The Davidson River

The semester came to an end last Friday and Christmas break is finally here. After a weekend with family and my brother graduating, I finally found time to hit the water. Monday, on my way home from Cullowhee, I was able to make time to stop at what is my favorite fishery in North Carolina, the Davidson River. With its undercut banks, deep pockets, swift runs, great hatches, beautiful water clarity, and majestic browns, the Davidson is like no other fishery. I could go on and on about its attributes, for days probably. The Davidson is a lot of things, especially tough at times. When I arrived at the river the temperature was still in the mid 20's with the water temps hanging out in the mid to high 40's. I knew the fish would most likely be lethargic and that it was going to be tough to get them to eat anything. After stopping at the fly shop and satisfying a few needs and wants, I headed on up the road full of both confidence and uncertainty. I had spent the day before my trip hanging with good friend Clint Holcomb, an excellent guide and fisherman from Hookers Fly Shop of Sylva NC, trying to soak up any knowledge that I could. We had spent time talking flies, leaders, presentation methods, and anything else that two fishing bums might talk about. Needless to say, after a few short hours of talking, my confidence level was at a high. I had already made my mind up before arriving at the river that I was going to deploy the nymphing tactics that I had learned from Clint the day before. I put on my waders, my boots, my pack, and rigged up my rod with what was easily the longest leader and connection knot combo that I had ever fished with.. I started out fishing with two hares ear nymphs, one olive, one black, with a soft hackle collar. I worked my way up stream, hit run after run, pool after pool, and nothing was happening. The fish were way more sluggish than what I had expected them to be, stuck to the bottom and very slow with their movements, if they even moved at all. All of my excitement about fishing quickly turned to frustration and determination. I made my mind up that I was not going to leave until I caught a fish! The temperature was rising quickly which left me with the hope that at some point that day the fish would become a little more active. After fishing the lower section of the catch and release and coming up empty handed, I decided that it was time to move further up stream. I parked at the hatchery and slid down the bank into the river. The temperature was now hanging around the upper 40's and things started to look up. First cast into a deep pocket of water and BAM! I hooked up with a decent sized rainbow but after a quick run, the hook slipped out and I was still at a big whopping zero for the day. The next cast I got hung on a submerged log. I made my way over to the log to free my flies and I noticed it looked as if the log was moving. I broke off a small limb during the process of freeing my flies and realized it was covered in caddis larvae, the breakthrough I needed! I quickly switched my flies to two peaking caddis variations and BAM, it was on! First cast with the caddis flies and I caught a beautiful brown. The rest of the way up stream I was catching wild rainbows here and there. Overall, I ended up fishing for about 4 hours, caught and released one brown trout and seven wild rainbows, yet another successful Davidson River fishing trip.

The images below are just some pictures from Monday's trip, and previous trips to the Davidson.