East Fork of the French Broad NC TROUT!

Brown (Green Woolly Bugger)

 The delayed harvest season has begun, and is off to a hot start. I made the trip up to Rosman, NC which has a nice stretch of stream called the East Fork of the French Broad. Selected North Carolina streams are catch and release only from October 1st until the first Saturday in June. Which is nice since South Carolina and Georgia delayed harvest waters are only open from November 1st until March 1st it makes it more fun for someone who doesn't keep many fish to go after bigger and smarter fish in April and May.

Black & Orange Woolly Bugger

Black Beadhead Woolly Bugger

My first fish of the day was my biggest brookie ever, which isn't saying much. He was about 10 inches, and they kept getting bigger as the morning went on. The second fish that hit was unexpected...a small brown. I knew at this point there was a decent chance at a slam. A Slam in the southeast is catching all three species in a day (Brook, Brown, and Rainbow), since rainbows are the most commonly stocked I got my hopes up. After several more nice brookies, a decent rainbow hit. I landed it, and i could breath a sigh of relief. I ended up catching one more rainbow. I started the day off 5 for 5 without missing a fish, but it went downhill from there. I caught 14 in total, but I think I missed
about same number. I had to leave the stream around 11 to make it back to class in time...but in the last few classes I landed the biggest trout of the day. It was a 14 inch long brookie, which is now my largest brookie to date. Hoping to change that the weekend of the 16 when i head up to the Asheville area to fish some of those DH streams!

Dropper!?!?!

I have been testing a new technique that I read about on the NGTO (North Georgia Trout Online). It is called a dropper rig. There are a couple different ways to use this rig, but I have only tried one of them. I am hoping to tie the other two on this weekend. I have caught a lot of fish on a nymph to nymph dropper. I generally use a bead head Prince Nymph followed by a smaller pheasant tail, scud, or egg pattern. This technique drawn a lot of strikes from bigger fish sitting in pools when the dry fly isn't working, or on sluggish fish during the winter. Another way to utilize the dropper method is tying a small nymph to a larger dry fly such as a stimulator. In this case the dry fly is used as an indicator plus can still attract potential strikes... I plan on trying this out very soon! Then lastly is a technique that came up in the Western parts...the hopper dropper. This consist of tying a nymph off the hook of a hopper or terrestrial fly.

Big Fish on at the East Fork...

What a beauty!

So it wasn't that big, but good size and fun the bring in. She was the biggest rainbow I have seem or had the privilege of viewing in South Carolina. I landed this fish on a # 14 prince nymph with an egg pattern trailing behind it. The fish nailed the nymph and took off downstream. I reeled and walked towards it and was able to net it. Needless to say I was pretty excited! I took a photo, then back in the water it went...I have only seen one fish larger in SC, and that was a Brown in the Chattooga River. I have seen a lot more fish a lot bigger than this in the mountains of Georgia, which is only an hour and a half from me. I would like to head that way during the delay harvest months. I am hoping to get out there sometime in November or December.

North Georgia Trout

 My family went on vacation to the alpine village of Helen, GA this summer. I love this area, and love the trout fishing even more! My total was 4 rainbows and 5 browns. I definitely noticed how much more particular browns are about what they strike are compared to rainbows. All the browns I caught were relatively small, but still fun on the fly. I saw two browns that were over 17 inches and one rainbow over 17 inches in my time exploring the creeks and rivers around the area. I caught three of the browns on different colors of my favorite fly, elk hair caddis. The other ones i caught on a green woolly booger. The most exciting part of fishing was the wildlife I got to see. I was throwing on a brown that was about 18 inches, when I heard the trashcan lid slam. I didn't think anything of it, until it happened again. In the back of my mind I thought bear, but i couldn't see anything so I let it go. Then it happened again and I looked back to see a black bear cub staring at me. I got in the car and cranked it up and it ran off, beautiful creature though.

Chauga....God Bless You??

A couple days ago I woke up and decided I would test out the water under the Cassidy Bridge on the Chauga River. There weren't to many trout to be seen, but i could see a couple stockers. I learned from my trip to New Zealand that nymphing is an important tool to a fly fisherman, so I am determined to learn the technique no matter how much frustration it may cause me. I started the morning using a prince nymph, I had a strike or two but I was trouble with setting the hook to late. I decided to change it up and tie an egg pattern behind my prince nymph, and finally I was able to land a 10 inch rainbow. I finally landed a fish, so it was time to move to a different, more comfortable technique. I moved to one of my favorite pattern #16 elk hair caddis (dry fly). I got a couple small rainbows, then i changed to old faithful, the grizzly woolly bugger. I landed a few more on this. As it started to warm up I decided to call it a day. I ended up catching 8 and releasing them all!

