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Check out this New River Tailing Carp.....

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7-22- 2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Ray Clarke, Don Szamier, Greensboro,NC, New River Smallmouth, forecast was for possible severe t-storms, and it was definitely hot as blazes and humid, but we managed til 8:00pm til a t-storm ran us off the river.  We started in a favorite run /foam line and worked poppers on top, Don scored first with a couple of small smallmouth, and Don continued to work the bank run with a popper.  We worked our way out to a mid river run/ledge, and Ray was into a fish within 6 or 8 casts, a pretty decent smallie.  Ray exclaimed, "let me take my glasses off and get a good shot of this one," which I did.  It was a good shot and a good fish, and took a yellow spook popper.  Ray followed with another fish or two, and we moved downstream a bit and covered the rest of the deep, ledge-filled run.  Don and I then crept around Ray and walked the deep run downstream, looking for fish to sight cast to.  We spotted this nice fish holding only a few inches under the surface, he was ready to eat but very spooky.  The fish spooked after a couple of casts, and after making several more presentations to the end of the ledges we decided to take a break, get a Gatorade and head to a new spot.  We did just that, we could see large cumulus clouds /thunderstorms building around us, and we could see a large storm moving north of us toward Austinville.  We continued to fish and worked our way out to one of my favorite late day spots.  Don got four or five takes on a popper in as many casts but each came unbuttoned.  Ray and I crept out to one of my favorite spots, he made about a 15-20 foot gentle cast, laying the fly right where I have caught so many big smallies before.  The bug landed, and we watched as a big smallmouth slowly rose just like a trout and sipped the bug in right in front of us- - -it was such an incredible thing to be able to see it unfold in perfect detail right before our eyes.  The fish took with confidence and with precision and an economy of motion that are right there with any rising trout there's ever been.  Within several minutes and a long fight the trophy smallie lay in Ray's hands.  It was a large, mature fish of probably 3.5 -4lbs, a real trophy on a fly rod and best of all on the surface on a popper.  After releasing the fish, and a few high fives we were back to fishing.  Ray caught probably three or four more smaller fish, right below the same ledge /tree that had produced the big fish.  Don caught a couple of smaller fish too.  We moved down a little below Ray to a spot where I knew there were some large fish, a mid river hump that often produces a good fish on top.   Don got a cast over the hump, and sure enough, within two pops the fish swirled the bug, and Don was hooked up to a good fish.  It was a good fish, Don's best fish of the day - -a smallie of a couple of pounds.  We fished a couple more spots, and with a storm moving in we decided to call it a day.  We made it back to the car just in time, and the bottom fell out.  We just missed getting totally drenched.  We headed back out to the Interstate and ended up stopping at a rest area just down the highway to unrobe from our fishing garb.  It was a challenging day, Ray and Don worked for the fish they caught, but we caught three really nice fish, and with the storm coming at 7:30pm and the big fish starting to turn on, I feel like we would have caught a few more large fish before dark because of the time of day and the front that was coming through.  With Ray and Don any day is a good day, as both are a pleasure to spend a day on the water with.  Thanks guys!

7-23-2008 FISHING REPORT -  Guided Trip Larry Tomar, Dan Camia, Greensboro, NC, New River Smallmouth, forecast was for severe t-storms, a front, and possibly some heavy rain. ...and that's exactly what we got.  Rescheduled the trip for 8/13/2008.

7-24-2008 FISHING REPORT - AM Lesson Ed Maddox. a great lesson, Ed was preparing for a week trip to Yellowstone/MT.  I am envious!

