milligan trout degree
09-25-2007, 11:51 PM
I woke up this morning before dawn to squeeze some fishing in before class at 9:30. My plan the night before was to hit the watauga for a an hour and a half or so but generation plans messed that up. Instead, I decided to fish the small creek that runs through campus here at Milligan College. Keep in mind this is no Smoky Mountain stream. It has no gradient, sand/mud/small rock bottom, and only exceeds waist deep in sections where man-made waterfalls have been built. These waterfalls do however prevent the possibility of any trout making the run up from the watauga. I've caught two trout from the creek before, but other than that, I haven't heard of anyone having any luck or knowing anything about this creek. I just assumed that those trout may have been stocked my twra either there or somewhere upstream and swam down, or something. I've also seen a goldfish swimming around in this creek too. (I couldn't get it to hit my pheasant tail). Anyway, according to East Tn. fishing map guide, Buffalo creek is actually a wild trout stream of just moderate quality. I got excited about that!
I made the 20 second drive to the creek at 7 a.m. I saw a small fish jump to something (I thought it could have been one of the million chubs in the creek), but I decided to start there with my beetle w/ pheasant tail dropper. First cast, boom, missed him, next cast, boom, got him. Dang strong fish too. It ran all over the 15' of fishable section where I was at before I finally got him in. An 11" bow. I was pumped. I've got a picture I'll post, but it was with my cell phone and not very good quality, but you'll have to take my word for it. It was pretty. I moved upstream from there and caught 4 more smaller bows (3-5") before heading back down the "honey hole". Here I casted where I caught my last fish and let it drift about ten feet when I saw another nice fish rise from the bottom and attack my dropper. Hook set. Then the fish jumped an easy 3' out of the water. Two leaps later, I landed my final fish of the morning. And went to class.
Here's my unofficial Buffalo Creek (Milligan College Section) Record Rainbow.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u158/btmd06/buffcreekbow.jpg
I know it doesn't look all that colorful, but heck, its just a cell phone picture.
I also fished the watauga a couple hours between class and practice and caught five fish. 3 bows and 2 browns. Missed a few more. All those fish were between 9-12".
p.s. From looking at the map, the headwaters of Buffalo Creek are at the top of a mountain ridge in Unicoi. And sorry I got a little long winded on this report. I've got no homework tonight and no more exams for atleast two weeks, I guess I'm just excited . Sweet!!!
I made the 20 second drive to the creek at 7 a.m. I saw a small fish jump to something (I thought it could have been one of the million chubs in the creek), but I decided to start there with my beetle w/ pheasant tail dropper. First cast, boom, missed him, next cast, boom, got him. Dang strong fish too. It ran all over the 15' of fishable section where I was at before I finally got him in. An 11" bow. I was pumped. I've got a picture I'll post, but it was with my cell phone and not very good quality, but you'll have to take my word for it. It was pretty. I moved upstream from there and caught 4 more smaller bows (3-5") before heading back down the "honey hole". Here I casted where I caught my last fish and let it drift about ten feet when I saw another nice fish rise from the bottom and attack my dropper. Hook set. Then the fish jumped an easy 3' out of the water. Two leaps later, I landed my final fish of the morning. And went to class.
Here's my unofficial Buffalo Creek (Milligan College Section) Record Rainbow.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u158/btmd06/buffcreekbow.jpg
I know it doesn't look all that colorful, but heck, its just a cell phone picture.
I also fished the watauga a couple hours between class and practice and caught five fish. 3 bows and 2 browns. Missed a few more. All those fish were between 9-12".
p.s. From looking at the map, the headwaters of Buffalo Creek are at the top of a mountain ridge in Unicoi. And sorry I got a little long winded on this report. I've got no homework tonight and no more exams for atleast two weeks, I guess I'm just excited . Sweet!!!