Cosby Creek 9-16 in the rain

[dalerio]

I did not go tuesday because i thought it would rain, well i had one day left on my 3 day lic. so i went anyways. there was no rain until i made it off 40, then it rained from then on. i wore my waders and a camo rain jacket. they was breathable but the jacket was to much so when i had waded back to the truck i took it off.

there was no action on top with the rain so i went with nymphs and split shot 6" above, high sticking. i tried zug bug and hairs ear, no luck. then when i switch to the 16# smoky mountain blackbird, boom, one fish after another. the rain slacked up and i tried on top again. first an para ant, no luck then olive elk hair caddis. to double my odds i dropped a blackbird 18" off the EHC.
eventually i made it to some skinny water and switched to a 16# yellow crackleback and 18# para adams. the brookies loved the crackle back. i found what i thought was a bears claw mark on a rock and decided to back out. campground/human food/campground closed/bear hungry/me human food sort of thing. and i was by myself. i called a friend but he was at work, i'm on vacation didn't know.

i then tried one of the trib. and loved it. found one spot that is now my back ground on the computer. fish was real spooky, spooked a big un just off the road. ended up having to crawl and sit in the water to cast. i fish all total about 4 and half hours. i lost 7 before i could get a picture of them and still ended up with 56 pictures mostly trout(27+the 7 i didn't get pic of) it was an awesome day.

but my thighs are killing me. i sat in and chair and didn't move all day yesterday. backs ok but i couldn't squat down if they was a $100 bill on the ground. LOL

i love these small fish, brookies are my favorite. next year i think i will get my lic. for the whole year. i have a new truck and the drive is alot better with cruise control and not worrying about breaking down. i really want to catch a brown but i don't want to deal with the traffic in gatlinburg or pigeon forge. i fished elkmont this summer and loved it but the traffic was a nitemare. caught a couple big bows but no brown and i had my wife with me.

here some pics....

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/jeffro396/9161.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/jeffro396/9162.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/jeffro396/9163.jpg

bear track?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/jeffro396/cosby4-1.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/jeffro396/cosby5-1.jpg

that boy came from this pool,and its my new background
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/jeffro396/cosby6.jpg

[Crockett]

Thanks for the nice report dalerio! I would say those are bear claw marks. Looks like he was rock hopping and slipped back down off that one while trying to hold on lol... I have seen similar ones to that in trees on the trail before. One time way up high like over 6ft. and the markings were far apart like those almost so wide I wondered if it could have been a bear. He must have had some huge bear paws.

[dalerio]

thanks crockett..... the story behind the picture was i was rock hoping and went to put my hand on the rock and seen it. it was right where i would have put my hand, so i am thinking it had to be as big as me an i am 6' tall. the whole thing is wider than my hand. i thought it might been studs from somebodys boot like mine but i don't think big foot wears wading boots.LOL i wish i had put something i the picture to show scale, but i was more interested in fishing. fishing got alittle more tense from there and i decided to back out of there, it was really thick in there.

i am glad i wore my waders to because like i said i had to crawl and sit in the water to cast. i want to go up some more of the trib.s sometime later.

[nvr2L8]

dalerio,
I can see why you put that pic as the background on your computer. Excellent. Beautiful little stream. Glad you didn't let the rain stop you. Getting wet just makes you one with the fish.

[Bran]

Good report Delario,
I went up 2 weeks ago on WPLP and then on to Walker Camp and I got a couple hundred yards off the road and heard rocks clackign together in the river. It threw up a flag but I figured it could be the current. I got down ther on the water and there's mama bear with 2 cubs about 20 yards away. She almost immediately winded me and whirled around, she looked at me like "you better git!". I complied backing up the river bank slowly, I turned and made a bee line for the truck. Moved my little operation on back down the mountain a ways!! I ran into another mama with twins the next day above Elkmont, I thought what are the odds? This one was used to people, she didn't pay a bit of attention to me or my wife. We took a few pics of that family but the day before I thought about getting the camera but it didn't seem too important the way that bear was staring at me.

[duckypaddler]

That last pics is very nice indeed.

I also was able to fish on Wednesday. FcFly & I were planning on hiking into Indian Camp, but after a huge downpour we settled for lower Indian Camp from park boundary to 1/3 mile past Settlers trail. The rain let up and the fishing was pretty good. We then bushwacked over to Dunn Creek. Luckily we found an old roadway that was a highway through the woods. Lots of cool rock walls and stuff. I will post a report when I download pics.

James Locke

[bugg]

Could be spikes on wading boots that made those marks too...