What A Weekend

Well this weekend temps got up to the 60's here and me and dad were bound to hit the
water. Saturday we woke up bright and early with plans to hit a wild stream that holds some good sized fish. We got there around 8am and it was
still freezing outside. I had to thaw out my waders to even get them on. We finally got rigged up and started our hike in. When we got to the water
I had a fish chase in the first hole hopefully a sign of a good day to come. Well this wasn't the case. Just when it started to warm up and little
black stones were scurrying along the rocks, dad and the camera took a plunge. He wanted to keep going but he was wet and I didn't want him to get hypothermic
on the hike out. So we left then fishless and dad wet. We got home and got the camera into a bag of rice but it wasn't enough and Sunday I had to
use my phone.

Thawing my waders

Saturday I knew I was going but dad wasn't up for going. So after church I talked my little brother to give up on the video games and come fish with me.
So we headed north up the mountain to a Delayed Harvest stream. I pretty much spent the day guiding my little brother and occasionally
catching a fish. My brother doesn't fly fish so I was doing all the casting for him. We spent the whole 3 hours we fished in the same 2 holes. We were fishing
a black wooly bugger with a #18 black stone dropping off. I saw my indicater twitch a little and set the hook, but the fish didn't move. I handed the rod to
my brother and he succeeded in landing a 23 inch bow with 7x. He did it all on his own and now he is hooked, we plan on practicing casting in the front
yard tomorow. I hooked a brown out of the same hole that was larger than his bow and had him straighten out my hook. In the same hole we caught 9
fish and got into 2 over 20 inches and 2 over 16. A good day if you ask me.

Went in a Direction I never thought I Go

That direction was towards my golden retriever as she was casually laying on the couch.
I didn't have scissors in my hand but a brush with my eyes set on some prime tying material. She didn't mind all the brushing
and I didn't mind how the couple flies I tied looked. The fur worked perfectly for dubbing and gives the flies a scragglier look which I love.
Heres some shots.

WHAT YA THINK?

No Snow, Just Rain

Decided to hit the same place yesterday. There was a little less ice and a slow rain. The fish were just as cooperative. I was sight fishing and had a 20+++" fish nose down to eat my fly and I ripped it out of his mouth! AHHH!
Enjoy the pics:

Headed North

I headed North today to hit some different Delayed Harvest water. You gotta love fishing during the week with wind chills in the teens (not another soul on the water).
The new fly continued to perform, I landed around fifteen in three hours and had to leave because I couldn't feel my fingers any more.

There was some open water:

The fish cooperated:

I can't I'm only 17!:

Decisions!Decisions! I gotta decide where to go tomorrow. Love these 5 day weekends!

No Skunk, One Buck, Two Troots

The wind wasn't quite as bad today as yesterday, which made it much more comfortable. Quite a few people on the water today but not as many as I expected. I was trying a new pattern I tied with a midge dropper for insurance. I was fishless going into the last run of the day where I LDRed three and luckily landed two. My Dad was skunked again. He said he talked to one guy who said he had caught two (fishing all day).

color of great expectations

I almost forgot about the highlight of the day. On the drive out my Dad is staring at the water instead of the road (not unusual, but he keeps slowing down and then slams on the brakes and starts yelling. "GRAB THE CAMERA", "BIG DEER", "DOWN THERE", "THE BEACH", "SWIMMING". Well I've got no idea what all the excitement's about, but I jump out shooting random pictures and the I see the beast climbing out of the water. "MONSTER BUCK". It's the biggest white tail I've ever seen, A 12 pointer with this huge rack and spread. I only got one blurry picture before he was in the woods, so you'll have to take my word for it. When I was telling someone about never seeing a deer that big before he jokingly said "yeah, especially in that neck of the woods where deer season starts on the first cool night in August!"

38, 35, 30

Air temp., Water temp., Wind speed.
Hit the local DH today, not a banner day.

One broken off, two LDRs and one short strike by a monster.

Flat Water

Fishing the flat water made me tie these up last night at the monthly tying and lying at a local fly shop.

GURGLERS

 

 

 

Change of pace

One of the great things about living in North Carolina is the weather. In the mountains they say if you don't like the weather, hang around a few minutes, it'll change. Here in the foothills the same thing holds if you change 'minutes to days'. Sunday I was fighting ice in the trout streams, today I was fishing a completely clear pond. The sun was out today and it got up to fifty-six degrees so I thought I'd see if there was enough water open at a local pond to try and entice a bass.

After exams I checked the water:

All Clear

 

 

 

Put the sink tip on:

I tried slow rolling a big sculpin:

No ice in the guides

Finally I get a hard strike and bring this in:

Only fish of the day, but well worth it!

ADIOS!!