Fly Fish SC

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.