# Hiding From the Heat and the Civilized World



## NCHillbilly (Aug 16, 2016)

Went out Sunday to do a little roamin' around in the woods. Been hot and sticky lately, and I needed to soak up some shade and cold water and get my head screwed back on after a week at the salt mines. I never expect too much from the fishing this time of year. But, if there's anywhere better to be on a sweltering summer day than way back in the woods knee-deep in a nice cold little creek, I don't know where that place is. Fish are just a bonus at that point.

I decided to go and hit a couple small nearby creeks in the national forest that I haven't fished in a couple years. Both of these are way, way off the beaten path, and don't get fished much. The first one is a really small obscure creek that takes some 4-wheeling and near-vertical bushwhacking and boulder-climbing to get to and fish, and gets overlooked even by the locals in an area with plenty of more accessible trout streams. As far as I know, it holds only small wild browns, never caught anything else there. I arrived just as day was breaking. Sorry for the crappy pics, but it was dark as a dungeon down in that gorge early in the morning.














Caught a few small browns, including one that should be in the running for the puniest brown ever caught on rod and reel. I have no idea how he got the fly in his mouth. I got ahold of one that looked to be about 11-12", a fine fish for this little creek. But he startled me when he hit, and I struck too hard and parted my 6x tippet, and left him with a decoration on his lip. He jumped twice after the line parted.



















The streamside vegetation consisted mostly of dense rhododendrons and these lovely, fascinating stinging nettles  :





I reached a point where it was possible to climb back out of the creek to the jeep trail, so I decided to put some gravel under my tires and hit another creek or two.

On my way, I passed one of those tiny little branches that I've passed a hundred times and always wondered if it held a few little specks. The possibility was there, and I was in no hurry; so I decided to stop and find out this time instead of heading on past in route to somewhere else.





The conclusion: no specks. It was full of these little voracious funny-looking dace minners that would attack my fly in packs until they sunk it and drug it down to feast on it. I guess they done ate all the specks:





Decided to spend the afternoon on one of my favorite little creeks. It's another one that's way back at the end of a long pig-trail jeep road, and doesn't get fished much. I have always had a soft spot for this creek. It's just another small stream that's full of little rainbows and a few specks in the very headwaters, but I have a lot of good memories of this creek. It's beautiful scenery, full of little fish, and consists mostly of stretches of pocket water separated by long stretches of stair-step plunge pools. A lot of work climbing up the rocks, but there's just something I love about watching fish hit a fly at near eye-level.














The lil' rainbows were plentiful and ravenous.















These very fresh tracks on a sandbar let me know that I wasn't alone here. Considerably wider than my hand, and water still seeping back into them:





Stopped to admire a patch of yellow-fringed orchids. The butterflies were liking them, too:





Time for a wee drop o' the creature:





Continued on up the creek, catching a fish or two or three out of almost every hole. Must have caught 35-40, lost count early on. Nothing over 9" or so came to hand all day; but I didn't care. There for a couple of hours, I reached that magical place where nothing existed except for me, the running water, the woods, and the trout. For awhile, I was exactly where I wanted to be, and it was a good feeling.























After a couple hours, it began to grow dark, the wind started exposing the silver undersides of the leaves, and thunder rumbled ominously. When the first raindrops hit, I reluctantly climbed out of the creek and headed back down the trail to the truck, and back across the jeep trail to the highway and home. I can think of much worse ways to spend a summer Sunday.


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## centerpin fan (Aug 16, 2016)

Very beautiful scenery.

Take those pics with a phone?


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 16, 2016)

No, actually a decent point-and shoot. Just not enough light to get a good exposure handheld on many of them.


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## pnome (Aug 16, 2016)

Nice trip!  I'm jealous!


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## Nicodemus (Aug 16, 2016)

Days like that are the ones I remember best. Good times, and great pictures. Those wild fish are mighty purty.


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## Paymaster (Aug 16, 2016)

Good Stuff Brother!!!!!


