The Carolina Quartet

How do you describe that feeling when it's a weekday and you've got trout on you schedule? I did stay focused through the morning and then about lunch time headed for my meeting with Jacob Fork. Cloudy and cool. I scoped out the upper section and one angler was up there. I decided to hit my favorite haunt. Water was very heavy from all the rain recently, it was a little off in color, and really amazing how the runs change when there is so much water. Couldn't sight fish with the volume and dark sky so resorted to "strip searching". Wasn't long before I took my first brookie on a black beadhead woolly bugger I'd tied as a dropper to the egg pattern, really using
the egg as an indicator, these trout can take it so gently you gotta try and see your fly under water, in fact I missed two fish before I took number one. Took a little brown on a dead drift in the gorge, watched a big fish flash around it, and then ended up taking the small mouth in the cut of the big rock (fished from the right hand side- if moving up stream) I was standing on. Fished all the way up to Christian's hole (took three brookies there) and then decided to keep going. It had been quite awhile since I've fished that section. With the water so heavy there were great runs in areas that wouldn't typically hold fish and I had a ball taking trout in fairlyshallow water swinging the woolly bugger down current. There are also two really nice deep runs up in this section, one of which yielded three trout on three casts. Fished all the way up to the campground, it really wasn't that far. Skipped some of the shallower water and then fished right there at the parking lot, taking the big brown. He hit the fly as soon as it hit the water and I missed him and on the next cast he hit again really hard and put up a good fight. The next section up I caught the little rainbow. The section just above the parking lot is really cool, couple of deep plunge pools and a gorge type section. I need to check this section out more thoroughly next time. Didn't catch anything in these pools, did miss a fish and saw another flash at the fly. By now it was getting dark and I was terribly dehydrated, so weak I could hardly walk. I had forgotten to bring water and although surrounded by clear cold water, I didn't want to chance giardia. With out the strength to walk the 2 miles back to my car, I had to rely on my British special forces training.

GEAR REVIEW:

Love the slimline chest pack. I picked out my flies ahead of time and put them on Velcro backed pads which fit perfectly in the vest. Loved being able to open my "fly box" by unzipping the pack's main compartment. Very light, don't even notice it and perfect for scampering under bushes and over rocks- excellent and cheap, I only paid $14 for it.

Didn't try the foot warmers. Its too warm here to try them out now. One of you snow bound boys gonna have to test them out.