Back to the N. Mills River

I went back to the upper N. Mills River last Thursday and again yesterday. Last week I had sensational luck with the fish taking any kind of nymph I threw at them. Lost count of the number of fish I netted and probably lost even more. Late in the day, two men stopped by where I was and told me that they had been involved with the fish stocking two weeks earlier. Seems the truck that they were to use to haul the fish up river never showed and most of the stocking took place right were I was standing.

Yesterday, I returned to the same place anticipating equal success but it seems that the fish have started to become educated and they ignored all my nymphs. Switched to some dry flies - Stimulator, Elk Hair Caddis, Adams Parachute -- and some success with each. After a bit I decided to take a break and explore up stream. Upon returning to the hole that I had been fishing, I have some good luck with a Y2K and a BWO Emerger. Never did see anyone else on the river but there a lots of hunters up in the Mills River forest area. I meet a NC game warden when I first arrived and he told me that all the hunters all headed up the mountain and that down by the river was safe.

While most of the fish were Rainbows I did manage an occasional Brown and one Brook Trout.

[img]http://www.bonaireweb.com/andyuhr/hold/Brook.jpg
[img]http://www.bonaireweb.com/andyuhr/hold/Brown.jpg

Nice! I'm not very familiar with the N. Mills but that 'bow looks like it might be a wild fish.

There's some wild reproduction on a couple of the side creeks.

Great report! That rainbow in the 1st picture is likely a wild fish. Too much color to be a stocker. Usually you don't see coloration patterns like that on stocked fish!

To show you how much of a novice I am, I thought the first photo was a Brook Trout. I examined some photos of Brooks posted to this site and hopefully can now tell the difference. Live and learn Thanks.

2nd fish looks like brown