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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.
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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Memorial Day weekend is upon us. We all know that signals the start of some crowded rivers, lakes, national parks/state parks, and recreational areas. Don't let that scare you though. Believe it or not, it's pretty easy to leave the crowds behind without sacrificing some excellent fishing. In fact some of the best trout fishing in the state can be found in the backcountry right now. With that being said, more easily accessible waters such as the Davidson, North Toe, Nantahala, the Tuck, and many State Park waters, are fishing well. Many anglers would agree that a secluded stream or river well away from other anglers and people adds to the experience.

The unofficial start to summer, or meteorological start of summer, starts tomorrow. Looking at the forecast, it doesn't matter if tomorrow is the unofficial start or not. It's about to get downright summer-like. Many places in WNC are expected to climb well into the 80s throughout the week. Sparse, pop-up t-storms in the afternoon/evening will cool off areas that see them, but count yourself lucky if you're caught in a storm. It looks like the storms will form and roll across western NC almost every evening this week. Slightly better chances for them on some days and slim chances on others.

Like mentioned, the wild waters up in the higher elevations are on fire. If you don't mind smaller fish (with some occasional fish of decent size on some waters) head up to a wild stream. DH waters end next Saturday, June 4th by the way, so we have a week to fish them. Check out last week's stocking schedule here. Or you could fish a lower elevation river, such as the Davidson or Nantahala in the morning and then fish wild waters from noon until the end of the day. Water temps are still looking great as well as water levels. The trout are pretty happy right now. With the prolonged hot temperatures and relatively slim rain chances, water temps and levels will change soon. Keep an eye on the water levels by clicking here or choosing a river from the "Stream Levels" tab on the menu bar.

As far as flies go, nymphs in the morning and dries in the late afternoon/evening is best. Try a Prince Nymph, Pheasant Tail Nymph, Lightning Bug, Rainbow Warrior, Green Weenie, Inch Caddis, San Juan Worm, and so on. Switch to terrestrials such as a foam beetle, Extended Body Inchworm, ant, or even a hopper (although it's a bit too early) by noon. By evening, I would switch to dries such as a yellow Stimulator, Elk Hair Caddis, a Yellow Sally pattern, Parachute Adams, or Light Cahill. Green Drakes are hatching according to reports. This is about the time they're seen, so it wouldn't hurt to have a few Green Drake patterns in your box both nymph and dry.

If you'd like some free flies, make sure you enter the contest by either clicking the banner at the top or navigating to the post below. We still have plenty of time, as the contest ends June 21st.

If you head out to stalk some fish, have fun!

4 comments:

Clark Harris said...

I was trying to avoid the crowds so I took my Father in law to some wild waters near North Mills River. We had a lot of luck in the afternoon and didn't see another fisherman.

I then headed up a tiny creek in Pisgah yesterday and hooked up with pretty little wild rainbow.

Tis the season...

Tyler Legg said...

Sounds like a great trip! Solitude and wild trout compliment each other well.

Feather Chucker said...

I hit wild water this last weekend around Boone. The flows were perfect. It was crazy warm. The black flies got annoying at times but the fishing helped me ignore them.

Tyler Legg said...

Good to hear you did well! Those wild streams usually make for an awesome day. A bit of adventure, solitude, and plenty of wild fish is one heck of a trip in my book!

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