I just returned from a fantastic weekend of flyfishing for smallmouth bass on the James and Maury rivers in the Natural Bridge, VA vicinity. It wasn’t a bassclave, but my buddy Sam and I have convened on Natural Bridge Station to chase bronzebacks. Friday 7/20 we drove from NC to VA. Arrived at the Maury River about noon. A bit of color from heavy rain Thursday night but it looked fishable. Went to River Road and rigged the pontoons and rods. Shuttled the pickup (I brought my bike to facilitate) and hit the river. Started slow, but picked up when I switched to a yellow legged Tequeely that Sam tied. Caught a couple bass, sunnies, and redeyes in a flat stretch. Then, I found a fast run where the river splits around an island. Sam went one way, me the other. Missed a couple, but it looked promising. Got out of the boat and started catching bass on virtually every cast. I’d still be there but figured Sam would wonder where I was 😉

All told, I caught about 25 bass including this 13 incher:

Sam had the fish of the day on his line, about a 4 pounder that threw the hook after a couple of jumps.

Saturday 7/21, we floated float the Saltpetre to Horseshoe Bend/Narrow Passage section of the James. CSX has put up a barricade on the river side at Saltpetre making it more difficult to get the boats to the river. However, the work was was worth it!

Here’s a shot of Sam working a promising spot:

Tried a few different flies but settled quickly on the Tequeely again. The James was crystal clear and the yellow legs of the Tequeely pulsed on the retrieve. I got hot early and was catching fish fast, bass and redeyes. We stopped for lunch at the old train bridge abutments. It was interesting as we looked up and saw two of the biggest sycamore trees I’ve ever seen, each looking to be 7 to 8 feet in diameter. Fascinating to think how long they’ve been there. We finished our lunch, and I caught a half dozen bass in a riffle just a few feet away from our stop. Caught two more as I floated through the same riffle on the boat. After a while, I cooled off and Sam started catching ’em. However, we caught fish all day, one or the other of us.

My best was 15″ fish:

I also landed several 11-13″ fish. Sam caught a 15″ fish in the last riffle above Narrow Passage that towed him at least 50 yards down the riffle. He also caught many 11-13″ fish. Each of us boated 40 or so bass and that many redeyes as well.

A helluva good bass fishing weekend!

My UNCG colleague, Jorge, called me last week to see if I’d be interested in a trout fishing trip. He wanted to go to one of his favorite places in Ashe County, Helton Creek. This is one of NC’s delayed harvest streems (stocked from October through the spring, and catch & release until the first of June). I’d never been there before so I said sure! I set the clock for 4:45 to leave Chapel Hill at 5AM, in order to meet Jorge at his house in Winston-Salem at 6:30. I waved (virtually) to other UNCG colleagues as I rolled through Greensboro just before 6AM…

The weather forecast was for thunderstorms, but we were hoping for the best as we rolled west. Stopped in Wilkesboro to grab a biscuit (told the cashiers we weren’t heading to Merlefest 😉 ) and back on the road. As we went further north and west (we were heading near the corner of NC/Tenn/VA) we ran out from under the heavy clouds, and things looked promising. However, the weather was moving from the southwest to northeast, so the respite was short-lived. We got to Helton Creek and the water was a bit stained, but visibility was at least a couple of feet. We suited up and moved to the stream. After a few minutes, rain and thunder rolled in, so we retreated to the picnic shelter behind the church where we parked. When the storm passed, we went back to the stream. We worked things hard with a variety of nymphs, but the water was moving fast and the runs where Jorge liked to fish were not working for us. Ominously, we were seeing mud stain the stream from runoff from a nearby farm. We decided to move back downstream just a bit where there was a big, deep pool. I decided to try a big heavy fly, so I found a Bitch Creek in my box and tied that on. Bam! Caught a nice brook trout…caught another. Called to Jorge to let him know what was working. He tried the big pool, and I moved downstream from a small bridge. I picked up another fish. By now, the water was getting murkier. I moved back to the big pool and tried a number of things, and had a couple more strikes but didn’t connect. The rain picked back up, and before long the water was the color of coffee with cream. Hmmm…not good. Here’s a shot of Jorge casting into the pool…

We hung out a while, and ate lunch. More rain. Darker water, now with floating debris 🙁 Oh well, Jorge wanted to stop at a nearby plant nursery and buy some things to take both home and to his cabin near Boone. We picked up some plants from Foggy Mountain nursery, and then headed back home. Stopped at Jorge’s cabin, propped up our feet and enjoyed the afternoon for a while, telling fishing stories ;-).

