Thursday November 3, 2011

We started at Pineville again and fished the same riffles we did the previous morning. I figured, what the heck, and fished the same married wing that I started with yesterday as well. About 45 minutes later As I was working my way downstream, I saw some branches move in the woods on the far side of the river. I didn’t see anything so I kept casting and working my way downstream.

Maybe 15 minutes had gone by, and about 8 Turkeys show up on the bank directly across from me!! They stood there for a minute looking at me like they were trying to figure out their next move. One of them took the lead and walked upstream a few feet, hopped of the bank and flew across the river about 15ft-20ft away from me, and landed on the other side.

I had one half hearted tug after working through one time so I decided to go all the way down the south side of the river and start below the bridge. I checked out the depth near the abutment and it was rather deep, so I went around it and hopped in on the downstream side.

I worked downstream through the flat water, hit the riffles and kept going. The changes were subtle, but noticeable. The sort of thing you have to see firsthand rather than from afar. I learned a few things and noticed some people I knew on the far side, so I waded across and watched one of them land a nice steely. We had a nice conversation about the changes in the river, the amount of people, and of course the steelhead…..and maybe a few other things as well. I hopped in below them after I asked if it was ok and enjoyed the rest of the morning session. Some kings were around sliding here and there, and it was fun to watch. I didn’t see any steelhead, not did I hook any, but I found two nice floats!! I think my collection is up to about 10 now. After lunch I took a stab at trying to find my buddy Geoff, and new just the place to try. My hunch was close to being right and a quick phone call confirmed that it was him upstream of me. We talked for a bit and decided to get back to fishing!! I had two plucks in the run and Geoff had two as well. I kept going downstream and he tried again with another fly and it paid off!! I wasn’t there when he landed it, but I could hear the commotion. After that I decided to head to 2A to meet up with my Dad and Dave for the rest of the evening. The water was a bit shallow and didn’t have much push either so 2A was better area for swinging. I told Geoff where I was headed and took off down the road. I fished some open water here and there around the big holes and was even able to work through the old abutment. Geoff was there as well, but neither one of us could earn another tug. Who knows how many fish moved to take a peek though!! Maybe tomorrow.