I got up early without much of a plan of where to go, all I had was my gear (Tenkara) my jeep loaded with gas, a full cup of coffee and a need for native trout. After a 50min drive I hit many different spots in the upstate that looked promising including one great looking spot that got me in trouble with a local.
I am fairly sure he was just protecting his secret hole since there was no 'no trespassing' signs posted and it was just off a county road. He did give me some advise on other waters to fish full of stocked trout - I suspect he thought I was one of the many bait fisherman that rape the stocked fish right out of the streams. When I asked if he knew of any native trout around he looked puzzled then I told him that I'm strictly a C&R fly fisherman hoping this might ease his stance on me fishing his stretch of river. It didn't and he told me once again that there is no fish in this water. So, without even unloading my rod from the jeep, I decided to move on. I have known people to be shot at for fishing a guys secret water and no fish is worth getting shot over.
Overall A good day despite more searching for fish than catching them but the clean bright colors of the fish that found my fly made it worth it. I only wish a brookie would have showed up. It seems it is getting harder and harder to find these native fish in the waters I normally fish.
Great report!!! It's cool to see you attack a situation and produce fish and pics, I dont matter how you do it as long as you do it!!
ReplyDeleteLittle ones are fun too. Too bad the guy didn't relent. Some people are just anal about fishing "their" water even though you are a C&R guy.
ReplyDeleteMark
Cool report, especially enjoy the tenkara angle. I agree, not worth getting shot at.
ReplyDeleteQuestion - How does the 12' Iwana handle those little guys? I have an 11' Iwana and it's an absolute blast, rod still gets a deep bend and "fighting" them in can be an experience. From reading TenkaraBum's review of the 12' version, although it shares the Iwana name from what I take away from him it's not exactly the same rod (just bigger).
Thanks for the comments guys. Hunting those native trout is more about the hunt than the catch or size of the fish and when you find where they are hiding, it makes all the effort worth it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the 12'Iwana vs the 11' - I am not sure which how the compare since I only have fished the 12' but I will tell you for the streams I fished yesterday, a shorter rod might have been better since I hung up in overhangs more than once. I did hook into a nice 13' rainbow a few weeks ago that sure made my 12' double over and sing. And by sing I mean sing - it litteraly gave a high pitched fibration as I struggled to bring the fish in. It was amazing.
Joel,
ReplyDeleteI love doing trout stream recons.
My time of the year to do as much of it as I can is late fall and winter.
Beautiful wild bows! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete