Stone Cold Killa: Marathon Tour of Death 2016

[Yallerhammer]

Disclaimer: This thread might make some people sad or angry. It contains graphic violence and disturbing material. If you are one of those little fellers that cried during that movie about the dolphin with no tail that the other dolphins didn't want to play with; or screamed,"Whyyyyyyyyy??" at the end of Bambi; don't look. If you are violently opposed to willful piscacide, don't look.  This here thread will not make you happyhappyhappy.

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Went yesterday into an area of the GSMNP that I haven't fished in a few years. The plan was a shotgun scouting/exploration trip-there were five different creeks on my agenda; some of which I haven't fished in years, and a couple that I have never fished.

It also occurred to me that it's probably been about ten years since I've killed a limit of wild Park fish, and probably longer than that since I've killed a native speck. I decided today was the day. (Hey, I'm a big ol' hungry boy. I need my nourishment, and sometimes a mess of stockers just can't fill the craving for wild fish flesh.) Then I noticed a coincidence: The park allows you to keep five fish daily over seven inches. I had five creeks to hit. Why not kill two birds with one stone? I decided I would kill one fish from each creek, thereby getting my limit for supper, but spreading the carnage out over a whole watershed instead of taking them all from one small stream. I decided that there would be one speck amongst the unlucky five-they may be rare, special fish, but they are also friggin' delicious.

The first creek involved a pretty good hike, so I hit it first. This is a small, high elevation speck stream (around 5,000') that is choked with rhododendrons in places. I haven't fished it in a few years, but it's one of my favorite speck creeks. It was a foggy morning with on-and-off showers, so it was mostly dark as night down under the spruces. Forgive the blurry, dark pics and raindrops on the lens.

Where I hit the creek:



First cast:



This was one of the best mornings of speck fishing I've had in a while. Every hole that I didn't spook was a fish or two or three. And they were mostly very vividly colored, some of the prettiest fish you'll see anywhere. Looks like spawning colors here in June.









I fished on up the  creek, catching specks right and left. Caught this one that was almost black:



And this one that is probably the most speckled-est speck that I've ever seen:



I could have stayed here all day. Fishing was great. But I had a grisly mission to accomplish, and miles to go before I slept. So, when I saw this hole, I knew there had to be a good keeper in there lurking under that log:



There was. A nice 8-incher:



When he realized my intentions, he screamed a heart-wrenching silent fish scream. But it was too late. I am a heartless bastard and am higher on the food chain:



Hiked out, and on to creek #2. It was a much bigger stream at a considerably lower elevation:



Meh. It was full of these:



I also found conclusive proof that the damn degenerate rainbows are raping our poor defenseless native minners:



This one looked guilty:



Judgment and sentence was passed.



Time for lunch. All this walking and killing done worked me up an appetite. Brat with sautéed peppers and onions steamed in death beer. It was pretty damn good.





On to creek #3. I have never fished this one, but wanted to; simply because I always enjoyed the writing of the late Harry Middleton. I read somewhere that this was one of his favorite streams. I don't know why, really. It's just another rhododendron-and-deadfall choked little branch with a few fish in it:



Lots of this type of stuff to crawl over:



And these:



Colony of big artist's conks overhead:



There were some of these in there:



And these:



I knocked one in the head for Harry.



Creek #4 was another one I haven't fished. Good-sized water:



It had a few of these:



And of course, plenty of these:





The last one looked delicious, so it went with me.



It was starting to get late by now, so I made a quick foray onto creek #5. It was much like creek #4, except it had some of these in it:



Those voracious Limey bastards don't have any business being up here in our headwater creeks eating up all our baby specks. RIP.




Back home, I fried up some red taters with bacon and onions, and grilled the trouts over some pecan coals. They were delicious. Picked my teeth with a speck bone and slept like a baby.



Fin.

[Dougfish]

I approve of your carnage. 
Damn nice work, vittles and pics. It is a bitch to keep the lens clean and dry. 

[Al]

Enjoyed the prose and photos 

[BrookieHunter]

 Nice to see someone that fly fishes actually keep and eat some wild trout

[Yallerhammer]

Nice to see someone that fly fishes actually keep and eat some wild trout

I don't do it very often, but it's not a bad thing at all sometimes. Actually, that first speck creek would probably benefit from some population thinning. Every hole has about a dozen fish living in it, and their heads are twice too big for their bodies.

[Dee-Vo]

Cool spin on the report. Glad you nurtured yourself on wild fishes rather than those pellet chewing ones from last time.

Interesting colorations. One of my fave things about brookies. Certain creeks produce certain visual characteristics. Love those unique looks.

Good shit, Yaller. 

[Woolly Bugger]

Sweet, those specks are showing off some Kodachrome colors !


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[Yallerhammer]

Sweet, those specks are showing off some Kodachrome colors !


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Yeah, they're lit up for sure, and I didn't enhance the colors, either. Interesting seeing the colors on those mile-high ones compared to the ones I caught out of the other creeks at around 3,000'.

[Stone-Man]

Well played,Sir
Good photos and good narrative . I bet your ass was wore out when you got home    

  JT

[Onslow]

Good shit, Yaller. 

[Yallerhammer]

Well played,Sir
Good photos and good narrative . I bet your ass was wore out when you got home    

  JT

Yes, it was. I ate my belly full and climbed in the bed and slept like a log.

[Grannyknot]

Good stuff Yallerhammer.
I'm a fan of harry middleton too.

How are the water levels on that side of the smokies?
TN side is getting scary.  Drought conditions comin.  August should be interesting.

[Yallerhammer]

Not too bad yet. We got some good afternoon downpours last week, and a good soaking rain early Friday night. Overall much drier than normal for this time of year, though.

We oughta hit some of the TN creeks sometime. Haven't fished on the other side of the Park in a few years.

[Jfey]

The horror....Luckily the screams are silent, makes it much easier while giving them a stone shower.  0:0