Three beautiful creeks and a tired man

Gee Creek Rainbow



What a beautiful Saturday we had in the Knoxville area. I left town at 5 am and after much soul searching decided to visit Gee Creek. This is a stream in which I have had numerous 50 to 60 fish days on. Mind you most fish were in the six to seven inch range with the occasional 10 "lunker" I have always considered it a nice and relaxing place and it has always been a respite from the masses on other trout streams. I was somewhat discouraged today when I found plenty of litter to pick up. It seemed to be mostly from last years swimmers and picnickers. There were major hatches in the 56 degree water. I saw, Hendricksons, both the duns and later in the pm the spinners. There were Gray Foxes duns and some Slate Mahogany Duns in the pm. A small tannish and some green caddis showed up also. The problem: None of the fish were taking on top. I had to resort to a BH Prince Nymph, after one rainbow and several hours I managed to catch the above beauty on a tan EHC size 14.

I stoppedfor lunch and headed back up north to hike in to Bald River Gorge area. I fished the bald for a couple of hours and only caught one small brown and another rainbow right after that. No hatches to speak of. Hiked back out to finish up the evening at North River Campground are on North River. I once again saw Hendrickson duns and some caddis. Tied on my EHC tan size 14 and lost two good sized bows before I was able to catch one. I was exhausted by now but happy. Nothing beats a solitude day on three different and beautiful mountains streams. The air temps were in the low 70's and the water in the high 50's. I got home late and crashed in to bed, with tiredness in my body.

North River and Tellico DH Revisited

Went back to North River on Saturday October 10th. Got on the stream at about 1 pm and fished until dark. I began at the same spot where I fished last time. This time the water was up even more and it was not as easy as last time. The hunters were out in full force; but I only saw one other fisherman. The water temp was great, right at 60. I managed to catch 5 small bows on North today. They all came on an Orange Stimulator size 14. I proceeded over to Tellico DH for the evening. I didn't take the water temp but it was swift and cold. Fishing was not as easy as last time I was here. The trout still had not spread out from the deeper holes. I got some fish on an orange partridge soft hackle at first, and later they took on top when the October caddis began to come off. I ended up with 4 rainbows on Tellico. All were in the 12" range. Got home to Knoxville at about 9 pm tired and wore out.

Big Santeetlah Creek, NC

I was bored today and decided to drive down forest road 81 from Stratton Ridge down in to North Carolina and the head waters of Big Santeetlah Creek. I have never fished it or even been to it before. It is a very rugged and remote area and I ran in to only a handful of other vehicles. The water level was up and the temp a very good 60 degrees. I fished for an hour with only one small strike. I tried nymphs and soft hackles as well as dries. No luck. I can only guess that it is a tough stream this late in season. I was down at the stocked section and probably should have fished it higher up. Oh well. I decided to go back to TN and drive down North River. I fished for a couple of hours and caught 7 small bows, and then it happened. I took a misstep and fell. I put my hand down without thinking and bent my wrist pretty bad. It hurt like the dickens. It is pretty messed up today. I hope I can go to work tomorrow instead of the doctor. This fly fishing game can be dangerous. I have had more difficulties this year than most. Bear encounters, two accidents, broken rod you name it. Golf sounds more interesting by the day. NOT! Lol.