Between moving, “trying” to go to grad school, a new job and family, it’s been a difficult time to try and make some fishing memories around my new state. A month or so ago (it may have been longer), I got a full day to explore some new water. There’s a fine line between being comfortable and knowing where you are fishing all the time, and trying to figure out new places and fishing. Between maps and books, there’s enough information to take a few stabs. I picked the Quinapoxet one Saturday morning and put some time in.
After getting a little lost, I mapped out a spot. When I got to a pull off, there was a guy spin fishing. Usually, I would think that I was in a horrible spot. Today, it was like a big red X that at least there were fish in the water. I moved up river from him dapping a caddis here and there and picked up a couple small brookies. At least they were there!
After that, it got a little slow. I followed the map and found a long path into the river and no one else fishing. After that, I started picking up some very nice brook trout! There were very nice fish tucked in most fishy looking spots and I ended up having a dozen to hand by the afternoon. I was very surprised how healthy the fish looked. I don’t know if these fish are wild, but the colors looked that way. It started looking like a thunder storm so I headed back to the truck and moved to the next stop by a bridge, and had some real fun.
I’m sure these fish were stocked, but i could see some nice brown trout rising. I tried a small caddis, and the refusals were quick, and showed me that these fish had seen that fly once or twice. I switched to a killer emerger pattern that I love to use. They hadn’t seen this one before. Two or three casts and I hooked a good 16″ brown who put up a great fight. With net in the truck as always, I released him as gently as possible. I saw another good brown rising above me. I moved to the middle of the stream and layed a couple of great casts and I had an even larger fish on. One more brown in the pool, and then I was on my way home. I have no idea if that river fished like that consistently, and I haven’t had the chance to return. I do know on that day, it was a phenomenal fishery. Enjoy the pics and thanks as always for reading!
smokymountainflyfishing 