With the temps heating up in the early to mid afternoon our trips have been hitting the streams anywhere between 6am and 7am to take advantage of the cooler morning hours.

On Thursday Clint and I both had half day trips on the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail (Caney Fork and Scotts Creek).  I guided Thomas B. from Irvine, CA and Clint guided Michael J. and his father from Virginia.  Thomas ended up with several nice rainbows in the net and several nice Long Distance Releases (LDRs) as well.   Hot flies were #14 Yellow PMX with a #16 Pheasant Tail with hot orange collar as the dropper.  We hooked a good number of fish on the dry as well as the dropper.

We were both out again yesterday, Clint guided Michael C. and his father from York, SC and I guided Everett W. from Boone, NC.  Clint’s trip ended up having the best day of the two trips with close to 25 fish in the net including several decent rainbows in the 10-14″ range.  Clint’s hot flies of the day were #16 BH Prince Nymphs and #16 Rubberleg Hare’s Ear fished under a #12 Yellow Caddis.

Today I had the pleasure of guiding another father and son duo, Richard L. and Clayton L., from Jacksonville, FL.  We started the day out with a little introduction to casting  at nearby Bridge Park here in Sylva.  After getting the overhead, side-arm and roll casts down we headed up to the upper Scott’s Creek area.  We had a fairly successful day with both anglers reeling in some trout.  Richard landed several nice wild bows and one decent sized stocker.   Most of the fish were taken on a #14 Yellow PMX with the bigger stocker on a #12 Superflash Pheasant Tail.

Guided Randy P. from Katy, TX on upper Scott’s Creek today.  The day started out a little slow with only a few small rainbows brought to the net.  About two hours into the trip Randy insisted I give it a try to see if could have any better luck.  I gave my #12 Yellow Caddis with a #16 Prince Nymph dropper a few flips into a small pool just below where Randy was fishing and out came the big brown pictured below.

Jason's nice brown

And this folks is why, no matter how much the client insists, you don’t fish with them.  As a guide, even if it is sheer luck, if you out fish a client it looks bad. After today, I will probably never do it again unless it is a repeat client I know really well.

So, after seeing several small bows this bruiser brown was a welcome surprise.  The fishing from then on really picked up.  Randy landed several more small wild rainbows and one 9 inch brown and a 10 inch rainbow.  The last fish of the day was only on for a couple of seconds and looked to be around 13-14 inches.  Overall a great day on the water.  Flies used were:  #12 Yellow Caddis, #16 Prince Nymphs, #14 Yellow PMX and #14 Rainbow Warriors.  

Yesterday I had the pleasure of guiding Chuck L. and his son Henry L. from Charlotte, NC.  We fished a section of the Scott’s Creek Gorge that has been producing a few stockers and plenty of wild Rainbows.  Chuck began upstream from Henry and I as I was giving Henry an introduction to fishing small streams with little to no casting room.  About 10 minutes into the trip Chuck comes back down stream to tell us he has a 16″ rainbow on the end of his line and of course when we got back up there the fish had already worked itself off so we missed a great photo opportunity.  Henry ended up with this nice rainbow.

We ended the day with several more fish brought to hand and several L.D.R.  I look forward to seeing you guys again in August and in the Fall for the fishing on the Tuck.

Today I met and guided Thiery T. from Blacksburg, VA on Scott’s Creek.  It was a perfect overcast day with lower than normal temps, which made for a very successful day on the water.  Thiery landed several wild rainbows in the 9-10 inch range and plenty of 5-7 inch bows as well.  Thiery also gave a few fish the 5 foot hand shake (gentleman’s release).  I also had the pleasure of hearing some fantastic stories about trout fishing in France and Spain.  What a great couple of days of guiding with some wonderful people and memories that will not soon be forgotten.