5/13/11 Update

Progress!  The Wildlife folks have made an impact.  Folks stopping in are reporting they are frequently checked and even the bait fishermen are regulation-minded.

Hatchery waters were stocked this morning and it took about 1 hour for our bait sales to spike.  Got to be a leak somewhere!

Tippet is missing seeing you, as to Heather, the kids and I!

Trout moving to the head of the pools, I guess in search of cooler water and food.   I have been hammering them every evening with the soft hackle and Yellow Humpy.  26" brought to hand on Wednesday.

5/2/2011

River clean-up went well.  Looking good.  Fish active.  Stocking this week.  Go fishing!  Delayed Harvest waters open in June!!!!

Please, if you get this blog, visit www.wrccomments@ncwildlife.org and propose that "all waters, including tributaries, above Phillips Branch at Wilson Creek, be designated Catch and Release, Artificial Fly Only".

Nice hatch of Mays!

4/21/2011

River now has receded back to normal levels.  The fishing has been exceptional.  Fish have been gorging on worms and bugs dislodged.  Many fish in the 24+ range.  I expect heavy hatch today and steady dry action now.  Post your fishing reports!

4/16/2011

Wow!  River swollen and disgorging lots of debris.  We had a gorge clean-up planned for today but that's been taken care of!  Fishing will resume soon.  Past week action has been good to very good with traditionals working.  Here's a very large brookie taken early in the week from the main river and nicely released to my favorite spot.

4/4/2011

Nice storm passing through.  What's it going to do?  Yesterday fish were active.  I predict fish will be tougher today.  We'll work on wind casting this evening!

Alec Sarwas had a 25 fish day yesterday with lots of browns on Hares Ear and Wooly tandem in DH.  His last fish of the day was a 21" Brown going 3-4 lbs on brown wooly.  His camera failed him ("batteries in the wrong way" was the excuse) but he did have a witness!  Good job Alec.  Hope you get 'em again today.

April 3, 2011

Bait-chunkers and spinners pretty much had their 2 day rape yet left complaining "not enough fish to kill!"  I don't dispise someone who wants to keep and eat, if needed, but most of these fish will be thrown aside or left to freezer burn.  What a waste!  Glad it's over, or just getting started (again) depending on how you look at it, I guess.  Some things are too good to be left alone by man.  I understand the wardens were busy.  If the folks who descend on the river during April are such sports-minded folks, why so many violations? 

Still, here's a picture of a very fine young man who passionately fishes the right way with an awesome catch.  True to form, I had to torture him to get him to tell me the story (yeah, right!), and he was ever so happy to tell me what fly he was using and where the fish was caught (yeah, right, again!).  Nice catch and release, Aaron Moore (20" Brook in DH caught 4/3/2011 estimated 3-4 lbs.).

Regulations

There is a formal "process" for the public's affecting formation of the regulations governing fish and game.  If anyone is interested, give me an email and I'll shoot you a copy of the file.

While it would be nice to have certain changes in the regs, many are "out of our reach".  For instance, it is doubtful we could ever get DH water boundaries extended to include the now Hatchery-Supported section of Wilson Creek.  But, we might be successful in getting the regs changed so that DH waters are "fly-only", and/or do not open in June to "take" status.

I think this is worth pursuing.  I will speak about this in our next meeting.