Hookers Fly Shop and Guide Service. Your Smokies Fly Fishing Experience.

Recent trips here at Hookers Fly Shop

Posted on August 20, 2011 by cbdebnam

Last week Clint and I guided repeat client Bill D. and five others from Clover, SC. We hit the Cherokee Trophy area early on Friday morning and found immediate success. Bill’s son Eli hooked up on several nice bows while young Anthony hooked and landed two bows around 15-16 inches. Bill missed some nice fish with a #12 Yellow PMX. One of Clint’s clients landed a rainbow that was pushing 27 inches on a large Yellow PMX. Great day on the water with some very happy clients. We look forward to seeing you guys again on the Fall.

Clint headed out on a lower Tuckasegee Smallmouth float yesterday morning with Seth R. from WCU. Seth landed over a dozen fish including some decent smallies, a largemouth and some redeye bass. Hot flies were Olive and White Clousers and Olive Lead-eye Buggers.

Today I had the pleasure of guiding Jeff P. and his nine year old daughter Natalie from Greenville, NC. We fished a small stream on the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail just outside of Sylva. We started out the day with some basic casting instruction at Bridge Park. When we got to the stream Natalie hooked and landed her first ever trout on the fly on her very first cast of the day. It was a beautiful 9-10 inch wild rainbow. From then on young Natalie was hooked. She ended up with another nice rainbow and several bows that ended with a long distance release. Great day on the water with some wonderful people.

Guiding the Great Smoky Mountains National Park tomorrow and Sunday.

Categories: Fly Fishing Cherokee, The Fly Fishing Trail | Comments Off

This week at Hookers Fly Shop

Posted on August 9, 2011 by cbdebnam

New orders received this week at Hookers Fly Shop include:

New Colors in the U.V. Dubbing, Chewee Skin and a large order of Tiemco and Daiichi Hooks.

Stream update for Scott Creek, Tanasee Creek and Cherokee Trophy Section:

Scott Creek hasn’t been producing smaller numbers that we had earlier in the summer (probably due to the high temps) but it has been producing some decent rainbows and browns. Our trips over the weekend and this week had some good success on Yellow Sallies #14-16 and #12 Yellow Caddis or #12 Yellow Stimulators with #16 Hot Around the Collar Pheasant Tails as the dropper.

On Sunday Clint Holcomb and I drove up to Tanasee Creek for some late afternoon early evening fly fishing. The bite was on as soon as we hit the stream. Clint landed a nice Brookie around 9-10 inches. After missing a few decent fish I managed to land two beautiful brown trout on #12 Yellow Caddis with a #16 Pheasant Tail dropper. If it wasn’t for the 40-45 min drive from Sylva I would probably fish this beautiful stream more often.

Hookers guide Cris Weatherford reports that the Cherokee Trophy Section is fishing extremely well in the late afternoons into the evening. He suggests throwing large dry flies such as #8-12 Yellow PMX, #8-12 Madam X or Yellow or Orange Stimulators with various BH nymph droppers. We are looking forward to a busy week here at the shop and looking forward to guiding a six person trip on the Cherokee Trophy section on Friday morning.

Categories: Fly Fishing Cherokee, Fly Fishing in Cherokee, Fly Fishing near the Smokies, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Out West Fishing Report-Special Edition with Tim Sheehan

Posted on August 5, 2011 by cbdebnam

The season is just heating up for the Wind River Valley. The middle fork of the Popo Agie through Sinks Canyon outside of Lander, WY is producing 30 fish an hour, mostly in the 10-12 inch range. The 16 inch brown coming every half hour. These fish are taking tungsten caddis puppa I will call the Sgt. Pepper. The Yellowstone’s Madison, Gibbon, and Firehole Rivers fished excellent early in the season, with 3-4 fish per hour. Water volumes decreased in the Park earliest, with browns and rainbows eager to put on weight while they could. The prize came on a windy day on the Madison when a famed trophy brown took a #10 Czech Caddis.

The fish are truly larger on this river and the landscape is breathtaking. As far my home town water (my favorite places on Earth, the East and Wiggins Forks, the Wind River, they are just now clearing up. The cutthroat numbers are outstanding with 30 fish per hour taken on mostly Peppers and weighted flies. Many fish have been taken on the swing. As conditions on the Wind River I continue to improve, I expect to see larger fish, brown and cutthroats taken this next week. The hopper season is here and I have been tying foam for the last couple of days. Time to break out the dry-dropper rigs. I miss you guys back home and can’t wait to fish with you in September.

Categories: Uncategorized | Comments Off

Another busy week of guiding at Hookers Fly Shop

Posted on August 5, 2011 by cbdebnam

Today capped off a very busy week here at Hookers Fly Shop. It’s good to see folks out getting some last minute vacation time in before school starts back. Earlier in the week Clint and I guided several trips on the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail streams. Scott Creek and Caney Fork have been producing some good numbers and some nice fish. Fish have been on Little Yellow Sallies in a 14-16, Stimulators 10-14, Yellow or Orange Caddis 12-16 and various BH Nymphs and Stonefly Nymphs. Today I guided Zack and Jason on a Half Day Smallie Float on the Tuckasegee. They pulled in over a dozen fish including the nice smallie pictured below. Zack also landed one of the biggest Red Eye bass I’ve ever seen on the Tuck. Hot flies for the float today were Olive Crayfish, Olive Leadhead Buggers and Articulated Hookers in Olive and Fire Orange. Looking forward to a busy weekend of guiding with three trips currently scheduled.

