Is it deer season yet!?

As a man with a one track mind and with the last two trips with the fly rod being nothing short of miserable...."where is deer season!?"

Went last weekend to hang a stand locally and put out one trail cam. I hunt the mountains here in NC some but mostly the massive woods of GA. The hunting in GA is just so much better, more bucks and bigger bucks. Poaching is such a HUGE problem here locally that it drove us to find another area (or state) altogther to hunt. GA has been great to us and we've never looked back.

I'll update often with hunt reports and trail cam pics as I round them up. "Hey, let's go huntin' "--Dean Durham

Dried up and soakin' wet...

Man, trying to wrap words around the worst two days of fishing I've had all year. Wifey and son went out of town so I had two days of nothing else to do but fish...and work a little. Sunday we hit a new brookie stream, stream way low, fish way spooky, and way picky. Did manage a few brookies and a small brownie. Hopped out of that stream and went to an old faithful...still the fish are denying me like a chess geek chasing the prom queen. Still, landed a few.

Monday, made dust out of work at 4:59 and raced up the hill. Walked the 1.5 mile in, fish about 1 hour and the sky opens up worse than anything I've ever experienced. Rain fell at the rate of 4 inches per hour (no, I aint got no gauge in my pocket, checked the stats later) along with dime size hail. I learned the BB size hail that started it sounds kinda cool pinging off your hat, but that dime size slammin' your head and neck is rather painful. I hoofed it out in record time...the old toyota never looked so good. No pics as I had nothing on my mind but a roof over my head. Needless to say, after then soaking my truck in wet clothes, I had to ride to work today sitting on two towels as to not appear as if I pee'd my pants on the way in...

With that said, I have a 4-80 Sage for sale along with a huge assortment of supporting equipment.....KIDDING!!! But, I'm ready to say...bring on deer season.

A crawdad and a single double...

This past Friday my fishing partner and I scheduled a day off from work with not much in mind but daylight to dark fishing...and that's just about what we accomplished.

The day started off like most any fishing day, left the house to meet up around 5:45am and then rode up in one truck. We had this ridiculous idea of fishing a particular section of one of our favorite streams long enough to take two trucks, one parked at beginning and end. Luckily, after sleeping on the notion, we both found out the other had the same thought that this probably could not be done in one day of fishing. It would have been about 3 miles of water, not to mention the hike in and out.

I'm no Indian track reader, but after a night of heavy fog and dew I can tell a fresh truck track in the forest road on the way up. Much to our dismay and surprise a truck was parked at the trailhead we had chosen. We decided to do the usual and peer into the truck to see if it looked like a fisherman or a hiker. This area attracks hikers 10 to 1 over fisherman. My buddy was two inches from the window looking for fishing gear and this man pops up from the back of the double cab dodge. After a few minutes he finally opened the window and we explained what was up. Good thing he was friendly. Anyhow, we learned he was a solo hiker and we would be rewarded for our very early arrival. It was funny though to see the look on his face to be awakened by two very ugly fly fisherman. We also disappointed him as we didn't have a hot bacon, egg and cheese biscuit in the truck.

After the quick intro to the anonymous hiker, we changed shoes, grabed the necessary and off we went. It's rare I get a full day to fish, I usually do the half day thing or even shorter. So, I went with the old backpack that's carried everything from college books to deer pee. I packed only the most necessary gear, leaders, tippett and one box of flies...then plenty of food and water. I despise getting hungry or thirsty while fishing. I can't relax if this happens so I take extra whenever possible.

Once we hit the water we did the usual hopscotch approach. This works well and leaves every likely spot fished. It wasn't long and I was into a nice rainbow that went MAD on my yellow stimi size 10. I actually didn't look too hard for the hatch as I'm very confident in a few different flies this time of year. I learned quick the fish that were gonna hit were gonna hit HARD. Some of the strikes were off the chart and out of the water. At first we were missing more than we landed as it always takes me a minute or three to shake out the anixety and slow things down. Then, we stuck most every fish with near 'bout professionalism. I was quite impressed with our showdown this day.

As the trip progressed we couldn't help but notice the blasted uncanny ability these fish have at spotting us at up to 20+ feet away as we approached. We finally decided to waste little time on the long slow stretches because we had all day and the effort to not spook these runs wasn't worth the return. We had an unlimited amount of stream to cover and all day to do so. As I finally approached one of my favorite pools I was more than ready to sneak into position and giver her a roll. But, guess stinkin' what happened!?!? I got sickly hungup on the second attempt. I was more than let down as I just retied and refused to break off to the devil laurel. I kindly moved aside and let my partner have at it. The biggun' we know lives there didn't make an apperance but for the first time in our careers two fish were landed at once. A nice fat rainbow went for the dry as another much smaller cousin followed closely for the nymph. A recommended a slight slowdown in the retrive and WHAMMY, two fish on at once. What a gift from this favorite hole.

