North Mills River Stockies

 

North Mills River, NC, Stockies

3/03/2022

 Wednesday I heard they stocked the North Fork Mills River delayed harvest area. After technical fly fishing the Davidson River Wednesday I decided to take it easy and have some fun with the stockies this Thursday.

  I got to the river a little after 8 am. There were already plenty of vehicles parked along the river. I knew some were bicyclists, by the racks on the back of their vehicles, but I was sure there were quite a few that were fishermen. I parked along the roadside and got my gear on. The section I was starting out in was about a truck and a half in width with bank-side foliage. I assembled my 4 piece 7’, 3 weight Hardy Demon fly rod and walked down to the narrow river.

  

 My third cast, with a Woolly Bugger, I hooked a trout. It fought hard in the swift riffling current and got off. I tried for another but nothing doing. I looked down river and there was a line of fly guys looking as if they were all nymph fishing. They were standing in a row like watching a TV broadcast through a store picture window. I slowly buggard my way down river towards them. By the time I got near the bridge the line of guys had left. I continued to the bridge and fished the darker water with an assortment of Woolly Buggers. Let’s just say I hammered the trout.

 I had people watching me, from the bridge, pick off trout. Other fishermen would stop and congratulate me on the nice size rainbows I was catching. One guy surprised me, from the bridge, as I was netting another rainbow. He told me it was a nice fish and asked me what I was using.

Me; “Being this is a Delayed Harvest area I figured these are stocked trout.”

He agreed. 

Me; “All the trout I caught so far have been rainbows. Rainbows like streamers so I’m using Woolly Buggers.” I commented. “In my experience I figured most freshly stocked trout don’t know what a nymph is and rainbows like streamers.”

He watched me hook 2 more trout and headed up the path upstream to fish.

While fishing I watched other fly guys and women nymph fishing with long rods. They moved their rods in a horizontal path in the air like tracing the white cloudy contrails of a high flying jet. I saw one lady and 1 fly guy catch 1 trout each in a matter of a half hour or so before they left. I saw no other fisher person catch anything near me.

  After a while I headed downriver and hooked three more trout, on buggers, in a fast, rocky run. I got 2 nice brook trout to the net and lost one.

 On my way back to the truck I ran into the same fisherman I had talked to earlier. He said he was from North Carolina and fished the North Fork pretty often. I asked how he did? He told me not as good as I was doing. He also said he caught a few on Girdle Bugs.

  Oh well, I guess the fresh trout will take something else but it didn’t sound like they were all that thrilled with something other than a Woolly Bugger.

  It was only 3:00 but with the sun shining brightly at about 70 degrees I called it quits. I had plenty of catching and headed to my truck.

  Back at the truck I changed clothes and put my gear away. I checked my phone to see if there was a brewery near by. Sure enough I found Mills River Brewing Co. that was within 4 minutes away.

  I topped off the day with a Mills River Irish Stout and washed down my wings with their Wash Creek Ale. Of course I smoked a fine cigar, Macanudo orange label, driving back to my sons house.

~doubletaper