It was a blast to fish with Alex today, and long overdue. He is truly great company (and we're making plans to warmwater with Jimbo in the coming months).
I got some great photos of the river and both Alex and me in action - especially Alex - that was easy, he was always in action.
Oddly, no fish photos - the one worthy fish I got in the net - a glorious 18+" buck as red as the one in the first post, head every bit as big, and 4" of kyped jaw. I flipped my swimming BWO out of his mouth, and he flipped right out of the net - he was in great shape, laughing at me the whole time.
We made dark-thirty to the 2-car-limit prime water lease at mile 7. I needed daylight to rig - Alex was already rigged.
First thing I see when I get in the river is Alex backing away from the Barrel Hole putting a fish in his net.
Alex caught several browns, and I wasn't catching anything.
Working our way up, we traded back and forth between our favorite hole and pocketwater at lower Rocky Top.
Nice rainbow
I broke off a fish on the swing on a knot I had just tied - was splicing a rig and think I under-tied one side of the surgeon's knot - and couldn't turn another.
The flows have inched up a little bit from the other day, and I just wasn't getting down.
Decided I was going to have to add split shot and high stick.
Instant pay-off with a healthy hen, right where I had been swinging my wets.
Alex again in my favorite pocketwater - I think this one is a redhorse sucker
Upriver from here to upper Rocky Top is an island that splits the river into Redhorse Run and Mushroom Rocks. We fished up one and down the other.
Here's my big buck right where I struck him.
and taking off on his first run - Alex is on a deep gravel tailout, and I think he's hooked up to nice buck at the same time - I saw his buck catching its breath when I got up there.
Really had a blast with this fish - I would work him halfway across the fast run, and he would shoot back across the run to his hiding spots in the deep cypress roots - 3 times when I thought he was ready for the net. And as I mentioned, he was so fresh when I got him into the net, I flipped the hook from his mouth, and he flipped back into the run.
Intrepid wading to get up the run from here. I haven't waded the river this fast in 15 years. There's a spot where you're on the eroding flagstone, left leg mid-thigh, and where you want to put your right foot is shallow and too steep to get traction - one step to the left and you're over your head in fast water.
I passed Alex on the wide flagstone, fished the chute at the top of the run first - no luck - crossed over first at the upper Rocky Top tailout - even that shallow water crossing was a chore, had to ride the current the last two steps to get to the island - there were 2 dozen redhorse in the tailout.
From the top of the island, here's Alex on his turn on the chute.
Going back down on the other side, there's really nice deep pocketwater, shaded between the cypress, the cliffs of Rocky Top, and also under the mushroom rocks.
We worked it over, and each missed a couple. I'm on the pocket just above mushroom rocks, and Alex is tight-lining the deep hole beside the first rock.
This run is worthwhile fishing when flows are this high. When I fished this flow 15 years ago, I caught a 20" brown buck just below the tall gravel bar you can see downriver.
The river will fish so well in the fall, with the guaranteed flows we'll have through summer. The seasonal leases are closing next weekend, fishing pressure is already dropping off, and Alex I plan to make a few crack-of-dawn distance wades from the couple of year-round leases into summer - those days always end early, both for the fish and the tubers.
