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Smith-Continued

Started by 5xTippett, June 17, 2012, 16:15:23 PM

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Woolly Bugger

Plan B RiverRun film festival  d:b
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Dougfish

Brewed a pot of coffee and put 2 butts on the smoker at 6:15.
Headed out for the cold water.

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Breakfast beer.

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Euro'd it for a while. I was determined to practice, even though the flows were low. Some sulfurs were coming off in fits and starts. The trout were keying more on the emergers. I struggled but picked up a few on the anchor fly, not the fluttering nymph/soft hackle. I noticed the bossman above me a bit later. He was picking up some fish on the dry. I waded up stream, exchanged pleasantries and swapped my leader out. Puff daddy time.

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I jumped around him and fished pretty quick up through some frog water. Picked up 3 or 4 on the way to the targeted run.

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Hit the solid run and nothing in the back half. WTF?
Picked up a few in the head and called it a day before the water came up. Keith waded up, we hopped out and I spotted him a beer at the cars.
Another punearama in the books.

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 0:0


"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

itieuglyflies

Doug....Doug- just think what you would have caught without that banana!

Also just remember euro nymphing does not work.

Woolly Bugger

#1593

DF wasn't the only one that had the Smith on the radar with the only wading opportunity in quite sometime.

Several options were presented this weekend.. low 300 cfs sluice on the SoHo, carps and smallies on the Gnu, but the shortest route to dry fly satisfaction was the Smith. I was a little late in my start due to indication about my options.

I'm glad I picked the Smith because as soon as I got on the water there were a lot of trout rising, slashing as emergers. I tied on a puff daddy and started catching the punes of the Smith. This lasted for about an hour and then things started slowing down and by noon it was all over as far as dry fly fishing went.

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this dude tried to high hole me, but I ran him of and made him surrender a beer in the parking lot

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ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Fishbug


Woolly Bugger

#1595

Sunday, still waiting on Spork to drop a pin on a map  <-;:

Took a while to get out the door and I got to the river late but the fish were rising all over the place. Picking bastads and I was out of Comparduns, puff daddy worked some of the time. Had to twitch it to get them to attack it. It lasted until just after 12 and then shut down... fished a little while longer, but was at Papa's Pizza before the water hit.


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ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Al

#1596
You cannot view this attachment.Don't forget to thank Smith River TU for orchestrating some fishermen friendly flows.  We definitely got them to hold off until noon on Saturday for our clean up and it looks like they have us in mind for the remainder of the week. Not sure if it will continue. We are still in talks with them - we will see.


Dee-Vo

@Woolly Bugger - I almost hit it myself Sunday morning. About the time I realized I had an opportunity to fish is when I checked the release schedule and figured out that I wouldn't have had very much time at all to fish once I got there. Next time!

Woolly Bugger

#1598

So it was time for new tires, just a little tread left and that last puncture forced the issue, oh and that noise wasn't just from the tires, bad rear wheel bearing  n!n  All good now and the CR-V with 124K is rolling smooth and quiet again.

Saturday, let's go fishing I thought, check the damn dam schedule, go to Facebook, check Philpott lake page, scroll on down... there is is... Saturday NO generation, cool! No real hurry to get to the river, the little yaller bugs won't start popping in the cool of the morning. I'll get there by 9:30 and fish all damn day if I feel like it.

Stopped and got some Chorizo, Cheese, Beer (Sam Adams '76 is my new go to Summer brew). Two cars in the lot, one local and one Subaru from NC. Started the walk in... turned around 'cause the Trouthunter Tippet was left behind. Got to "Sally's Pool" and rigged up with trout smacking bugs in the background. A few birds were feeding and things were looking up. I tied on a compardun and went to work with a 8 ft 3 wt and despite the ever present wind on the Smith was getting some good cast and drifts in. But the fish were missing the fly! 1, 2, 3, a bump, a slash, a jump over, none hooked up, but I was determined to hook a fish on this fly, damn it! Time to sit down and have a beer! 4, 5, 6, 7, okay this is getting absurd. Maybe another beer will help. I set quicker, then slower, "God save the Queen" and all that rot. Got some good (for the Smith) fish to rise but still nothing came to hand. Worked another run and 9, 10, 11 failed to hook themselves.
Okay there is another fish rising on the far side of the current just past the tree. Cast and cast again, oh a rise, set the hook and fish on. Time for a celebratory beer!

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As I sat on the bank and enjoyed slices of Chorizo and cheese chased by sips of Sam Adams '76 I noticed that the water was louder and oh crap looked like it was rising! Sure enough the damn dam was open and my fishing was over. I glanced downstream and saw an angler battling the strong current and flailing away. Surely he'll get out soon as the water continued to rise. Awe crap, I better go check on him. So I walked on down and bushwhacked in to the water's edge just above him and observed that he was just stubbornly containing to cast into the run of rushing water with his euro rig.
 
I walked back down the edge of the field and back to the car. There was only the Subaru in the lot now. As I was taking off my gear the other angler walked in and we talked for a while. Turns out Mark is from Clemmons and has only fished the Smith a few times. I gave him a BRFFF PSB sticker, invited him to join the forum and then he headed on down to the lover river and I drove home.

