Playing tourist and fishing some...

[mrl0004]

Pull up a chair, this is long.

I left last Saturday for a week up in the mountains of North Carolina. It wasn't a fishing trip, so I was hoping for at least a day to sneak away and do some fishing. Before I could do that, I had to do all of the touristy things.
Downtown Gatlinburg was made possible by free moonshine sample shots....

Had to do the Biltmore one day. I had never been, so it was cool.

Bought some to take home....

Went to Brevard one day to see these white squirrels everyone is so crazy about...

Went to a cool up and coming brewery in Waynesville...

Great beer and a nice stream right out back...

The thing I was dreading most, a horse ride in Cataloochie. I am just not cut out for horses. They don't like me and I'm not particularly fond of them. However, I'm a team player and the views were promised to make it worthwhile. So, I went along...

The rain threatened us for a while and delayed the start....

Finally, it cleared and we headed on our way to the top of that mountain...

Finally made it to the top and the views were as promised.

Once we got to the top, the horses and the riders got a much needed break......

That's my retard horse, Samson. He knew I hated him from the beginning I think. He would randomly stop and refuse to go again, he would ride very close to EVERY tree and overhanging bush just to **** me off, and he would stop and eat along the trail while he needed to be walking. I was more than ready to get back to the stable and the chick taking the horses wasn't bad on the eyes either....

Rounded out the trip in Asheville for Bele Chere, big mistake. I have never been around so many smelly hippies in my life. I did finally find a beer I had been searching for since day one of my arrival. This stuff was unbelievably hard to find, but it was worth the trouble. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know fruity beer isn't popular with some folks, but this was very subtle. It took almost a half of the can before I could start tasting hints of watermelon.

Walked down and listened to Yo Mamma's Big Fat Booty Band. Got a little second-hand high going and called it quits there.

Got back and tried another new beer.....I liked it

 

[mrl0004]

With all that out of the way, time was made for fishing. Although it was when I could go rather than planning it out ahead of time, I caught some fish. The first stream was a local stream that has wild fish and is hatchery-supported. It was running a little high and off-color, but not bad. As soon as I walked down to the stream I saw a brown holding right in the middle.

One well placed fly and drift and game on....

I got him in pretty quick and sent him on his way...

As I walked down, I caught a couple more smaller ones.....(yes I resorted to a san juan worm)

It was good to be in the water and fishing.....

Caught a stocker brookie after he missed the fly 3 or 4 times....

The further I worked up the more off-color the water got.

I managed to pull a small bow out of that pool.

I neared the end point of my wade and came across a nice overhang. There has to be a fish under there. I caught two small browns and pulled one out that was a bit bigger before calling it quits.

Even though most were stockers, that was the first time I have caught all 3 species in one stream, so that was cool.

The next day I bartered for a morning alone in the park. The stream I wanted to fish was a no go due to trail closures. So I opted for another spot down low before I headed up high.

On the way in, I had that uneasy feeling that I wasn't alone. I heard some branches breaking and noticed this beast just in front of me standing as still as a statue. What a way to start the morning, a huge bull elk! This has to be a good sign...

Well, the fishing wasn't stellar. I caught lots of small bows, but that's it.

Caught what appeared to be a stonefly beginning to emerge.

I decided if I am going to catch tiny trout, they might as well be the real gem of the mountains. I had to fish another stream that I have fished before, but is small even for smoky streams. A brief hike up a trail...

Then some time whacking my way to the water....

 

[mrl0004]

Almost there...

I finally arrived to the water.

I went with my usual brookie combo, a little yellow sally dry with an ant dropped off the back.

Cool flowers on the stream, no clue what they are....

The water was running pretty good here too, it made it tough to fish. There is already so much overhanging rhodo here, you pretty much HAVE to bow and arrow cast exclusively. The fast water gave you .2 seconds in the sink-size pools to get a drift.

First pool and first brookie.....

More stream views....

I nicknamed this stream "stinging nettle creek," because that is all there is here, and it is THICK!

I missed way more than I caught. Finally connected with a little better-sized one...

These fish are beautiful...

There has to be one in there.....

Yep!

 

[mrl0004]

Fishing became slow and time was running out, so I decided to hike on out. A couple days later, I broke away to fish a stream a buddy clued me into and got into several bows before I was summoned back. :evil:

That was all the fishing I had time for, but it was enough to appease my longing to fish the mountains for a little while longer. I will probably head back again soon.

 

[Ard]

Wow...........................

Beautiful pictures and the close up of the brook trouts flank was the stuff :bowdown: I liked them all but that was special! I think the first flower is a variety of Yellow Coneflower but I could be wrong there. The little yellow one is a mystery and the red one too, the white cluster is Mountain Laurel. Loved the whole thing,

Ard

 

[gatortransplant]

Great marathon post! Some beautiful fish and scenery and a fun trip it looks like! I can't wait to get back to NC. And as far as the San Juan goes, people might trash-talk it, but in high water situations, tying on a worm pattern is matching the hatch as far as I'm concerned, since the higher water will wash terrestrial worms into the stream and the trout will key in on the floating protein-snakes! I don't see any difference between tying on a beetle pattern when fishing under trees or a hopper when the hoppers are falling into the streams, but maybe I'm mistaken. Either way, I'm jealous of your trip, and cool bull elk sighting as well!

 

[stl_geoff]

Excellent post and trip! I had more fun this past time exploring the smokies in Gatlinburg then I have had in the previous times there. So much so I want to go back for a couple days just to fish it.

 

[robbyz5001]

Very nice post and trip!