TR North Carolina Mountains - LONG

Got down to Beech Mountain Friday the 4th. Fished X-River on Saturday
morning and picked up several feisty Browns on a #12 Stimulator and a
#12 Tan Caddis. Went back to X-River on Sunday morning with nothing
working on the surface. Switched to a Mink FlashBack nymph (makes a
good Sulphur nymph) with tungsten bead and nailed several Rainbows in
the deep runs. Monday dropped in to see Wally in Wally-World and
admired an extremely nice and well-stocked fly shop. D. and I were
then off to visit the furniture marts. Tuesday went down to the
Y-River and D. dropped me off in a section I had never fished. Some
old toothless guy driving a red pickup was just finishing up from
downstream in the posted section with a brace of Rainbows on a
stringer (I would have guessed it was Wayno except Wayno does not
usually use a Zebco spincasting reel). I fished upstream in the
NON-POSTED section and had a good day with #12 Sulphur Parachutes. I
found 3 Rainbows in 3 casts in one pool. I finished with a 10 fish
3-hour morning and stepped out just in time for D. to pick me up for a
trip to Cheeseburgers and Paradise Bar in Blowing Rock. Wednesday was
spent with the trip to Asheville to see Biltmore and we managed to
scope out some likely spots along the Z-River a little South of Elk
Park. I was supposed to ring Wally Wednesday afternoon to set up
fishing but we got in pretty late to make the hook-up. What the heck,
when you own your own fly shop you can go fishing anytime you want!
Right??!!! D. and I finished up the day with dinner at the Louisiana
Purchase and I nailed a fabulous Jambalaya!! The Louisiana Purchase
nailed my hip pocket! Anyway, back to X-River on Thursday morning for
a brief foray. The Sulphur Parachute was the Man!! Working the side
runs for Browns brought a plethora of fish. I had planned a whole day
on A-Creek for Friday but had so much fun on Y-River (and easier rock
climbing at that) that I decided to go back to the same section. I
had the section of river to myself and started working the magic
Sulphur Parachute again. NADDA!!!! After an hour it was apparent
something had to change! For grins and giggles I tied on a
Hendrickson wet fly I had purchased years ago from England's Flys.
First cast I nailed a Rainbow. Second Cast I nailed a Rainbow. Third
cast I missed one. I worked my way upstream until the fly broke
behind the eye. I had another in the box and proceeded to finish up
to the take-out spot. I had parked by a bridge and the flat water and
easy access certainly didn't look like likely trout catching
territory. The wet fly continued to work its magic as Browns and
‘Bows continued to come to hand. Seeing a feeding frenzy on top under
the bridge (thought it must be Fallfish) I switched to a #20 Caddis.
Several strikes and only one more fish later I was about to pack it
in. I grabbed a March Brown wet from the box and twitched it past the
bridge piling. WHAM!!! A BIGGGGG Brown nailed it!! I worked the
fish for several minutes and had a hand under it when the fish broke
the fly off and was away. I started up the bank and went back down
for the proverbial One Last Cast. I tied on my last Hendrickson wet
(a really oversized #8 monster) and sailed it into the plunge pool
upstream of the bridge. I let the fly drift down using the end of the
fly line as a strike indicator. The line stopped and dipped a little.
I struck and the water exploded. A BIGGGG Rainbow came out of the
water higher than my head and about 20 feet away. I played that fish
for several minutes before he came to hand. Beautiful colors, this
was not a hatchery fish from this year. He performed a fantastic
aerial ballet jumping several times after his initial launch. A nice
trip fish to finish off the fishing this visit down to the Carolina
mountains. Saturday was spent emptying my wallet at the Blowing Rock
Arts in the Park event and we finished the day off with steaks at
Stonewalls. I never did get back with Wally. It seems the rental
company gave us the wrong number for the chalet and we kept getting
free too late in the day to hook up at Wilson Creek Outfitters.
Oh-well! I got an annual license. Looks like I'll have to make use
of it!!