7-25-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, TN /South Holston tailwater, Brad Peete, Neal Mitchell, Jim Irvin, Greensboro, NC. We got an early start, after meeting the guys in Banner Elk we drove over to the river and we got in into the usual SoHo summer fog.  We didn't see many flies this early but there were a few Junebugs like this in the water - -what a meal they would be. Brad was first to get going, he started on the banks with a beetle as there were some rising fish there.  Neal fished the other bank, and Jim ended up fishing the run upstream from where we got in. The water was chilly, a typical 48F which is normal for the SoHo even this time of the year.  Neal was first to hook up, the first fish a near foot long rainbow.   Jim soon hooked up too, and took this rainbow on a Jeff's Budding Emerger.  A couple of casts later Jim caught this rainbow, again on the same fly.  We released the fish, put some dry dust on the fly, and next cast yielded another fish like the previous two.  Three fish and Jim hadn't moved his feet at all but caught all from the same spot.   We dryed the fly again and dusted it, next cast Jim hooked about a 17-18" brown that gave him a tussle and then broke him off as it bolted downstream.  We tied on another fly, and another cast another brown, this fish took a DPG emerger.  We moved a few steps, Jim made another cast, another brown, this one a little nicer fish.  Jim released the fish, another cast, and yet another brown.  For about an hour and a half Jim was hooked up it seemed.  We moved a few more steps, Jim caught another rainbow .  Brad was upstream of us, and was into some fish too.  By 10:00am some sulphurs started to pop, and we were into some rising fish.  Neal nailed this challenging brown, a good fish, he caught it as it was rising and it was an impressive catch that required a great cast and a precise drift.  took a break for lunch and then headed downstream, when we got in the water I pointed out a run to Neal again and he made a cast and hooked up on the first drift.  It was another pretty decent brown, this brown also ate a Jeff's Budding Emerger.  We also saw some bank sippers, they were cruising, Neal took a shot at them with a beetle.    Jim and Brad and I watched as Neal got a take but the fish managed to spit the fly while we were turned away and talking...bummer!  We saw a good many sulphurs still coming off late afternoon, even way downstream, and there were tons of nymph shucks in the water.  We finished up as the water came up, it was a decent day though the fish were not easy.  As I drove home through Abingdon I stopped to take this shot of the lake, a real testament to how dry it has been in East Tennessee and to  the extent of the ongoing drought. 

7-26-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Mark Stauffer, Greensboro, NC, New R Smallmouth.  We started at midday fishing some riffles and deep ledges.   We moved up to the tailout of the pool above, there are normally some nice fish cruising there.  Mark hooked up, the first fish turned out to be a redeye.   We moved to the left and continued working the deep ledge, and eventually toward a deep grass bed.  Mark made a cast and the first smallie of the day pounded the popper, it jumped, and gave a great account of itself, it was a very nice fish.  As is often the case, all the smallies we caught inhaled the Hipps Soft Body Popper.  We took some pics, released the fish, and Mark made another long cast to the same grass bed and another smallmouth--this one larger still bolted 4 feet across the surface with the top of its back out of the water to inhale the popper.  It was a thick, heavy fish, and a great looking fish for sure .  Mark revived the fish, then released it.  We moved to another spot, but on the way played around with a large tailing carp, Mark and I spent several minutes watching the fish mud the bottom.  We moved to another spot and caught maybe 6 or 8 more smallies, a couple more redeyes, and about 7:30pm we got a heavy thunderstorm.  It rained about an inch or two in a half hour, we decided to call it a day and head home.  Check out Mark fighting one of his large fish below:

7-28-2008 FISHING REPORT -  Guided Trip, Daniel Ober, Greensboro, Kim Carruth, Burlington, NC, Smith River tailwater, Bassett, VA, native fishing on the Parkway.   We arrived at the Smith bright and early, we got in a favorite stretch in Bassett, we found some rising fish Daniel was first to hook up with two browns.  I walked with Kim downstream to another run and we only saw one fish rise- -but that one he made one cast to and caught, it was a brown, and also was a beautifully colored fish.     After those fish we decided to head downstream to another spot where I thought we'd find some rising fish.  Daniel got in and fished upstream to the sippers, but they were tough.  He managed one fish and missed a few others.  Kim and I found several fish downstream, they were tough as well and were very spooky.  There weren't many bugs on the water, although poking around an eddy produced this Baetis spinner and this Blue winged olive size 20.  We went upstream above Town Creek and worked over some rising fish, I spotted a bank sipping brown of about 15" , after a couple of casts/refusals with the ant, Daniel tied on a beetle.  The fly landed two feet upstream of the fish, the fish cruised up slowly and took it in.  Kim was downstream fishing to several risers too, but they were tough.  With the water soon to rise on us, we packed it in, had lunch, and headed over to the Parkway to do some hike in /down fishing.  Daniel got in first, and scored first too, we fished terrestrials and it was on from the start. The first fish was a native brown.  Daniel caught several browns, rainbows, and brookies from the first 20 yds of water he fished.  Kim scored on a brookie as well.  We worked our way upstream, Daniel ended up catching a mix of browns, brookies, and rainbows, about 20-25 altogether.  On our walk out, Kim and I hiked down to a couple of holes, and he finished the day with a couple of native rainbows like this fish.  On that, we called it a day and hiked back to the car.  The Smith was challenging, but the small stream fishing made up for that.  We got maybe 30 fish on the day.  Thanks guys!

