"Laurel Fork Brown"
"Laurel Fork Rainbow"
"Laurel Falls"
"Big Falls" Elk River, NC
My friend Mike fishing the South Holston River, TN.
I have another camping adventure down my belt. I set out from work thirty minutes early and was out of town at about 4:15 pm on Thursday afternoon. Destination: Cardens Bluff Campground on beautiful Watauga lake. Traffic was not too bad and I eased my way up the interstate towards Johnson City, Tn. I got through Elizabethton pretty easily and when I spotted the lake I thought man! this is such a nice and peaceful place. It was obvious that the weekend was going to be somewhat mixed since my first problem came upon me as soon as I entered the campground. It was full. Oh well, I circled the grounds and decided my back up place would be just as good. Up the mountain I went and prayed at the same time that my luck would turn. I got to Dennis Cove and to my surprise there were only a half a dozen campers there. I set up camp and went to bed pretty early after cooking some food. It was a very unseasonal and cold night. I know the elevation is in the 3000 ft range but it's supposed to be July. I'm not complaining though. I got up to fish SoHo early. I had a tough time only having one strike on a zebra midge in the morning. I finally began to pick up fish on a Sulphur Comparadun. The fishing was so so. I was waiting on Mike Pope from Bluff City, who had told me he would be showing up at around 11:30 Am, which he did. We fished together for two and a half hours before the water came up. I ended up catching about 8 fish but no real brutes today. I stopped for lunch in Elizabethton and headed on up to Laurel Fork River. This is my absolute favorite of the mountain streams in Tn. Not only does it have wild bows browns, and brookies, up high. It has stocked fish in the lower sections. The scenery around the river is superb with several waterfalls. The gem of them all being "Laurel Falls". I fished upstream above the campground on Friday evening and managed to catch a dozen or so. I caught several ten inch browns and two 11" stocker bows. I was pretty tired around 8 Pm so I decided to head back to camp. On Saturday morning I decided to drive over to Elk river across the border in to Nc. This is a hatchery supported stream and it's very beautiful as it winds it's way in to Tn and eventually Watauga Lake. I didn't have any luck though. There were several other people fishing it and the access is somewhat spotty. The falls area is very pretty though. I decided to head back to Tn for lunch and fish the falls area of Laurel Fork later in the evening. After lunch I drove back to the campground and rested for a while. I had severe sinus headaches all week and today was no different. I suffered for a few hours and then decided it's better to get out and hike. I parked my car at the trail head for Pond Mountain Wilderness. I decided to hike for about an hour or so towards Hampton Tn. I ran in to a couple of spin fishermen above the falls but the rest of the river was empty. I just knew this was going to be great. I began fishing around the wooden bridges below the falls right at about 5 Pm. I was sluggish at first. I found out that the water temp was getting up there. It was 66 degrees where I began fishing. After about twenty minutes or so I got a strike but missed the trout. Soon after that I got a better take and my first brown for the day came to hand. A very nice 10" fish. I proceeded upstream and discovered somewhat cooler water. I found it to be 64 degrees closer to the falls and I began picking up browns in just about every pool. I caught 11 Browns with several pushing 11" each. They are all hard fighting and taking on top. What a nice experience. I got to the falls at about 8 Pm and decided to do the same thing I did last year. Tie on a black wooly bugger to see if I could catch some of the stocker bows that reside in that huge pool. Sure enough, on my second cast, wham! a 10 " bow, next cast another one. On my third cast I hooked in to a bigger fish. I had to fight him for a while. It turned out to be the best fish of the trip. A nice 13" rainbow. It was now getting somewhat dark and for you who has been at this location, a gruesome climb back out to the trail. This brings me to the "bummed out part of the trip". In my tiredness I slipped and fell on some rocks and managed to scrape my leg. Oh well, that's alright I thought when I discovered in disbelief that my beloved St Croix Imperial 9 ft 4 pc 5 wt, which I got on eBay real cheap was broken. The tip section managed to break at the joint with the second section, effectively splicing the graphite. It is not repairable and I'm the second owner so no luck there. I know have two pieces of a four piece rod. I guess this taught me the lesson of being humble. I thought I was on top of the world fishing like that, but Murphy had to take care of it. I'm not complaining though. I wasn't seriously hurt and the camping trip as a whole was a literal success. Here's some pics from the trip.
