GSMNP - A Quick Report

I don't think I have posted a good report from the Smokies since 2012.

In 2013, my son and I brought my girlfriend, Sara, with us for her first visit to the Smokies...not a complaint but we did more hiking/sight seeing than fishing. However, Ross and I both landed a couple of wild rainbows when we stopped along the Roaring Fork Motor Trail for lunch.

After watching me land a few, Ross took control of the rod and after a few missed strikes, he brought one to hand.

In 2014, my (then) 14-year old son backed out for a girl so we canceled the July trip. Even though the planned July trip fell through, Sara and I went down at the end of September so I could run in the inaugural Great Smoky Mountain Half-Marathon. Again, we did FAR more hiking than fishing.

It was a VERY busy 4-day trip. On day one we made a difficult hike of 12 miles to Mt. Cammerer fire tower. On day two we went to Cataloochee so Sara could see her first elk - she also was able to hear her first elk bugle as the rut was on during this late September weekend. Sara's dad was an avid deer hunter so she knows how to spot deer and she spotted this cow bedded down in the treeline.

I was able to fish a few holes on Palmer Creek, which I had never fished before, and I was able to add another stream to my growing list of Smoky streams I have explored/fished. I caught this nice little rainbow right in front of a horse camp set up on the lower end of Palmer Creek.

From Cataloochee we went across Sterling Gap to Big Creek - another new stream for me. We hiked up to the Midnight Hole and Mouse Creek Falls. I was able to add another stream to my list, but I didn't take any photos. Trust me, there were several fish in the stream and this is one I've bookmarked for a return visit. This is a large, high gradient stream with house-sized boulders - just what I like!

Sara above the Midnight Hole.

Day 3 was the half-marathon. It had a few more hills in it than I expected, but I still finished in a respectable 1:54.

I don't have any current plans to visit the Smokies in 2015 but I hate to break the string of at least one visit for ten consecutive years!

Short and sweet!

Chris

I'm Back...Finally!

I know it's been a while since my last entry but I have way too much time invested in this blog to let it slide.

The first half of 2014 has been CRAZY! I have made it out on the water a few times but work and my personal life have made it difficult to find time to update the blog. I believe work may be the main reason - at least that is where I'm placing the blame. The company I have worked for over 21 years sold the business sector I have been in for 6 of the last 8 years. The transition to the new company occurred on June 1 and things are finally starting to return to "normal".

My trips this year started with a day trip, then an overnighter, then a pack trip...I like how this is progressing!

My first entry will be of the day trip I took on Good Friday and it turned out to be a good Friday. I took another coworker to my favorite stream in order to give a one-day lesson in fly fishing.

The temperatures at night had been dropping into the upper thirties but the day temps were climbing into the lower sixties, so I knew there would be no need to get up there early. My coworker is also a Texas A&M Aggie, so I didn't know what to expect from him. : ) Texans are a different breed.

We arrived on the water about 9:00 and it was still pretty chilly. My partner didn't have waders and I hang mine up in March so we were both wet-wading. I could feel a little sting on my feet so I'm positive it was brutally cold for him.

For the first 2-3 hours I stood over his shoulder, working with him on reading the water, fly placement, drift, and tending the fly line...the basics. The water was just too cold, the fish weren't looking up for dries yet and I wasn't about to put him on nymphs.

We stopped for lunch and dug a few ramps before moving further upstream, all while waiting on the water temperatures to raise. After lunch, I basically turned him loose and I was fishing a few runs myself. When we reached a spot where the trail was well above the stream we spotted a couple of nice, wild rainbows.

We dropped down over the bank and split up. He was still working the dries and I had tied on a small, olive woolybugger. In the first small run, I hooked a very nice rainbow under the large rock where I was standing. I played it downstream to where I could land it but he got off at my feet before I could get a photo. It was a solid 14" wild rainbow and I didn't get a photo. I guess it's true what people say, the big one always gets away (stay tuned because it doesn't ALWAYS get away).

From this point on the stream, we decided to start fishing back toward the vehicle as we were about two miles upstream by this point.

Our luck would change in our next pool and my partner caught his first trout - on a fly rod and a nice, native West Virginia brook trout to boot!

He seemed to have the technique of the drift down and was reading the water good, so I left him to fend for himself and I went to check out a few runs for myself.

By this time it had warmed up nicely and the fish were starting to look up. I was fishing my normal early season rig of a small caddis with a beadhead dropper. The size 16 black stones were popping off, so I tied on a black stonefly nymph. Some wanted the nymph...

...and some wanted the dry.

And then...I walked up on a nice pool with a root ball just below the head of the hole. Remember, the big one doesn't ALWAYS get away.

