January 23- Headed down to Bryson City, NC for a casting clinic with North Carolina Fly Fishing Team Member Mac Brown. Mac is not only a team member but a FFF Certified Casting Instructor. Mac showed us some techniques for target casting in windy conditions as well as did some refining in distance casting techniques as well. If you ever have they opportunity for a session with Mac, he comes highly recommended from all of us on the team. We had taken the hyde down with us in tow to hopefully get some fishing in during the weekend after practice. We had gone down with hopes of evading the rains that had pounded East Tennessee as well. After a great practice with Mac and the team we decided to get in an afternoon float on the lower Tuckaseegee. The lower tuck is more of a Warm Water fishery with many smallmouths and some trout. The coming storm had effect on the fishing, but it was still good to get out. We had some follows on streamers but the fish just were not cooperating.

January 24th

We woke up trying to decide weather to chance the float or not with flash flood warnings that the night rains brought. After checking the weather and having breakfast, we headed out to float the upper Tuck Delayed Harvest Water. We met up with a larger group of guys floating, a few North Carolina Team members. Paul Bourcq was taking some clients down the river for a fundraiser trip. Fishing started off somewhat slow, but we were fishing behind the team guys so fishing behind them is going to be tough on anyone. Once we got the rigs and the depth figured out we began catching fish with regularity. The fishing was steady for the next several hours. We caught quite a few fish just not the size of fish we were expecting to be fishing a D.H. water. The rig that proved to be the most effective was a dead drifted white wooly bugger with a nymph dropper. White just seemed to be the color of the day. When  rains came in and the river started to rise and the water clarity became murky. At that point the fishing had slowed and we still had a long drive home so we rowed out and called it a day. This is definately a river we’ll be floating again. We’ll look forward to exploring more of the tuck  as we come into the early summer.