As the day wore on we finally approached another huge pool that gives us fits and usually leaves us empty handed. There isn't an easy way to approach this hole and not give up a big ugly shadow. I easily crept over a boulder to take a look see and noticed a nice 12 incher up near the surface feeding like a starving kid at the KFC buffet. My partner offered me the chance at him and I quickly accepted. But, as luck would have it here comes a hiker and two gigantic dogs. Needless to say the hyper hiker needed directions and that fish was gone quicker than he appeared.

We decided at this point to just stop for lunch and check the time. We had been on the water about 4-5 hours and landed numerous fish but we weren't done yet. From here forward was a new stretch of water for both of us. We had fished other sections on numerous occassions but not this particular one. The fishing for the next couple of hours was nothing short of epic. The rainbows came out in force and abundance ever better than the early morning. We had finally gotten our ninja skills down to a clumsy science and could throw any fly in the box for an offering and they would take as if it were their last meal...just as long as we weren't sloppy of course. No slapping of the water was permitted. We had now located our new second favorite hole that produced 6 healthy fish.

One small item of note, and part of my blog entry title, are the tons of crawdads this stream plays host. (many people calls these boogers "crawfish", but here in the south they are crawdads) This is where another first was revealed when a very hungry fresh water lobster decided to take on a flashy nymph. He was saddened when he realized the bead head was only for looks and not some sort of shiny cherry topping.

The total count was lost at somewhere around 25. No real piggies on this day, but what we gave up in quality was returned in quantity. The last few hours did seem to drain on us as the fishing tapered off a great deal, but no way we could forget the past 7 hours of endless strikes. When we finally ended the day we lucked up and located a quicker trail back to the road...when we got to the top we blaimed each other for not bringing that second truck. The 2 mile hike back down wasn't very pleasent in soggy shorts...

Two Days...

I got two days of fishing coming up and I'm more than pumped. It's gonna be hot as torment but I won't be working...so who cares! Right?

Friday I'll be chasing trout in probably low, clear water which makes for difficult conditions for my big, clumsy rear. This will be a return trip for this stream already this year, but it has become one of my favorite. Friend of mine somehow found a 14" brown in there last week...I hope to get a good look at him too. He kindly released him since I told him where I'd go fish if I had a day off.

Saturday I'm going slumming for bluegill and smallies on a local "near and dear" stream. The section we'll be on forces me to take a dip or two, it could be floated easily but we're tough and stupid and end up swimming in a couple deep pools. Not to fear though, the water is very slack. What that means on the bad point of view is...no pictures...as I don't own a waterproof camera yet.

Well, posts to come next week with details and I hope good news!

Headwater Bushwackin'

With only hours to go before standing in the firing line of my cousin's wedding, I managed to sneak out for a few hours to the headwaters of one of my favorite streams. This section is tough, with super cagey fish and very tight places...but it's worth it. Three of us made the trip up, anxious to sling some dry flies and try some new sections of this stream. The campers and hikers were out in abundance but thankfully we didn't see any other fisherman. It's always a shock to see so many campers and hikers that don't fish, not that I mind or anything...

As you can see in the next picture it would probably help if I read the local news from time to time. I miss the very local goings on...like rock slides. You see, I live in one county but work in another, so I tend to read the paper from the county I work in. But, this dandy little rock slide didn't keep a worn out Ford and a very worn out Toyota from fishing. Heck, I'm sure I coulda locked the hubs and climbed that sucker if I needed to...agree?

The three of us decided to slipt up. I took the top section and the two of them played hopscotch on the lower section. Upon tying on an elk hair caddis and making my first cast I was rewarded with a surprise...a nice 7" brookie. A brook isn't very rare for this creek but fairly rare as mostly browns and rainbows call it home. I was seconds from a picture when he escaped me. As we all know when the first cast is easy and you think, "Man, this is going to be an excellent day", most often it turns out to be a bust. This wasn't exactly true but the fishing was very difficult for my eight foot sage. If I had any brains I would leave my little 6 footer in the truck for such a dance as this one but I'm a dofus and I love my sage. Cheating on her hurts sometimes.

At the end of the day as I worked my way as high as you could possibly fish, numerous trout were landed and my partner in crime pulled a super nice brown from a very unlikely spot just above a well used camping area...with campers in it. We were happily shocked.

I normally never loose but a fly or two but this stream, I should say, this stream's laurel took many a fly from me this day. I went monkey on a couple to get them back. For some stupid reason I've taken up tying my own flies, I guess now I can afford to loose a couple...???...

