Back to the Mountains!

[flyfisherman]

Ah, yes ... getting too hot around here and we need some cooler mountain air ... Plus, "the need" to wet a line!

A group of us gather two or three times a year and enjoy our favorite thing to do, fly fishing. We'll gather at some camping area, streamside or lakeside, either in a national or state forest campground, usually without many amenities and enjoy the great outdoors!

My favorite place in the western NC mountains is a NFS C/G with the Nantahala River running right through the C/G! There's also a creek that empties into the river, again very close to the very middle of the C/G. Ya just don't have very far to go from the PU to start fishing! Here's a shot of the camp site back in the spring of '06 ... note the messy camp site of fly fisherman ... we do most everything outside ... cook, wash dishes right there at the end of the picnic table; the gray ice cooler with the white top is for provisions like milk, juice, butter, eggs, bacon, ect.,ect. The red cooler is for fresh caught fish! Since this C/G has no electrical hook-ups, note the electrical cable running from the truck to the camper ... for the overhead lights, a small 12V fan for moving air inside should there be a need (even a small television for those who cannot be without one).
Also a pix of the river ... I just love fishing that river! There's some good sized ones in there, but since these are "wild trout waters", i.e., no stocking of hatchery trout, all are native and wild and spooky and hard to catch and very, very tastey!







Leaving Saturday for a week. Now, where was that list of "things" I should never forget to bring?


Fly

[JimS]

That is a beautiful area.  I spent many years camping in the Nantahala National Forest at a campground call Horse Cove, near Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.  The campground is right beside Santeetla Creek and looks like the pictures you have.  That campground is my second favorite, first being in Montana.
Thanks for the pictures!

[flyfisherman]

Hey Jim ~ We just did the Santeetlah and stayed at Horse Cove a couple of months ago (April 20th thru the 26th) and did we catch trout! I had never been there before and a member of our group kept insisting we stay there for one of our outings and I'm glad he did! That Santeetlah has about the most rocks per 100 yards of any creek/river/stream I've ever fished! (or should I say "boulders"?) ~ The "Nan" that I have shown does a whole bunch of things ... falls, rapids, widens out, narrows in, loops around ... and bears, too! There's a bear perserve the next mountain over and so it's not too uncommon to have a visitor or two come around! Causes one to keep their camp site tiddy after dark!




Fly

[JimS]

Hey Jim ~ We just did the Santeetlah and stayed at Horse Cove a couple of months ago (April 20th thru the 26th) and did we catch trout! I had never been there before and a member of our group kept insisting we stay there for one of our outings and I'm glad he did! That Santeetlah has about the most rocks per 100 yards of any creek/river/stream I've ever fished! (or should I say "boulders"?) ~ The "Nan" that I have shown does a whole bunch of things ... falls, rapids, widens out, narrows in, loops around ... and bears, too! There's a bear perserve the next mountain over and so it's not too uncommon to have a visitor or two come around! Causes one to keep their camp site tiddy after dark!




Fly

I'm sooooooooo jealous!  You are right about the rocks / boulders.  Try to raft down that creek to the fish barrier! OUCH!!!!  If you do get back there, head upstream past the old road and where the old bridge was, you will find a rather large pool that is great to fish.  Also, at the head of the pool is a fun rapid to shoot.  Many years ago, my brothers and I built a rock wall on the far side of the creek to dam it up to make the rapids more fun.  I wonder if it is still there?  It has probably been 40+ years ago.

[flyfisherman]

I'm sooooooooo jealous!  You are right about the rocks / boulders.  Try to raft down that creek to the fish barrier! OUCH!!!!  If you do get back there, head upstream past the old road and where the old bridge was, you will find a rather large pool that is great to fish.  Also, at the head of the pool is a fun rapid to shoot.  Many years ago, my brothers and I built a rock wall on the far side of the creek to dam it up to make the rapids more fun.  I wonder if it is still there?  It has probably been 40+ years ago.

Jim ~ I think the area your talking about is upstream from Horse Cove, above the new bridge (the stream makes a sharp right turn and goes under the bridge) and that area is now called Rattler Ford ... it's a group campsite, has four units that can take up to 50 people per unit. Just above the new bridge, maybe 100 yards or so (and into the Rattler Ford site), there's a real deep hole ... looks like it would be a great swimming hole (if for the water not being so cold!). You would just about have to have a reservation to fish it because it's so popular. I went by there morning and evening and someone would always be there ... but catching fish!

Now, at that bend in the stream, just where it makes a sharp right turn and goes under the bridge, there's a bunch of rocks ... that was'nt your engineering handiwork per chance?




Fly

[JimS]

Jim ~ I think the area your talking about is upstream from Horse Cove, above the new bridge (the stream makes a sharp right turn and goes under the bridge) and that area is now called Rattler Ford ... it's a group campsite, has four units that can take up to 50 people per unit. Just above the new bridge, maybe 100 yards or so (and into the Rattler Ford site), there's a real deep hole ... looks like it would be a great swimming hole (if for the water not being so cold!). You would just about have to have a reservation to fish it because it's so popular. I went by there morning and evening and someone would always be there ... but catching fish!

Now, at that bend in the stream, just where it makes a sharp right turn and goes under the bridge, there's a bunch of rocks ... that was'nt your engineering handiwork per chance?




Fly

Yes, the pool is upstream form the campground and where the "new" bridge crosses.  The old bridge was a log affair that was about 1 foot above the creek.  It would flood every time it rained, making crossing impossible.  The rocks could very well be the work of my brothers' and myself.  It has been close to 30 years since I have been there and it is difficult to remember the exact locations.  When "the road to nowhere" was cut back at the time the new bridge was built, a lot of runoff and sedimentation filled up almost 1/2 of the big pool.  If I could stand there and look at it, I would know exactly where everything is.  The last time I was there, most of the sand had been washed out of the pool and it looked more like it did in the mid '60s.  One stand-out feature of the pool was if you were standing looking upstream, the righthand side of the pool was bordered by a large and relatively smooth slab of granite, sloping down to the creek, with brownish-green streaks of very slippery slime.  Also, when I used to camp there, the place was relatively empty and consisdered very remote.  The campground was originally a backwoods hunter's campground with only about five camping spots.  I never saw anyone other than myself and some friends fish that hole.  That all changed when the road was paved and the bridge was built.  There were also no group sites then.  The "road to nowhere" was originally going to go through Joyce Kilmer to Tellico Plains but was stopped.  They then cut it above the campgroud and stopped at the Tennessee state line.  Tennessee never gave permission for the road.  Talk about pork barrel.  The last time I was on that road they had just built overlooks.  An interesting aside: My father and I were near the end of that road right after it had been cut, in probably the second to last turnout.  We were looking down into the forest and saw what to this day I believe was an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.  And yes, I do know what a Piliated Woodpecker looks like.  This bird definately had a SOLID cream colored bill, not the whitesh streaks on the piliated's bill.  We saw this bird from about 50 feet.  Should have reported it but we didn't.  Stoooopid!  I am going to have to take my wife and son there in the not too distant future and show my son where I first learned to camp!
Good memories...