Found a thread/fishing report here on the Southeast Fly Fishing Forum that illustrates what the Davidson River looks like during 2,500 cfs flows...This is amazing...High water does make for some excellent streamer fishing. Leave the 6x in the car!! I need to get over there to try for a big one on 2x and a #4 streamer!!

1.) I can't for the life of me remember what the sun is. It's been cloudy and dreary for the past week or so. There was some sun on Sunday (Sun on Sunday...what a coincidence). I'm looking out the window now and all I see is gray skies. It hasn't been raining in the Charlotte Metro area, most of the rain has stayed west of us. It's like were living in the Pacific Northwest. We need rain...Not cloudy skies without precipitation!! It looks like the sun will dominate the day next Monday, but until then, cloudy and dreary skies will prevail. On the positive side of things, today is the first day of Fall. 10:34 AM marked the turnover from Summer to Fall. Next week looks cooler, according to the 15 day forecast. upper 30's for lows and 60's for highs. The best time to fly fish here in the state (especially for streamer enthusiasts) is in the Autumn months.

2.) I was able to fix the blog difficulties yesterday. I needed to renew the domain which only last annually. Lance Milks (his blog is here) emailed me yesterday because the blog was down. I checked and sure enough, "Tar Heel Fly Fishing" was now a random webpage/advertisement. It came to me that the domain has probably expired. I renewed it and an hour later the blog was back up and running smoothly. It scared me for a second, as I didn't know if it could be fixed our not. Sorry for the hold up, I'm sure some folks are thinking Tar Heel Fly Fishing is gone...It's not!!

3.) I checked the water levels which are VERY high in Western NC. The Davidson River is blown out. Currently it has receded back down to 1,010 cfs (I know what you're thinking...Receded?!?! To 1,010?!?!). Folks, average for the "D" is a mere 83 cfs. The water levels spiked to nearly 6,000 cfs yesterday evening. For a brief hour or two, the NWS Flood Stage was reached on the Davidson. Has anyone ventured over that way during all of the heavy rain?

1.) It's been pretty warm in the Carolina's today. Mid 80's prevailed across the Tar Heel State. It really wasn't bad weather wise, with relatively low humidity levels thanks to a dry air mass. The ten day suggests a pretty steady trend in the upper 70's and into the 80's. A wedge or two (cold air damming event) may disrupt consecutive 80's. If you're venturing out to the stream, river, or lake, low water will be a major problem. The Davidson River is flowing at 32 cfs, average to date is 89 cfs. 6x-7x tippet is almost a must in these conditions, so unfortunately 2x ain't gonna fly. Given the first frost hasn't "frosted" yet, terrestrials are still on the menu for most fish up in the high country.

2.) DH is starting back soon (October 1st). I'm ready for some delayed harvest fishing. A friend of mine said he went up to Stone Mountain to fish one of the wild streams (Forgot which one he told me). He said he caught several smallish wild rainbows on dries. He and I agreed DH needs to start soon!!

3.) It's almost the 1 year anniversary of Tar Heel Fly Fishing. I posted the first post on September 20th of last year. It's been a fun ride in the Blogging world. I hope to keep the blog up and running for years to come. I signed up with Sitemeter back in roughly early January. Sitemeter tracks and records visits from folks. 4,612 visits and 7,496 page views, with a combined 12,108 visits/views since January. It's all because of the support and my readers, who keep coming back. Thanks again folks for a great first year...I've received countless emails from folks that really enjoy reading the blog. These emails keep the drive going. Thanks again folks!

1.) I've been on my toes the past few weeks. School has been taking away from the blogging world. Haven't had much of a chance to get away from it all. Projects and major assignments are now being assigned, which will take away even more blogging time. I've got an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project that's being planned out. I'm still not sure what to do, but, I'm thinking it will relate to fishing in some way, shape, or form. I've thought about heading back to the Smokies to help with the brook trout restoration project on Lynn Camp Prong. As long as the project pertains to wildlife, conservation or general agriculture it's accepted. Stream restoration on Irish Buffalo Creek which runs behind my house is another project. It's a real possibility, and would not be "just another science project". I would have to obtain permission through the county and the Soil and Water Department. I'll probably contact our local Trout Unlimited chapter here in Cabarrus County. If this becomes reality, I'll concentrate on restoring a section of Irish Buffalo, making it more suitable for the native bluegill and bass that inhabit it, and making not only the stream better, but the surrounding riverbanks and adjacent areas more suitable for other folks and for wildlife. Before and after pictures are a necessity for this project, which shows progress. So, I've got some work to begin in the coming days/weeks/months.

2.) College football's here!! I've seen/heard of some major blow-outs today. Here's a few final blow-out scores...




