NcHippie

Spending a weekend in the mountains catching trout after trout is fun, but popping plenty of panfish at the lake can be equally as enjoyable. The local lake is the perfect place to learn house to fly fish without risking catching a tree or another person. in this article I will review a few tactics and flies I personally use to all my Bluegill and Crappie. The lake or a local pond with a lot of back cast space is the perfect place to practice fly fishing. The fish are easy to catch and don't require much skill to reel in. Personally I prefer to fish for a lake from a boat. It ensures that you won't catch anything on your back cast. Fishing from the shore will work as well, but it is harder not to catch and trees. Another advantage to fishing from a boat is the fact that most of the small fish you'll catch are near the bank. This allows you to have some fun, attempting to see how far you can cast your line. Let's talk about fly selection. When fishing for panfis

Helton Creek is a 10 mile stretch of stream that’s due west of Stone Mountain and flows into the new river. This is my second favorite place to fish in North Carolina. The sheer length of this little creaks gives wonderful opportunity to many fisherman without feeling crowded. This creek has a few advantages compared to other creeks in the area.. Helton Creek is wide and deep. That means there are opportunities for larger trout to survive. The largest fish I've pulled out of Helton Creek was a 17 inch Brown trout, and this boy was fat. What sets this creek apart from all the others is its geographic features. All the deep pools surrounded by large stone walls on either side of you make this place prime fishing are. Theses stone walls will often create overhangs dipping into the water. These types of overhangs are used by trout to stay shielded from potential predators. If you can cast a weighted nymph such as a copper john under one of those overhangs you are almost guarante

You would think this would be pretty self explanatory but sadly it's not... stream etiquette something I think most people know but there are a few who don't. those who don't know this are often very defensive of their spot and will come after with the same rage as a neo-Nazi in a hatchback that you cut off two intersections back. In this article I will talk about how to be polite on the stream and how to deal with those who are the road-ragers of the stream. I have no doubt most people out there are polite in social situation . How to be polite on the stream: When you're out fishing and you find a spot that already has a fly fisherman in it, it is quite alright to fish on the over side of the stream as long as it is wide enough. What's not alright is fishing on the other side and casting over their line. This will piss even the calmest fisherman off. If your fishing up a stream and you come up on another fisherman don't pass him in the stream. Get out of t

Let's get technical for a minute. Have you ever been admiring your fly rod/reel and ever wondered how exactly this crap works? Well, it's actually quite simple. Since there is no weight to carry the line out of the rod like on a baitcaster the fly line itself must act as a weight… let me elaborate. There are several types of fly line on the market but all of them work the same. The type of line include Weight Forward (WF) , Double Taper (DT) , and Level Taper (L) . There are a few more types of line out there but they are irrelevant to the beginner fisherman. Before I go into how each fly line works and their uses I want to explain how fly line works. When using a fly rod you are not actually casting the leader and fly. In Fact you are casting the line itself. The weight of the line and taper in some cases is enough to shoot your line out 90 feet. Think of the fly itself as just the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae of a perfect presentation. Weight Forward (WF):

I want to do another Gear Review! I want to do it differently this time though. I want you Guys to Tell me what I should review. Ask me questions about gear your thinking of using and I'll try to answer some of them. After all, this blog is about the beginner fly fisherman. What good would I be if I didn't cater to your guys questions? So comment bellow and question about gear you could possibly have

Although I would love to take every last one of you fishing I simply can’t. The next best thing I can do for you beginner fly fishermen is to recommend you to a person who can take you fishing. The list of website below are my favorite guide services, blogs, and forums all related to NC fly fishing. Check these guys out and tell them I sent you. *This list is in no order, it is simply numbered for convenience* 1. Ashville Fly Fishing Co Ashville fly fishing co is a North Carolina based guide service dedicated to putting you on the fish. They offer full day and half day trout fishing trips. Trips are all inclusive. All gear is provided at no extra charge at all! A full day trout fishing trip will cost $450.00. For that price you get two anglers, a gourmet lunch, water, a guide, and will travel up to 10 miles of river. They offer their services on the Watauga, South Holston, Nolichucky, Tuckaseegee, French Broad, Pigeon, and Catawba Rivers. 2.   Brown Trout Fly

