Post by rbaileydav on Nov 21, 2007 12:33:03 GMT -5
November 11 2007
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the bite of the air as it gets cool, the bright lively colors of the leaves. I have always been fascinated at paradox that the leaves get their brightest and prettiest as they are dying and falling. The trees at the house had just started to show color which meant the mountains would be aglow with color and scraps of blazing red, orange and yellow would be swirling on the wind as it blustered its way down the cove. This time of year has always been the cue for me to visit the Nantahala, one of my favorite day trip destinations. The scenery is gorgeous, the river is wild and free (if you ignore the road that parallels it okay) and the fish numerous…………. Not a bad place to spend the day fishing … so I talked Drew my 16 year old into going with me and we headed out. The drive up was peaceful as he slept for part of the way and we spent the last part of the ride with him picking random songs of my ipod and me trying to guess which song he had chosen…….. a pretty fun game by itself but even more fun to listen as his taste in music becomes more pronounced and defined ……….. an odd mix of a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll ……… (no he isn’t an Osmond for those of you old enough to remember). We listened to Zep, Pink Floyd and some southern rock as well as Merle, Marty and Murphy……… all in all a pleasant ride.
The air was still cold when we arrived the car thermometer read 26 degrees and the sun was just coming over the rim of the canyon. The colors were visible but muted like a blurred photograph in the slanted light of the morning.
We strung up two old bamboo’s that I haven’t gotten a chance to fish a Heddon made 7 foot Princes taper and a Thomas and Thomas 7 foot Classic. Believe it or not I was pretty sure that we would still be in Dry Dropper fishing conditions and started us with big yellow and stimulator and a tan soft hackle dropper and an olive stimulator and pheasant tail dropper for Drew. I dropped drew into a great hole and headed down below him for my starting point. I hadn’t even unstrung my rod yet before I heard Drew’s whoop of excitement and saw the unmistakable arc of blond cane that meant fish on. It should be a good day…………. the fish where they were supposed to be and quite willing. I had worried about the effects of the drought on this particular river and the water was extremely low with minimal flow … … like a garden hose that had only been turned part way on….. But the holding water still had plenty of depth and most of the holes were still holes. We both caught a lot of fish a nice mix of brookies, browns and bows……… all stockers but fun none the less, some in the mid teens most in the pre-teens. They were hitting both the dry and the dropper about equally. You gotta love the south where you can still fish a size 12 stimulator in November and catch fish on dries. We alternated holes and just poked and played along enjoying the day. The sun climbed higher and warmed the river making us more comfortable as we fished and enjoyed the beauty around us as well as the fishing.
I ended up above Drew and turned around as he whooped with yet another fish and was stunned by the view that held my eye below. Drew was forgotten as the sun beams shone like a spotlight, creating a prism of color: fluorescent yellow of leaves, purple of the mountain backdrop, white of the water, red of another tree. It was almost more than my senses could process. I whipped out the camera and tried to capture the image…… not ever capturing what I wanted … … the way I was seeing it …….but capturing it better than my meager words can do.
I actually stopped fishing and made my way back downstream towards Drew snapping pictures all along the way. Sure that each one would be more wonderful than the last. Ending up with a large series of pictures the look remarkable similar but each slightly different……… oh well photography is a practiced art I haven’t found yet.
Right as I finally reached Drew he managed to hook into a fish. I got a couple of shots of the hookup which were pretty fun.
It ended up being the biggest fish of the day for him but was extremely camera shy and refused to pose for the normal “grip and grin” money shot…… flipping out at the last moment leaving Drew splashed but smiling…………… in one of the prettiest single instance settings I have ever seen………….
A great memory ………… hopefully for both of us…………..
DD
Rbaileydav
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the bite of the air as it gets cool, the bright lively colors of the leaves. I have always been fascinated at paradox that the leaves get their brightest and prettiest as they are dying and falling. The trees at the house had just started to show color which meant the mountains would be aglow with color and scraps of blazing red, orange and yellow would be swirling on the wind as it blustered its way down the cove. This time of year has always been the cue for me to visit the Nantahala, one of my favorite day trip destinations. The scenery is gorgeous, the river is wild and free (if you ignore the road that parallels it okay) and the fish numerous…………. Not a bad place to spend the day fishing … so I talked Drew my 16 year old into going with me and we headed out. The drive up was peaceful as he slept for part of the way and we spent the last part of the ride with him picking random songs of my ipod and me trying to guess which song he had chosen…….. a pretty fun game by itself but even more fun to listen as his taste in music becomes more pronounced and defined ……….. an odd mix of a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll ……… (no he isn’t an Osmond for those of you old enough to remember). We listened to Zep, Pink Floyd and some southern rock as well as Merle, Marty and Murphy……… all in all a pleasant ride.
The air was still cold when we arrived the car thermometer read 26 degrees and the sun was just coming over the rim of the canyon. The colors were visible but muted like a blurred photograph in the slanted light of the morning.
We strung up two old bamboo’s that I haven’t gotten a chance to fish a Heddon made 7 foot Princes taper and a Thomas and Thomas 7 foot Classic. Believe it or not I was pretty sure that we would still be in Dry Dropper fishing conditions and started us with big yellow and stimulator and a tan soft hackle dropper and an olive stimulator and pheasant tail dropper for Drew. I dropped drew into a great hole and headed down below him for my starting point. I hadn’t even unstrung my rod yet before I heard Drew’s whoop of excitement and saw the unmistakable arc of blond cane that meant fish on. It should be a good day…………. the fish where they were supposed to be and quite willing. I had worried about the effects of the drought on this particular river and the water was extremely low with minimal flow … … like a garden hose that had only been turned part way on….. But the holding water still had plenty of depth and most of the holes were still holes. We both caught a lot of fish a nice mix of brookies, browns and bows……… all stockers but fun none the less, some in the mid teens most in the pre-teens. They were hitting both the dry and the dropper about equally. You gotta love the south where you can still fish a size 12 stimulator in November and catch fish on dries. We alternated holes and just poked and played along enjoying the day. The sun climbed higher and warmed the river making us more comfortable as we fished and enjoyed the beauty around us as well as the fishing.
I ended up above Drew and turned around as he whooped with yet another fish and was stunned by the view that held my eye below. Drew was forgotten as the sun beams shone like a spotlight, creating a prism of color: fluorescent yellow of leaves, purple of the mountain backdrop, white of the water, red of another tree. It was almost more than my senses could process. I whipped out the camera and tried to capture the image…… not ever capturing what I wanted … … the way I was seeing it …….but capturing it better than my meager words can do.
I actually stopped fishing and made my way back downstream towards Drew snapping pictures all along the way. Sure that each one would be more wonderful than the last. Ending up with a large series of pictures the look remarkable similar but each slightly different……… oh well photography is a practiced art I haven’t found yet.
Right as I finally reached Drew he managed to hook into a fish. I got a couple of shots of the hookup which were pretty fun.
It ended up being the biggest fish of the day for him but was extremely camera shy and refused to pose for the normal “grip and grin” money shot…… flipping out at the last moment leaving Drew splashed but smiling…………… in one of the prettiest single instance settings I have ever seen………….
A great memory ………… hopefully for both of us…………..
DD
Rbaileydav
