NC Fisherman.Net

December 3rd 2006:

Benjamin and I fished a cold and windy Lake Townsend. A few
hours later we were shivering and had caught nothing so we threw
in the towel.

Late November 2006:

We went to the Outer Banks during Benjamin's Thanksgiving
break hoping to find the stripers. We couldn't have picked a worse
time to fish. A strong noreaster, with winds up to 65 mph, made
surf fishing impossible. We are going to try to get back down
there in January.

August 2006:

The whole family went to Topsail beach for a week of vacation.
We caught the usual summer mixed bag- flounder, pompano,
spots, whiting, etc. Alan and I spent a day on the Vonda Kay and
caught grunts, snappers, and an amberjack.

April 24th 2006:

Benjamin and I went to a local area with a couple of ponds to do a
little bass and bream flyfishing. This area usually fishes pretty
good but we got blanked. I had a few half-hearted strikes. In the
pond we fished there was a dead painted turtle floating close to
shore that had no apparent reason of death. I heard a report last
night, from an angler who fishes the area often, that there we
several bass floating dead in the other pond. Sounds like some
sort of pollution is ruining one of our favorite local fishing holes.

April 15th 2006:

Benjamin and I spent the entire week trout fishing in western
North Carolina. We fished the Davidson, East Fork of the French
Broad, North Fork of the French Broad, Nantahala, and
Oconaluftee Rivers. Despite many previous efforts, Benjamin had
never caught a trout on the fly rod. He has now caught so many
trout on the fly rod that he has lost count.

Rainbows in the Mangroves-
On our second day of fishing we found a great spot on a small
section of river where the mountain laurel grows over the river.
With a properly placed cast upstream the fly would drift deep
under the overhanging branches. I hooked up with a couple of
brookies under there before hooking into a decent sized rainbow.
The rainbow leaped high into the branches and fell back to the
water without entangling my line. What a sight. It looked just like
a baby tarpon in the mangroves down in the everglades. After a
few more jumps and a brief fight we landed the fish and returned it
to the water. We found ourselves at that very spot again on our
last day of fishing. Benjamin wanted to try to catch a rainbow in
the mangroves like I had, but he was unable to place his fly where
it needed to be (I had a pretty hard time myself). So I would cast
for him and hand the rod over. On his third drift he hooked-up. The
rainbow jumped into the branches and entagled his leader on an
overhanging limb but, for some reason, did not break the tippet. I
quickly waded across to free the leader. With the leader free,
Benjamin was able to land the fish. It was a great ending to a
great trip.