We anglers are often accused of exercising a certain amount of “creative license” when telling fish tales. No such license will be needed to tell the story of this beautiful Rainbow Trout that came to us on Friday. The angler was award winning NC author and poet Valerie Nieman, (who also happens to be a bonafide tenkara fishing machine). We had a great morning sneaking around low, quiet water and were rewarded with not just this monster but many of his smaller trout friends. Heavy rain has descended on us now and blown the streams out. I’m tying flies and enjoying my autographed copy of Val’s spellbinding (and scary) new novel, To the Bones. Check it out at valnieman.com!
We have all been conditioned to measure angling success in terms of fish size and quantity. Trust me, we’ve been misled. The best fish is the one that leads to the best experience and that has nothing to do with fish size or numbers. Our native Brook Trout is absolute proof of that. Beautiful, elusive, spooky and always hidden deep in the beauty of the Appalachian forests, it provides, in my humble opinion, the best angling we have in our region. Yesterday we spent the day scrambling up the streams of the National Forest and were rewarded, but only when we did everything right, with the chance to catch, admire and release some of these rare jewels. Hike five miles to catch a six inch fish? Sign me up any time!