Categories: Fly Fishing near Sylva, Fly Fishing near Sylva North Carolina, Fly Fishing the Smokies, Fly Fishing the Tuckasegee, NC, The Fly Fishing Trail | Comments Off

Busy Weekend here at Hookers Fly Shop

Posted on July 31, 2011 by cbdebnam

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.

Categories: The Fly Fishing Trail | Comments Off

City Lights Event and Gear Update!

Posted on July 29, 2011 by cbdebnam

Last night Jason represented the Fly Shop at the event at City Lights Bookstore featuring Rick Claridad. We saw several familiar faces and Rick gave a very informative casting demo. Jason demonstrated how to tie a pheasant tail. The event wound down with great conversation and of course, wine and cheese. We look forward to being able to participate in another event like this soon! Thanks City Lights!

City Lights Book Store

Also wanted to take this opportunity to let you guys know that we have gotten in some great new gear in the last week. We have a fresh shipment of polarized sunglasses and neoprene retainers, as well as a new stock of Redington boots and waders. We have also gotten some new flies in stock from Montana Fly, so if you have been looking for something that has preciously been on back order, it is probably in. Jason also brought in about 3 dozen of the AWESOME Fishwater Maps of local streams, so come on down and check those out. What a great resource!

And last but definitely not least. TEE SHIRTS! We have switched our tee shirt materials and these news tees are super soft. We have a new assortment of colors for the fall including . . . wait for it . . . PINK for the ladies ( or men I suppose, in order to be fair). So if the gear wasn’t a big enough motivator, come on and see these cool new tees in person before they are all gone!

Categories: Fly Shop, Fly Tying Classes, Gear | Comments Off

Another Busy Day for the Hookers Fly Shop Guides

Posted on July 27, 2011 by cbdebnam

Yesterday, Clint and I both had trips on the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail. I had the pleasure of guiding 10 year old Will H. from Dalton, Ga. It was Will’s first fly fishing trip and he quickly picked up the fundamentals of fly fishing and how to fish our small mountain streams. Will put several wild rainbows in the net and had several more bows and one nice brown on. The last fish of the day was a beautiful 15 inch bow. Fish were taken on #12 Yellow Stimulators with a #16 BH Pheasant Tail dropper. Bug activity on the stream was very sporadic with only a few yellow sallies coming off.

Clint’s trip ended up with 8 fish including several decent rainbows. Clint’s hot flies were #14 Yellow PMX and #14 Yellow Stimulators with #16 BH Rubblerleg Hares Ear dropper.

Later in the evening Clint and I had a very good turnout for our free fly tying class that we hold every Tuesday at the Fly Shop. We had close to a dozen tyers with the advanced tyers working on Clousers for Smallies and the beginners working on BH Zebra Midges. We at Hookers Fly Shop are really impressed with the community’s interest in fly tying. It’s nice to see tyers of all ages coming out to our class.

Categories: Fly Shop, Fly Tying Classes, The Fly Fishing Trail | Comments Off

Guiding on the WNC Fly Fishing Trail

Posted on July 22, 2011 by cbdebnam

Clint guided on the Fly Fishing Trail yesterday morning and had a very productive day on the water. He met his client, here at the Fly Shop at 6:30 am and shortly thereafter headed out to the stream. The bite was on as soon as they hit the water with several nice rainbows brought to hand in the first few minutes. The trip ended the day with well over 20 fish including several decent rainbows and the nice brown pictured below. The flies of choice were #12 Yellow Stimulators with a #16 Rubberleg Hare’s Ear dropper. Another fine day on the water in Western North Carolina.

Categories: Fly Fishing near Sylva, Fly Fishing near Sylva North Carolina, The Fly Fishing Trail | Comments Off

Guiding 7/19/2011 aka Learning Experiences with Jason

Posted on July 19, 2011 by cbdebnam

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.

Categories: The Fly Fishing Trail | Comments Off

This Just In!

Posted on July 18, 2011 by cbdebnam

Just wanted to let everyone know that we got a great new shipment of William Joseph, Fishpond and Lilypond gear in the last week.

The WJ Swell Dry Bag

We have in stock a great new selection of chestpacks and lumbar packs in all sizes that are just perfect for hot summer months, including the super cool mag series of packs.

Current by WJ

And that isn’t all. One of our favorite companies is Fishpond and their new sister product line Lilypond. Fishpond is known for its rugged gear and we have lots of it! We even have a youth vest in stock but it is guaranteed not to last!

Elk River Youth Vest

If you haven’t seen anything from the Lilypond line, which is great women’s gear with cool practical features, you are really missing out. I can’t sing their praises enough, and those of you who know me know that I can’t go anywhere without my Lilypond Windflower bag.

Sunflower Tote

I feel like Mary Poppins, pulling things out left and right. They are great for ladies with an active lifestyle that go places that a traditional bag just can’t hack it. Plus they are great as diaper bags or general carryalls.

Stop by and check out what we have in stock. I guarantee you will be impressed! (CB COLE)

Categories: Fly Shop, Gear | Tags: Fishpond, Lilypond, William Joseph | Comments Off