Uncharted Water

On Saturday I was presented with a unique set of circumstances.   No wife, no kid, no dog, and nothing to do.  While I always miss the family when they're not around, it's a time like this that let you sit in your living room, watch college football, eat Taco Bell, of course while in your underwear...without the least bit of guilt.

Assorted "Fourthmeal" lovlies

So did I do that?  Well, some of it, but somewhat regretfully not all.  Instead, I took the opportunity to go out and try to fish a little run of water I've always been curious about, but never explored.  It's not exactly secret water (it runs through State Game Lands and then later through people's backyards), so I figured "why not"...

No Parking - Says the Heinz label

Rumor was there were wild trout in this little water.  Rumor didn't lie.  This section of water is actually a bit upstream from a far more open and popular fishing area that's been maintained by the local Trout Unlimited chapter.  The fishing up here is a bit more cramped & tricky, and as such not quite the attention-getter.

At its widest

No more than 10 feet across at widest, there were tons of little wild brown trout everywhere in this creek, just like this one, and boy did they like dry flies.  Half the fun was watching them swipe at the fly, whether or not they were able to get their little mouths around it.  

Not a taxidermy candidate

I probably caught 20 or 30 of these little buggers (I don't count fish) - some were even slightly larger, but definitely not by much.  I think the biggest one I caught was 5 inches.  Makes you wonder where the Mom & Dad trout were.  I'm sure there were a few big fish in there pissed off at me for picking on the little ones.

No tenkara, I fished with a reel.  What a novel concept

Actually if I hadn't fished with Owl Jones and Milliam in North Carolina a few months back I probably wouldn't have known how to approach and fish these micro pools and riffles.  So thanks guys.  

While the trip wasn't memorable by the standard of size of fish, it was really good recon and I took pretty good mental notes of the creek.  I think it's worth at least one more visit this Fall...and maybe next time I'll even pick up Taco Bell afterwards...

Peace OUT!