This may be my biggest brook trout out of this stream.

It was a nice male, with a well defined kipe.

I don't know that there was anything else that stood out after this fish. I picked up several smaller rainbows and brookies. My partner may have not landed another fish but this was another memorable fishing experience, both for the big brookie and getting another fisherman started on the water.

With the fishing behind us, we had enough time left in the day to show him around the area and what beauty West Virginia has to offer.

Seneca Rocks, dinner at Hellbenders in Davis, and Blackwater Falls.

We were also treated to an amazing sunset as we left Thomas and drove past the windmills. The end to a nearly perfect day.

Chris

Day Trippin' Renewed

After fishing the trib where I caught my first native brook trout during my WV Trout Bum adventure in early June, this stream has been on my mind since.

The weekend before, I spent a day hiking the extreme headwaters of this watershed; taking in the fall colors and catching brookies above the lake named after the main stem stream. Here are a couple of shots from the hike and a couple of brookies:

The above shot is from the Snowshoe Resort fire tower, looking down the Shavers Fork watershed toward Spruce.

 

The beginning of Shavers Fork below Shavers Lake.

 

Shavers Lake and couple of small brookies from tiny Shavers Fork above the lake.

 

 

That day hike did two things for me: One, remind me I need to update my hiking blog and two, put the Upper Shavers bug back in my brain.

 

So...with vacation days to burn and work driving me to GET AWAY, I made a day trip to where it all started for me.

 

I had planned on doing the trip solo but I got a text from a young friend whom I haven't fished with since our mega-roadtrip in 2010. Three years, where has the time gone?!

 

The day started well before daylight and 3-1/2 hours later we were at the end of an 11-mile, dead-end, dirt road. It was 37 degrees when we got out of the vehicle - a great day to wet wade!

 

After two miles of railroad it was time to hit the water. What a beautiful fall day!

 

As I strung up the rod and tied on my dry/dropper rig, I reflected on the beauty of the Upper Savers area.

 

The air was brisk, the water was cool, and the "catching" was slow. We did manage a few small brookies and Nathan landed the first small, wild rainbow of the day.

 

Shortly after he landed his first wild rainbow, I landed my one (and only) rainbow of the day.

 

I know the camera never captures the true colors of the real experience and the photo of that rainbow was no different. That rainbow had a golden tint to it - it reminded me of the Kern River rainbows Nathan and I caught on that small trib of the Kern during our California Heritage Trout Challenge expedition.

 

As I catch wild rainbows in my explorations of blue lines, I often wonder the origin of the hatchery strains from which they came. This is why I do what I do!

 

As I mentioned the fishing was slow and I was disappointed to not see any paired up brookies doing their fall dance. Maybe in this "connected" trib they return to the main stem to do their dance??

 

As the temperatures (water and air) warmed up we started picking up small brookies on top - but no size.

 

I'm not sure where all of the larger brookies were hiding on this day, but that's OK, in the name of Henry David Thoreau:

 

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after".

 

I did have a goal for this day, which is something I don't typically do. I wanted to make it to a feeder trib that a friend had told me about over a glass of home-made wine.

 

We made it to the small trib and found small brook trout hanging out in nearly every small pool. The stream was high gradient - I love fishing like this!

 

 

After scrambling up this small trib a short distance, I knew time on the stream and the day was winding to a close.

 

It was 2-hour hike back to the vehicle, with the first 1-1/2 being bushwhacking...there's no trail here!

 

When we got back to the car, I was beat, but it was a good beat down. The refreshing feeling of being miles from nowhere, and adding another blue line to my personal life list is what it's all about!

 

I may not get another opportunity to get out this fall, if not, this was as good as any to end the season with.

 

Chris











West Virginia Trout Bummin - Back to the Beginning

I had planned to hit a few more tribs while using Spruce as a base camp, but with the water/fuel issue, I had to change my plans.

A short distance below Spruce is where the remediation work begins. There was quite a bit of heavy work completed in the main stem but a couple of the tribs had some heavy work done too. This was quite an impressive fish ladder and a fish-friendly culvert.

The next stream on my agenda (stream #6) was approximately two mile below Spruce. I stashed my backpack and went in search of the mouth of this trib. It was not easy to find - the stream didn't register on my GPS so I had to follow the topo lines to find it.

I found the mouth and shortly thereafter I had added another brookie trib to the trip.

 

The brookies would eventually get bigger, but not much. Maybe the bigger brookies were in the main stem??

 

 

I didn't catch any brookies of size but I did land another wild rainbow.

 

 

I fished a little further upstream than I had planned - after the little rainbow, I was hoping for another WV slam in this stream. I didn't land a brown but I did land the biggest brookie from this beautiful little tributary.

