Branching Out
6/10/25
Yesterday’s rain and the overnight rain left everything around the area high and muddy. Even Blue Jay Creek was high, fast and discolored. As I looked out of my camper window the morning sky changed from cloudy to sunshine to overcast. The weather experts claim it was going to rain on one radio station yet another weatherman didn’t mention rain. It all depended on which radio station I listened to. It was like betting on a horse race in muddy conditions. You can throw the odds of who’s going to win out the window. It didn’t actually feel like it was going to rain when I walked out but 6 miles away, over the hill tops, it could be. I ate breakfast and decided to journey out to see if I could find a small creek that would be fishable. I wasn’t too sure so I just dressed in street clothes and brought my fishing clothes with me. If I couldn’t find fishable water I could always visit the butcher shop and winery nearby!
I took a drive up north and found a smaller stream fishable. I hadn’t fished this branch for years but it has always been on my mind in these kinds of conditions. I didn’t remember where I actually used to fish it but it flowed through the ANF and is stocked waters. I figured there might be trout anywhere. Not sure how much pressure it gets, being it flows through the ANF out away from any main road. Anyhow, I was going to find out.
After parking and getting my hip waders and wading boots on I assembled my 7’ 3 weight Hardy rod because of the close quarters I’d be casting from. I put a couple of stogies in my vest pocket, mainly to keep the bugs from my face, and then weaved my way through the tall grass and ferns heading upstream. Once I got to the bank of the small stream I was impressed by the stream improvements.
Log poles were placed along the banks in the straight runs. Big rock and boulders had been placed along the banks on bends and deeper pools. Maybe either to eliminate the erosion of the banks from water flow or just good cover for trout from predators.
I started casting a woolly bugger not really expecting to catch many trout. Though this small creek is in the National Forest it’s evident that it gets visited often. There’s a big parking lot upstream for visitors and it looks as though a club monitors the creek. Way back when I used to fish this creek it was mostly stocked with brook trout. Every once in a while I’d catch a native brookie but not often. I’m always positive when trout fishing that I’ll catch a trout no matter the conditions or time of year. This was one of them.
I slowly casted across and down the narrow section of the creek. Sometimes it was from the bank trying not to stir up the stream bed should I wade the water. I had one bump before the bridge in a narrow passage just out from an overhanging brushy small leafy branch. The fish tried grabbing the bugger at least three times before it was uninterested. Maybe it was a small brook trout that couldn’t get it’s mouth open enough to grab the #10 hook of my woolly bugger. I just quit playing with it and continued down stream. Just under the bridge I finally got a good take. He was a feisty one.
A faster wavy current entered on the far side along the man installed rocks and boulders along the bank. It flowed in a semicircle, along the bank, until it emptied into a narrower run downstream. Before the end of the pool the water circled back into the wide section of the pool, like a back eddy, with almost no surface current flow. I looked over my situation and stepped easily in the water trying not to stir up any silt or waves to concern my presence.
My first cast was across the creek up where the water entered the big pool from the overhanging branches. The bugger fell into the water and under the small wavy current. It didn’t travel too far when a trout grabbed the bugger like it was the first meal of the day. The 3 weight flexed as the trout scurried around the big pool till I got him to the net. Well, that was fun and I expected more of it!
I was casting out the bugger until I saw a fish rise in the slowest current down from me in, what looked like, the deepest part of the pool. I didn’t see anything of size flying around except tiny little insects. That wasn’t going to stop me from knotting on a dry fly though. I nipped off some of the 5x tippet and knotted on a section of 6x. It was a clear sunny day and I didn’t want to spook the trout anymore than I had already with the rainbow I caught.
A trout came up again pretty near where I saw the rise just seconds ago. I made a side arm cast and laid the small Gray Fox dry in the vicinity. I waited patiently!! The Gray Fox laid on the surface almost motionless. I know that a trout had to see it. I stood puffing on the stogie like a statue gripping the fly rod ready to set the hook on the first sign of a take. And I waited, picturing in my mind when and how big the fish would be. Well, if there was a trout beneath he outlasted me on my first cast. He outlasted me on a couple more tries until I gave up casting on the slow to no current surface flow. I pulled back on the rod and line and made a cast just this side of the good wavy flow across creek. On the drift a trout rose but missed my dry completely. I reared my dry up anyhow knowing that it passed him. Maybe he was surprised seeing the surface fly on the wavy current? Maybe when I lifted it out of the water he may of thought to not be so nonchalant taking the next one. (I know I think too much but it keeps my mind concentrating on the situation at hand.)
Growing up I hated when my parents or an adult relative told me to do something because they ‘said so’ without giving me a reason why? There’s always a reason! Same thing with trout fishing. There’s always a reason why a trout won’t bite so I try to think of why or a better way to entice him to take my offering.
My next cast, upstream on the wavy current, I watched the Gray Fox bob on the waves. The trout came up in a hurry and was more accurate this time. I yanked back the 3 weight and the tip section bowed with a tight line. The 3 weight flexed wildly to and fro as the trout on the other end fought in disbelief.
I continued casting out the Gray Fox or a Wooly Bugger for quite some time. I caught trout now and then. It wasn’t one after another but if I picked the right offering one would grab it.
When the bite finally stopped I decided to go back up creek and try for that first trout that tried grabbing my bugger but couldn’t. I walked up around so the trout wouldn’t be aware of me. I had a smaller bugger, size #14, that I had tied for my youngest son to fish the small native trout in North Carolina he fishes for. I knotted this to the 6X tippet. I knelt down along the bank upstream from the brushy bank down creek for where I figured he was. I made a gentle cast down creek and let line out till it was near the brushy bank. I felt the quick peck and reared back the rod, probably a little more than I had to. The line tightened and with that the little trout was already headed my way from my forceful pull upstream. Hey, sometimes I get overexcited when I’m pretty sure I’m unexpectedly right!. It wasn’t much of a battle but he was a frisky one darting back and forth as I got him to the net.
Oh well, it was a fun opportunity. I’m glad the other creeks were high and muddy that got me to venture elsewhere.
~doubletaper
