I caught a nice brookie about a mile downstream from the Dam.  A pleasant surprise.  The Rod was fishing a huge articulated.  He fished as we floated, and had two huge rainbows chase his fly, only to turn at the last minute. A mile or two into the float we stopped at a nice run.  I rigged up a huge rubber legged stonefly that I picked up in Montana and found a nice run below the riffles. After a few casts I saw a fish rise. I thought it was probably a small brown sipping a midge, but I chucked the fly above the rise and within a few seconds I got tug.  I could tell it was a good fish immediately. I put the line on the reel and yelled at The Rod to get the boat downstream to help me land the fish.  I ended up being able to land it without a net.  The fish was 18-20 inches, and probably the best bow I've landed in the last year.  Absolutely beautiful!
The Rod landed a nice bow about an hour later (see image on left).  Doc missed a number of fish - probably close to 10 total.  Strangely enough we only managed 3 fish between the three of us. However, one good fish is all I wanted, and thus, it was an outstanding trip. The weather was great, and we all had a good time. 
That night Brown Trout Zilen made an appearance and we shut down the town.  Stories will be told about this trip for years to come....

Blue Ridge Trip - Day 1

The Rod met me in Blue Ridge on Friday morning. We had his 3 man toon, but with only two of us, we figured why not pick up another solo toon and float down the upper toccoa. I made a gross miscalculation in distance and drove over five miles above the DH section of the upper toccoa. We put in around 12:30 and after four hours we finally reached the DH. There was little sign of trout during our float, and we realized rather quickly that we were burning daylight. When we finaly reached the DH we discovered there was some sort of fly fishing competition taking place. As a result, every good run was occupied on the DH. It didn't really matter because it was getting cold and dark. I fished for a few minutes and picked up a small bow. We packed up the toons. Although we did very little fishing, it was actually quite a bit of fun rowing the toons during the 7 mile float and along the way, telling each other lies. We went downtown for a good ribeye. A good day on the water, regardless of the fishing, capped off by some whisky, beer, and a good steak - doesn't get much better!

North Carolina DH Trip -

After suffering from the crowds on the Tuck three of us drove up the mountains to another DH stream that generally is not crowded.  The fishing was sick.  I put in and immediately caught about 20 fish. I then spotted a 16 inch brookie in shallow water.  After 30 minutes I got him to hand. I moved up stream and sited 4 pigs in a slow deep pool.  I spent the next hour fishing low profile from the bank with a 15 foot leader. I ended up with 5 fish between 16 and 20 inches.  I didn't have a net, so getting pictures was tough.  I managed a couple of photographs as evidence of the epic fishing:

Big Fish on a Small Fly

North Carolina DH Trip - Tuck

Woke up Saturday morning to a cool 32 degree morning.  Our cabin was right on the river.  Three of us started fishing in front of the cabin, while another went down stream.  The crowd was incredible - overwhelming. I found a good spot and started catching a few fish.  As I was changing flies a guy stepped 30 feet in front of me and took my spot.  I've never had someone do that before.  I crossed the river and went and sat on the bank.  I was ready to go somewhere else.  After about an hour I got back in the river and picked up another dozen fish.  Nothing big.  Tons of fish. I don't know that I'll be back to the Tuck - at least not during a weekend.  Other folks in our group caught a lot of fish, and some big fish as well.  Nevertheless, it was simply too crowded for my taste.

North Carolina DH Trip - Nanty

Drove up Friday morning and met a buddy at the Nanty.  They were stocking, and surprisingly, the fishing wasn't very good.  I  managed a couple of nice fish, but not much in terms of numbers.