Smith-Continued

[Woolly Bugger]

I think this was my third day in a row. I didn't need to go fishing but knew that Thursday was out, so I decided to "go have a beer with Doug" Since I was down low yesterday, I went high. Euroed up some nice fish, flubbed both fish and photos using the iPhone as the TG was left on the fly tying bench. Scorcher of a walk in but the cold water always felt great after that hike in.

Raft alert! I was taking a beer break as they parked on my run, I don't think they even noticed me as I was standing under a tree close to the bank. The SmithFly Trout Bros has a few yehaw, fist bumping, moments when they nymphed up a couple of trouts after flailing away with bobbers while ignoring the rising fish.

















Fish were caught, beer was drunk, lies were told.

It was good to see Doug again! 

[Fishbug]

Wooly—where they putting that big raft in and out of?

[Woolly Bugger]

Wooly—where they putting that big raft in and out of?

assuming the damn dam and below the 666 bridge in basset

[Dougfish]

I put in mine and took out the same.
Higher flows. Still a bump and grind.
Your drifter is a no go, imho, John.

[Fishbug]

I put in mine and took out the same.
Higher flows. Still a bump and grind.
Your drifter is a no go, imho, John.

Read my mind-

Gotta be possible...

Or the Gheenoe

[Dougfish]

I put in mine and took out the same.
Higher flows. Still a bump and grind.
Your drifter is a no go, imho, John.

Read my mind-

Gotta be possible...

Or the Gheenoe

Ghee No!

[Fishbug]

Gheemaybe

[Woolly Bugger]

View this post on Instagram

dude with the smith fly 

[Fishbug]

*Wooly sliding into his DMs* 

[Fishbug]

As an aside—-lookin into rafts in the past; the Smithfly was low on the list; but that looks nice

[Woolly Bugger]

hot and sunny with a bit of haze.

A familiar looking Tacoma was in the parking lot. After rigging up the euro rod, I geared up with my new G3 boots and headed on down the tracks in the heat of the day. When I got to the water, I grabbed a beer and waited in waist deep to cool off.





I watch the water is a drink my beer I didn't see much activity. There were only a few sulphurs floating on the water and I saw one or two fish rise. I decided to nymph the head of the run first while I waited for the evening hatch.

My first cast picked up a small rainbow and I thought it was going to be an epic day.



 I struggled to find another fish for quite a while, so I decided to explore some new water, and moved up above to the next run.









I could see the other angler coming up the river, so I decided to head on back down. It was the same guy I had met on the river a week or so ago and we talked for a while, his name is Nate and he is from Fuquay-Varina, and he's been on the water since 8. I invited him to fish my pool but he declined and moved on up ahead. I drank a beer and waited for the sulphurs to start popping off.



The Hatch was mediocre at best and the fish were not cooperative, but a few took the dry fly.







Still wating for the hatch to get underway, I took another break for my dinner, Patagonia Spanish Paprika Mackerel; "Slow-cooked onion, red bell pepper, garlic and paprika wild Atlantic mackerel rich in flavor with a hint of heat."



Then it was back to work the few selective risers. Some were taking sulphur duns, but others were hitting some unknown subsurface emerger. I missed a lot and caught a few, enough to be satisfied as the evening drew to a close and the fish activity diminished.







On the way out...

Pawpaw: Small Tree, Big Impact (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/pawpaw.htm





Most likely I'll be back at it on Monday... jis say'in

 

[Dougfish]

 
Me, too. 

[Woolly Bugger]

84 and stormy.


The heavy weather was supposed to hit later in the afternoon, but after gearing up, I heard the booming of thunder over the ridge. A quick look at the radar looked ominous, and I decided not to walk across the field with the approaching thunderstorm. I thought it would blow over in a half hour, but every time I checked it was growing in size and intensity and another cell popped up over the Plan B location. I started out three times, only to retreat to the shelter of the car. Finally I called it a day and headed into town for some lunch and check out the third option for fishing. By the time I finished eating the weather had cleared and I headed back to the starting location.

The air was thick with tension and humidity, the potential for another violent storm was still present. I donned my waders and the effin zipper got stuck and then came apart. Damn it! I guess I won't be wading into any of the deep spots today!



The fog was incredibly thick reducing visibility to about twenty feet on the surface.



There were only a smattering of bugs coming off and fewer fish rising, combined with the fog, nymphing was the only reasonable choice.









The weather was still unsettled and there was some clear sky above, but it started to rain. Just a light rain, no need to put the rain jacket on yet...



And I fished on, the rain let up a bit and promised to stop. My grandmother would say, "The Devil is beating his wife" when it rained with a sunny sky. Then it started to pour down and I put my jacket on over my soaked shirt and I drank a beer while waiting for it to pass.



A few more fish were caught, before the skies darkened again and thunder approached, prompting me to end the day a bit early, but I got my fix of tugs for the day.

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

This is a very good photo of this critter.  I like!

[Woolly Bugger]

another day, another trip to the river.

temps 90+ degrees, with humidity extremely high too.

there were four vechcles parked in the lot, one was doug's, two were Roanoke TU members, and the fourth had NC plates. I stickered most of them. As I was gearing up the TU contingency came out across the field, having finished up their day. Three women and a man, and all reported catching fish. They asked if I would take a group photo, which I did for them. Then I marched across the field, working up a good sweat on the way. When I reached the water, I popped a beer open and waded out into a deep run to cool off.

There didn't appear to be any bug activity on the surface, so I went dark. Hooked a nice fish but it tangled in the weeds, and I broke it off as it was a difficult situation.

I worked some marginal water and caught a number of punes. Dougfish was downlow and had a couple of hookups too.









I saw a fish rise frequently and when Doug came up, I told him to catch it as I watched. (Insert long video of Doug casting and not catching)

We drank a beer.



Doug tried his emergers and I flailed away at an impossible fish.



I moved up and cast to rising fish in another run. A number rose to the fly, and 6 took it, 4 unbuttoned, one came to hand, and the other broke off. After losing a fly to the shrubbery I headed back down and joined Doug as we consumed our last beers before hiking out.



When I got back to the lot I discovered that two of the BRFFF stickers had been stuck under my windshield!

smoked from the western forest fires is making for some spectacular sunsets