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## KyDawg (Aug 16, 2016)

Man that is a beautiful place NC. How big they go to be before you eat them? I no nothing bout trout. Only thing I have ever caught are a few stocker rainbows.


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## doenightmare (Aug 16, 2016)

Beautiful scenery and fish. Now I know why you live up there even though it snows.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Aug 16, 2016)

Nice trip report.  

Where'd you get that dandy flask?


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 16, 2016)

KyDawg said:


> Man that is a beautiful place NC. How big they go to be before you eat them? I no nothing bout trout. Only thing I have ever caught are a few stocker rainbows.



You can eat any size of them.  On most wild waters, they have to be 7" to legally keep, though. 7"-10" trout are ideal eating size IMO. 



northgeorgiasportsman said:


> Nice trip report.
> 
> Where'd you get that dandy flask?



I stole that flask from a very seedy looking character with a Georgia accent. I think it might have been useless Billy, except he had two arms. I figured he'd recognize it.  

I carry Kool-aid in it.


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 16, 2016)

doenightmare said:


> Beautiful scenery and fish. Now I know why you live up there even though it snows.



Mid-April through October are great.


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## blood on the ground (Aug 16, 2016)

That's a fine way to spend the day! Thanks for sharing!


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## mose (Aug 16, 2016)

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great day.


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## swampstalker24 (Aug 16, 2016)

Awesome report!


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## fishndoc (Aug 16, 2016)

when you are fortunate enough to get "in the zone" catching fish in such a beautiful place, it's not easy to stop and take pictures.

Thanks for taking the effort of the Picts.


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## TheTroutWhisperer (Aug 16, 2016)

Awesome read. One of these days I'm going to muster up the sand to hike into Cohutta around Grassy Mountain and try some small streams.


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## Nicodemus (Aug 16, 2016)

NCHillbilly said:


> You can eat any size of them.  On most wild waters, they have to be 7" to legally keep, though. 7"-10" trout are ideal eating size IMO.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





I carry Kool-aid in mine too. Looks almost like yours. Comes in handy...


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## KyDawg (Aug 16, 2016)

Wondered what happened to my Flask.


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 16, 2016)

KyDawg said:


> Wondered what happened to my Flask.



Northgeorgiasportsman stole it from you, and I stole it from him.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Aug 16, 2016)

NCHillbilly said:


> Northgeorgiasportsman stole it from you, and I stole it from him.



Bunch of dern thieves.


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 16, 2016)

northgeorgiasportsman said:


> Bunch of <strike>dern </strike> well-hydrated thieves.



fify.


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## Killer Kyle (Aug 22, 2016)

NCHillbilly said:


> fify.



Banner day, and banner thread! I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this read! Never seen dace like that before either. Excellent post!


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## LCT (Aug 22, 2016)

Had to log in..hardly ever do.  Amazing day and story.  Ever!  May you have many more in the future....


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## GLS (Aug 23, 2016)

Your photos alone drop the felt temps here by 10 degrees.   Gil


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## redneck_billcollector (Sep 4, 2016)

Nicodemus said:


> I carry Kool-aid in mine too. Looks almost like yours. Comes in handy...



I carry local spring water in mine...I believe you have tasted that water before Nic.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 4, 2016)

redneck_billcollector said:


> I carry local spring water in mine...I believe you have tasted that water before Nic.





Yessir, Buddy! It`s good stuff too!


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## Mtn Hunter (Sep 26, 2016)

Youre fishing the kinds of places that I grew up on before the crowds found us in WNC. Anytime you need someone to help you explore these places call me. I'll even bring my own flask.


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## OneCrazyGeek (Sep 27, 2016)

Spectacular color on the Browns.


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## 61BelAir (Sep 28, 2016)

GLS said:


> Your photos alone drop the felt temps here by 10 degrees.   Gil



Yep!    Love it all 'cept for the stinging nettles.   Makes me even more bummed we didn't make our annual trip up there this year.   Swimming at the sinks.   More swimming at midnight hole......I'm pretty sure that is the fountain of youth.


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