7-29-2008 FISHING REPORT - Web site editing

7-30-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Mike Harrill, Rutherfordton, NC, New River Smallmouth, NC/VA, good day, maybe 30-40 fish, we fished just over the Alleghany county line in Grayson Co, Va, a favorite stretch of the New.  We got in and fished poppers to start, decided it was going to be on top or bust.  Mike and I got in, the first fish, a nice chunky smallie crushed the popper in an eddy.  He took a Hipps Soft Body Fire tiger.  A second smaller fish in the same area hammered the popper.  As we worked our way upstream, Mike cast his Frugal Frog to a mid river boulder and hooked up on a nice fish.  Mike netted the fish and we took several pictures.  The fish was a nice fish, a very chunky smallie.  The tailout at the far end of the pool produced six or eight smallies like this guy, every one of them on a popper.  We also caught many redeyes , the Rodney Dangerfield of fish- - -they get no respect- - after the strike they play dead so maybe that title is deserved.  There were lots of fish in the tailout, and the bank of the pool we were in, the wall bank produced another 5 fish or so like this one.  We caught another 3 or 4 and decided to move to another spot as a hatch of canoes came through our solitude.  We headed back to the truck and drove back over the state line into Alleghany Co.  We got back into the river, Mike made a cast out to a deep ledge/hole from the bank.  Several strikes but no fish, so we moved up stream.  We caught several smallmouth, redeyes, and redbreast, Mike caught this large redbreast- -one of the largest I have ever seen.  A few more smallies like this guy fell to the popper, and after fishing up river a good bit, we decided to call it a day as Mike had a 3hr drive back to Rutherfordton.  It was a super day and with some nice fish, thanks Mike!

Class III Water on the New River

7-31-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Mac Cheek, Greensboro, NC, New River Smallmouth, VA, Mac and I left Greensboro at 430am and got to the river near Fries, VA as the sun was coming up, what a pleasant morning it was.  We got in the water, and within a cast Mac was hooked up to a smallmouth.  On that we thought that it was the beginning of a banner day.  But the incoming front had shut the fish down quite a bit.  We fished many reliable spots hard, but only got a couple more fish to show for it and several strikes that we didn't get hookups on as the takes were half hearted ones.  We had one smashing strike that ended up being a large redbreast, we caught it in a deep riffle hole and also got a couple of strikes that were probably smallmouth.  We covered several spots I knew held fish but they were off- --although we did see what was a smallmouth that was 25" or better, a wide, deep bodied dark fish that came cruising back to where we were standing to check us out.  We reeled in, and headed upstream toward Independence.  We decided to give it another shot, and we got a blast of a strike at the first spot, I think maybe it was a nice smallmouth.  Mac caught a couple of smallies like this one, and had several other strikes as he cast to the bank pockets.   With storm clouds building in from the north and west we decided to quit at lunch time.  Good thing too, as ten minutes after we got out stuff off and got into the car and out on the highway very shortly the bottom fell out and it rained, I mean a torrential downpour, and it did that all the way back to Pilot Mtn, NC with only a few breaks.  Galax must have gotten an inch or more of rain.  It was one of the tougher days, but Mac was a pleasure to spend a day with as always, and if there's more of an angling gentleman anywhere I don't know of him.  Thanks Mac!

