Pretentious Snobby Bastard Fly Fishing!

Fly Fishing Reports => Local Trip Reports => Topic started by: stonedfly17 on February 13, 2007, 11:14:04 AM

Title: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: stonedfly17 on February 13, 2007, 11:14:04 AM
Fished the ditchell for the first time yesterday. Parked at the dam dam and fished upstream from there. There were a few fish rising by the parking area but the dam ducks near the dam dam kept putting them down. Went upstream a little ways and found a stretch with around 100 fish stacked like cordwood hugging the bottom. No room for a backcast, too deep to wade and the fish were all on the opposite side of the river. Had a heck of a time trying to roll cast 30-40 feet of line from my perch atop some downed trees next to bank. Had a big ole fat muskrat swim under me and managed to pull one out on a prince nymph before heading upstream.
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Walked upstream a little ways and only saw a couple more fish and no way to really get down to the water in most places due to brush and fences. Is there an easier way to get down to the water? It looked to be pretty easy going from the opposite bank but I didn't want to walk through the guys yard across from the dam. Got bored and a bit frustrated and decided to head to stone mtn. to finish the day. Pulled into the last lot and was delighted to see no other cars. Not a single car anywhere upstream either. Started out below the bridge and worked my way up.
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Missed one on a yellow madame x and had a LDR on the copper john dropper shortly after. With all the talk about the fish being gone I wasn't expecting much. I didn't see any fish until I got past the bridge into the slow water. Found a pod of about 15 or so working a sporadic midge hatch. Caught one on a small bwo and missed a couple.
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The fish never spooked so I worked them for a while. Ended up catching one more bow on a 24 adams and a couple more LDRs to finish the day.
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And with all the talk about poaching and such, I thought some of you may find this interesting.
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I got hung on this log and found this bow's head laying on it. Something got a hold of it and it looked to be fairly fresh. The only other people I saw fishing were a couple of guys with spinning gear who seemed to vanish right after I got on stream. It does kind of look like an animal did it though since the point of decapitation is not smooth like a knife cut. Looks like something ripped it off. Wouldn't a bear/bird eat the head too?
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: troutphisher on February 13, 2007, 12:18:34 PM
Nice post!

Hopefully the bow was eaten by a predator, and not by a poacher.  o-o
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: Woolly Bugger on February 13, 2007, 15:02:28 PM
Wow you got some nice fatty bows there, glad to hear that the river is fishing good, you got to work on your casting...  ;D to get to those on the far side... thanks for the report..
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: stonedfly17 on February 13, 2007, 15:13:51 PM
Quote from: Woolly Bugger on February 13, 2007, 15:02:28 PM
Wow you got some nice fatty bows there, glad to hear that the river is fishing good, you got to work on your casting...  ;D to get to those on the far side... thanks for the report..

Yeah, I do need to work on the casting a bit. A 30-40 ft. rollcast with a nymph/split shot is a workout on my 8ft 4wt, loops kept collapsing on me. Maybe I just need to invest in a bigger rod for those tricky situations...
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: phg on February 13, 2007, 17:12:39 PM
Some nice looking 'bows.  My guess on the fish would be an otter.  They don't seem to care much for fishheads.... :P
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: Bloy on February 14, 2007, 19:24:56 PM
Really nice looking bows. Great lookin' water. Good camera work. Thanks for sharing with us.
Barry
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: lepomis_mcro on February 14, 2007, 19:43:31 PM
loving the pics.. i was thinking about fishing ole stinky this weekend. and there is going to be a river clean up sat march 3 at 8am. if your going to be up there either weekend give a hollar
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: phg on February 14, 2007, 20:19:25 PM
Who's sponsoring the cleanup?  You talking Stone Mt or the Mitchel?
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: lepomis_mcro on February 14, 2007, 21:14:29 PM
it will be at the mitchell... stone mnt TU  is sponsoring, with help from the CFFC

http://www.carolinaflyfishingclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=171 (http://www.carolinaflyfishingclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=171)
Title: Re: The Ditch/Stone Mtn
Post by: Larry on February 15, 2007, 10:59:07 AM
That is a beautiful stream. I will have to find a  way to get to NC to fish it. I'm glad that you guys did as well as you did.