 

 

Once back on the tracks with my pack strapped on, I passed several man-made structures that will hopefully enhance the main stem fishery.

 

 

 

Just above this structure, I saw "people" for the first time in a couple of days. With the work done on the stream, the WVU fishery students were doing an electro-shocking survey. This section of the watershed has probably had the most data collected than any other trout stream in the state.

 

 

With the thought that this watershed is only going to improve, what a feeling that is! A main stem that could potentially be a thermal refuge when the tribs start to dry up, that would be a huge improvement.

 

So, on to my adventure...the next trib (stream #7) holds a special place in my heart. This is where my obsession with brook trout started. I caught my first native West Virginia brook trout in this trib in 1999.

 

On that day, my partner and I easily landed triple digits between us! We returned four years later and found 4-wheeler tracks everywhere and a significant reduction in numbers. However, my partner did land a very nice little fat brown trout.

 

What would it be like now?

 

I stored my pack again and headed upstream from the mouth. Again, it didn't take long to get into the healthy brookies.

 

 

This is the largest of the tribs (stream #7) I would fish on this adventure and the average fish is larger too.

 

 

 I did recall a certain "bend hole" and anticipated reaching it. When I found that hole, it was just as I had remembered it in my head. I made a few good drifts through the tail of the hole, with nothing to show.

 

When I made a good drift through the head of the hole, I landed another nice fish. This guy bull-dogged me so I knew it wasn't a brookie. When I got him to hand, I was very happy to see a beautiful wild rainbow.

 

 

I fished a short distance upstream from the bend hole, when I ran out of water in my hydration bladder, I turned back. By this time it was approaching mid-day and I didn't want to be a couple of miles from fresh water in the heat.

 

I made it back to my backpack and followed the main stem a short distance back to the tracks. This was the first structure I saw when I hiked in two days earlier and it would be the last one I saw as I hiked out. It also meant I was only two miles from the vehicle and fresh water.

 

 

 I made it back to the vehicle but I was spitting dust by the time I made it. A fresh bottle of water hit the spot!

 

I had a couple more tribs on my list for this watershed so I set up camp for the night within sight of the vehicle. I would be "car camping" for the remainder of my trout bummin adventure.

 

I set up camp with this trib (stream #8) between the tent and the car....let's see what's in this trib. The first little pocket produced this little guy.

 

 

In a little larger pool, that appeared to be the stream crossing, and directly below my vehicle, I landed the largest brookie of the trip - with an opening in the canopy and the sun high overhead.

 

 

 I landed a few more brookies in this low gradient trib but they all appeared healthy. This stream will only get better as there was a massive amount of work put in where it goes under the railroad tracks. They had build an incredible fish-friendly culvert, which will reconnect this population back to the rest of the watershed.

 

 

Day 2 summary: brook trout in 3 streams (2 new) and wild rainbows in 2 new streams.

 

I had another freeze-dried dinner, another early evening and another early morning. The difference in this night was NO RAIN and I would find out later this would be the only night of the adventure with no rain.

 

I was up early, packed up camp, had my coffee and Clif bar, then headed back out the 11-mile road to hard top.

 

On the way out, I stopped at two culverts to explore two more tribs. Just as nearly all of the tribs had done so far, the first trib (stream #9) produced brookies in short order.

 

 

Although I was glad to see brookies in another trib, I never like to see brookie "snakes". It's never good to see a brookie with a disproportionately-sized head. 

 

 

I only fished the first trib a very short distance before heading back to the car and the second trib (stream #10) of the day. This trib was tannin-stained and higher gradient than any I had fished so far but it also produced brookies in short order.

 

I landed a couple of brookies before I came to what appeared to be an impenetrable wall of cascades and rhododendron.  missed a brookie in the pool but I did not miss the opportunity for a nice photo opportunity.

 

 

 From this stream, I would hit the asphalt and head for a USFS campground in preparation for the annual Bucket Brigade on the Middle Fork of the Williams River - an annual outing for me.

 

It was a great adventure for me on this watershed! I caught brookies in seven new streams, rainbows in three new, and I visited the stream where this personal obsession started 14 years earlier...what an adventure!

 

Chris

West Virginia Trout Bummin - The Town of Spruce

This trip has been on my West Virginia bucket list for quite some time. This week was initially planned to take place in the Smokies, but when that fell through, I was searching for plan B.

A few years ago I saw a report that mentioned this section of water was one of only a few in the state that has reproducing populations of all three species (brooks, browns, and rainbows).

