# Memorial Day in North Carolina



## wallace1 (Dec 8, 2010)

Made the trip back up to North Carolina to chase small stream brook trout in the backcountry. This was mine and my girlfriends first time camping in the backcountry and we had a great time and learned a lot. I think the most important lesson is we need to lighten our packs up quite a bit for the longer trip were planning next. So on to the report.

We arrived about noon on Saturday. Get the boots strapped on and all the packs situated and off we go. There are primitive camp sites all over this area but we had heard there were a couple good ones on a particular trail. We failed to realize that the trail went up the side of the mountain. The views were spectacular and the camp site was nice but well probably be staying near the bottom next time... Pitched the tent, gathered wood, hung the bear bag and all the other things. Now it's fishing time. We had never been to one of the falls on the far side so off we go. Fished along the way with one little brook trout to show for it. Fished the falls for a little bit but this wolf dog came along and shut it down pretty quick. Relaxed there for a while and then started the hike back. Came across a large white sandbar which was weird because the rest of the park is only rock. Fished for a little with not much to show for it. Then a guy walks down and catches two back to back. He was nice of enough to give my girlfriend one of the flies ( a light Cahill) and she caught 2 off the fly before she lost it so we were both on the board. Thanks for the fly bob. We then hit a spot we knew held fish for the sunset bite and picked a couple more. They were hitting dries with abandon all weekend long. Vast majority of my fish came on a stimulator and my girlfriend threw a little bit of everything. Fished until 845 because it didn't get dark until 9 up there. We were so tired that we didn't even get a fire going. Ate a dinner of cliff bars and jerky and went straight to bed.

Got up early and hit a spot close to the tent. Picked up a couple more there. Ran into bob again and he asked if we wanted to go explore a couple spots so we tagged along. Got to see another set of waterfalls and caught a couple more fish. One of my favorite fish of the trip was down here. The little rocks had drilled a deep hole in the face of this almost like rock slide and i pulled a 5-6 incher out of there which was cool. We were pretty whipped at this point. Went back to a fall close to the tent to relax. Ended up walking down the outflow from the pool below the fall and pulled out my biggest fish of the trip. A healthy 6-7 inch brookie. Was by myself and no phone so no picture  we were planning on staying two nights but a bed was sounding better and better so we packed up and out we went. Managed to book the last room at a hotel and dang was the shower and bed nice.

Hit tallulah gorge the next morning and it was absolutely gorgeous but they don't allow fishing and it was hell getting to the bottom and back out. Views alone were probably worth it.


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## wallace1 (Dec 8, 2010)

Pics


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## wallace1 (Dec 8, 2010)

Pic2. We were both fishing so not many fish pictures but will have one up in a little bit


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## wallace1 (Dec 8, 2010)

Here is my girlfriends first fish of the weekend. The stimulator I fished is on her arm and you can see the light Cahill in the fish's mouth.


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## mrl0004 (May 7, 2015)

Nice going. I do that a lot myself. I am going in the next couple of weeks. If you want a pro tip, buy some neversink caddis flies in yellow, sz14 and 16. Or really any yellow bushy fly. The sz16 are perfect for brookies. Yellow works wonders in the mountains. The foam in the neversink caddis flies help to resist the fly sinking. I can use one all day as long as I can avoid the rhododendron, which is a whole other story.


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