One of my favorite places to fish in North Carolina has to be stone mountain. Stone Mountain is located just west of Pilot Mountain. With its towering stone dome and plentiful fishing environment it is the perfect place to take a weekend trip to. Stone Mountain has both a delayed harvest and stocked stream. The stocked stream starts at the bottom of Stone Mountain park just by the entrance. From there on up it is almost all delayed harvest there is another section near the top of the park that is stocked. When I say stocked stream I really do mean STOCKED. Theses water both delayed harvest and stocked are filled to the brim with rainbow and brown trout. If you’ve read my earlier post  about casting you might have seen that i said there was no need for any fancy casts due to the lack of room on the streams. Stone mountain is one of the few exceptions. This stream is wide enough at some points to execute a switch-T cast. So, feel free to open up and have fun with your casting.

Intro Hello fly nation I'm back again and this time I have an instructional document for you. OK, so you bought a nice 200 dollar entry level fly rod and some waders. What now?!?!?! Its simple; go out to the nearest body of water and catch some fish. Nah! I'm just playing. Before you can land that trophy trout that pulled you 100 yards down the river you need to learn how to cast. Casting can be done in many different ways. Really , the options are endless. I'm going to show you just what you need to work your way around the North Carolina streams. All that fancy crap can wait till you really need to learn it. How does a fly rod work? First to understand how to cast we must understand what we are casting. When you fly fish you're actually not throwing the fly and leader. You're throwing the fly line. Quality fly lines have a taper that has a thick and heavy front and sizes down to a light and thin strand. The weight of the heavy front is what is used to th

The Weirdest Fly Rod I've Ever Seen! The Reddington Vapen is honestly the weirdest rod I've seen today. Reddington decided that it would be a good idea to partner with wingtips golfing. They thought they would would be smart and create a grip that relaxes a fisherman hand while allowing him to fish all day. What they  managed to do was actually create a somewhat flexible stick with a comfy grip. The cast weight is heavy and the action is slower than expected. For all the hype that this rod created before its release it's a bit of a disappointment to the advanced fisherman. Now that being said let's talk about why this rod doesn't suck. For the entry level fishermen this is a wild, new age rod that will get the job done. It is comfortable to hold for long periods of time, which makes it great for beginners. At first it might be hard to hold the rod on the stream for over 8 hours. Until you get use to the feel of using a fly rod the golf grip will really help

Tired of Leaky waders? Lets remedy that problem In our modern world there are hundreds of different types and brands of waders to choose from. Some waders offer camouflage, some are meant for the cold, and some have so many pockets you don't even need a gear bag. Out of all these type of waders there is one common problem, LEAKAGE. We've almost all experienced it. Its early in the morning and the water is below freezing, but you don't mind. Your waders are insulated so the cold isn't a problem. Well that is till you get balls deep and realize you have a leak. Let me say, I have never gotten out of the water faster than when I realized water was flowing over my unmentionables. An experience such as this can ruin any fishermans day. The thing about waders is, you get what you pay for. If you decide to buy a 50 dollar pair of waders that are equivalent to wearing trash bags you can expect them to have a short life. If you buy waders expecting this then it's al

So you've spent your whole life fishing with conventional rod. You can name every road, every reel, every cast, and can pinpoint exactly where the big fish are. You decide you want to switch things up a bit by getting into fly fishing. You figure "it's easy enough I can do this". Let me just tell you this; by the time you come back from a weekend trip to the mountains you will have no flies left. You will have lost them in various shrubbery and trees that line every stream in North Carolina. This is to be expected though, don't worry!. As a new fly fisherman, you're still learning how to cast accurately. There's just one problem though, at $2 for two flies you're gonna rack up a hefty charge. You can easily remedy this problem by tying your own flies. All you need is a vise some scissors and thread. tying materials can range from high quality DNA Deer hair to hair shedded from your dog. Tying your own flies gives you the opportunity create your own pa