By David Hulsey
September is prep time for the fall fishing season here in the Southern Appalachians. The trout fishing this month in the Blue Ridge and Western North Carolina streams can be a little sketchy. Usually, low water and high temperatures rule until the end of the month when we normally get a little reprieve from the heat in the form of a cool breeze from the North. Decent fishing can be found up high in the mountains or in local tailwater fisheries before lake turn over screws up the river for a few weeks in the fall. Trout stocking will almost halt after the Labor Day holiday until the delayed harvest kicks off, in October in North Carolina and November in Georgia, making chasing the stocking truck so “yesterday”.
Even with slower fishing in September, there is plenty of opportunity for prepping for the fall! Finding time for stockpiling flies and leaders is a little easier if you’re into tying either, or both. Flies that are great producers and easy to tie such as Wooly Buggers, San Juan Worms, and Soft Hackles, qualify for hording, being that going through hundreds of them on the stream with clients is a guarantee. I custom build leaders for each and every trip through the year so making nymphing, dry fly and streamer leaders is a must and having them already built is a huge time and money saver. Changing a worn-out fly line or two will add to your enjoyment on the river. Nothing can ruin a good presentation like a sinking fly line dragging your fly under the surface right at the worst moment. I’m always scouting new water for fishing and September is a great time to see the streams at their lowest water levels and to see fish. Thick streamside foliage allows the angler to stay hidden from your quarry and determine if it’s worth coming back to. Finding a good, isolated run to fish later in the year is great to add to the list of possibilities. Learning a new skill for fall and winter fishing is best spent in the late summer prep time. The new surge of anglers learning to spey cast for trout, or “trout spey” as it’s called, is extraordinary. Smaller micro-Skagit gear is making it increasingly easy and effective to use two handed rods and presentations to trout sized gamefish. Southern waters are the new frontier for this method of swinging flies to fish in not-so-easy areas to reach. West coast stream fishers were the first to adopt this method for anadromous fish running up the huge coastal rivers, but our slippery southern rivers are also good candidates. We teach many introductory trout spey fishing classes every year and it’s growing in popularity more and more. We’ll see you on the river!
Give David Hulsey a call at (770) 639-4001 to book a class or a guided trout trip. See his website at www.hulseyflyfishing.com.