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Pit Fishing Thread

Screamindemon3 said:
Pretty much. I have two spinner rods I could use, but I'd like to fly fish as well.
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I always recommend going out with a guide at least once to get a feel for the sport, even before buying gear. A guide will be able to equip you properly and increase the likelihood of getting into fish your first time out. They can help with casting tips, etc.

Casting lessons are also a good idea to help shorten the learning curve.

I don't know much about the waters in your area, but I think there are a couple of guys on this thread that are very familiar with fishing in WNC. I know the Davidson is supposed to be a good fishery, even though it's highly pressured. I suspect if you can learn to catch fish on the Davidson, you can probably catch fish on most rivers.

As for entry level gear, I think the Echo base is the best bang for the buck on the market right now. Redington and Orvis also have good beginner combos. In Colorado the 9' 5wt is the standard set up, but you're mostly fishing smaller water on the east coast, so I imagine a 4wt is plenty.
 
leftcoastdeac said:
I always recommend going out with a guide at least once to get a feel for the sport, even before buying gear. A guide will be able to equip you properly and increase the likelihood of getting into fish your first time out. They can help with casting tips, etc.

Casting lessons are also a good idea to help shorten the learning curve.

I don't know much about the waters in your area, but I think there are a couple of guys on this thread that are very familiar with fishing in WNC. I know the Davidson is supposed to be a good fishery, even though it's highly pressured. I suspect if you can learn to catch fish on the Davidson, you can probably catch fish on most rivers.

As for entry level gear, I think the Echo base is the best bang for the buck on the market right now. Redington and Orvis also have good beginner combos. In Colorado the 9' 5wt is the standard set up, but you're mostly fishing smaller water on the east coast, so I imagine a 4wt is plenty.
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I would agree with this. For that matter, the 9' 5wt is probably fine for most any trout fishing anywhere. You might want shorter and a lighter line weight if you were doing only small streams and dry flies but the 9' 5wt is great all around and what I use most of the time around Roanoke. I fish mostly with nymphs and wet flies and it's great but will also do dry flies well. You can get a good beginner combo from Echo, Redington, and Orvis. They are priced well without being Walmart cheap (ie shit).

If you are in the 336 area code, I'd recommend Foscoe Fishing Company outside of Boone. It's been a few years but they have a good shop and the guides are highly rated. There are several good streams around that area including the Watauga, Helton Creek in Ashe County, Stone Mountain State Park, and the Mitchell.
 
Already lots of good advice on this thread.

Excellent resources here: http://natgreeneflyfishers.com/about.htm

For guides, you might also want to consider Marty Schafner at Tri-State Angler in Elkin. He is a full-time guide and highly respected in the industry. Another top guide is Ollie Smith of Blue Ridge Anglers. As I recall, both were written up at one time as "living legends" for fly guides in the NC wildlife magazine. Richard Griggs from Carolina Mountain Sports in Statesville would also be an excellent choice.

Farther west, the guys at Tuckaseegee Fly Shop in Bryson City are first class, too.

Mercury Dime and I will fish a couple times this year. No plans yet but you would be welcome to meet us sometime.
 
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AMCDeac said:
Already lots of good advice on this thread.

Excellent resources here: http://natgreeneflyfishers.com/about.htm

For guides, you might also want to consider Marty Schafner at Tri-State Angler in Elkin. He is a full-time guide and highly respected in the industry. Another top guide is Ollie Smith of Blue Ridge Anglers. As I recall, both were written up at one time as "living legends" for fly guides in the NC wildlife magazine. Richard Griggs from Carolina Mountain Sports in Statesville would also be an excellent choice.

Farther west, the guys at Tuckaseegee Fly Shop in Bryson City are first class, too.

Mercury Dime and I will fish a couple times this year. No plans yet but you would be welcome to meet us sometime.
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Heard good things about all those as well. I can't believe I forgot to mention Dave Hise at Caster's Fly Shop in Hickory. He is a great, ties some ultra realistic nymphs, and is the creator of the squirmy wormy. I've ordered from his shop for things I can't find locally and he ships fast and free. I wanted a spool of monofilament thread and he was out of stock so he sent me the mostly full spool he had been using for free.
 
I can't believe this thread hasn't been updated since October.

I personally haven't fished much since then due to life, corona virus, etc. Hopefully we can get this conversation restarted - here's what I've been up to:

November 2019 - On the water fishing clinic on the South Platte offered through Trouts fly shop in Denver. Overall, a good time. I'd guess 90% of the class portion was stuff I knew, but I did pick up a few tidbits of knowledge that were helpful. I got to try Euro nymphing for the first time; hooked up with a beautiful brown trout feeding in a riffle, but couldn't get him to the net.

February 2020 - Went fly fishing on a private ranch outside Mendoza, Argentina. Spent the day fishing a stream no more than 3' wide for wild, spooky brookies. Most technical fishing I've ever done, but had a great time. Shane Battier was there with his wife, so I got to hang out with him during lunch and for a bit after - really cool dude. Told great stories about his playing days and was more than happy to shoot the shit and talk ACC basketball with me.

Yesterday - took advantage of the long summer days for the first time this season and took the kids up to one of the state parks after work to hike to a pond for some fishing. My 4.5 yo loved having a line in the water with me (black wooly booger on a kids tinkerbell rod; not really setting her up to actually hook up yet, just getting her exposure).

