TR Flat Laurel Creek

The uncle of the bride on the day before the wedding is
as "fifth wheel" as it gets. My presence was most definitely
not required so me and the hound went fishing.

First stop was Hunter Banks fly shop in Asheville where I
picked up a half dozen yellow humpies and some good advice
on where to fish for small, wild, native brookies. Climb
Mt. Pisgah, I was told, and fish any stream you find along
the Blue Ridge Parkway above 5000 feet.

We took the Blue Ridge Parkway, climbed Mt. Pisgah and
proceeded to the Graveyard Fields trailhead where we found
a completely full parking lot and a nice view of Yellowstone
Prong. The water looked fishy enough but the teeming hordes
were a bit too much.

http://www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/p...graveyard.html

Just down the Parkway from Graveyard Fields is the Forest
Service road to the Black Balsam trailhead and the Flat Laurel
Creek trail down the southern flank of Sam Knob.

http://www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/p...gah/black.html

According to the Forester the temp up there at 6000 feet was
a very chilly 38F as opposed to low 70's down in Asheville.
The rhododendrons were still in bloom up there and even the
azaleas had some flowers left.

It's a very busy trailhead, lots of backpackers and day hikers
but I didn't see any other fishermen. The trail itself was
very busy but nobody but me & Kipper were doing any fishing.
The biggest fish I saw all day wasn't in Flat Laurel Creek
itself but in a deep hole in a feeder stream just off the
trail. That brookie looked to be over 10" or so. Just about
the time I figured out how to plop a humpie over him a group
of guys came along and splashed through sending the trout
scurrying for cover. Kipper had a good laugh at that, he's
pretty smart about recognizing what's going on with the fishing
by now.

About a mile from the trailhead the trail crosses Flat Laurel
Creek and we fished from there upstream for a quarter mile or
so taking a little brookie out of just about every pool.

http://www.hikewnc.info/gallery/sknobimg1.html

It's a beautiful area and a pretty little stream. Not much
in the way of solitude but that's to be expected I guess in
such a gorgeous place so close to the road.

Back up the trail to an ice cold bottle of St. Louis Budweiser
then onto the Parkway to get back to Asheville in time to
wash off the trail sweat and go to rehearsal dinner. A damn
good day astream. Pics to abpf when I cut them down to size.

--
Ken Fortenberry