Fires Creek

After a very trying week mentally and emotionally, I whisked Cat away for a much needed weekend in the serenity of the woods in early spring. We left on Thursday morning and headed towards an area neither of us had ever been too. After running multiple errands, we were finally on our way towards what would hopefully be a relaxing weekend.

We entered the Fires Creek watershed and began looking for a place to set up camp. Not really caring for organized sites, we opted for a site above the horse camp about a mile. Pulling in, I jumped out of the truck, ready to throw camp together and get to fishin! To my horror, upon exiting the truck, I heard the distinctive sound of my rear tire loosing air, quickly! The real issue was that my spare is already on the truck, needless to say, we jumped back into the truck and hauled ass into Hayesville. To my astonishment, I was able to get the tire plugged for $5 and we were on our way in less than 5 minutes. YEAH!

We backtracked to our previously selected spot and I hurriedly set the tent up and started pulling on my waders. My first impression is that the water is beautiful. Very fishy looking! My second impression was that there was no bank, only masses of rhodo hanging over the water. This is going to be tough water to wade. My thought was confirmed as I worked my way upstream, tossing my fly into good looking pockets and holes. The stream was made of smoothed chunk rock, most of it reddish orange. (always beware the red-orange rocks!) I continued stumbling along, picking up the occasional fish, amazed at the quality of the water and the lack of quality fish. I fished for an hour the first day, catching 7, one 7" rainbow and another 9", the rest dinks. If this was how fishing was going to be, things would be just fine!

The next morning Cat and I got up and drove around a little, waiting for the day to warm up justa bit. Sometime around 10, I finally got things together and got on the water. I fished through some of the larger water below our camp, picking up the occasional small bow, but nothing really exciting happening. Then I moved up on a classic lay. Deep hole with a log laying across it. I made multiple cast into this pool without so much as a bump. I decided to make one more cast before moving on. I laid my EHC along the side of the log, it drifted a bit, then a large trout destroyed my caddis, clearing the water in his zeal to eat that big meal. I'm on my 3wt, this is a 15" fish, fight on! After a memorable fight, I landed the sleek beauty, short of breath from the excitement. What a beautiful specimen. I wish you could see it, but Cat had the camera. Dough! I fished into camp, picking a few more fish, two over 9".

Later that day, Cat and I went down stream to some of the big pushy water, hoping to hook up with a nice sized fish. I worked an area for over two hours and ended up catching a 4" bow. Not my idea of stellar! Cat and I headed back to camp and took the sweetest nap EVER in the tent, got up, and had steak for dinner. Not a bad day!

The next morning I woke up with the burning desire to hit the smaller type streams that I love to be on. I headed upstream from camp, armed with my 2wt, looking for gullible fish. Adicus and I worked our way through large sections of thin riffles and then we'd enter a section with large, deep plunge pools. This pattern was repeated over and over, the stream was tight with rhodo and many flies were sacrificed over the weekend. The fishing remained kinda spotty, but the quality of fish was blowing my mind. I don't know that I've ever caught that many 9" fish from such small water. At one point, I hooked up with what had to be a monster. I never saw him, but I sure as hell felt him. He took a dropper, and then it took two or three good pulls on the rod to make him budge at all. On the third tug, I guess he realized he was hooked and bolted, leaving me with a limp line and a look of shock on my face. I know where you live! The rest of the day continued with me loosing flies, occasionally hooking nice fish. In general, having a great time!

I was able to find a few areas where I could fish and Cat could wander around taking photos of wildflowers and the dog. Adicus loves when we do this! He spent the majority of the day running back and forth between Cat and I, hearding us along, making sure neither of us got too far apart for his taste. I'm sometimes amazed at the lengths he will go to sometimes to go back and forth between us. I fished most of the day, when we got back to camp, Cat and I decided to go ahead and eat dinner, pack up, and head home in light of the inbound rain and that Cat wanted to sleep in her bed for the first time in about a week! Can't blame her. The next morning I snuggled deep into the covers with a grin at the sound of light rain druming on the roof. I hate packing wet camping gear!

Fires Creek is an absolutely beautiful stream, I would say on par with water in the Park as far as looks. Fishing on the lower sections was pathetic for such good looking water. The lower areas are wild bait designated, which I suspect had something to do with the fishing in the bigger water. Access could be difficult, seeing as how the stream is in the bottom of a gorge for most of it's length, visible from the road, sometimes 150ft below the road. Upper areas had decent fishing if you can get through the rhodo. It was insanely thick in some areas. One of the more difficult streams I've fished in a while, but still fun!