Fires Creek trip

TheTroutWhisperer

Senior Member
Made the trek up to Fires on Saturday for the first time. Drove up about a mile past the picnic area and stumbled and bushwacked straight down to the water. The water seemed low but maybe it was normal. Thought that area had gotten a lot of rain recently? Such a nice stream and several really nice runs, now only caught 3 and had 2 to get off. Tried a flying ant for about a half hour with nothing, switched to girdle bug with a tan san juan dropped and started to get bit. I know I was in the DH section from seeing the signs. Not easy to see because they are small and black and white. Don't know if the rainbows were DH holdovers or stream born, they were all only 11 or 12 inches each. Fished my way up to where a four wheeler road came down to the stream, no way to get up that hillside until I got to that road. Can't wait to get back in the fall. Hope to check out Snowbird next.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Made the trek up to Fires on Saturday for the first time. Drove up about a mile past the picnic area and stumbled and bushwacked straight down to the water. The water seemed low but maybe it was normal. Thought that area had gotten a lot of rain recently? Such a nice stream and several really nice runs, now only caught 3 and had 2 to get off. Tried a flying ant for about a half hour with nothing, switched to girdle bug with a tan san juan dropped and started to get bit. I know I was in the DH section from seeing the signs. Not easy to see because they are small and black and white. Don't know if the rainbows were DH holdovers or stream born, they were all only 11 or 12 inches each. Fished my way up to where a four wheeler road came down to the stream, no way to get up that hillside until I got to that road. Can't wait to get back in the fall. Hope to check out Snowbird next.

"Only 11 or 12 inches?" !!!!!!!!!!!

An 11 or 12 inch wild streamborn rainbow would be an absolute trophy monster in a typical mountain creek, anywhere besides a lake or tailwater or stocked creek. Most wild streamborn rainbows in a mountain creek average 4"-9", with the 6.5" -er being the standard model.

I catch thousands and thousands of wild trout every year. I have probably not caught a wild 12" rainbow all year. Most wild trout in a normal creek will die from old age long before they hit that size. Most of the wild trout over 11" I catch are browns. And a wild 12" brown is durn near a trophy in a small creek, too.
 

Bream Pole

Senior Member
I caught my limit of stream born and raised rainbows on the Toccoa River up from the suspended bridge years ago. They were beautiful. No doubt they were stream born and raised. A game warden came by as I was leaving and checked my license and looked at the fish and commented they were all stream born. Looking at a ruler and going by memory I would say they ranged 7-9 inches. I laid them out on a rock with my rod and took a picture and cannot find it anywhere-- have looked several times since that day. Oh well . . . If I ever find it I will take a picture of the picture and post it.
 

TheTroutWhisperer

Senior Member
I don't know if these were wild or not, I didn't look at them that long. I was in the DH section so they could have been DH holdovers that didn't end up on a stringer. I do look forward to doing some camping and fishing in NC this fall and winter. Oh yeah if your in that area and starving after fishing and bushwacking there is a nice little restaurant in Murphy called Chevelles. Enjoyed the food, flirting with the cute waitresses and a couple of cold ones!
 

The mtn man

Senior Member
I don't know if these were wild or not, I didn't look at them that long. I was in the DH section so they could have been DH holdovers that didn't end up on a stringer. I do look forward to doing some camping and fishing in NC this fall and winter. Oh yeah if your in that area and starving after fishing and bushwacking there is a nice little restaurant in Murphy called Chevelles. Enjoyed the food, flirting with the cute waitresses and a couple of cold ones!

Yea, those were probably stockers, it's possible they were wild fish. Fires creek is obviously a tributary of the hiwassee river, and the mouth of fires creek is not all that far below where you were, i have caught many wild rainbows in fires creek and other creeks nearby that size or bigger. I think in the summer the river fish migrate up the smaller creeks,i think it's because maybe the equatic hatch has slacked by then, and there are so many trout competing for food. a 12 inch rainbow in the river a couple miles below where you were is normall. The next time you want to dry fly fish that in summer, try an orange stimulator. Earlier in summer try blue dun. Late summer/early fall, try blue wing olive. Of course this is for wild fish. If you want to fish for the stockers, anything will do.
 
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