It was time to head back to the piedmont, so we loaded up and drove back. A great trip. The fishing was excellent, even if the catching was a bit mediocre…but, that’s the way it goes sometimes. Already looking forward to meeting up with Jorge for another trip!

Morgan Creek winds around our southern Orange County subdivision on its way to the Cape Fear River. It’s a tiny creek, and this time of year, a deep pool doesn’t wet my knees and it’s rarely more than 15 feet wide. In places you can literally jump across. In the summer, it dries up to a trickle in good years, and in drought years, goes completely dry. Somehow, however, fish manage to survive and spread throughout the creek. In years past, I’ve actually stocked a few hybrid sunfish, but I’ve not found that this changes the long-term population.

Today, I grabbed my most delicate rod (a Sage TXL 00-weight) stuffed a few things in my pocket and hopped on the bike. In less than 5 minutes, I stepped into the water, very cool as it splashed on my legs. There were fish in the first good pool, but the sun was high on the water and the fish could see me and that was the end of that. I wandered along the trail, down the creek, and soon caught three small sunnies in a long, flat run that’s always a good one. Even a little fish will bend the 00-weight 🙂 . Near the head of the run, it’s almost knee deep, but tails out to less than a foot deep below that. The water is too cool for dries, so I used a Syl’s Nymph (peacock herl, wrapped in copper, with partridge hackle).

It’s not “big game” but it’s always fun to fish the back yard…

It’s an annual tradition…I try to make the 2 hour drive to Weldon and fish the shad run on the Roanoke River.

Nice shad:

Mid to late March is the time. This year, it’s been so warm, I was concerned that I might be a week late. However, it all worked out in the end! I picked up Sam at his house just after 8AM on Friday 3/23, and we pointed my truck toward Weldon, with our two pontoon boats in the back. Arrived at the river just after 10, including a stop for gas and provisions. We rigged up our boats and rowed across the river to try to find a spot in the eddy below the big rapid. The river was low and clear, running about 3500cfs. Several boats had the good spots, so we beached on the rocks and started casting. It was very slow, and by lunch, we’d caught one shad and one little white perch. Action for our fellow fishermen was fairly slow as well, though one boat, anchored in the seam near the main flow was doing well. It’s a combination of current and angle of presentation of the fly, depth, and color. They had the mojo and were steadily, though not continually, landing fish. We tried several places on the rocks, but couldn’t find the solution. I went over the rocks to check out the top of Little River, and tried for about 10 minutes with nary a bite. I did have my favorite hot pink fly tied on, and that would prove to be a key.

After lunch (it’s better to be fishing that at work, even if not catching fish), Sam went back to the rock island at the in Little River, and I walked along the bank on the island (on the far side from the boat ramp). When I saw him about 1PM, he said he’d caught a couple and missed several using an orange fly and a very fast retrieve. Let it sink (we were using intermediate sink tips) for a few seconds, and retrieve as fast as you can, he said. He said the mojo was coming back. While he tried from the rocks on the main branch of the river, I went back to Little River and tried Sam’s suggestions. Caught a shad on the first cast. Orange. Sink. Fast. Cool! By the time Sam got back, I’d landed 5 shad and missed several more. We both stood on the rock and started pulling ’em in.

In the next two and a half hours, we caught shad until our arms were tired. Each of us easily landed 40 fish or so, and several times, we both had fish on at the same time. Nice fish, big and strong, putting a great bend in the rods. About 3:45, we decided that we better row back across the main river while we still could move our arms 🙂 . Loaded up and made the drive back home in outstanding spirits.

