Unreel Fly Fishing

What a fun and busy May it has been! Sorry for not posting sooner but as I hope you will see in the slideshow below, I’ve been on the water a lot lately and am just now catching up before a Memorial Day rush to finish the spring. Here are a few of the wonderful people that I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with this month. (My brother came to visit and if you watch closely you’ll see that yes…I actually caught a fish myself!)

Sometimes things don’t work out like you planned…they work out better. We arrived at the river the other day and started in what I thought was a really promising run…but it wasn’t. Fishing was slow so we moved to another spot that has been fishing well…but it didn’t. We made another move toward a spot I like but there were some folks already fishing there. We settled in to our fourth location of the day and what you see above and below was the result! Our two best fish of the day taken on a dry and dropper. They were accompanied by several others taken on a dry and some really fun fishing. If we’d had our way, we would never have seen these fish. But we just let the river steer us where it wanted and were rewarded with the best it had to offer. Don’t get stuck on your plan for the day, sometimes the river’s plan is better!

I had the pleasure of fishing with this awesome tenkara newcomer on Friday. But this picture was taken on Saturday, when sadly (for me) I was nowhere around. He took the knowledge and skills he picked up fishing with me and used them to catch this lovely Brook trout and many others on his own the next day. What I call “Stream Independence” is a goal for many of my clients and it’s what I want for them. There is nothing I like better than getting texts from former clients with pictures of the fish they’re catching and the fun they’re having with tenkara. I love when clients come back to fish with me over and over, but I always want that to be because they enjoy fishing with me or want to work on some new skills. Until then, it’s such a pleasure to see them out there enjoying themselves. So keep those pictures coming!

Last Friday I had the pleasure of fishing with these two fine gentlemen who were in town to attend the Trout Unlimited SE Regional Rendezvous. Each is a leader in TU’s cold-water conservation efforts in their own area. Apparently, the trout in our area appreciated their efforts and more than a few were willing to make them feel welcome by taking a fly. Of course, the fish were returned safely to the stream and on Sunday, the guys returned home safely as well. I hope they took back some good ideas on how to protect their own streams…as well as a few fun memories of their visit to Asheville.

When I can’t be on the water, I love sharing the fun of tenkara fishing with fellow anglers. Last night I had the chance to talk tenkara with some of the awesome members of the Land O’Sky Chapter of Trout Unlimited based here in Asheville, NC. Tenkara is ideal for many of our local waters here in western North Carolina and the chapter already has more than a few tenkara anglers. What a fun night. It’s especially gratifying to be surrounded by such conservation minded anglers and friends. If you love trout fishing I encourage you to consider membership in TU. They’re working hard to ensure that we have clean healthy streams to enjoy and pass along to the next generation.

Sorry for the long time between posts. It’s been a busy October and I’m just catching up. Here is a little slide show of some awesome people and fun fishing from the last month. Water has been really low in WNC but it’s raining today (Halloween), so let’s hope this is a treat from mother nature that does the trick in lifting our streams up a bit!

I’m trying to up my media game so here’s my first effort with the GoPro Quik App. I just rounded up a few short videos and pictures and gave it a go. Hope you like it!

We’ve had a ton of rain this week. Monday we squeezed in a very wet trip just as the rivers were rising. We kept ourselves on the same side of the stream as we parked on so a safe retreat was available without wading. By 11 am the water was getting a bit boisterous and we opted for a safe, if slightly premature ending to a great outing. Our reward was this beauty and a soggy but fish filled 1/2 day. Some folks like to fish rising water, some like to fish falling water. I just like to fish water!

Yesterday was a near record for warm temperatures with a high of 90 in Asheville. We got out of town and enjoyed cooler temps on lower water where this beautiful Brown topped off a fun and productive morning. After lunch we hiked up to the refreshing shade of some wild trout water and landed a number of gorgeous native Brookies. We got one right below a refreshing little water fall and the 8″ beauty pictured below to finish off the day.

That’s a full day. Full of fun that is! Last night I laid down, fell asleep in about 30 second and, as always, dreamed about the one that got away.

Yesterday as we were fishing we looked down to see a large school of brightly colored “minnows” swirling in front of us. They looked like tropical fish from a coral reef somewhere. In fact, they were locals, Tennessee Shiners from right here in southern Appalachia. For most of the year they are silver and look pretty much like any other small forage fish in our local streams. But this time of year the males are a bright fiery red and aggregate in groups for spawning season. I hope they’re all successful! Never forget that a “trout stream” contains a lot more than trout. Take time to notice, appreciate and understand all the wonderful denizens of the waters we love.