First Wet Wade of 2005
 

I have been planning to get out fishing for some time now--last fished about
a month and a half ago, and didn't have an especially productive outing.
The last really good fish I had was with Mr. Jeff Miller back in March or
April. What with work, veggie garden, lawn keeping duties at mother's place
and now my new place--oh yeah the move too--and my recently acquired back
condition, I just haven't had a chance to get on a stream.

I, finally, got my act together around 9:00ish this morn and headed towards
the mountains. I wasn't sure which stream I was going to fish, but there
are several streams in the direction I ended-up heading. I decided on Upper
Creek--no surprise there, I guess. I got down to the concrete bridge that
crosses Upper and to my great surprise the gate was open that had been
closed since the floods last year. Finding the gate open, was like getting
a really great birthday gift. I had decided that I was going to hike the 2
miles in to the furthest camping sites and begin fishing from there, but the
hike was no longer necessary. I got to the end of the road and found that
they hadn't repaired the washed out section, but had merely put out a couple
of saw-horses and some orange debris fencing to block anyone from plunging
into the feeder creek that used to pass beneath the road. Imagine that, the
US Forestry service was able to open the gate once they figured out they
could barricade the road with two saw-horses (marked in black magic marker,
USFS) and some plastic orange fencing, and it only took 10 months to erect!

Anyway, I put-in at the end of the road, rather than hike the rest of the
way up the trail to the usual put-in place. This area hasn't been pressure
for the last ten months, so what the heck. I tied on an Adams dry, sans the
parachute, stepped water that was so refreshing against my bare legs. I
love wet wading! Bingo, fish on, first cast! Things went well up until
about 1:30 or so and then began to slack off. I fished numerous different
dry fly patterns all day and the fish were willing to take whatever I cast
to them. The only fly that didn't produce a strike was my usual go to
parachute Adams? I fish 'til around 3:00PM and decided to call it a very
good day, having caught both rainbows and browns, but mostly rainbows.

I stopped by Greg's place--Optimistic RV and Campgrounds. For those
familiar with Greg and his place, Greg has begun cutting road and clearing
trees for numerous new cabins. For those not familiar with Greg, you need
to get to know him by planning a trip to NC and Greg's fantastic
campgrounds. I'll be glad to fish with any of ya.

Mark