A most excellent excursion!

Saw this article posted on the Flyfish@ list server. It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long. I was a flyfisherman long before, and I hope to have many more years of practicing the craft. As the article states, it’s really hard to overestimate the impact of this flick on this quiet, contemplative pursuit. Its timing was impeccable, coming on with the economic boom of the 1990’s, and thus fueling the accompanying boom in expensive and exquisite rods, reels, and other paraphernalia. The real estate market in many rural areas was transformed, as the article states. Over the years, the number of folks on the rivers has peaked, but I do believe it’s created a lasting conservation legacy. While I like to Flyfish for many species, trout live in such nice places…

It’s December, and that means it’s time for the cold weather trout fishery to start up in central NC. Trout can’t summer over here in the piedmont, and the closest naturally reproducing trout are a couple hours drive toward the mountains. However, the local Trout Unlimited chapter partners with some local folks here to stock a spring-fed pond with trout during cooler weather. Fishing runs from November through April. Sam and I usually sign up for a couple of trips, and today was our first day of the season. We’ll go again in March. Last year, it was cold and wet on the first weekend of December, with an inch of snow. This year started with frost but warmed to shirt-sleeve weather by the end of the day. Fishing was slower than usual, but we did catch some nice fish. Here’s Sam…

I LDR’d some but eventually got this really nice one to the net…

It’s fun to be able to catch a trout within a 15 minute drive of home!

I spent a great weekend at Natural Bridge Station, Virginia, chasing smallmouth bass on the Maury and James Rivers. My fishing buddy Sam and I met at my house at 7AM Friday the 22nd, piled my truck up with camping gear, fishing gear and boats, and headed toward the rivers. Since we couldn’t check in at the campground until after 1PM, we decided on floating first and then heading to camp. Since our campground was only about 5 miles from the Maury River, we headed to River Road. We stopped (making sure to avoid the no trespassing signs) downstream of the Gooseneck Dam, and put the boats together. It was blistering hot, and fortunately, we had a bit of shade. We carried the boats 50 feet down to the river, and then I drove the truck to a pullout downstream near the quarry. I pulled the bike out of the truck and zipped back up the River Road to the put-in. I locked the bike to a tree and we hit the water shortly after noon. We tried a few different flies, including poppers, but quickly settled on crayfish patterns. We had a great day, catching many bass like this:

Fishing was as hot as the weather. We each caught at least 50 bass, with steady action all afternoon. Our best fish were 13″ or so and we caught a lot of spunky 9-10″ fish.

The Maury is a pretty float:

We guzzled water, gatorade and golden sodas to combat the heat, and I swam along with boat several times. We got off the water about 6PM, loaded up, and headed to the campground. More gatorade, water and golden sodas ensued! We set up camp and grilled steak, corn, zucchini and butternut squash, served along with rosemary bread & olive oil. Crashed into the tent about 10PM, with plans to float a section of the James on Saturday.

We decided on the section from Saltpetre Cave to Narrow Passage. Drove the 25 miles from the campground to Saltpetre Cave, and skidded down the slope on the river side of the railroad tracks to the landing. I drove back to Narrow Passage and biked to Saltpetre. A bit hillier than River Road, but it only took 15 minutes as the road is shorter than the river in this section.

We tried the same brownish crayfish that had worked on the Maury the day before, but didn’t budge the fish. Tried poppers and other assorted streamers. Then, on a whim, Sam tried a tan crayfish and that was the ticket. Still didn’t catch any big ones, the best ones being about 12″. Caught a number of those, making for an enjoyable day. Overall not as many fish as Friday, but still 60 to 70 between the two of us. We also caught many redeyes – I pulled about 20 off one bank. We enjoyed the float, as even though it was hot, it seemed a few degrees cooler.

