Like much of the country, we’ve had some crazy weather lately. Yesterday I headed out in pouring rain, it cleared for a great day of fishing until we got run off the river by some afternoon thunderstorms. We just “went with the flow”, caught a bunch of fish and had a blast. Stay flexible in your fishing plans. Don’t forget when the thunder starts rumbling and your standing in water with a nice long tenkara rod in your hand that graphite, and the human body, are both excellent conductors of electricity. Play it safe, pack it in and live to fish another day ..read more

I look forward to every trip but I have never looked forward more than to yesterday’s trip with a friend and classmate of mine from the US Coast Guard Academy. Since we graduated in 1977 our paths have crossed too infrequently but the universe aligned yesterday to give me one of the most enjoyable mornings on the water I can recall. He was more of an angler than I was back in the day, and as these pictures show, that hasn’t changed ( he caught all the fish in these pictures!) We had the wonderful company of his young nephew who enjoyed the fishing a lot, all of our reminiscing…maybe not so mu ..read more

Clearly these smiling anglers know how to catch fish on a tenkara rod, otherwise these crazy pictures would never have been possible. What’s not apparent is that they are also two of Asheville’s finest craft brewers and the owners and purveyors of Sweeten Creek Brewing. There is no better way to end a day of fishing, biking, hiking or whatever than to relax with friends over some of Asheville’s finest craft beer. Check out Sweeten Creek Brewing (and ask them about the big one that got away ..read more

I do! if I can be with awesome people like these. I always say you don’t get cold until the fish stop biting. Well, we never got cold yesterday. The water was high and off color but the weather seemed to have kept the fair weather folks at home. That meant we could pick our spots, move around freely and enjoy everything the river had to offer. If you fish these conditions monitor stream conditions carefully, pick your spots, fish with a friend and wade within your limits. I can’t remember a more fun trip but I admit, I did take a long hot shower when I got home ..read more

…because that’s how big it is. I know you see a lot of pictures of big trout on my website. Okay, it’s good marketing. But I love and appreciate appreciate every fish. I always wince when someone catches a beautiful but petit trout and shows disappointment because “It’s a little one.” An 8 inch fish isn’t a defective version of a 12 inch fish. It’s a perfect version of itself. Small fish like this in a wild trout fishery are a sign that the fishery is healthy and productive. This is a native Appalachian Brook Trout. It will probably grow to a maximum adult size of maybe 7 or 8 inches…and it w ..read more

What a super fun outing we had today. We caught fish and laughed all morning. The thing is, I think we would have had just as many laughs if we hadn’t caught any fish. It’s too easy to get wrapped up in the “how many, how big” mindset of measuring the success of a fishing trip. If we were in search of protein that might be appropriate but we are catch and release fishing for the pure pleasure of it. One of life’s greatest pleasures is the gift of being in the company of good people. I was lucky to have that today and what a joy it was. Okay….a few nice fish like these didn’t hurt either ..read more

I had a blast yesterday morning fishing with this grandfather/grandson duo of trout masters. As you can see, we braved the rain and did it ever pay off. Maybe the fish appreciated the fact that we were as wet as they were. Maybe the rain and rising water had them on the bite. Or maybe these guys are just good? I suspect it was a combination of all three. I love photos of fishing bringing generations together. This young angler is rightly proud of his catch but that grandfather is even more proud of his grandson ..read more

Today we did fish through the solar eclipse (which was 87% here in western North Carolina.) We caught this fish during the eclipse and another only one minute from maximum coverage. They didn’t seem to mind all the celestial goings on at all. As a matter of fact, they didn’t even seem to notice. We kept alternating between our fishing glasses and our eclipse glasses to make sure we didn’t miss out on either the action in the water or the action in the cosmos. Great people, real spring-like weather and the eclipse made it a day to remember ..read more

Yesterday we had sleet, last night we had snow and today we had…great fishing! It feels a lot more like early March than early April but I’m not complaining. It was near freezing when we started this morning but we fished our way up into the 40s and didn’t mind a bit. As I always say, you don’t get cold when the fish are biting. Today they were biting and I had the good fortune to be out with two super-fun tenkara aces. If this is spring…I’ll take it ..read more

March is always a guessing game for weather around here. Yesterday we found a gap and got a morning of fishing in before a heavy rain swept in during the afternoon. Fishing was tough and we had to earn every take. Luckily I was with an excellent fisherman who made good on his chances. This was certainly the fish of the day. He took a tiny midge pattern on 6X tippet but patience, touch and good fish fighting allowed us to get this quick picture to top off a super fun morning ..read more