A little walk in the Smokies

transfixer

Senior Member
Great pics NCH ! I'm envious, my knees won't let me do hikes like that anymore, remembering similar weekend trips of years ago makes me want to hurry up and get knee replacements done, I miss rambling up and down the creeks and streams of N.Ga !
 

Bream Pole

Senior Member
Thanks for posting. Those are great pics and take me back quite a few years when I lived in Atlanta and used to hike around the Georgia mountains and do some trout fishing--but nothing like what you do.
 

Killer Kyle

Senior Member
Ain't much of a better way a man could spend the day! Great fish hillbilly! I especially loved the wildflower pics. I love this time of year!
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
That is awesome. Beautiful pictures.

What dries did the best if you don’t mind me asking.

I was mostly using a local pattern called "Charlie's Whopper" that was invented by my cousin Charlie Messer who lived a couple miles down the road from me here in Haywood County many years ago. I learned a lot from him when I was starting out, but he passed away way too soon. It works well in early spring. I tied up a few last week, tied one on my line first thing and started catching fish, so I didn't even try another dry fly. #12 size.
 

Paymaster

Old Worn Out Mod
Staff member
Hey, NCH. You mind sharing the recipe and a pic of that fly?
 

whitetailfreak

Senior Member
I've seen that pattern on Tennessee Traditional Flies. Always looked like a good rough water ride high trout catching bug to me, but I've never used one. Kinda resembled a Thunderhead with a split wing if I'm thinking of the right fly.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Hey, NCH. You mind sharing the recipe and a pic of that fly?

I found this online, and it's pretty close. Charlie would put a little bigger, more spread out split down wing on his than this example, and tied them bushier, but it's a pretty good interpretation. These usually work better in size 12 or bigger. Charlie would fish them in size 8 and 10 a lot of times, with #10 probably being the norm.

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/forum/threads/charlies-whopper.127800/
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I've seen that pattern on Tennessee Traditional Flies. Always looked like a good rough water ride high trout catching bug to me, but I've never used one. Kinda resembled a Thunderhead with a split wing if I'm thinking of the right fly.

Yep. I snagged this pic from there, this one looks pretty durn close to the way Charlie tied them, big and bushy. Except the tail should be the same color as the wings.
 

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Paymaster

Old Worn Out Mod
Staff member
Good lookin bug NCH! Thanks!
 
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