Cherokee 4/6-8

Time for the yearly trip to Cherokee. I pulled in Tuesday around noon and set up the tent at the River Valley Campground. Got to the water at the Bunches Creek Bridge around 1 pm. I went to my customary Brown hole below the bridge and got nothing. I continued wading downstream with no fish coming up to the fly and was beginning to think it might be a long day. Of course, just as I was about to completely lose my concentration a fish surfaced like a bloody submarine, took the fly, and proceeded to fight a little. It wasn't so much the strength of the fish as the current and weight that gave me any problem. It turned out to be a 13 inch stock rainbow (stock fish aren't much to look at) and it lifted my spirits. There must have been a hatch of some sort come off around 6:30 because suddenly the fish were everywhere popping the water and jumping out. This was just below the bridge. I stayed out until I couldn't see the fly because of lack of light. Fun! Fresh off the buzz of fish coming out for a hatch, I decided I'd be there at daybreak on Wednesday. I was there, but, the hatch was not. Few fish were coming to the fly and when a guy with a spinning reel pulled out 3 big rainbows from the same area in a span of 30 minutes it was time to move upstream. I went above the bridge and found fish after the fly in almost every pool I cast to. I caught many tiny wild rainbows and a few decent ones. I did catch one stock fish I probably should have kept even though he was small. The fish had no pectoral fins. THAT must be quite a handicap for a fish. My daughter's boyfriend met me and I was hopeful he would catch some fish (he'd never caught a trout before). The pace did slow down considerably, but, Michael did manage to catch his first trout and then some that afternoon. I stayed on the water some 12 hours and was exhausted by the end of the day. Today there was rain. That's not a problem if the fish are biting, but, they didn't seem to be interested and it wasn't worth the risk with thunderstorms heading in.

As we were cleaning up at the campsite, some guy comes wandering up holding something yellow that looks like a trout. I was thinking it had to be some kind of a joke. Nope. This was about a 25 inch 'Golden Trout' that they must have stocked in the new 'Trophy Section' that begins just below the bridge at the River Valley Campground. It looked like a freak of nature to me.

Good times,
Greg

Addendum:

After some research, it would appear that the 'Golden Trout' was, in fact, a 'Golden Rainbow Trout' given the size. Didn't know such a thing existed.

Sounds like an excellent outing Greg!! Cherokee is one of my favorite places to fish in NC. Great fishing over there!!

Those golden rainbows (Palominos) are fun to go after. You can see them from a mile away!! They stock them into the Oconoluftee River in the Reservation.