Florida/Charleston Southern....62-3. ~Florida

Notre Dame/Nevada.....35-0. ~ND

North Carolina/Citadel.....40-6. ~UNC

Vanderbilt/Western Carolina....45-0 ~Vanderbilt

Kentucky/Miami (OH).....42-0 ~Kentucky

Tennessee/W Kentucky....63-7 ~Tennessee

Boston College/Northeastern.....54-0 ~BC

Montana (GO GRIZ!!)/Western State....38-0 ~Montana



My grandad who is a graduate of Baylor University down in Waco, TX, had tickets to the Baylor-Wake Forest game, so we all were up in Winston Salem for that game. 24-21, Baylor...It started out gruesome if you're a Deacs fan, but eventually winded down to a 3 point difference, which is not bad at all. If it would have been 65-3 it would have been pretty horrible.

Just walked in the door from a 3 night camping trip at Elkmont in the Smokies. The first day and night (Tuesday) was not bad weather-wise. There was off and on showers, with a lot of low lying fog, but it was a good opening day for the trip. Wednesday was overcast and intermittently rainy, which is perfect for fly fishing. Wednesday night was pretty miserable, as a severe t'storm caused rain to pond under the tent. I've never heard thunder that loud before. It echoed across the valley and mountains. Scared the mess outta me... Anyways, the condensation from the heavy rain caused the inside of the tent to become soaking wet. We woke up to water all over the floors and the sleeping bags. Tents are usually able to withstand rain, but not rain falling at 2" an hour. Last night was a lot better, without rain and thunderstorms.






Tying up one of my newest creations: The Foam n' Hair Caddis







The premier fish of the entire trip (heck the whole Summer!) I caught this guy between Metcalf Bottoms Picnic area and "The Sinks" on Little River. He fell for one of my #6 bright green caterpillar flies made solely of Furry Foam. The first cast was all it took. I saw a large white mouth open as my fly drifted through a deep run. I knew he had my fly so I set the hook and he let some rage out. I initially thought it was a large rainbow, because of the jumping this fish did. I've never seen a brown trout jump as high as this fella did. He cleared the water several times. I had to remind myself that this was trout on Little River, not tarpon at Boca Grande. Now, the size of this fish is nothing special on the South Holston River in TN or the Davidson River in NC. By Smokies standards it's a good fish.







Mt. Leconte shrouded with low lying clouds



Newfound Gap


Summary: Counting down the days until the next trip to the park...

I've been glued to the Weather Channel and Jim Cantore's coverage on Tropical Storm Claudette (If you've been a blog reader here, you know that I'm into weather).

I'll start closest to home...TS Claudette

As of 10 PM, Claudette is a tropical storm. It's upon landfall as I type, so, not much room for this storm to intensify. It'll start the weakening process very soon. Albeit the storm is going to considerably weaken as friction from dry land wears the TS down, the heavy rain being thrown from the center of circulation will be a problem. Especially in mountainous areas.




TD Ana..

Not much to talk about w/ this one. Just a windy, rainy, dreary day out in the Leeward Island area.






Now, TS (soon to be Hurricane) Bill...



What really has grabbed my attention was Hurricane Bill. This mean, grumpy 'ol fella is really starting to churn out in the distant Atlantic. As of 9 PM (only 4 hours ago) Bill was at some 60 mph when I left for church around 6 PM. I just checked a few minutes ago and he's now up to 70 mph and dropped from 994 mb to 990 mb. Forecasters are expecting this angry storm to become a Cat 3 between Tuesday at 8 PM and Wednesday 8 PM. A Category 3 storm is considered a major hurricane. It's still uncertain (impossible to be sure) where Bill will head. Taken verbatim, the current storm track shows Bill hitting the east coast of the states, but where? Northern FL to New England are fair game as of now. I'm not thinking too far ahead.

What does this mean for fly fishing/trout fishing in NC?

With heavy rain possible over the next few days, fishing might not be a safe thing to do. If waters start to rise and become extremely swift, the fishing may be put into jeopardy. A stranded fisherman stuck in rising and swift water is putting the angler's life in jeopardy. If the water is extremely high and treacherous, don't feel like you have to fish that particular river. Go to a small headwater stream. Here, conditions will be much better. Still, you have to watch where you are walking and watch for swifter water, but overall, small stream fishing during a lot of heavy rain and blown out main rivers equals good fishing and a better chance of survival; a MUCH better chance. No one wants to see a rescue squad trying relentlessly to rescue a person caught in a dilemma. The fishing will be very productive on the big waters when the water starts receding, but is still cloudy and muddy. The advantages of fishing after heavy rain include the chances to use heavy tippet (0x-3x) and large streamers. Hopefully the bulk of the heavy, flooding rains will miss the Carolinas, but it's not certain right now...