Turns out the FB schedule was from the previous week!  n!n  <-;:

Photos at 11.

@Mudwall, what? where? when? how?

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fin

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Al

#1600
With the erratic flows coming out of Philpott Reservoir it has been difficult for DGIF to schedule a sampling of the Smith River trout fishery which extends for 31 miles downstream of the dam. With only one working turbine it takes twice as long for the COE to manage the inflows and outflows so there is not a backup of water behind the dam. Sometime the inflows are so great they have to open the sluice gate but that allows flows downstream without passing through the turbine which is viewed by some as revenue lost - nonetheless with frequent torrential rains so far this year that has been the scenario. This past Thursday and hopefully one day next week the generation schedule was such that DGIF fisheries biologists are able to get on the river using their sampling raft supported by a flotilla of Smith River Trout Unlimited (SRTU) volunteers.
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A couple of the younger SRTU volunteers brought their own raft
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I turned 80 this past week - here's my ride
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That first stretch of water got me thinking maybe those boys in the raft had the right idea but once I got my sea-legs I was good to go.
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The electronic probes on the raft cover about a 6 foot section of the river. With a river the size of the Smith the biologists estimate they pass over less that 10% of the fish. The raft is moving with the flow so the designated net person only gets one stab at a temporarily stunned fish - Probably less than 5% of the fish are actually collected for the sample.  With all that said, it still didn't take long to collect a cooler full of fish.
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Now the work begins. First thing is locating a shallow but calm area away from the flow of the main river
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Next they doctor up a big tub with a few drops of clove oil to calm the fish down so they will come to hand one at a time for measurement and weight. All fish were returned safely to the water and were last seen swimming upstream shaking their heads wondering "what the heck just happened?"
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Measurement and weights, along with species of fish and total numbers are meticulously recorded. This data is later entered into a computer program that helps determine the health of the river which aides in management decisions.
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And so it went for a half a dozen "cooler full" floats down the river to our predetermined take-out point. I am not sure of the total numbers but can report there are no shortage of catchable size fish in the river. One thing was very apparent  each time we stopped  to process fish and that was there are a ton of rainbow trout still in the river from the "put and take stocking season". George Palmer, the lead biologist remarked several times "you fisherman are not doing your jobs!".  Our response is the constant daytime flows have prevented local and visiting fishermen from safely wading the river to harvest fish placed there at a great expense for the purpose of recreation and consumption. This situation is not going to change without the cooperation of all stakeholders involved. I believe the recreational users of the river, i.e. the fishermen, the paddlers and the hikers can come to a workable compromise- that leaves the bigger stakeholders, i.e. the COE and Dominion Power.
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We rolled up some nice fish. Regardless of the size all of the fish looked healthy and well fed.
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The takeout point  for this section was an improvised ramp just below the Fieldale Bridge - We don't recommend you use it unless you have a winch on your 4WD vehicle.
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Woolly Bugger

Great write up on the sampling effort

Now I need to float that river and catch some of those big browns. 
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Dougfish

Thanks Al, Zach and Alex!
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

Woolly Bugger

#1603

After catching a carp at the pond on the Sage One Six weight, I took off to fish the evening on the Smiff after the water fell from the "recreational" release. I put on a new 9' 6x SA leader, the last of my hoard that I purchased from Sierra Trading Post for 50% off. Damn it was hot, there must have been a shower earlier that cooled things off a bit but once the sun came back out the heat was on. I packed the vest full of ice cold Sam Adams '76 beer and laced up my boots, no need for waders on this day. Walked into my spot, "Sally's Pool", and took a look around as I tied on a sulfur comparadun. There were a few risers and a few bugs, 10s, not hundreds, or thousands.

Video timeline:
I followed the sulfurs floating on the water, watch the rod tip in the video, then I was visited by what I make out to be a muskrat, I saw him swimming at the head of the pool headed downstream, but it must have seen me and dove under, I began recording and was just as surprised as it was when it almost swam into me. Next a beer break and then some slo-mo releases, followed by a sip poured to remember those who have passed and finally a splashy rise.



There wasn't a lot of activity but when the skies darkened and the wind began to blow I contemplated retreating to the car as the thunder boomed loudly in the distance. As I was thinking about making my move the a few fish rose and I spied a few more little yaller bugs on the water. The next hour was the best and I caught 6 or 7 of those little bastards before the sun came back and things quieted down on the water. But one fish stands out, it snatched the puff daddy as it lit upon the water, I set the hook and was immediately surprised by the weight, strength, and speed of this fish and expecting nothing more than a typical SRP (Smith River Pune) I applied too much pressure and the fish broke me off, it could have been a worn knot, but I think it was just a little too much pepper applied to the brakes. 

I caught about a dozen on the day with the last one coming to hand at 7:15, I waited another hour, standing in the cool water drinking beer, for a hatch or evening rise. I was disappointed.

here are the few pic that I took with the phone...

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who knew?

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ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

itieuglyflies

So there is life after carp! I miss Smiffing.