Ouch, My HIp Hurts

I started out today's trip a little different than most. I decided to leave the watershed I had dedicated myself to for this season and headed over to Cuhlowee and hit some of the feeders that run into the Tuckaseegee. Adicus was excited as usual, maybe a bit too excited. While heading down HWY 23, a something very malodorous began to pervade the truck. At first I had to think about how close I was to Canton, not close. That left one other option, Adicus! And boy let me tell you, he had the swamp ass like you wouldn't believe. I thought I was going to have to pull over it was so bad!

After dodging what seemed to be a near case of poisoning by gas we made it to our destination. Being somewhat tired from the past few days, I decided to fish along the road and forgo a hike to isolated water. A somewhat poor choice on my part, as the water was still somewhat stained from silt and very full of water. The problem with small streams and high water is that they just turn to foam making them difficult to fish. Logic would dictate fishing something big and heavy, but if I wanted to do that, I would just bring a spin rod! I have a high aversion to fishing deep with a fly rod for some reason.?

The fishing was sporadic at best. I was catching fish, but not very consistently. Some would pop off, others would disappear right after hitting my dropper. I missed a lot of fish. Some pools held fish while others that should have didn't. Speaking of pools, special thanks to the electric company for laying trees over 8 or 9 good holes. And I don't mean like one tree, but multiple trees left in tangles. The ones that weren't in the stream were clogging the banks, making moving on the banks absurdly difficult. Thanks guys, really appreciate it!

Wildflowers were blooming all over the place to my surprise. There were lots of large trilliums, stonecrop, bluets, and I got to see another on of my early spring favorites, Jack in the Pulpit. One of the more unusual plants that grow around hear in my opinion. We have some that are of domesticated stock in the yard (from a nursery), so I always enjoy seeing it in the wild. It can be difficult to find because of it's coloring, but always of interest when I do!

I caught some really nice fish when I could find a hole that had fish and no trees. Most of them LDRed themselves, typically right as I was reaching down. The fun was still had. The flies of the day were a size 12 Thunderhead and a SHBH pheasant Tail(14) as the dropper. A majority of fish took the dropper. I had a few fish take the dry, but most takes were with little enthusiasm. This stream was full of loose chunk rock and smooth granite, making for sketchy footing. I was trying to work a pool while standing on a fairly steep angled granite rock and my feet lost all traction, and it was rod in the air (I've learned to get it away from me when I fall!), me in the water. A little bit of missing skin on one finger and a huge goose egg on my hip, which has the potential bruise nicely, and I'm learning I don't take hits like that quite as well as I used too. Lord, am I already starting to get there?

I fished multiple sections, and had pretty consistent results, mediocre! Don't misunerstand, I made contact with a lot of fish, I fought a good many of them, and even touched a few of them. But I can't remember a time that I had that many fish pop off on me. Just weird and frustrating! On the way out, I planned to hit a few sections of bigger water nestled between houses. The first hole I hit was fairly unremarkable, just a long, somewhat shallow run with troughs along both banks. Wide enough that I couldn't roll cast across, I made a few casts curious if I would catch anything. Moving up the bank, I noticed some movement ahead of me and saw a nice sized rainbow rise 10 ft away. I made a quick cast and to my amazement, he hammered my Thunderhead. Fish on!!! After putting up a nice fight, I landed a beautiful 12" wild bow. Since i was just screwing around, I didn't have my chestpack, and thus no camera. DAMN!!!

I decided to call it a day after that bad boy. It was getting late and I figured that Cat would be wondering where I was. She wasn't. My overall impression of this stream is that it will fish much better a little later in the season. High volume had a big effect on the fishability of the stream as did being dingy. The lower section.... I have a date with you for tomorrow! My hip is killing me while I write this!