P r e s i d e n t ’ s C o r n e r
Mike Bryant (mjbryant1954@hotmail.com)
The month of June proved to be a very busy month that included volunteering at Trout Camp, grandkids staying with us for ten days followed by an eight day fishing trip to Colorado. We had a great time with the grandkids including picnics in the Park, playing in creeks, swimming and of course some fishing. It was a great opportunity to introduce fly fishing and fly tying to our eight year grandson. I coordinated the evening fly tying classes at Trout Camp, so my grandson tagged along for most of the nights. He had the opportunity to watch and interact with the big kids. We had already started his journey on fly tying, and he cast his first line into a Park stream this year. But his exposure to Trout Camp elevated his interest in the fly fishing. It was a great reminder on how small actions on our part can have such a big influence on the next generation, especially when comes to exposing them to the great outdoors.
This year’s Trout Camp was another great success. Great job by John Thurman, Steve Thompson and the entire volunteer staff!
After Trout Camp, John Reinhardt and I went to central Colorado for eight days of fly fishing. Our timing was off a bit given high flows still existed in most of the major streams due to snow melt runoff. The rivers were dropping, but were definitely high. So we made the most of it and started searching for higher elevation streams. We found a couple of gems. We caughtbrowns, rainbows and brookies, but oddly no cutthroats were brought to hand. Multiple days we had the opportunity to cast to rising fish, including some 16” rainbows that were poking their noses above the surface to suck down hatching Pale Morning Duns. We were early for the caddis hatch so John didn’t get to use his 48 Elk Hair Caddis flies he brought or any of my two dozen CDC & Elk patterns. But I did tie a great little nymph pattern that fooled a lot of 12” wild brown trout. Good fishing in a beautiful part of the country!
Typical of summer, fishing is a bit tougher in the Park right now. Nymphs down deepand the ever popular Green Weenie are still working.
Have a safe and great summer!
-Mike
July Chapter Meeting – Thursday, July 23
As in the past, our July Chapter Meeting (Thursday, July 23) will be held outside at River Johns Outfitters (Map) http://www.riverjohns.com/. Just outside of Mayville, River John’s is located on a beautiful stretch of the Little River. Dinner is free! The July meeting will be a joint chapter meeting with the Great Smoky Mountain Chapter. You can fish along the shoreline before and after dinner. Last year I hooked but lost a rather large smallie on a hellgrammite pattern. So bring your gear and an appetite. Dinner will be served around 6:00pm
Annual Clinch River Cleanup
Love to fish the Clinch? Want to help keep it beautiful? The third annual Big Clinch River Cleanup will be Saturday, July 25 and the first 125 volunteers to register can enjoy a big free breakfast at Museum of Appalachia, 2819 Andersonville Highway in Norris. More information can be found at http://crctu.org.
Smokemont Trip
The annual fishing trip at Smokemont is set for September 25 – 27. This is a great trip,complete with excellent fishing, even better food and great fellowship. More details to follow in the next couple of months, but mark your calendar for this awesome trip right in our own backyard.