8-1-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Dr. Bose  Ravenel, High Point, NC, TN Tailwaters/South Holston River.  I headed out at 0 dark thirty and met up with Bose  in Banner Elk, then we headed over to the South Holston.  This would turn out to be an absolutely great day, and a real blessing to me.  Dr. Ravenel is a pediatrician who has recently authored a book with Dr. John Rosemond.  Anyone with an ADHD child and who has dealt with those issues (medications, etc.) will find this book with life changing information- - you can check it out here.  The book is due out in September, I'll be standing in line for a copy!   When we arrived at the SoHo and there was still a deep fog on the river, and the water was its usual clear.  With sulphurs having been on the past few months and also recently too, I decided to tie on a Jeff's Emerger to see if we could raise a fish.  Two casts later, Bose  was hooked up to a nice brown.  Bose  played the fish on 7X very carefully (masterfully!), and soon I netted the brown.  We released the fish, Bose  made another cast, and caught this small rainbow.  Bose  was new to the Soho, so I took some time to show him some of the insects.  In this part of the river the bottom is loaded with blackflies, and the rocks are covered with the larvae.  In this river, if there aren't blue wings or sulphurs coming off you can always count on blackflies.  We continued fishing the same run, Bose  made another cast and caught this small brown.  After working the run a few more casts, I handed Bose  the nymph rig with a nymph and a blackfly dropper.  A half dozen casts yielded a couple of fish, one brown and one rainbow.  The flies were becoming more numerous, and we were beginning to see a lot of sulphurs in the air, and lots of fish rising.  Normally tell tale cast nymph shucks will litter the surface film when these flies are coming off, and seeing them means flies are hatching upstream of you.  And they were, soon there were several nice browns rising within range.  I knotted a fresh Jeff's Sulphur Emerger to Bose'  tippet and the next cast/drift a brown of 17-18" sipped it in, the fish splashed and wallowed in the 4 or 5 inches of water it was in, then turned and made a burst downstream and broke Bose  off.  It was a nice fish.  I knotted the same fly on again, another cast and another nice brown inhaled it.  We netted the fish, snapped a photo, and released it.  Bose made another cast, and another brown similar to the previous one.  Bose and I were amazed at the quality browns that he was nailing on the emerger in such a shallow run.  He must have caught four or five real quality browns and missed a couple of others, we were both elated at the fish that were eating our dry flies.  Many of the fish were obviously well fed from a summer's long sulphur hatch.  I watched with great pleasure as Bose continued to work over these SoHo browns.  He caught maybe 2 or 3 more nice browns like this one, all on the Jeff's emerger.   The fish really took this new fly with confidence as a match for the sulphurs like this that were coming off.  We were expecting to see the water rise, as the original schedule was to be 11am-8pm, but by 12:30 we hadn't seen any water and I knew something was up.  Sure enough, the TVA changed the schedule to 7pm-8pm so we had low water and a good hatch all afternoon long....go figure but we weren't complaining!  We took a break for lunch, and then fished a section of pocket water downstream from where  we fished earlier.  We had several rises to the dry, but had to switch flies to get a take as there were some larger invarias mixed in the smaller dorothea sulphurs.  We changed flies and Bose  scored right away on this rainbow.    With evening coming, we decided to head downstream to hit one last spot while there were still some flies on the water.  We walked to the spot, Bose made a cast and hooked up, it was another nice brown.  We released the fish, made another cast, and another brown.  We missed a really nice brown on the take, but caught probably two or three more fish, one brown and two rainbows.  Bose  turned to me and said its been a great day, lets call it a day.  I agreed, still finding it hard to believe we'd had the blessing of a day with a great hatch and no high water/generation.  It was a rare treat.  I took this evening shot as an exclamation point on a great day, we left the river as the sun begin to set on another great day on the SoHo.  Thanks Bose, it was incredible.  Below is a video clip of Dr Ravenel playing a brown he had on a Jeff's Sulphur emerger:

8-2-2008 FISHING REPORT - AM Lesson, Nick and Richard Granowsky, Greensboro, NC, we did a 2 hour beginning fly fishing lesson, working on casting, line control, mgmt, and hooking, playingl and landing fish.

