fly fishing reports » Fly Fish SC

Recap Of Last Weekend’s Fishing

Apr 222012

I mentioned in a previous update that fly fishing for trout in the Upstate last weekend (4/14/12) was really incredible. Water levels were somewhat low and very clear, but fish were still biting really well on the wild trout water I fished. They were quite spooky, so once the sun got fairly high in the sky, I switched to a #20 parachute Adams to decrease my impact on the water. Up until that point, I had fished with more of a beadhead streamer that caught a few browns. Trout took the Adams very eagerly as well as #18 March Browns. I even managed to catch a combination of rainbow, brown, and brook trout last Saturday.

I won’t go into any really drawn out details. I fished with 6x leader and tippet all weekend, and nearly even decided to go 7x. Fishing was a lot slower on Sunday, although I did manage to catch a few. There was an abundance of debris in the water on Sunday that may have had something to do with it. Looked mostly like blossoms from trees, and some leaves as well. The fish may have had a hard time distinguishing what was food and what wasn’t, or perhaps they were just being fish. I’ve posted a few of the better photos from the trip below.

: Really nice small stream wild brown trout

: Jumped the border to grab this brook trout. Figured that was my best chance to catch one Saturday. Very difficult to do in SC.

: A trillium from the Bad Creek area. Not sure of the exact variety.

: Rather tall Eastern White Pine

: Really deep pool at this location. Lost a very nice rainbow here, but not before it put on quite an aerobatic display

: Rainbow trout from the Jocassee Gorges area

Quick Weekend Update

Fly Fishing No Responses »

Apr 152012

No problem finding rising trout on our wild water today. I would assume stocked fish would be nearly as eager. Started catching on streamers this morning then switched to small dries later. #20 para Adams and #16 March Browns worked well.

Water is a bit low, but where I like it really. Its clear and they are spooky. Fished 6x all day. Lots of browns and rainbows in SC today, then jumped the border into NC to finish with a couple wild brookies. Incredible day.

Frozen Reels and Hidden Gems – A Fly Fishing Report – More or Less

Fly Fishing, Notes From The Creek 3 Responses »

Jan 192012

Last weekend brought what appeared to be some actual winter weather to Upstate SC. This trip was primarily a scouting mission, but there’s no sense in checking out new streams with no fly rod.

East Fork of the Chattooga. Looks fishy.

I hit a short section of the East Fork Chattooga on Friday afternoon, and was met with frozen line guides and inactive fish. I’ll call them inactive, however since I really didn’t even see one, its hard say they were completely inactive. The afternoon brought mostly frozen line guides, and once the reel started freezing up, I decided to pack it in for the day.

I have fished a few different sections of the East Fork, but the portion picture above was new to me. Saturday brought about a little expedition to totally new water over in the Lake Jocassee watershed on the west side of the lake. This stream, Limber Pole Creek, was a real gem of a find. It was a larger stream than I had anticipated at the point I made entry.

Limber Pole Creek. Looking upstream from the trail crossing, Limber Pole forks right while an unspecified stream forks left.

I worked downstream from this location, as was really surprised to find that it wasn’t nearly as rhododendron choked as I had envisioned, on the way down. With that being the case, I was able to parallel the creek from the bank, and cherry pick a few of the better looking holes. There was no shortage of potential snags, and traditional fly casting was off limits for the most part, but not fighting through rhodo thickets was a nice change. Still nothing doing in the catching department, but there were definitely several places I want to go back to when the time is right to drift a little parachute Adams.

Small falls on the Limber Pole

On the bright side, freezing line and reels weren’t an issue on Saturday. I seem to struggle to catch fish anytime those freezing type conditions prevail. The wild trout especially, appear to really shut down during those times, but it was nice to get in some water and give them a shot at least.

There are several more streams in that general area that require some scouting in the future. Hopefully the catching part will improve as Spring approaches. If nothing else, as a consolation both Saturday and Sunday were excellent days to be outside. Still a little chilly, but tolerable for sure. I fished mostly a #16 hare’s ear nymph with a small Copper John or an Owl Jones zebra midge dropped behind it.

On the bright side, Saturday was about as Bluebird a day as you could ask for.

Tough Trout and Fall Color – A Multi State Fishing Report

Fly Fishing No Responses »

Oct 272011

Middle Saluda River with lots of Fall color present.

Last weekend I was finally able to getaway and do some actual fly fishing for a change. Saturday began with a surprise border crossing into NC for some blueline fishing. I hit a little lower elevation stream for some wild rainbows and picked up a small one on my second cast. Since the skunk was off my back so early, I decided to just take pictures for awhile before heading up to some higher elevation wild brook trout water.

A little Fall color remained around the 3,500' level.

Things certainly can change with a couple thousand feet of additional altitude. There was a touch of snow scattered here and there at the 5,500′ level, which made for some chilly wet wading on the creek. Fishing here proved to be a little tougher, but after about 20 minutes I picked up a nice brookie on a nymph pattern. Needing to warm the ol’ feet up a little, I went back to the camera for the rest of the afternoon.

Only the evergreen vegetation remained at 5,000' and above.

Sunday brought me back across the border and down onto the Middle Saluda River within the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area. This is a stretch of wild trout water running from Caesar’s Head State Park eastward to Jones Gap State Park. I entered from the lower end at Jones Gap, a section I haven’t fished before, and jumped right in about 10:00 am. The fishing was slow, which I kind of expected here, since I didn’t hike very far in. I basically assumed that this area sees a fair amount of fishing pressure. At about noon, things turned around, and I picked up three fish rather quickly. Much like the day before, I then turned my attention back to the camera.

Middle Saluda River with lots of Fall color present.

Overall the catching part of the trip was a little difficult, but some trout were caught. It was one of those, got to drop it on their nose weekends, to get the fish to strike. Nymphs were really the only thing I tried all weekend. There were lots of insects in the air on the Middle Saluda, but no signs of any risers. Hare’s ear nymphs and a couple other patterns I tie myself brought all the action. Some of the photos were the best catches of the weekend, and I’ll be posting all the pictures in the near future.

NC and SC Wild Trout Fly Fishing Report – Flora Edition

Fly Fishing, Notes From The Creek 4 Responses »

Aug 232011

I finally got to do a little of what I believe is known as fly fishing. Its been so long I nearly forgot what its called. The trip began by fishing for wild trout across the border in Western NC and finished up on Sunday down on some wild trout water in the Jocassee Gorge region of Upstate SC.

Saturday’s dry fly bite was, fairly weak. The trout were rising, but it was a rather lazy strike. Not very aggressive on the rainbow and brown water. Moving onto higher elevations Saturday, brought a slightly more aggressive strike on dries from the brook trout. My first fish on the new glass rod turned about to be a wild brookie. Not a bad way to break it in.

Sunday took me back south of the border where I belong to try a new little wild stream, Dogwood Branch. Dogwood Branch is a tributary of Abner Creek, and after having decent success on Abner earlier this year, I wanted to give Dogwood a try. You want to talk about tight quarters, wow! We are talking tiiiight! I’d say the average width was about four feet from where I started to its confluence with Abner. Didn’t catch anything here, and I suppose if you wanted to put in the effort you could probably find a few plunges above where I started. Once I met up with Abner Creek, I was joined by a chorus of cicadas, the roaring sound of falling water, and wild rainbow action that picked right up. I caught several on the same tan parachute dry fly I had been fishing with the day before. Below you’ll find a collection of photos that include some of the flora along the way, along with a few fish shots. I felt like the plant life might be of more interest than some of the seven inch trout, but there is one in there that’s not half bad for wild SC rainbow.