SC Trout Stocking Report – Kicking Off The New Year

 Fly Fishing  2 Responses »
Jan 072012
 

I suppose being a new year, there should be some resolutions on my mind. I’ve never been much for resolutions in the first place, however I would like to resolve to try to have an original thought or two to post this year. I know its been pretty much a rut around here, but we’ll see how it goes. Also, my biggest goal is simply to recover from whatever mystery condition I’ve been dealing with for nearly three months, which has certainly been a distraction. I hope to scout some more SC wild trout water in the near future, and I received some Rio tapered trout leaders the other day. Perhaps I’ll do a little review on those at some point. Hopefully there will also be some really neat new fly rods coming available this year as they roll out the rod shop (garage).

On to the trout stocking report. The SCDNR got down to business this week and stocked over 3,100 more trout into the likes of the Chauga River, East Fork of The Chattooga River, Lake Murray Tailwater, and the Chattooga River.

The weather for this weekend looks to be fair, with a chance of rain sneaking into the forecast on Sunday. Otherwise, things look decent with highs on Saturday in the mid 60s dropping to mid 50s on Sunday. Looks to be cloudy, so the fish may not be as spooky as they can be when its bright and clear. The lows will remain well above freezing so fishing has a chance of being rather productive.

Carry your usuals if you go. Small para Adams and BWOs, elk hair caddis, prince nymphs, hare’s ear nymphs, woolly buggers around size #8, and maybe a red fox nymph, or WD-40 nymph. The water is back down, so at least 6x tippet on the wild fish and 5x should be fine on hatchery supported water.

Fly Fishing Report and Weekend Update

 Fly Fishing, Notes From The Creek  2 Responses »
Apr 212011
 

Of course today is Wednesday, but the fly fishing occurred last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I met up with some nice folks on the Nantahala River on Friday afternoon, and socialized briefly before getting down to the business of fly fishing. I started with a hare’s ear nymph pattern, but changed to more of a March Brown colored parachute dry fly shortly thereafter. For my efforts on the Nan, I caught two browns and one brook trout before the rain started.

The problem was, once it started raining, it didn’t stop. I would say it started around 5:00 pm Friday afternoon and continued until at least 8:00 the following morning. Needless to say, that amounted to a lot more rain than the prediction of one to two inches I had seen. Everything was totally blown out on Saturday. We were lucky though. Things turned much worse for people north and east of out location. Virtually no fishing on Saturday.

Sunday rolled around, and fishing prospects still looked a little bleak. After parting ways with my fishing companions, I stopped and fished a little spot on some wild water and promptly caught four rainbows on the same March Brown parachute as Friday. They were your typical wild trout. The largest may have gone seven or eight inches, but after the previous day, it was nice to just do a little fishing in a spot that wasn’t a raging torrent. I’m no entomologist for sure, but I believe I was seeing some March Browns popping off on Sunday. I think just about any dry fly in a tan, brown, hare’s ear, or cream probably would’ve produced fish. Parachute Adams, Light Cahill, March Brown, etc. We may see something along the lines of pale morning duns as well before long. In just a few more weeks, you can add hoppers, inchworms, and ants back into your arsenal.

Now, there were some good times had by all on the trip, so I don’t want to overlook all that. For lots more pictures check out The River Damsel’s blog and there’s some video over at OwlJones.com.

NC SC Fly Fishing Report March 20, 2011

 Fly Fishing, Notes From The Creek  2 Responses »
Mar 212011
 

Well, we have fish catching to report on. I won’t delve into Friday too much sense I already mentioned something about a few late afternoon Rainbow Trout in a previous report from Friday night.

On Saturday I headed back south of the border into SC to fish some more wild water in Jocassee Gorges. This particular creek, known as Side of Mountain Creek, is another small stream I had not yet fished. Access to the creek was fairly pleasant leaving out from the Eastatoee Gorge Spur parking area. To go to SOMC, you just fork off on the first old logging road to the right and follow it for about a mile until you hit water. Being an old road, the grade was fairly decent so the walk was fairly easy.

As I often unintentionally do, I jumped into the creek in a long section with out much gradient. This meant shallow water of 6″ to 12″ of depth with an average width of around 5′ and lots of Rhododendron. I figured it would have more plunge pools, but I was wrong. I found one Saturday morning and didn’t catch anything. I believe the fishing would be better closer to its confluence with Eastatoee Creek. At some point, it has to get a great deal steeper, offering better fish catching opportunities.

