Post-flood Exploration

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
It's soggy, folks. We've had horrible floods here the last couple weeks. People have died and been evacuated. Still flood warnings out in neighboring counties. I sprouted vestigial gills.

With the waters finally receding, I decided to head into one of my favorite places to see how it fared through all the rain.

Lots of freshly-sawn fallen trees on the way in.

Samsquamch tried to steal my biscuit. I had to rough-talk him.

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This feller had a nice paintbrush on him:



The main creek was very high. Un-wade-able. I broke out the 7-weight and a big streamer and hit it in a few spots from the bank. Had a couple very nice browns follow, and hooked a decent one about 13"-14", but couldn't seal the deal. Said heck with it, too much current , too much water. Need to hike back into smaller water.

Good weather for fungi:

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Got to the "smaller" water. It was very high. This stream that is usually ankle-deep to knee-deep was butt-deep to chest-deep and moving rapidly in a series of standing waves. Un-cross-able in most spots.

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Hit some slack spots behind big rocks and stuff that I could get to. First three fish got my slam taken care of. That doesn't happen very often:

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That speck was 9", not bad.

Still too much water to fish worth a hoot.
Went on up to where it started splitting.

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Finally got into some water that although high, was wade-able and fish-able.

Caught a few more of these:

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Caught ten buttloads of these:

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And a considerable number of these:

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I was having fun, but wading this high stuff and scrambling over cliffs and stuff to get around the stuff that was too deep to wade was whupping my butt. I was about 2 1/2 miles back in when it started thundering. I got out of there.

Anyway, looks like the fish are still there. Looking forward to normal flows again at some point.

Fin.
 
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bowbuck

Senior Member
Nice post. I have had my picture taken with that sasquatch a couple of times. He don't move much.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Nice post. I have had my picture taken with that sasquatch a couple of times. He don't move much.

So, you been runnin' around in my backyard and ain't took me out for a steak dinner yet?
 

gobbleinwoods

Keeper of the Magic Word
Nice looking fish. Lots of variety of colors.
 

fishnguy

Senior Member
Hillbilly, I am curious as to how long of a stretch of water to catch those first 3 (slam) fish? I've only seen that on stocked fish. Your slam looks impressive! Thanks for sharing.
 

The mtn man

Senior Member
Good report ole buddy, I'll be in the nantahala headwaters by weeks end.
 

GLS

Classic Southern Gentleman
The measure of a good day is not necessarily the size or number of the fish, but the quality of the experience. What a great day you had. Gil
 

blood on the ground

Cross threading is better than two lock washers.
Excellent trip! Trout fishing is my favorite simply because you are out in the woods away from folks... Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Hillbilly, I am curious as to how long of a stretch of water to catch those first 3 (slam) fish? I've only seen that on stocked fish. Your slam looks impressive! Thanks for sharing.
Maybe 50 yards or so? Basically the first three places I could get to the water and get a nymph in a slower-moving spot. It's not unusual to catch several wild trout out of one small pool if you approach it and fish it so that you can get the first one out without spooking the rest.
 

Tomboy Boots

Turkey Killer
Beautiful pictures and beautiful fish! That fungi looks like coral tipped mushroom. I had some on a log in my woods before the river flooded the sloughs. You're definitely blessed.
 

whitetailfreak

Senior Member
Great trip and nice pics. I had a good week myself. I found much lower flows on the TN side. I sent Horace and Mark your regards.22505.jpeg22500.jpeg
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
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