Bigfishbryan
07-26-06, 12:06 PM
Fished with James Buice Sunday up on the Hiawassee River in NC. We put in on the side of the road in an area called Lance Cove and took out at a boat ramp at a bridge on Fires Creek Rd. This is the first time I've fished up there and I must say this is a beautiful river. James has done a pretty good many guide trips up there and is pretty familiar with it. The Hiawassee in NC is not a designated trout stream and doesn't receive any stockings, however it is full of wild rainbows and browns. The water temp was 60 degrees at the put in and when we took out it had risen to 64. Really nothing was hatching all day. James said he caught about a dozen fish. I did see him catch several. I only caught about 5, however the largest one was a 20 inch bow. We spent most of the day walking and wading. The water was extremely low. James started fishing downstream and would end up about a mile down and I had to row the raft down, but most of the time was spent dragging it. TVA released water for an hour from 5-6, but it didn't get down to us until we took out and went to get my truck at the put in, which was about 9:15. Most of the fish were in the 8-13 inch range and were all rainbows. The 20 inch bow was a wild fish, but you could tell it was a fed fish. I caught it a little ways downstream from a house with a dock with a feeder. He put up a heck of a fight on a 4 weight. We were the only idiots on the river that day. I guess most people have better things to do than drag a 300 lb raft for several miles down a river with extremely low water. It was a fun trip, but if not for the twenty inch bow it would have been a very long float. I'm a little sore from dragging that raft so much. I'll definently be back up there again, but I think I'll wait until spring when there is more water in the river.