There Fish on the Bottom?

I went offshore one morning in December with my good friend Kenneth in search of some Black Sea Bass. We caught about 20 nice size Sea Bass, but decided to drop down a little larger bait fish. I ended up pulling up this massive Spot Tail Bass. Kenneth was also able to land another one about the same size. Another great day out on the big pond!

New Zealand Nymphing

Bringing in the bow

Prince Nymph

I had the privilege of taking a trip across the world to the north island of New Zealand, where I was able to do a bit of Fly Fishing. My girlfriend and I went out one crisp morning with a guide. We headed out to the crystal blue water around 7:30 am, it was a beautiful morning with frost still on the ground. During the winter fish stop feeding off of flies and move to a more plentiful food source, nymphs. I don't have a lot of experience nymphing, so this was a new technique for me. I missed several fish, which was frustrating, but in the end we landed 3 nice fish one of which was about 3 pounds. I landed the larger Rainbow on a #14 Prince Nymph. This was a great day on the water, but that's not all we were able to do in New Zealand.  I jumped out of a plane and went bungie jumping, two of most exhilarating experiences of my life.

East Fork of the Chattooga River...FISH ON!

Rainbow

My Beautiful Girlfriend's first Brookie

Today my girlfriend and I had a great day on the East Fork of the Chattooga River. We caught six brook trout and one rainbow.We only successfully landed two on the fly, with my girlfriend landing one of them! I didn't see many trout rising to the dry fly, but occasionally they would rise..give it a look...then forget about it. Then we switched over to powerbait and corn...the oldest trick in the book. I caught a decent sized rainbow with this method. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day! On a different note we found time to visit the hatchery and check out some of the trophy fish! Kristen found it very entertaining to feed them, and I admit...so did I!

Little Brookie

Holy Mackerel

King Mackerel (Charleston, SC)

Spanish Mackerel (Charleston, SC)

I didn't become fond of fishing in my early age like most fishermen. I became curious of the sport as I got older. Some of my first fishing trips in my beginning years of high school live bait trolling for Mackerel. Trolling with live bait is a lot different than dragging dead baits. When trolling with live bait the boat is barely moving forward to give the bait the ability to look alive to the massive predators beneath it. Large King Mackerel are usually loner fish (aka smokers because they are only good to eat if they are smoked).

My Set Up

I have 3 different fly fishing set ups. My first set up is a bass pro shop set up (White River, 4 weight reel on a White River 4 weight rod) this combo was only around 90 dollars for the whole set up. This is a great set up for a beginner fly fishermen. Now I just use this for pond fishing for brim or bass on small top water plugs. My second set up is my saltwater set up. I have a G Loomis Venture 7 reel with 8 weight line on it, and a bass pro hobbs creek three piece eight weight rod. My trout fishing set up begins with a the rod from bass pro...it is a 4 piece hobbs creek 5 weight, and to go along with the rod I have a Orvis Battenkill Mid-Arbor Reel II with 5 weight line on it.

Where in the World Would I Go...

There are lots of places i want to fish sometime in my lifetime. These locations are all across the world.

• The salmon run in Alaska
• Trout in New Zealand
• Snook in Flamingo, Florida
• Tarpon in the Florida Keys
• Bonefish and Permit in the Bahamas
• Fly fishing in the Rockies
• White Sturgeon in British Columbia
• Small-mouth in Virginia
• Peacock Bass in the Everglades, Florida
• Rooster Fish in Costa Rica
• Striped Marlin in Hawaii
• Bill-fish on the Great Barrier Reef Australia
• Yellowstone for trophy cutthroats, rainbows, and browns

I am sure i can think of more places I would love to go. Hopefully someday I will have had the privilege to visit some of these pristine waters and catch some beautiful fish, but until then I will continue to love what I catch now.

What's out in the Big Blue Pond?

Dolphin (Mahi Mahi) caught off the coast of Charleston, SC

 I have been very privileged so far in my life on go a lot of spectacular fishing trips all around the southeast. I have fished for Trout in the mountains of Georgia and South Carolina. I have bass and brim fished in so many ponds and lakes in South Carolina and even a couple in Florida and Georgia. I have also been offshore and inshore fishing numerous times off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. One of my favorite trips as of yet, would have to be my visit to the Florida Key with my good friend Kenneth Shuler. We caught 72 dolphin and 1 tuna. The real story is what we didn't catch. We hooked up on a monster Tarpon. It was probably getting close to a 100 pounds. We fought him long enough for it to put on a magnificent show. It made me respect anyone who could pull in such a monster on a fly rod. We ran into a school of dolphin that made me wish I had my fly rod with me. We also got out and swam with them, there were so many. It was kind of intimidating thinking about being in 900 feet of water but it was a once in a lifetime chance. I have began to put together a list of places I want to fish before I die. I am hoping that will be a long time from now...since I am still a young-ling at 21 years of age. It is never to early to start seeing or doing the things you love! You only live once, and from what i hear it goes by fast so learn to love who you are and learn to do what you love!

