Decisions

[Sep]

Jason and the shuttle guy leaned against the truck and spoke in low tones, both staring at the brilliant green, yellow, and red blobs that moved across Jason’s iPhone screen as Chris and I pulled on our raingear and began to rummage through our tackle. It didn’t look good. Eavesdropping, I heard the shuttle guy say, “I don’t know. Under normal circumstances I’d tell you to forget floating today. Anything could happen." "But,” he paused, taking a quick glance in our direction, “you might just give it a shot. These two seem to know what they’re doing.”

I turned to see who he was talking about.

An hour earlier, Jason, Chris and I had been sitting in the Silva Wal-Mart parking lot, sipping our morning coffee while the dark skies pissed rain and belched thunderclaps. None of us wanted to say anything, but we each knew what the others were thinking – and we didn’t want to admit it. Jason worked the iPhone hard, bouncing between weather radar images, forecast sites, and texts from other guides who were also working their phones hard – calling clients to cancel the day’s trips.

But Jason hadn’t been ready to give up on the Tuckasegee just yet, so we had another doughnut and waited – waited for the first break and then headed down to the Tuck to see. High, a bit, but only moderately stained, though probably not for long. Any window would undoubtedly be small.

Jason and the shuttle guy appeared to come to an agreement and called us over. “All bets are off, “ said Jason. “Conditions are really squirrely. I’d be completely okay with rescheduling to another time. But, there’s a break between the fronts and if you’re willing to take a chance, I’m game. Worse comes to worse, we ditch the boat and hunker down for a while. One thing’s for certain - we’ll have the river to ourselves. Not sure if it will be worth having, though. It’s your call. What do you want to do?”

I looked at Chris. Chris looked at me. The rain turned to pea-sized hail.

And, as one, we smiled.

The shuttle guy chuckled and turned to take the empty trailer downstream to the takeout.

 

[Vans]

Nice post Sep. :thmbup:

A little rain never hurt anyone. Living where i do, if i only fished in the nice weather, well i wouldnt fish much.

 

[stimulator2]

Nice post . I don't blame you i would have went to a little rain some times makes things better and if you drove the 3 and half hours fron chatham co. to fish go for it i live 30min from the Tuck. some good fish in there...

 

[dhayden]

Nice!

I've had some of my best Steelheading days in really rotten weather.

One time we were on the Trinity River, California, at a put in, raining very hard, you could almost see the water rising, a father and daughter with their guide, after having flown in from Illinois, decided it wasn't worth it.. and left. I think they actually went home.

We both landed 5+ Steelhead.. I think I got 7? Great day!

 

[Noiso]

I am hooked and eagerly await the rest of the story.

 

[jpbfly]

Great post Mike:secretnce a friend of mine told me"JP even if it rains sh...t we'll go fishing"

 

[riverbilly]

I love it - fishermen that don't know when to give up.:thumbsup:

 

[fyshstykr]

I'm thinking it turned out to be a good day with terrestrials getting washed into the river and higher water busting worms loose along the edges.

Great read so far.

 

[Davo]

As a Guide I must say it is always the clients call!! We have the day set aside and we have the rain gear. If the condition don't bother the client who are we to gripe?

Can't wait to hear how the day went!! Some of the best days of fishing are the worst days weather wise!!

 

[caseywise]

sep,
interesting start to your day on the water, looking forward to reading more....


casey

 

[gatortransplant]

Sep, great story, liked everyone has said, lookin forward to seeing the rest of the story! I had no idea you were near Silva, shoulda put that one together... I have a family friend with a vacation house in Silva, need to make another trip...

 

[Mnflyfish]

Im game for just about any weather except for hot, humid and still. its those days when the water temp gets warm.

 

[Sep]

Thanks guys. As is most often the case, the best fishing stories are usually not about the actual fishing. The day went predictably. While we did enjoy a handful of hours without heavy rain falling on our heads (and the hail refrained from a repeat visit), the damage was done. The Tuck rose quickly from the morning rains and turned to chocolate milk before we got too far along.

Chris dredged nymphs down the seams and I, subscribing to fyshsytr's theory, threw streamers at the banks. We each caught a few, but just a few.

At one point Chris boated three in a row, nymphing 5 feet from the boat, while I continued to pitch 30 feet to the banks. I wondered aloud what was wrong with this picture - what kind of idiot was I, not switching to what seemed to be working. Jason's deadpan response was "You like to cast."

It seemed a good enough answer to me (and, actually, a correct one) and we continued on, unchanged.

---------- Post added at 09:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

Nice post . I don't blame you i would have went to a little rain some times makes things better and if you drove the 3 and half hours fron chatham co. to fish go for it i live 30min from the Tuck. some good fish in there...

Looked like a good fishery, indeed. If I lived 30 mins away, I'd hit it a lot. And I agree 100%, a little rain can make things better. Ah, that we had only had a little.

---------- Post added at 09:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 AM ----------

Nice!

I've had some of my best Steelheading days in really rotten weather.

Aren't good steelheading days always rotten weather? At least, in my experience, good steelheaders aren't happy unless it's rottten. Just sayin'.

---------- Post added at 09:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 AM ----------

Great post Mike:secretnce a friend of mine told me"JP even if it rains sh...t we'll go fishing"

Remind me never to fish with your friend. And you sure must have some strange weather patterns over there, JP.

---------- Post added at 09:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------

As a Guide I must say it is always the clients call!! We have the day set aside and we have the rain gear. If the condition don't bother the client who are we to gripe?

I'd fish with you any day, Davo. My kinda guide. :thumbsupu

I'll add that while the weather was ****, the company was great and the float was fabulous, fish or no.

---------- Post added at 09:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 AM ----------

... I have a family friend with a vacation house in Silva, need to make another trip...

Indeed you do, AJ. Lot's of good fishing in the area.

---------- Post added at 09:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:08 AM ----------

Im game for just about any weather except for hot, humid and still. its those days when the water temp gets warm.

Living in central North Carolina, if I didn't fish hot, humid, and still, I wouldn't fish all summer. I know a few largemouths that wouldn't mind that.

I just don't like that crackly, electrical stuff falling out of the clouds. :icon_idea

 

[Davo]

Sep

Glad to hear you had a fun float in spite of the conditions and less than enthusiastic fish!! Your welcome in my boat anytime, love clients and fishing partners who are willing to roll the dice!!

As Fyshstykr and Mrs Fysh can attest, I sometimes do the bad days without rain gear!! Though in my own defense it was not in my boat but theirs and there was no sign of rain at the put in! It was a cold last couple of miles to the take out though!!

 

[fyshstykr]

As the ol' saying goes Dave....." if you don't like the weather now, give it 5 minutes".

 

[Davo]

As the ol' saying goes Dave....." if you don't like the weather now, give it 5 minutes".

Fysh

Might just be in my head but I think that ice cold rain lasted longer than 5 minutes. Being the only one with out rain gear it might have just seemed longer to me!!