Landed 4 10" Rainbows (stockers) in about 45 minutes. There were more people than I expected on the pond, but plenty of room for all. Lots of risers as we walked up, but no obvious hatch going off, so I knew I'd fish an emerger. I saw some hoppers/beetles on the walk in so decided I'd go hopper-dropper on the water. Everyone else was fishing spin gear and the two other guy I saw with fly gear were only nymphing under an indicator. I caught a rainbow on a juju baetis on my first cast. The wind picked up and put the fish down for a half hour or so before dying down. Once the wind died down, I moved spots and picked up 3 more fish in about 15 minutes. 2 took the juju baetis and the last one hit the beetle I had on top - love top water takes, especially on terrestrials. At that point I decided to call it a day. Kids were super stoked to see fish. It was great to get out of the city for a few hours; nature, cooler temps, overall a great outing with the family.
 
I'm heading down to Ocean Isle next weekend and plan to do some fishing. Will report back if we catch anything
 
Screamindemon3 said:
I'm heading down to Ocean Isle next weekend and plan to do some fishing. Will report back if we catch anything
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What type of fishing do you do there? Off the dock, inshore/near shore from boat/kayak, off shore?

Let us know how it goes and tight lines!
 
leftcoastdeac said:
What type of fishing do you do there? Off the dock, inshore/near shore from boat/kayak, off shore?

Let us know how it goes and tight lines!
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We'll probably do 2 days in the inlet/waterway fishing for flounder (cant keep right now, right?) or drum and then take it offshore 2 days for Kings and Cobia
 
Screamindemon3 said:
We'll probably do 2 days in the inlet/waterway fishing for flounder (cant keep right now, right?) or drum and then take it offshore 2 days for Kings and Cobia
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I’ll be surf fishing at Sunset the 14th-20th - Caught a bunch of whiting and a nice black drum there last month. Caught two nice reds from the surf last year. You are more than welcome to join although surf fishing probably seems lame when you have a boat.
 
Who knew Shane Battier was a fly fisherman. Michael Jordan fished the White Marlin Open last year on his boat the Catch 23.
 
I’ve still been getting out on the local streams. A couple weeks ago, my youngest daughter (age 17) said she wanted to catch a trout on a fly rod. Hiked back into a local creek and she caught an exceptionally nice native brook trout as her first fish on a fly rod. So that was a great day.
 
Screamindemon3 said:
We'll probably do 2 days in the inlet/waterway fishing for flounder (cant keep right now, right?) or drum and then take it offshore 2 days for Kings and Cobia
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That’s correct. Season not back in until mid August.
 
AMCDeac said:
I’ve still been getting out on the local streams. A couple weeks ago, my youngest daughter (age 17) said she wanted to catch a trout on a fly rod. Hiked back into a local creek and she caught an exceptionally nice native brook trout as her first fish on a fly rod. So that was a great day.
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Where have you been hitting?
 
Creeks up around Jonas Ridge/Linville/Banner Elk areas. I lean toward the wild streams back in the national forests. Drop me a note if you are coming this way sometime. Mercury Dime and I need to get out again, too. Upper Natahala near the NOC is one of my favorite more publicly known places.
 
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Fayettenam said:
Mercury still lurking around here?

Heading to Cherokee in the next few days for work. Been looking at some of the fly fishing options. A few friends have recommended going ahead to get a permit and go here (http://visitcherokeenc.com/blog/entry/ready-to-fish-cherokee-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/). I'm guessing the water is still cool enough for waders right now. Any other spots to check out?

As an aside, anyone ever tubed this area near the casino. One of the places I saw mentioned you could bring a cooler but no alcohol. I wasn't sure if that was like a liability comment or if that was legit a rule.
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Never updated this. Fishing was GREAT there. A couple things to think about though. You have to deal with the tubers coming through. However, we caught some beautiful and a couple very big trout. Look out for snakes. And the MOST important point. Buy the license that lets you fish on Cherokee land. Within a minute of parking and putting in the water, a wildlife officer checked out our license. We were all good, and he was super cool about it. Once we showed we were all good, he showed us a pic of the massive cottonmouth he had literally just killed where we were. So yeah, beware of snakes.

We got beers at Innovation afterwards before heading to the casino. Great brewery on a little creek that I would highly recommend.

May be a little far in terms of a day trip these days, but seriously, what else do I have to do?
 
AMCDeac said:
Creeks up around Jonas Ridge/Linville/Banner Elk areas. I lean toward the wild streams back in the national forests. Drop me a note if you are coming this way sometime. Mercury Dime and I need to get out again, too. Upper Natahala near the NOC is one of my favorite more publicly known places.
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Defintely. I'll let you know.
 
No talk about MJ's team boating a marlin in the Big Rock tourney yesterday? I went down to the MHC and saw him and his boat (80' Viking) on Monday. Looks like his team released one today. Pretty good showing in the tournament so far, although should have released the one yesterday (short of 500 lbs needed to win big $$$) and by boating one, you don't get the release points. Only about 1/2 boats fishing today due to the weather, but first one to boat a 500+ lber wins $530K or so. His boat is not too concerned about the weather because it is huge, so they are out there.

Crazy that the Big Rock has a record number of participants and prize money despite cancelling all parties and other events due to Covid.
 
Mate probably said it wasn’t close to 500lbs and Jordan said I’ll show him
 
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