| Late May Fishing in North Georgia |
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| Sunday, 01 June 2008 | |
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Woke up with a big day planned—mow the grass, weed the garden, and fix a bookcase for my lovely wife. While drinking coffee on my sun porch after my morning run with my Britt, Bama, my wife suggested that I go fishing. Well, it took me about 2 minutes to call Charles Bagley and get my gear in gear. Of course, Charley was ready to go. I was fishing a Duck’s Foam Caddis in tan size 16 with a Duck’s Orange Split Case dropper size 16 (looks very much like a copper john with orange silk tied as a stripe up the wing case and with the addition of dyed mallard flank for legs. I was fishing 5x mono to the caddis with a 30” 6x fluorocarbon to the dropper. I was throwing my old trusty Sage 4wt SP with a Cabelas gum leader (I really like these for 5wt and below). As I waded in, my first cast brought a strike on the caddis that I missed. I re-cast to the same spot and the caddis disappeared as a fat 12” rainbow headed downstream. The trout were rising up and downstream—to a size 26 black midge (evidenced from a stomach pump and a quick seining of the flow). I did not want to throw midges. I saw several sulphurs come off but the trout were not interested in them. I did see several trout take or try to take a small 18 brown caddis. I continued to fish the same combo and caught 8 by the noon lunch break. The key today was a total “dead drift”. There were a very few slash takes, most were very gentle and barely perceptible, with only two takes “on the swing”. Charles was upstream and having some luck with several different dries to include a caddis and Hendrickson. He was also picking up fish on a Duck’s Yellow Split Case dropper. Charley got a little hot and decided to take a short swim—that cold water fixed him quickly. After lunch, the activity picked up until we left at about 3 pm. I continued to fish the combo and landed a total of 25, mostly on the Orange but about 5 on the caddis. Most were rainbows averaging 12” with two browns and one surprise 10” brookie—my first on that stream. I think that I could have also done very well skittering a small brown caddis. A size 18 medium/dark brown bi-visible would probably have done well also. As Charley and I packed to leave, two courteous rangers came by and checked us out. We had a great discussion. I really thank these guys for their hard work and wish them the best—they are TU’s best friends. Col Roger L. Duckworth (Ret) |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 June 2008 ) |
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