We left town at 6:00 this morning, bound to the North River area. We grabbed some breakfast and drove on past Tellico Plains and Telliquah. Albeit it's Saturday, there weren't mounds of people on the Tellico this morning. We keep driving east towards the NC state line (roughly 3,200 ft or so in elevation). We followed the North River, which is fairly wide (15-20 ft in most places) but as you climb in elevation, the "river" turns to a small, rushing mountain stream. I actually fished one of the feeder streams to the North (IAin'tTellin' Creek). Very tight cover, but beautiful to say the least. It's been a while since I've been in such a pristine, untamed area such as IAin'tTellin' Creek. The first couple of casts yielded several wild So. App strain Brookies. All where released unharmed.
This particular pool was full of eager Brookies. Some took a #12 Green Weenie, but most jumped at a #14 Yellow Sally dry. As you'll read below, I met a few (more like a couple hundred) yellow jackets just ahead of this pool.
(Above) I caught this guy just after sunrise. With it being this early and given the dense brush and overhanging trees, it's hard to see the picture... The Green Weenie in his jaws sticks out like a sore thumb...
Good size Spec from this particular stream. I caught him a few minutes after I caught the one above. Notice the oval-like parr marks on his side... Just imagine what these guys will look like in the Fall...
I got into a nest of yellow jackets while on the water...I honestly had no earlthly idea they were there until they started swarming around me, every one of them stinging me; on the face. Those little buggers are good at stinging the intruder in the face. They don't target the hands, legs, arms.... I'm now preoccupied for a while digging and removing stingers from my face. Luckily, I didn't have an allergic reaction, or I wouldn't have made it to the nearest hospital (an hour + away).
All in all, it was a great trip. I'll be back soon... Benadryl in hand though!!!
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