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Tyler Legg
Charlotte, NC, United States
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Welcome to THFF.com! Kick your wading boots off and stick around for a while. You'll find content ranging from NC fishing reports, videos, pictures, fly fishing news from around the state/country/world, humor, and even some irrelevant, yet interesting posts.
Have a question, comment, fishing report, or a few suggestions regarding THFF or fly fishing in NC? Feel free to e-mail me at wncflyfishing@gmail.com
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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Rain is on the way and it won't be a dinky line of storms that are in and out in 2 hours. This will be one of those long, heavy, and soaking rain events. Just what the doc ordered to help cure us from this "sickness" we call drought. Flood watches are already hoisted for Ashe, Watauga, Alleghany, Wilkes, and Surry Counties. We'll see if the NWS extends the watches to bordering counties. Just because your county isn't under a Flood watch, doesn't mean you won't see plenty of rain. With that being said, Widespread 2" amounts in the mountains is looking promising. Amounts upwards of locally 4" is possible. 2-4" of rain will cause the rivers and streams to rise faster than you can convert those waist highs to chest waders. Water rises fast around here. Heavy rain upstream of your location can send water rushing downstream. Soft eddies turn to Class II rapids quickly. If you play it smart, fishing can be great when the water rises. Wading is not recommended in conditions like this as shallow, but swift water can sweep you off of your feet in a split second. However, if you find a calm spot on the river and you can clearly see the bottom, wading can be safely done. Just make sure land is a few steps away. Keep a keen eye on the water. If you notice it quickly rising, it's best to jump on land. Check the water levels either by selecting your sought after river in the menu bar above, or by clicking here to access a smorgasbord of additional streams and rivers. According to the latest data, the Davidson was sitting at 145 cfs 5 minutes ago. Now it's at 158 cfs. The D is rapidly on its way up. Back in December, the Davidson reached 3,000 cfs. Water levels of 1,000 cfs or more are not rare occurrences.

With stained water and high rivers on the way, big flies are implemented. Carry the streamer box along with some large nymphs. A Zoo Cougar, Woolly Bugger, Muddler, Clouser, Zonker, Slumpbuster, Leech, or just about any other streamer should work very well for the next few days. A large, heavy Stonefly Nymph such as the Vinyl Rib Stone is an excellent choice. The 6x tippet is going to be pointless in most places. Heavier tippet in the order of 2x-4x (This is an angler's chance to catch a monster trout. If you've ever hooked up with a very large fish on light tippet (6x-8x) you know it's sizable task. Often times it's a task that isn't completed. Brown trout tend to bulldog you until they tire out or break off. Usually the latter comes first when you're dealing with a behemoth on light tippet. For the next few days, you should be able to bring big fish to your net without worrying about breaking them off. Have fun and keep an eye on those water levels!

See y'all on the ark...

4 comments:

Feather Chucker said...

I hit the Watauga DH today. There's quite a few fish in there. I had some luck with the usually DH flies, buggers, sj worms and bead head hairs ears. I caught a nice brook. I'll have it posted on my blog tomorrow night. I got a neat vid of it underwater. http://fishwithkev.blogspot.com/

Tyler Legg said...

Nice! Sounds like a great day. Appreciate the report!

fishing in tasmania said...

Thank you so much for this wonderful post.Really There's quite a few fish in there.

Kripaluji Maharaj said...

Awesome post! I would like to congratulate you for building this impeccable website!

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