Then, two months before this trip we had a presentation at a monthly TU chapter meeting that showed quite a bit of remediation work being done in the area. That sealed the deal! I was headed to Spruce.

The week started off with a WVCTU State Council meeting and as soon as the motion to adjourn was agreed upon, I was headed for Spruce. This solo trip mas made up of a drive to the top of Cheat Mountain and out an 11-mile (dead end) dirt road, then I backpacked six miles up the railroad tracks to my destination.

Here is a link with more information on this abandoned logging community: SPRUCE

The tourist train makes occasional stops at this location, beyond the rail station I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to see these markers throughout the area.

 

This is where I chose to set up camp for the (planned) three day adventure, along the Shavers Fork of the Cheat at the end of the concrete slab that was once the rail car repair shop.

I set up camp, went to the stream to pump water for my dehydrated dinner, and that's where the adventure took a negative turn. My water filter had apparently lost a seal that allowed it to pull vacuum - no filtered water! I would have to boil all of my water and I had only packed in two fuel canisters. This was going to cut y pack trip short but I would make the best of it. It was an early evening with anticipation of a smorgasbord of wild trout to come the following day.

I woke up sometime during the night to a heavy rain pounding on the tent. The rain didn't last long but I wondered what it would do to the streams.

As is usual when I'm in a tent, when the sun is up, I'm up. I had my cup of coffee and Clif bar, while boiling water for my hydration pack. I was burning a lot of fuel!

Regardless, I packed up and headed upstream about a mile to the first tributary on my list - I had several tribs on the agenda.

The water was slightly off-color from the rain but it didn't take me long to land my first brookie.

 

I didn't know what this stream had in store for me as I started picking up a few more small brookies.

 

 

There was definitely a good brook trout population and I wasn't too surprised when I landed this little guy. I thought, at first, it was a lightly-colored brookie but when I got it to hand I realized it was a small wild brown trout.

 

 

I caught a few decent-sized brookies as I fished further upstream. This guy would be my largest brookie from trib #1.

 

 

 

As I pushed upstream, I came to the largest and deepest pool in this small trib and it was still stained from the rain. I made a long cast to the head and on the first drift, I hooked this next fish. I knew this wasn't a brookie as it bull-dogged and held to the bottom.

 

When I finally got it to hand, I had completed my slam on the very first trib of the trip - and my first slam on any stream in West Virginia!

 

 

With several other streams to explore, when I completed the slam, I headed to the next stream on my list. My next stream would be in an entirely different watershed. I crossed the low gap at the railroad switch on Cass Scenic Railroad. Down the tracks is Whitaker Station, up the tracks is Bald Knob, and the spur takes you back to Spruce.

 

 

I crossed the tacks and bushwhacked into a tributary of the Greenbrier River drainage. I was on the extreme headwaters of Leatherbark Run, which empties into the Greenbrier River at the Cass rail yard.

 

It was a beautiful, high-gradient section of water but I struck out on trib #2.

 

I returned to camp for lunch. While I was taking a break, I did a little exploration of Spruce. This is the site of the old mill, with the abutments still standing.

 

 

 

Of course I didn't explore the old town without my fly rod and I landed this wild rainbow while drifting a nymph against the old mill abutments.

 

 

Near the mill were the remnants of the sand and water towers for the Shay locomotions - which are still in operation today.

 

 

I dropped back into the stream and fished the short distance back to camp. I landed this little guy in the main stem (stream #3) right below my tent. Species number two in the town of Spruce.

 

 

 The main stem had some unique in-stream structure in remnants from times gone by.

 

 

 After lunch I headed up another section of rail, into my third watershed of the day. It was a short, two mile hike up the tracks, through the Big Notch, into the Tygart Valley watershed.

 

 

As was my adventure in Leatherbark, I struck out in the extreme headwaters of the Tygart Valley River (stream #4). It was, however, nice to see the origins of the stream that I have followed many times on my adventures in The Mon.

 

When I got back to camp, I boiled more water for another freeze-dried dinner. I had used up one of the two fuel canisters. Then after dinner, I hit another trib, that dumps in right above Spruce.

 

I fished a very short distance (stream #5)but landed a few of these little gems.

 

 

The summary for day 1: 5 streams in 3 different watersheds, brookies in 3 new streams and my first WV Slam.

 

It was another early evening, another night with rain, and another morning up with the sun.With only one fuel canister remaining, I made the decision to pack up camp. I hated to leave this location but when I'm solo I always err on the safe side.

 

You can see why I hated to leave. With the early morning mist hanging low in the valley, it was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 With those final few photos, I said goodbye to the town of Spruce. I had checked off a few more streams on my personal list and added another bucket list adventure to my list...but I will be back!

 

Chris