Wilson Creek 3/20/10

Great day to spend the first day of spring!! We took off to Wilson Creek today to try the DH. The "creek" (it's more like a good sized river) treated me pretty well. If you have never been up there before, it's definitely well worth the trip during DH season. Excellent fishing to say the least.

I started at the Hatchery Supported section just to check it out (and to shake off the rust, as I haven't been out on the river since January). The small gorge on the left as you go upstream was worthy of exploring a little. As I expected, it was pretty much devoid of trout. Still, a very pretty section. I headed up to the DH section around 11:30 AM to find fisherman spread out along the river every 20 feet. It reminds of the Davidson River on a bright, warm, sunny day. Not really elbow-to-elbow fishing, but still pretty crowded. Lots of folks enjoying the mid 70's. I was one of them!!! Some of the best weather we've had in months. A light breeze blew, especially in the gorges.

I begin fishing the DH section around noon. It took me awhile to figure out that 5x was a little to big for the trout's liking. I switched to 6x with much better results. The first fish hooked was a 12" male brookie with a slightly kyped jaw. The brookies didn't look like they came from a hatchery. Pretty colorful and they lacked the mushy, drab colored appearance of other stocked fish. The next 2 fish were both brookies as well. The 2nd one was a little bigger, around 14". The next one was around 12". Then the real fun began when I started hooking into rainbows. The show one of the rainbow put on was absolutely spectacular!! I hooked into one of the four bows and he exploded. Immediately after being hooked, he sky rocketed out of the water. I'm not talking about only a half a foot. This fish completely cleared the water, jumping about 4'+ into the air (I'm not pulling your leg). I've never seen a rainbow jump like this one did. Reminded me of a tarpon.

I forgot the camera (I think I'm suffering from a disease where I forget the camera on every trip ). Used dad's Blackberry, which takes pictures, but not the best.


Bringing a fish in (pretty good picture, the combination of a crappy camera phone and sun beams made a cool looking picture...)

nice job, that's a fun stream to fish.

great job Tyler. I might hit wilson this Tuesday but I have heard great reports on the Mitchell as well.

Flip a coin!! Both are doing very well. (Although, in my book, Wilson beats the Mitchell).

Nice! We are planning on fishing Wilson Creek for a couple of days in April. I have had a lot of success there and it has quickly become one of my favorite fishing spots. I just figure that you are going to have to fish it during the week to get any peace. We fished it last time on a Tuesday and it still got a little crowded for my taste. And on a positive note, we did get stopped and checked by a NCWRC officer around noon. Hopefully NC is going to take care of this stretch of water.