I called my friend Pete from Maryville the other day. I had some questions about going to a certain river in NC, but we decided against it. I told him let's go up to Laurel Fork for a day trip on Sat. We left Knoxville at 5 am and was rigged up and ready to fish at 8:30 am. Fishing was slow for me in the am but Pete caught three browns very quickly. I began to pick up some small fish but the feed bag wasn't really on.. We quit for lunch at about 11 or so and decided to fish lower for the afternoon.
After some sightseeing at the falls area we began fishing at 2 pm. I used a soft hackle Partridge and Yellow size 14 dropped under a BHPT and finally two small browns took it. The water was pushing 66 degrees. We managed to move upstream and whne the cloud cover came in Pete began picking up some fish. He caught one 12" and another in the 11" range. I had more difficulty as I was getting tired and hungry. I also didn't have Pete's fly LOL. I stopped for a snack break and Pete joined me as a rain shower came in.
We waited it out and decided to fish a couple of hours before dark at a higher elevation due to the warm water. It turned out to be the right decision. The water was 61 and more active fish as a result. I managed to catch a 10 " bow and a small brookie to my suprise. After several small browns it was time to quit for the day. Pete meanwhile had picked up another ten browns or so.
We made it home to Knoxville right past 11 pm and let me tell you, I was sore and tired getting out of my bed this morning. All in all a very nice but strange day in many respects. It's always nice to spend a day with Pete as he has a lot of knowledge and interesting stories to boot.