Wet or Dry?

Elk Hair Caddis

Beaded Hare's Ear

There are oh so many choices when it comes down to your choices on the fly that will catch you that trophy "hog" that will make your day. There are many factors that may go into this day altering decision. What hatch may be happening, or not happening. Also trout generally feed under the surface, not always, but around 75% of the time. These are two of my favorite flies. I also love using terrestrial flies, such as hoppers or beetles. Most fly fishermen have a preference wet or dry....those that are dry fly fishermen swear by it and only use a wet fly just to pass the time between hatches (this does not apply to all fly fishermen). Those that fish wet flies tend to only use dry flies during a clear hatch, and the fish are rising. There are many fishermen who enjoy doing both, but they do not refer to themselves as a dry or wet fly fishermen. They just say I love to catch fish on the fly! Luckily I think I am going to be going to fishing in one of four streams; the Chattooga (the main stream or the East Fork), the Eastatoe Stream (Little or Big), Rocky Bottom Creek, Saluda River (South, Middle, or North), or the Chauga...Guess I will make that choice Thursday night.

Are there fishermen who have everything?

I have been doing some reading by an author named John Gierach. He is an environmentalist fly-fisherman who writes stories or essays about his outdoors experiences. He said something at the end of the last book I read that made complete since to me an avid fisherman, but to the rest of the world it would seem insane. It says, "One thing you'll notice about fishermen is that in the time-honored tradition of humans everywhere ... they never seem to be able to get enough. Once an angler has become serious about the sport (and 'serious' is the word that's used) he'll never again own enough tackle or have enough time to use it," think about this as a fisherman. For example me, if I could I would buy every fly pattern at every size and color available I would. Also the fact that one fly of a pattern isn't enough, based on the principle that what if you break off that fly on a fish...now you don't have what the fish want. Believe me finding what fish want is similar to finding what women want. Neither will tell you exactly what they want. Some days trout are happy with anything you toss their way, but other days they want nothing to do with that fly floating above their head. My girlfriend isn't much of a fly fisherwomen, but she does love the outdoors, fishing, and me. She might not love fishing as much as me, but that is hard to do... I am hoping to make at trip to some body of water somewhere in South Carolina upstate that contains wild or stocked trout this weekend! I want to have a fish tugging on the other end of my line. I need the stress relief of the outdoors, and I deserve to catch a trout! The question will be what fly pattern to start with when I'm knee deep in a cold stream...wet or dry?

There are Trout in the sea?

One day I was fly fishing off in the flats near the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina. I was hoping for a spot-tail bass (redfish) or maybe a sea trout, actually I was just hoping something would bite. Cast by cast I hit my spots right against the grass with a medium fast retrieve. Then I casted into the open part of the cove where there seemed to be a bit of a drop off and i had a slight strike, I missed the fish. At least i knew there were fish around. I cast there again and pulled in a decent size sea-trout. Then i went back to working the shoreline. I got a couple more strikes, then I had a big strike which I completely whiffed on and way over set the hook which cause me to fall gracefully into the ocean. If there were any fish there, they were long gone by then. Moral of the story, don't get to excited until you land the fish. Offshore fishing one time I thought i had the fish of a lifetime, a  monster dolphin (mahi mahi). I fought that fish for 40 minutes, then the line went slack. I didn't do anything wrong, so I thought maybe he threw the hook or we got weeds on and the hook just came off. Well i finished reeling it in, the fish was still on, but it was only his head...a shark had taken most of the fish more it's meal. I ended my fishing trip with a couple decent sea trout, not gators (large sea trout with large teeth in the front), but it was a good day!

A day on the Eastatoe River

On a beautiful afternoon in early January my girlfriend and I visited the river in hopes of landing a few trout. We weren't looking for a trophy, just a tug on the other end of the line. We found a couple pools that looked extremely "fishy" but there were no fish to be found. I had checked the DNR trout stocking schedule and the Eastatoe River (which is located in South Carolina) had been stocked two weeks before. I made the mistake of assuming people couldn't harvest 800 fish in two weeks....well I was wrong. We didn't catch a fish, but at least we saw a rainbow that was about the size of my finger. I would have given almost anything at that moment to have it bite my foam cricket. The trip was overall fun, but I did find out that there was a leak in my waders. NOT a good thing when the water is about 40 degrees. Next trip is planned for mid February, hopefully to either the Chattooga  or the east fork of the Chattooga. Then later when spring comes I would love to catch some wild trout on the Whitewater River.