scflyfisher
09-15-2008, 09:15 AM
I left S.C. on Friday morning headed to Townsend to meet my wife, daughter and in-laws. They weren't going to arrive until later that night, so I packed a cooler with lunch and spent the day fishing my way to town. My first stop was a quick one on the Oconaluftee. I had never fished that stream before, so all I really wanted to do was give it a quick try. Fished it for about 45 minutes with a green weenie down deep and hooked one fish that felt pretty decent, but shook off. I hopped back in the truck and started driving until I pulled off and fished the WPLP above the chimney tops for an hour and a half or so. I switched to a orange stimulator and was getting a lot of strikes, but only managed to land 2 fish. The first was a brookie about 5-6" and then a rainbow that was about 7". I probably missed 5-6 more fish.
Since I have never caught the grand slam I decided I needed to hop in my truck and hit some of my favorite spots on Little River to complete the slam. After lunch I was on Little River around 1:00 in the afternoon, not exactly the best time to be fishing low water on a hot day. I still had the stimulator on and quickly caught a couple rainbows in the 6" range. I then switched back to the green weenie and managed several more fish, all of which were rainbows including one that was 9-10" up around Elkmont. I continued hitting some of my trusty "brown trout" spots and continued catching bows the whole time. I did miss a very nice fish that I think was probably a brown. I had just tied on an ant and threw it near the bank by a downed log in very shallow slack water. As soon as the fly landed the fish turned and came back for it and came about half out of the water when he ate it. I have caught browns up to 15" in the park and I feel comfortable saying this fish was in the 12-14" range, unfortunately I set the hook and he wasn't on my line. I'm also guessing it was a brown because of its size and the location it was sitting. I won't know for sure until my next trip when I catch him.
After about 3 hours on Little River I decided to head on into town. I ended with 10 fish, 9 rainbows and 1 brookie. Caught them on stimulators, weenies and helgramites. All in all I was pretty pleased for the conditions and time of day I was fishing. The grand slam will have to wait for next time.
Matt
Since I have never caught the grand slam I decided I needed to hop in my truck and hit some of my favorite spots on Little River to complete the slam. After lunch I was on Little River around 1:00 in the afternoon, not exactly the best time to be fishing low water on a hot day. I still had the stimulator on and quickly caught a couple rainbows in the 6" range. I then switched back to the green weenie and managed several more fish, all of which were rainbows including one that was 9-10" up around Elkmont. I continued hitting some of my trusty "brown trout" spots and continued catching bows the whole time. I did miss a very nice fish that I think was probably a brown. I had just tied on an ant and threw it near the bank by a downed log in very shallow slack water. As soon as the fly landed the fish turned and came back for it and came about half out of the water when he ate it. I have caught browns up to 15" in the park and I feel comfortable saying this fish was in the 12-14" range, unfortunately I set the hook and he wasn't on my line. I'm also guessing it was a brown because of its size and the location it was sitting. I won't know for sure until my next trip when I catch him.
After about 3 hours on Little River I decided to head on into town. I ended with 10 fish, 9 rainbows and 1 brookie. Caught them on stimulators, weenies and helgramites. All in all I was pretty pleased for the conditions and time of day I was fishing. The grand slam will have to wait for next time.
Matt