8-5-2008 FISHING REPORT - AM Lesson, Bill Veazey & Son, Greensboro, NC.

8-7-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Dr. Tom Wolff, Winston-Salem, NC, Jeff Davis, Lexington, NC, middle New River, Smallmouth.  It was a challenging day from the start, with a front moving in and also arriving at sun up to a heavy thunderstorm- - it must have rained at least an inch or more while we waited out the heavy rain in the car.  We decided to not get out in the weather as there were infrequent but close flashes of lightning.  It took probably 40-45 minutes for the weather to pass and we got in.  Jeff worked the near bank as we got in, he managed a few half hearted strikes on the popper but nothing significant.  Tom and I waded out to a mid-river run that normally is quite good but we only managed a few strikes.  The longer we fished the murkier the water turned, a sure sign the runoff from the storm was making its way into the river.  We took our popper off and put on a streamer, Jeff nailed a smallmouth of about 12".  Meanwhile, Tom had caught a few fish- -a couple of redbreast and redeyes and a couple of small smallies.  With the water murking up, we decided to drive upriver to Fries to an area I knew would probably be clear and it was.  We got in, Jeff made several casts to a nice ridge and caught a small smallmouth.  The next cast to a boulder mid stream yielded a strike and a pound and a half smallmouth- - -and Tom caught a small smallmouth just downstream of us.  Jeff caught another smallmouth, and continued working up the bank while Tom and I waded behind him and around upstream to the tailout of the pool above.  We worked our way over close enough to get a good cast into the bank.  The second cast over the tailout a smallmouth inhaled the popper, not a huge fish but much better than what we had seen so far.  A few casts later Tom was into another fish, this one a little better than the last.  We ended up catching another fish in that same spot, this one about the same size.   All of the fish were pretty chunky, maybe 12 inches or so.  We went downstream and hit another couple of spots, but overall it was quite slow still and it started to rain on us and a big storm was building off to the north- -- it looked pretty nasty.  On that we decided to call it a day, it was an off day for sure but a good day with two old customers and friends- -any day on the water with Tom and Jeff is a good one.  The combination of a front and the unsettled weather plus a 25-30 degree temperature swing- -which was comfortable for us - - - -really put the fish down.  Below is a short clip from our trip:

8-8-2008 FISHING REPORT - no R & D fishing today as yesterday's front/t-storms muddied the middle and upper New R. Will be doing web editing

8-9-2008 FISHING REPORT - will be assisting my friend and fly tyer Anthony Hipps on building his fly tying website.

8-11-2008 FISHING REPORT - AM Lesson Lavon Williams

8-12-2008 FISHING REPORT -  PM Bass Trip, completing some web edits and some very large fly orders!

8-13-2008 FISHING REPORT - Guided Trip, Larry Tomar, Dan Camia, Greensboro, NC, upper New River, Smallmouth, we met early in G'boro and arrived on the river a little after 10.  We made it most of the way and then some rain set in, it rained pretty much non stop for the first half of the day.  So much so for much of the day the camera never came out.  We got in near Independence, and fished downstream, Dan connected first with several small smallmouths, and a couple of large redeyes, and a redbreast or two.  Larry followed with a few of his own, the weather seemed to put a damper on things, we were getting strikes and catching some fish but most were small in comparision to what we normally catch.  The water conditions were clear and low, we fished hard at the first stop we made and caught maybe 15 fish or so altogether.  We decided to take a lunch break and hit another spot.  The river has really dropped in terms of level and the fishing has been great but not so today, as we found at the second place we fished.  We got quite a few strikes and maybe 20-25 more fish but the best one was maybe a pound and 12-13 inches long, which Dan caught.  With the wet weather Larry had the prized honor of the only photographed fish, which came late in the day once it had quit raining- - - -and we all joked that it was a redbreast.  Most of our strikes came fishing a favorite stretch that has lots of grass beds like these, and we couldn't have asked for better light and water conditions, as they were perfect, but the low pressure front really turned the larger fish off.  It was a challenging day but Dan and Larry hung in there, I think we ended up with around 35 fish, a "mixed bag" of redeyes, redbreast, and smallmouth.  Larry and Dan are such a pleasure to be with it makes a slow day still a good day.  They are great customers and friends.  Thanks guys, we'll have better weather next time

