Pisgah Ledge Browns

Jumped in the truck with Adicus and headed for a stream I like to fish at least once a year. I don't really know why I only fish it once a year, but.... Headed out early in hopes of getting on the water before it started to get warm. I decided to wear waders seeing as how I was going be walking through some pretty dense stuff to get to the water. Learned my lesson a couple of years ago when I stumbled into a patch of stinging nettle while wet wading. Yikes! I hiked for about half an hour before I dropped off the road and into the undergrowth. As I descended, I could hear the water thundering as it tumble and fell over rock shelves and ledges. When I got to the water, I put together the 2wt and tied on my favorite combo, a 16 elk hair caddis (natural) with a Hairey Moose (16) as a dropper. Now, I never really catch many fish when I fish this stream, but I always catch some that have some size to them. Today was no different.

My first cast into a large pool, I get bit on the nymph by a decent fish, but he pops of almost immediately. I move up towards the tongue of the pool and cast into the the current. As soon as the dry hits the water an 8" brown hammers the caddis and I have my first fish of the day. I move up some more, spooking more fish than anything. I came up on another large pool, only to spook a couple of fish at its tail. Again, I move up to the front of the pool to highstick my combo through a seam. As it's swirling in an eddy, the dry suddenly submerges. I set the hook and all hell brakes loose! A 12" brown has swallowed the nymph and now is trying to do everything he can to break me off. Drag singin, brow sweatin, am I gonna be able to land this guy? After a frantic battle, I brought this beautiful specimen to hand.

I continued along fishing large pools and runs in hopes of catching another large brown. I started to pick up nice 9"-10" browns from random pools, none under 8". While moving along, I spooked a couple of nice fish that were holding in very shallow feeding lanes. As the day wore on, the fishing seemed to get more consistant. I continued for most the afternoon to catch quite a few 9" and plus browns. I don't think fly patterns would have mattered much, all the trout I caught hit the dry or nymph with gusto. It was probably an even spilt between the preference of the fly, I think it was more a matter of which one they saw fist. I did have a few nice fish turn off the dry at the last second, which I always find frustrating.

The steams gradient began to increase, as did the number of deep plunge pools rising through the gorge like a torturous set of stairs. I continued to pluck feisty browns out of random pools, and to my surprise, a few specks decided to come play. I've caught specks on this stream before, but never this low! H,mm. The largest of the three was about 7", a respectable size for a native. My largest speck came out of this stream about two years ago, an 11" monster. I caught about 2 miles further upstream. Brownies continued to eat, but things were staring to get a little difficult for Adicus to move through. I swear the dog's half billy goat, but the slick river rocks reek havoc on his traction. More on that shortly .

I came up to another nice pool, made a cast into the center of the current. Once again, I watched the dry suddenly stop in the column. I set the hook, and a monster of a fish tore up through the center of the pool. My drag was screaming and I was really sweating this time. I played this fish for about 25 seconds before he wrapped around a rock and popped off the fly. I was devastated, this fish was easily 14"-16" and I'm being as conservative as I can. The thing looked like a small submarine bouncing off rocks as it desperately tried to find a way to get off the line. Good for him, bad for me. I know where u live!

I moved up to another series of cascades that were hemmed in by sheer rock walls. This is usually when Adicus will run off into the woods to get past the nasty stuff he can't get through well. He also has this obsession to be as near to me as possible when we're fishin. He bounds up onto the top of the rocks lining the pools 20 ft above me. As I' moving up through the pools, he starts to move towards me on sloping drop that went vertical quickly. As noted before, his claws don't get very good traction on wet rock. As I look up an tell him to stop, I see him starting to slide. One of my worst fears is that something is going to happen to Adicus while we're in the back country. I thought I was watching it happen today. I don't know how he kept from falling. His ass end was hanging completely over the edge with his rear legs flailing. Somehow he kept enough of a grip with his front feet to pull himself back up. Thank Goodness!!!

Earlier this year, I was up fishing on Straight Fork past the bridge bout a mile, and he comes up and drops a bloody stick at my feet. When I looked up at him, he had blood pouring out of his mouth. Needless to say, I freaked! We hussled back to the truck (20 or so minutes) while my psycho dog is whining to play fetch! I got him in the truck, which he bled all over for the next 30 minutes while I hauled him to the vet. 4 stitches for a split lip that I have no idea how he got. Thankfully, he could walk out during that episode. If he would have fell today, I would have had to carry him out of the back country and then another 2 miles down a road to get to the truck. It scares me!

Had a very pleasant day out with Stinky catchin browns. My best guess is about 2 dozen browns and 3 specks for the day. Many missed and spooked fish, but many caught. Another forgotten stream because of access and how difficult it is to wade. Probably why I only fish it once a year. I hiked maybe 45 minutes before getting in the water, fished for about 5 hours, and then walked for a good hour and a half to get back to the truck. Great Day!!!!!