Saturday afternoon I went back north of the border. That’s a lot of border crossings for one day, and took off to some wild trout water I haven’t fished before. At least not this particular section and a small tributary. I started out with a #16 Quill Gordon and fished that for awhile without too much happening. Then, all of sudden, there were some black stoneflies on my pants, some on my shirt sleeves, a couple crawling on the back of my neck, and one in my hair. The fish turned on immediately and I started catching. I tied on a March Brown for fun and had some action on that too. I even wet waded all day Saturday. It was really nice to be able to do that again.

Sunday it was back to SC and the Whitewater River. I must first commend Duke Energy for allowing public access with no fees to this wild trout water. Things started out slow here. I fished it all, Adams Parachutes, March Browns, Quill Gordons, and even my Hare’e Wiggler. Very little action, but a few weak hits on all of the above. I hit one run in the early afternoon as a few Quills started dancing around, and nabbed one beautiful Brown Trout. The Brown gave me the hat trick for the weekend. Caught all three, Brook, Brown, and Rainbow.

I’ve got quite a few more pictures I’m going to put up on the FFSC Facebook page, but here are a few highlights from the weekend.

In closing, I leave you with the following video representation of what fishing Side Of Mountain Creek through dense undergrowth and lots of blow downs was like. It is the closest thing I can find.

Trout Fishing Report On The Fly

 Fly Fishing  No Responses »
Mar 192011
 

Coming to you live streamside from the wild trout waters of Western NC. It was well after 5 pm before I started fishing today so being short on time, I had to make a fly decision and just go with it.

I chose a #16 Quill Gordon and caught a small rainbow on cast number two. I missed a few and ultimately switched to a Blue Quill and managed to land another bow. It was hands and knees fishing at that point. The water is up but very clear. Have your 6x tippet on hand and 7x if you have it.

Trout were coming right up after the dry flies, but by late evening they had stopped. At that point I stopped using floatant and just let the current drag it under. That’s how I picked up the second trout I mentioned above.

I’ll be on wild water back in SC Tomorrow using roughly the same techniques and flies. I saw some midges flying around today as well as a Blue Quill or two, and one other that resembled a March Brown. An Adams parachute would be a good all around fly to have this weekend. A #18 might be a better choice but a #16 should work.

I didn’t take any fish pictures today so………..wait for it………..here’s mah cat. Somebody out there will get that.

SC Trout Stocking Report And Weekend Outlook March 11, 2011

 Fly Fishing  No Responses »
Mar 112011
 

Somebody get out and fish! The SCDNR really outdid themselves this week by getting over 15,000 trout stocked into the Upstate SC region. The bodies of water receiving stocking included the Big and Little Eastatoee, Little Canebrake, Rocky Bottom, Chattooga River, Chauga River, East Fork of the Chattooga River, Pleasant Ridge County Park, Longcreek, and Brasstown Creek.

Another weather system moved through the area on Thursday dumping a lot of rain, but maybe not quite as much as originally thought. Water levels are up but not as high as they reached on March 6th. As it stands right now, as of 9:00 am EST, the Chattooga is running at 1,970 CFS and dropping. Over in NC, the Davidson river is running at 413 CFS. This ladies and gentlemen, should make for the best fishing of the year so far.

For stocked fish in SC as well as C&R fish in NC, I would be thinking streamers and heavier tippet. At least 4x, but you may be able to get away with 2x. For wild trout in both areas, its a little hard to say for sure right now. With water levels above average, I would consider a #14 or #12 hare’s ear, or #8 to #10 woolly bugger. It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple parachute Adams dry flies on you at least, just in case.

The weather in the Upstate looks fantastic for the weekend. Highs will be around 70 degrees both Saturday and Sunday with a few more clouds around on Sunday. Heading into WNC around the Brevard, NC area, highs will be about 5 degrees cooler and increasingly cooler with elevation gain.

If you’re backpacking or camping this weekend, things look pretty good. The ground may be a little wet and I’m sure some of the trails will have some rather muddy areas. Carry extra socks so you can have dry feet. Stream crossing will be a touch more dangerous with the higher water levels, especially with a full pack on your back. Be careful out there!

Recommended Streamers

A Few Dries To Have

I would go with the Elk Hair Caddis in sizes #14 and #18. The #18 should do a good job of imitating small black stoneflies. If they aren’t interested, tie on the #14 and try a Key Lime Caddis as a dropper.

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