8-14-2008  FISHING REPORT - Web editing and hopefully completing several large fly orders

8-15-2008  FISHING REPORT -  no fishing today will be finalizing details on our 2008 WY trip, and making arrangements for all our 2009 trips which will include Wyoming, Montana, and New Mexico.

8-18-2008 FISHING REPORT -  no fishing,  enjoyed the afternoon with my father in law at the Wyndham Championship, glad Carl Pettersson won!

8-19--2008 FISHING REPORT - web editing, AM casting lesson

8-20-2008 FISHING REPORT  - Guided Trip, Bob & Bart Manning, Greensboro, NC, New River Smallmouth, doing this update from O'Hare Int'l Airport in Chicago........we met up early about 5:45 am and headed north to VA, we first fished near Fries.  We got in the river, Bob got a strike or two on his first few casts.  Bart started casting below, it was a gorgeous morning and would turn out to be one of the best weather days of the year.  The water was low and ultra clear and Bob was the first to hook up, and he ended up catching about 12 -15 smallies from the same spot and jumped/lost one that was about 18" on a surface strike on his popper.  Bart managed a couple, both fish nice fish but both came unbuttoned right at our feet and the popper came sailing back at us.  We took a break for lunch and moved to another spot up near Independence,  Bart scored first here with a small smallie, then we had a pretty large fish blow up on the popper but didn't get hooked.  Bart then proceeded to catch several decent fish, all like this one, and all on the popper.  For a half an hour Bart hooked up pretty consistently.  It was the most consistent action we'd seen all day.  We caught several smaller fish too like this, but they are all fun on top.  Several of the fish like this one were "chunks" and they fight like crazy.  We kept at it and hooked three really nice fish in the last tailout we fished, and Bart got this beauty and was his last fish so we decided to end on that.  We had a pretty good day, maybe 30 fish altogether, and Bob and Bart were an absolute pleasure to be with.  Thanks guys

Bart Manning plays a New River Smallie

Caught on a Hipps Soft Body Popper

9-1-2008 FISHING REPORT - OPEN/Available for Guided Trip or Instruction

9-2-2008 FISHING REPORT -  New River Smallmouth trip, R & D trip w/Stewart Gordon of Green Drake, Winston-Salem, NC.

9-3-2008 FISHING REPORT -  AM Open/available for Guided Trip or Instruction, GTCC Beginning Fly Fishing Class 1st session.

9-4 & 9-5-2008 FISHING REPORT - Open/Available for 1/2 day Guided Trip or Instruction AM

9-6-2008 FISHING REPORT - Open/Available AM for 1/2 Day Trip or Instruction

9-8-2008 FISHING REPORT - Open/Available for Guided Trip or Instruction

9-9-2008 FISHING REPORT -  AM Open/Available for 1/2 Day Guided Trip or Instruction, PM  Seminar /Wild Game Dinner at Life Community Church, High Point, NC.

9-10-2008 FISHING REPORT - GTCC Beginning Fly Fishing Class, 2nd session. 

9-11,12, 13,15,16,17,18  FISHING REPORT - Open /available for Guided Trip or Instruction

9-19 & 9-20 2008 FISHING REPORT -  Smallmouth Bass 2 day Seminar/Trip w/ Triangle Fly Fishers, Raleigh, NC, New River, Grayson Co, VA.

9-22 through 9-26 FISHING REPORT - Open /available for Guided Trip or Instruction.

9-27-2008 FISHING REPORT -  GTCC Fly fishing class field trip, location TBA

9-29, & 9-30-2008 FISHING REPORT - Open /available for Guided Trip or Instruction

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