Nantahala River - Topton N.C.

Friday afternoon departure from work gets earlier the deeper we get into spring. This is opening weekend in North Carolina. My original plan was to drive directly to Big Snowbird and camp, but I'm out so early I decide to fish. Big Snowbird is closed until tomorrow, so I hit the Nantahala Delayed Harvest - my first time. I bring 5 fish to hand in two hours, all on dry flies and all right there at the powerhouse. You can almost smell the hatchery truck. I love NC trout fishing.

I roll over to Big Snowbird expecting the normally vacant river I fished all winter. But the place is mobbed; no available camp sites. So I grab a pullout with a good view and settle in. I wave at the Warden on his way out after the evening rounds.

It rains all night. I try to fish Big Snowbird in the morning, but the crowds make it impossible and I head back to the Nantahala. I decide to fish the upper portion of the DH, and I get into fish right away, again on small BWO's. Three fish to hand and the bite slows. I decide to try the Hatchery Supported waters above the DH.

The crowd is thick, but I manage to find a nice campsite - fire ring and all. A fisherman comes off the river into my camp and shows me two BIG trout. One is a fat brown, maybe 18". The other is a freakish brook trout, at least 22". "A brood fish from the hatchery", he tells me. He says "throw something big and watch for the flash." I tie on a big green bugger and get in. I fish for 20 minutes when it happens to me. I'm watching my fly when a giant fish comes out of nowhere. My reel screems and the fish is 30 feet up-stream in three seconds. I feel severly out-gunned. I get some line back and then he takes it. I get it back and he takes it again. After several minutes, I wade toward slow water and begin steering the fish there. In an instant he runs for a brush pile and he's off.

It rains all night, again. I roll down river before 7:00 AM. I consider stoping a couple times, but end up back in the DH. I ride downstream for a couple miles, this time aiming to see the middle of the DH. The water is fast and dirty. I bring three 15" browns to hand, all on a small white booger.

I head south toward home.