By Ronnie Parris
Hey folks, hope your faring well with the summer heat. If we can weather another couple of months, we should see some relief. As I have noted in recent articles, one way I love to beat the heat is wade fly fishing trips in the Great Smoky Mountains. On days where the thermometer hits the 90s, it will be cool and comfortable, as long as you are in the stream under the heavy hardwood tree canopy.
On one of my recent guided fly fishing trips with a client named Kerry, we caught a rare tiger trout. It was not the first tiger trout I’ve caught but it was one of only three that I have had the pleasure of getting to see. This day, we had started around 8am and by 11am, Kerry had landed and released at least 25 to 30 wild brookies and rainbows. I’m not going to give the name of this stream as I don’t want to see it get too much pressure. As we rounded a bend in the creek and started climbing higher, I told Kerry of another tiger trout I had taken in this same stretch of water while fishing with my buddy Tommy Fuller. As Kerry eased up trying to keep his shadow from hitting in the pool he was working, I laid back one pool as to not add unnecessary movement.
The pool had a large boulder with an undercut but was almost blocked by an overhanging rhododendron. Kerry had caught on quickly to the slingshot cast when overhanging limbs obstruct a clear cast. As soon as the fly hit the water, I told him that he should get a hit and as if the tiny trout had read his script, he took the royal wolf and turned back to the undercut rock as Kerry flipped him out. I know some folks would find it hard to get excited over a 6-inch trout, but this never gets old to me. After taking a couple of quick pictures, we released this beautiful little guy back and watched him disappear under his boulder hideaway.
The strange thing is both wild tiger trout came from within a couple of pools from each other. The first was caught around 18 years ago. I did catch a hatchery tiger trout a few years ago out of Santeetlah Lake, but I’ve fished for probably 46 years, and I’ve only seen these three. A tiger trout is a cross between a Brown Trout and a Brooke Trout. There are several variations in the color and pattern, but I really felt blessed to get to see this rare species. Try to stay cool the next couple of months and as always, take a kid fishing!
Ronnie Parris is owner and head guide of Smoky Mountain Outdoors Unlimited-Fontana Lake Fishing Guides, headquartered in Bryson City, N.C., heart of the Great Smoky Mountains www.smounlimited.com; (828) 488-9711.