Early Fall, WNC

Early fall here in Western Carolina brings with it crisp weather, amazing forest reds, yellows and oranges, and wouldn’t you know, pretty good trout fishing. Dad and Miss Gail showed up early this week as I was on fall break, sort of, with a few days off from school. Though rainy and brisk, we have all had a delightful time enjoying the fall colors here in the mountains. As per my previous trip to Wilson Creek, Dad and I rose early Wednesday morning and made for the creek, about an hour’s drive away. We were a little early, thankfully were able to navigate a treacherous mountain road in thick, soupy fog, and before light broke over the mountains, took a swell nap in the truck as the rain pounded on the roof, an ominous start to the day. My second or third cast produced a little rainbow on the PT, and several more followed. I stayed with the nymph most of the day, and Dad used it some, along with the (surprise) olive wooly, and we had fairly decent success. Since I had class that night, we packed up early, but not before nailing a bunch in a row on the ole egg pattern. We guessed that we probably landed somewhere around 25 to 30 (remember we are fishermen.
We were so pleased with the fishing Wed, that we got up early Thursday to do it again. We left a little later, and that didn’t make much difference, only we were able to see the deadly drop offs on the edge of the mountain road. We started out with the egg, and soon found ourselves into some pretty good fishing. I dropped the egg quickly in favor of the olive wooly, which I used most of the day. There is nothing as exciting as a bump on the swing. Dad used the egg most of the day, and we figured that we probably caught 40 to 50 fish, and missed many more than that. The two biguns of the day were a brookie that was about 16 inches or so caught midmorning, and a nice brown that was a little bigger, both hung on the wooly. Overall, we had a fantastic time. WNC is full of tiny creeks, ditches really, that are difficult to fish and as far as reward for fishing, the little guys are small. It is nice to find a bit of a larger river with decent fish, and most importantly NO OTHER FISHERMEN.
Rosemary, of course, had a great time with Papaw and Marmie, and they enjoyed spending time with our little Frog. She didn’t get to go fishing like I know she wanted to, but she did go all over the High Country with Momma and Marmie. I hear she was sweet on the rides, and I believe it.