We had to rush the last mile or so. Rumbles of thunder lead to dark skies, wind and hints of rain as the storms got closer and closer. We rowed hard and got to the Narrow Passage landing just as the first big drops of rain started. We strapped the boats on, drove up to pick up the bike, and head to Natural Bridge in a driving rain. We sat in the truck for about 30 minutes while the rain passed. Another great dinner on the grill, and quickly to bed. We’d thought about heading north to the Wayside in Buena Vista for some wade fishing or heading down south for some trout on the way back, but we decided to roll on back to NC, content with a great weekend of fishing.

I spent a couple of hours this morning at “Terry’s Pool” on the Eno River. I’d gone with Terry Hackett a couple weeks ago, but I’d not connected with any Roanoke Bass on that trip. I had a bit of time today and drove the 15 miles from my house to the State Park.

The 13-year cicadas were droning loudly as I walked through the woods to the river. I was wondering if there was already someone else there, since there was a truck parked at the trailhead. My luck was good, as there was no one in sight when I river. I tied on the same fly I used last trip (literally, the same one 😉 ) and stepped into the water. This week it was running clear, with the bottom visible in 3 to 4 feet of water. I tried to wade gingerly to not throw up a cloud of mud. I had some strikes, and caught a couple sunfish. I decided to concentrate on Roanoke Bass this time, and worked the fly slow and deep among the rocks in the center of the pool and the flow. A strike, and this bass came to hand:

Another sunfish…

A decent fish scooped a cicada off the water less than 5 feet from me. I looked for a popper that matched the color, tried a couple, but only had strikes from small sunnies.

I then put on a crayfish pattern, weighted with a heavy brass cone head. I snagged the first 2 or 3 times I threw it, catching up in the rocks. However, that’s where you want to be since that’s where the Roanoke Bass are lurking. I had a strong strike, and brought this nice one in:

Caught another smaller bass, and a few more sunfish. A great morning, and I hiked back to the truck, quite satisfied with the start to the day.

I try to get to Weldon, NC, once each spring when the hickory shad are running. I’d go more often, but it’s about an hour & 45 minutes, and there a lot of variables (temperature, water clarity, water level, plus fish karma)…I try to pick one day that will work, and today was that day. Any day fishing is better than a day at work, so I was eagerly anticipating this excursion 😉

Jan left about 7:10 to go to work and I started loading up. Here’s where it gets interesting! I decided to take my ODC816 pontoon, as it’s a hassle to haul my boat to Weldon, and besides it’s at Emerald Isle right now. Started to inflate the pontoons. Where’s the pump? In the boat at EI (to inflate towables!). OK, found another pump. Where’s my favorite Shad rod? In the boat at EI! No worries, I’ve got plenty. Where are my Shad flies? You guessed it, in the boat at EI. Headed upstairs to the tying bench to whip out a quick half-dozen flies. Where’s my fishing license? In the boat at EI. Print off proof of license! On the road finally, and pulled in to Weldon at 10:30, really only a half-hour after I planned to be there. Was it worth it? You bet!

When I got there, I rowed across the river, and anchored the ODC816 in an eddy near the big island. Water was fairly high, about 9000cfs and cold…not much more than 50F, but also clearer than I think I’ve ever seen it there (the Roanoke at Weldon is about 6 miles below the last of a series of 3 large back-to-back reservoirs). Flailed the water for about 30 minutes and it was looking like a big old skunk. However, I decided to look around the corner and check out the “little river.” I beached the ODC and walked where I could look around the bend. Glad I did. There were 3 boats with flyfishers catching fish! I carried my boat over the rocks and made my way to a rock about 25 feet off the island. I had some strikes and started catching fish. Several pictures here. I fished until about 2pm when my casting arm was getting tired. Caught about 20 nice hickories, and let me tell you, these guys will put a bend in your rod. I’ve had days when I caught 100, but this was very satisfying, as the fish I caught were big and strong.

Went back to the island, toted the ODC to the main channel, and fought the current (very fast!) to the ramp area. Chewed the fat with some other fishermen, and headed home to pack up and drive to the beach (where your intrepid correspondent is sitting now). A great day!