For whatever reason the 4th of July is the best day of fishing for me each and every year. It never fails. So when I woke up this AM I had a hunch that I was in for some fun. With all the rain we had I sorta knew it! The game plan today was to fish a stream I fondly refer to as Web Run due to the many thousands of spider weds that adorn the mountain laurel along the stream all summer long. Just about every branch available has a resident spider looking to cash in on the fertile bounty Web Run offers. The good news for me is that I’m not too afraid of spiders and the trout were out and about trying to take advantage of the same food source. This is probably my favorite stream in the state and the most productive creek I’ve personally ever fished. At times I have had astronomical trout/hour numbers on Web and today was destined to be another one of those days. My personal best ever day of 274 trout was had here although I didn’t expect that type of action today but it was the 4th!!, so anything was possible.
When I first hit the water it was clear that someone had fished the creek before me. There were fresh boot tracks, as in most likely this AM. That’s what you get when you’re not on time and I didn’t make it to the stream today until 7AM. I caught 1 wild brown from the first pool that I normally catch several from and I was concerned. I examined the boot tracks a little closer and they appeared to be headed downstream. Sure enough when I moved up to the next pool there were no sign of any tracks and I caught 5 trout from that pool in about a minutes time.
This creek has the prettiest browns I've ever seen. To me they rival a brookie. You just dont get browns like this any place else.
That pace continued for hours on end. At 9:30am I caught my 100th trout.
At 11:45 I caught my 200th trout.
With still quite a bit of stream ahead of me the thought of hitting an all time high crossed my mind. It’s a record that’s stood for 7 years now and hasn’t even really been pressed. If I would ever fish a full day I’d be able to do it but I rarely fish past noon so the fishing has to be epic to even think about it. Today was that day. Trout number 250 was handled and released at 1:00PM, 260 and 270 shortly after that. By now I was finally out of the normal stream and into a swift shallow area with poor habitat. Time was not on my side, as I didn’t want to fish much longer just to force a higher number. A few small pools later I slid trout number 275 back into a pool to set an all time personal best. I fished for another 30 minutes and ended the day with 285 trout handled and releases.
This one has an amazing 'false eye'
It was some of the fastest fishing I’ve had ever over an extended period. At one point I probably caught 20 trout over a 10 minute period and caught over 40 for every hour I fished today which is also a personal best even though I don’t keep good track of that number anymore for a whole outing. I had a pleasant walk out of the wood to my bike that was lying in wait just downstream from my checkout point.
I’m looking forward to Saturday as I have another stream with strong flows all lined up and I expect some more fantastic action. July is my favorite month of the year for catching trout and it’s my best month every year. Had a pretty good start today.
On a side note, I picked up a new pair of wading boots. Bought a pair of Simms “Rivershed” Vibram sole boots. At $179 I was anxious to see how they would work. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I never thought I’d go back to rubber soles but they were so rock solid today. STICKY! Glad I spent the money on there.
When I first hit the water it was clear that someone had fished the creek before me. There were fresh boot tracks, as in most likely this AM. That’s what you get when you’re not on time and I didn’t make it to the stream today until 7AM. I caught 1 wild brown from the first pool that I normally catch several from and I was concerned. I examined the boot tracks a little closer and they appeared to be headed downstream. Sure enough when I moved up to the next pool there were no sign of any tracks and I caught 5 trout from that pool in about a minutes time.
This creek has the prettiest browns I've ever seen. To me they rival a brookie. You just dont get browns like this any place else.
That pace continued for hours on end. At 9:30am I caught my 100th trout.
At 11:45 I caught my 200th trout.
With still quite a bit of stream ahead of me the thought of hitting an all time high crossed my mind. It’s a record that’s stood for 7 years now and hasn’t even really been pressed. If I would ever fish a full day I’d be able to do it but I rarely fish past noon so the fishing has to be epic to even think about it. Today was that day. Trout number 250 was handled and released at 1:00PM, 260 and 270 shortly after that. By now I was finally out of the normal stream and into a swift shallow area with poor habitat. Time was not on my side, as I didn’t want to fish much longer just to force a higher number. A few small pools later I slid trout number 275 back into a pool to set an all time personal best. I fished for another 30 minutes and ended the day with 285 trout handled and releases.
This one has an amazing 'false eye'
It was some of the fastest fishing I’ve had ever over an extended period. At one point I probably caught 20 trout over a 10 minute period and caught over 40 for every hour I fished today which is also a personal best even though I don’t keep good track of that number anymore for a whole outing. I had a pleasant walk out of the wood to my bike that was lying in wait just downstream from my checkout point.
I’m looking forward to Saturday as I have another stream with strong flows all lined up and I expect some more fantastic action. July is my favorite month of the year for catching trout and it’s my best month every year. Had a pretty good start today.
On a side note, I picked up a new pair of wading boots. Bought a pair of Simms “Rivershed” Vibram sole boots. At $179 I was anxious to see how they would work. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I never thought I’d go back to rubber soles but they were so rock solid today. STICKY! Glad I spent the money on there.