Pigeon River Float..

Had a great float on the Pigeon today with my wife Lynae!! We managed to float a 4 mile section and rarely touched by boaters, just the occasional bank fisher folks. Fishing was hot early, we did the best from 10am-11am for trout and caught a few bass later when the sun really got up in the sky. We caught a few Brown trout on in-line spinners and rapala's. The bass all fell for brown trout pattern husky jerk fished quickly over rocks and ledges. It was "top ten" day to be on the water exploring a new section of local water. The 3 lb. brown trout was just the icing on the cake….

Been looking for the elusive Walleye (pike if you’re a local) in Fontana and the Little Tennessee River. I’ve caught every species of bass possible without being able to land one-eye yet this year. Here are a few photos of my recent adventures. I’m eating on a paleo diet starting April 1^st. So it’s white bass/spotted for dinner the next few nights!!! Happy hunting!

I caught most of the fish on a pearl white grub/jig. A few of the spotted bass fell for a finesse Rapala crankbait fished quickly over rocks. I saw a fella in a boat pull two eye’s out using a hard bait fished in current over rocks. And I missed a hookup ten feet off the bank from a nice one. Guess it keeps ya going back.

You can really see the size of that whitebass, I think it's close to my PB especially in the mnt's. Nuts, fruit, veggies and whitebass. I can handle this for now, hunting ramps soon to cook with trout starting in a few days!!

Remote Cheoah Lake

Trout Season opens Apr. 5th 2014

So the wife and I decided not to hit up crowded local waters on opening day, instead travel over an hour to below Fontana dam which is hatchery supported. We got out there somewhat early and started trolling to a spot I had seen on Google maps. We had the first fish a good 16in rainbow break off near the boat, lost my best spinner. After that we boated three nice trout trolling or casting to deep water near shore structure. (few smaller rainbow throw backs) Not a huge bite sat. due to the cold front I think, but a lot of quality fish for sure in that lake…Most were caught with medium BP in-line spinners or brown trout rapala's.

First post of 2014… sorry it's been awhile!

Finally back on the water after a long winter of trying to recover from a middle finger injury. My wife and I paddled two mountain lakes over the last couple weekends. The first one was in February and in open hatchery supported waters. Lynae caught three nice browntrout in fifteen minutes, the largest was 14 1/2 inches. I managed one 12in rainbow when i switched baits to what she was using. ( a modified BP in-line spinner) Today, we hit the lower end of the Little Tennessee river and part of Fontana lake. It was a great day to paddle on the lake, we were only able to pull one decent spotted bass on a crank bait at 12ft of water. Didn't seem like the fish have really started moving up river just yet, a few more days in the 60's and it won't be long.

Big Helton DH fly-fishing

I was in West Jefferson overnight and decided to wake up early and fish the Big Helton Creek near the VA line. Got to the water around 8ish and began casting left and right. Not much luck for the first little bit and no bites in the first spot. Moved up stream to another hole and found two small rainbow's in the fast water. Tied some new gear on and moved up into a big hole near a bridge (the one they must have dumped them from) Right next to the bridge I caught 4 nice brook trout, all over 12in. I seen one come out of the dark and look at my fly that could have pushed 18-20 in. All in all I had a great trip with good weather and scenery. Glad to know those fish will be in that delayed harvest water till the spring time.. I hope...

Ton's Of river fishing!!! Mid- October around Asheville NC...

With fairly consistent water levels and weather recently, I had the chance to hit the waters hard over the last weekend. I fished with my wife on Sunday and my good friend Cory on Saturday, both trips were on the French Broad River. These trips produces good varieties of fish including many smallmouth bass, bream, one musky 14in., rock bass red-eyed, and one 18 3/4in. Rainbow Trout on a mepps in-line spinner. The in-spinner moving quickly across holes was the key to good takes from sm bass. A few nice fish fell for the rubber bass jig with kicker legs. And a three decent fish came off a suspending hard minnow bait , jerked rapidly through deeper holes near shore. None to topwater at all..

Separately, I fished the Tuckasseggee River the end of last week below the delayed harvest area, and did really well with smaller in-line Bass Pro spinner's that looked like little trout patterns. Caught 13 trout within the mid morning hours. Also, used a small B-pro-wee hard bait crawfish pattern with green on top and orange belly bottom. Trout love a small crawfish pattern with a constant retrieve across runs.