Where I been...

I been hidin. Not really. Been fishing twice since my last post but not much to report. Took the entire family...well, a good bit of them, up to Helton DH for a go 'round with the stockers. But, when we arrived it was HIGH and MUDDDDDDDY. Like pumpin' hot nestle quick without the marshmellows. I do think everyone landed at least one fish. I managed to help my little fragile sis onto a good size brookie. The ONLY place a fish could be found was in the rare and few dead spots on the edges of a run. I slipped up on her while she was still getting the hang of the open face spin rod. I told her, I would bet a couple bucks a fish is waiting for you just behind that big log. That big log slowed the water enough for a fish to hang on in the hydro force mud bath. She couldn't get the cast down so I forced her to get her little toes wet, try mulitple casts and finally it was WHAMMY on a spec. She was pumped. The other highlight was of course watching my son have a blast throwing sticks, rocks, sticks, rocks and rocks in the water. He WILL be an outdoorsman...I'm almost confident.



Most recently, on a whim, Joey and I tried a stream marked as C&R just off the parkway. Dude, what a bust! I'd give the name but I'm gonna save my embarssment cause I'd guess somebody would laugh at us for even trying this hole. I knew quick when we pulled a couple of them stoopid shiners from suspecting holes that the creek was a bust. We high tailed it back out, drove to investigate another stream and then rolled back off the mountain. All I can say is the stream was almost pitiful enough to put me in a fish depression. I almost stopped at the grocery store just to go remind myself what a trout looks like. I can't speak of it anymore or I'll put all my junk on ebay.....kidding!

Hang on for a more decent report this weekend. I got something better up my sleeve.


later

Liquid gold rainbows...

The three day weekend! Ah, the thought of knowing no return for work on the dreaded Monday, 3 days of true un-worked bliss. In this day and age I'm more than grateful to have a job, I live in the one of the hardest hit areas in the US, but I still get the working blues. In my field of work I deal with those businesses struggling to survive and it takes a mental toll on a man. But, back to the issue at hand...no work for 3 days! The idea of a repeat camping/fishing trip like last year's Memorial Day weekend sounded great, but this particular one only held about a 1/3 of that amount of free time.

Early Saturday morning Joey and I headed a little north of our town to smack around some wild rainbows. This stream is his "teeth cutting" ground and he talks of it as if it spew forth liquid gold. But, to an addicted fly fisherman I suppose hungry, wicked-mean bows are liquid gold.

We arrived and finally got the felt wet at around 6:45am and we were very pleased nobody else would give us company. We passed numerous campers in the lower elevations but not at our desired location for the day. We only had about a half day as usual so the stream had to be close and not too much of a walk. Upon initial inspection absolutely no bugs were coming off so we just went with the faithful dry/dropper combo. I rigged up a orange stimiulator with a pheasant tail dropper...a tiny one at that.

My stick of choice today was knocking the dust off the ultralight 3 weight basspro combo..."white river" that call it. I know lots of people, including me, have to start with combos that the big box stores provide due to cost of entry for fly fishing, but this set up is premium in my opinion. It was not a starter rod for me (and not priced as such). I purchased it because it looked and sounded so awesome...and indeed it is. It truely is ULTRALIGHT. I'm not sure but I'd bet it's right at 1 ounce or less and came equipped with a tiny reel that only holds about half of the yardage a normal reel would wrap.

Okay, enough on equipment, hows about the fish!? Well, started out SLOOOOW. Took us about an hour to really get some action. After the sun popped out things picked up quickly. We landed too many to count and a few really good ones. Most all came on the nymph unless we were casting to the more shallow runs or pockets. This stream is a ton of fun and has some excellent pockets and pools. It also has a tremendous population of small trout, which will be great for years to come.

The highlight of the day came while Joey was working one of the largest pools on the creek. The pool had two definite runs, one of each side that spanned probably 40 feet. He just happened to see a nice fish rise and gave him an offering. And WHAM it was on like stink on a donkey. The bow was determined to give his TFO 3 weight a run for the money. I quickly said, "horse that sucker up or you'll be in that laurel." My advise was too late, so in the bush they went, rod dropped and line in hand. He managed him out untangled and realized that boss was crowding 10 inches and had the attitude of a detoxing metal head. A real pig for this tiny stream.

In the end we really did loose count and were surprised and some of the areas we pulled fish from. I even managed one between two blowdowns you couldn't even cast to, I simply eased the fly down, hooked a fish and hoisted him up. I've never had that kinda luck, no matter how big a horseshoe I haul in the back of the 'yota.

Our list of streams to fish continues to grow. I'm thankful for the time and opportunity so close to home.

Thanks for reading, now go catch a fish.