I had stiff competition from this guy.
I decided to head up to Abrams Creek for some fishing this morning. I haven't been to the creek in about a year. I always have a good time although it is a very slick and dangerous stream to wade in. I got to the trail head first of all the people today right at 7:30 am. I began my trek and after about five minutes or so I startled a black bear. This bear apparently was going to climb a tree. That's why I didn't see it. I stared the black bear in the eyes for about ten seconds or so. I regained awareness from the initial shock and belched out a growl as loud as I could muster while poking my stick in the ground. The bear ran about fifty yards and then turned around and began staring at me again. I hollered again while hitting my wading staff on the ground. I began to retreat and the bear slowly moved on up the hill. I got back to where I started and decided to wait until someone else showed up before heading on up. After about thirty minutes a nice gentleman from Knoxville showed up. I told him the story and asked if I could hike with up to my fishing spot. He agreed as he was going to take some pictures at Abrams falls. We walked for a mile together before we went our separate ways. I thanked him and began my fishing. I picked up one 8" bow pretty quick but then it died down. It took a yellow partridge. I worked myself slowly upstream and after an hour or so managed to catch a nice 12" Rainbow trout on the same fly. I let the fly swing downstream and the fish took it hard. It's nice with the wild Abrams bows, since they are a little larger than average for the park. I continued upstream and ran in to a pair of Otters and a Great Blue Heron who was competing for the fish. Numerous deer and turkeys were seen as well as another Black Bear on my way out of the cove. This year has to be a good year for wildlife sightings. I only caught four fish for the morning, two of the fish were from last years class, about three inches each. Water temp was an amazing 60 degrees. Almost unheard of in August. A very memorable day but sorry no picture of the bear. I don't think the bear would have appreciated a flash in it's face from a distance of six feet.
12" Bow from Abrams Creek
12" Bow from Abrams Creek