Tuckasegee Revisited

The Tuckasegee River Revisited

1/31/2020

 Fishing the Tuckasegee River was like visiting an acquaintance that I had fun with a few years back. We had a good time together back then so there was no reason not to visit while I was back in North Carolina and in the area.

  The river was much higher and flowing quicker since the last visit. The water was as clear as a mountain stream though the wavy current gave no visual of what laid beneath unless you were pretty much within a couple of feet. The sky was overcast, gray with little cloud outlines. Raindrops fell more than a sprinkle so I donned my rain gear. Being it was January I was sure the river was freezing cold so I dressed for warmth and put on my neoprene chest waders.

Stepping into the river and wading away from the bank I felt the cold current pushing against my legs. The clear water was deceiving as it didn’t take me long to realize the water level was deeper than it appeared from the surface.

  I started to cast Woolly Buggers and it didn’t take long to catch the three most common species of trout. I hooked up to a jumpy rainbow who showed it’s agility in mid air before falling back in the river. My next catch was a frisky brook trout that practically zig-zagged all the way to the net. The third trout was a brown that skirmished with me in the flowing current before I got it in the net. The rain was heavy at times so for this reason I hadn’t taken my camera for pics.

  It wasn’t easy wading down river because at times the water was too deep near the banks and I was afraid to get stuck in deep water and not being able to get out safely. Trying to wade upstream in the oncoming fast current was difficult especially with the rocky riverbed. I found there wasn’t any particular place the trout were holding. The high water brought them out of there hiding places during low water conditions to explore. I would try to cover as much water as possible roll casting short or long shooting casts with my fast action rod. Since I couldn’t wade too far from the bank I did have to watch my back cast because of trees and limbs here and there.

  On my back cast I would stop around the 12:00 position because of the bank lined trees. I pull down on the fly line for more speed and at the right feel of the rod tip I’d shoot the rod forward. The leader looped behind the fly line followed by the Woolly Bugger. I could feel all the movement in the cork grip as loose fly line zipped through the guides and eyes of the rod. The bugger plopped in the distance upon the wavy current. I raised the rod tip letting more loose line out of the tip top. Than I’d bring the rod horizontal with the surface water letting the floating slack line flow with the current. This lets the weighted bugger sink deeper in the water column before the slack in the line arcs and pulls the bugger downstream. I keep my eyes on the floating line for any signs of dipping or sudden change in the flow. Usually when a trout takes the bugger aggressively on the swing I just don’t see the floating fly line jerk but feel the take between my pinched fingers through the fly line. The lengthier the fly line out the stronger I have to jerk the rod and line back to properly set the hook. The long line tightens on the hook set and snaps off the water surface flinging water in all directions. I grip the cork handle in one hand while the other hand pinches the fly line feeling the forcing pressure of the fighting trout. If the fight is too forceful I’ll let tension line through my fingers. At times if the trout is too aggressively forceful I’ll only keep light pressure on the line and let the fish fight the reel drag. When the trout tires I’ll either reel in line, if there’s a lot of line out, or bring in line with my hands. To tire out the trout quickly I keep the rod up and arced trying to keep side pressure on the trout. A trout’s body is designed to face into the current no matter how strong. Keeping a trout straight down from the tip, in current, isn’t really tiring him out as much as keeping side pressure on him fighting the side pressure and also the oncoming current. Once within reach I bring in enough fly line so that just a little fly line is extending from the tip top. With the net in the water I raise the rod tip enough to reach the trout with the net to capture him.

  After about an hour the felt on my right boot started to split and come apart. The heel stayed tight but the front part started to separate. It was tough wading as the loose sole flapped on rocks and in the current while wading. I waded out and put on my extra pair of wading boots which had cleated soles. The rain had practically stopped so I grabbed my camera before going back into the river. I found the cleated soles weren’t holding the rocky bottom as well as the felt soles. There wasn’t any moss on the submerged boulders and rocks so I had to be more careful as I waded. It was like trying to grip a cement roadway with chains on the tires. There wasn’t much gripping and more sliding.

I continued on casting buggers as far as I could reach. It’s funny how I always think the trout are more abundant in the middle of the river or nearer to the other side. I watched a truck pull up on the road on the far side of the river. Two fishermen got out and entered the stream. The one immediately started wading towards the middle while the other one fished along the far bank. Maybe they knew something I didn’t but I was still catching trout on my side of the river.

 

The rainbows fought pretty aggressively especially in the rougher current. 

 

Every once in a while I got hold of an aggressive trout quickly darting to and fro. When I finally landed the trout it was mostly a brook trout.

 

 I suppose it was near 1:00 or so when I decided to take a break and eat some lunch. I slowly drove down to the bridge and inspected the water conditions. There was many places I thought would be great to fish but there was no place to park downstream on my side of the river and the banks to the river was pretty steep. My son was to meet me when he got done working so I didn’t want to drive up the other side of the road. I returned up the river road and parked a little further up before entering the river again. I fished another couple hours before driving further up to where there was a bigger parking area and I seen a fellow nymph fishing below tumbling water that was nearly half way across the wide river section.

  I was attaching the rod sections when my son showed up. I told him how I did so far and explained to him the water was high, the current was pushy and the stream bed was rocky so be careful. He got his gear on and headed downstream some. I worked the tumbling water over good and hooked into a couple of trout.

 I watched my son, Jesse Pete, also catch a couple downstream. We only fished about an hour or so before calling it quits. We were an hour or so away from his place and we were both hungry.

  It was all fun while it lasted. Maybe not as relaxing fighting the strong current and slippery rocky bottom but I enjoyed the visit.

~doubletaper