PeteCz
10-13-2008, 01:55 AM
Another weekend of firsts. I had the pleasure of trying a new stream with Tennswede. We met up at 0-dark-30 and drove across the Dragon in the dark to Cheoah dam and the Slickrock creek trailhead. We hit the trail to the mouth of Slickrock creek at 7:15am in the shadows before dawn. The trail started out passable enough, but quickly went to **** after the intersection with the Ike Branch Trail.
The lower Slickrock trail has not been maintained very well and is quite rocky and washed out in many spots. The canyon the Cheoah goes through is incredibly steep and quite honestly its amazing that a trail even exists through this area.
After about an hours hike, we managed to come to the Slickrock Creek inlet high above Slickrock Creek. Through a break in the trees we could see across the stream to a large dead tree and a bald eagle scanning the river. A very impressive site.
We hiked up the Slickrock Creek Trail until it came down to the water and afforded us an opportunity to fish. The water was low and probably in the upper 50s (I had my thermometer but never broke it out to check). The stream isn't wide, so we split up and fished separate sections. Our results were not encouraging. After about an hour, neither of us had even seen any browns. The stream didn't seem to offer much favorable brown trout habitat, and the existence of Smoky Mtn Cutthrouts we took to be a bad sign. Where ever the shiners roam, its usually a sign that bigger fish don't inhabit the same area. We decided to hike upstream and try fishing above the falls.
We made it above the falls by 11am and fished upstream from there. While the stream looked more favorable in this section and we did see a few trout, we couldn't entice any of them to even look at a fly, let alone take one. We fished without any success until we reached the other end of the Ike Branch Trail that intersects with the creek. It was now 12:30 and neither of us had caught a trout. Hans hiked ahead to scout the section above the trail intersection and thought it looked like it was even skinnier than what we had been fishing, so we decided to call it a day on Slickrock Creek and head for some more favorable waters.
We hiked out over Ike Branch Trail (a good heart pumping trail in much better shape than Slickrock Trail) and made it back to the truck a little after 2pm.
Next stop was Straight Fork. I had never fished there before and was pleasantly surprised at the shape the stream was in. It was very fishable and had lots of nice holding areas. I managed to keep my skunk on, while Hans starting catching fish. He managed a few rainbows and browns including a very nice, fat brown at the very end of a drift that he yanked right out of the stream.
We fished along the road, below and above the intersection of the Hyatt Ridge Trail for the next couple of hours. Hans hiked up ahead of me scouting some water and ran across a 250 lb bear that was a little too curious for his liking. The bear stopped and sniffed at him for a little bit before Hans chased him away by banging his wading staff/walking stick on the ground a few times (and probably yelling expletives at the bear, but I could never confirm this).
We wound up fishing until about 7p. All-in-all not a very productive day on the stream in terms of numbers of fish, but we did manage to get in about 8 miles of hiking in some very nice areas as well as see some wildlife and try some new water. It was great fun fishing with Hans and I appreciated the opportunity to try one of his favorite streams. We traded lots of stories and had a lot of fun. Next time Neal, no excuses...
As for Slickrock Creek, I think we both agreed that it has seen better days. The extended drought and low water has driven out (or killed off) the browns that may have been in the lower sections. I read some reviews today that say the best fishing is up around the Fat Gap Trail, but my guess is that the water up there is little more than a trickle right now and not much better. If anyone has fished up there lately I'd love to hear how it is.
The lower Slickrock trail has not been maintained very well and is quite rocky and washed out in many spots. The canyon the Cheoah goes through is incredibly steep and quite honestly its amazing that a trail even exists through this area.
After about an hours hike, we managed to come to the Slickrock Creek inlet high above Slickrock Creek. Through a break in the trees we could see across the stream to a large dead tree and a bald eagle scanning the river. A very impressive site.
We hiked up the Slickrock Creek Trail until it came down to the water and afforded us an opportunity to fish. The water was low and probably in the upper 50s (I had my thermometer but never broke it out to check). The stream isn't wide, so we split up and fished separate sections. Our results were not encouraging. After about an hour, neither of us had even seen any browns. The stream didn't seem to offer much favorable brown trout habitat, and the existence of Smoky Mtn Cutthrouts we took to be a bad sign. Where ever the shiners roam, its usually a sign that bigger fish don't inhabit the same area. We decided to hike upstream and try fishing above the falls.
We made it above the falls by 11am and fished upstream from there. While the stream looked more favorable in this section and we did see a few trout, we couldn't entice any of them to even look at a fly, let alone take one. We fished without any success until we reached the other end of the Ike Branch Trail that intersects with the creek. It was now 12:30 and neither of us had caught a trout. Hans hiked ahead to scout the section above the trail intersection and thought it looked like it was even skinnier than what we had been fishing, so we decided to call it a day on Slickrock Creek and head for some more favorable waters.
We hiked out over Ike Branch Trail (a good heart pumping trail in much better shape than Slickrock Trail) and made it back to the truck a little after 2pm.
Next stop was Straight Fork. I had never fished there before and was pleasantly surprised at the shape the stream was in. It was very fishable and had lots of nice holding areas. I managed to keep my skunk on, while Hans starting catching fish. He managed a few rainbows and browns including a very nice, fat brown at the very end of a drift that he yanked right out of the stream.
We fished along the road, below and above the intersection of the Hyatt Ridge Trail for the next couple of hours. Hans hiked up ahead of me scouting some water and ran across a 250 lb bear that was a little too curious for his liking. The bear stopped and sniffed at him for a little bit before Hans chased him away by banging his wading staff/walking stick on the ground a few times (and probably yelling expletives at the bear, but I could never confirm this).
We wound up fishing until about 7p. All-in-all not a very productive day on the stream in terms of numbers of fish, but we did manage to get in about 8 miles of hiking in some very nice areas as well as see some wildlife and try some new water. It was great fun fishing with Hans and I appreciated the opportunity to try one of his favorite streams. We traded lots of stories and had a lot of fun. Next time Neal, no excuses...
As for Slickrock Creek, I think we both agreed that it has seen better days. The extended drought and low water has driven out (or killed off) the browns that may have been in the lower sections. I read some reviews today that say the best fishing is up around the Fat Gap Trail, but my guess is that the water up there is little more than a trickle right now and not much better. If anyone has fished up there lately I'd love to hear how it is.