One of the fun surprises of this trip was the invitation to participate in the "Casting for Hope" fly fishing tournament. This event was a fund raiser for a Cancer treatment center, and was organized by one of Adam's students as a a senior project, as the mother of the student had passed away from cancer the previous year. It attracted some of the finest fly fishermen in the area. And by inviting people like me - who has never fished this way, They are assured of good scores. It was very impressive and well run.
How to fly cast - lesson one! No water...just cast. And yes even in the yard I was able to accurately catch sticks and snag trees!...But once I got that out of the system - I never lost a rig in a snag while fishing
The tournament was held on two different rivers/creeks. Each team of two - drew for their Morning spot and their PM spot. This is the morning spot near Spruce Pine NC (right in town actually) - and due to recent rains - the river was deep, swift, and slightly cloudy - We took no fish out of this river. Not many others did either.
The fact that a railroad track ran along the bank was reminiscent of days gone by - I really did not expect to see a train - but I was pleasantly surprised to hear this coal train come down the mountain. Just as I gave a thumbs up to the engineer - he blew the whistle, just as Adam took the picture. The (diesel horn actually) scared Adam...
...He claimed his waders leaked but I am not so sure!
Our Afternoon fishing spot was much better - tranquil - clear - with a quick little current, and two major fishing holes. Of course someone else had fished here in the AM so there was no telling what might happen.
Adam had brought his home made rod along - and it nearly broke on the first fish...which broke the line and almost the rod - so he switched to this one. This rod was first owned by His Grandpa Harve, who sold it on a garage sale...and my dad - Harold, bought it off the sale - and eventually he gave it and all the fly fishing stuff to Adam.
Uh...no that fish was no problem for the rod
This was my turn to tie into a big one. I saw about 17" of him - so we think it was about a 20 inch-er or so, I was working him to the shallows - but he took a dive and cut the line!
Bummer Dude!
This was the fish of the day on the line and Adam did an excellent job of fighting back and hanging on!
This is a 23 1/2 inch Rainbow Trout!
Yeah Buddy!
yes we put him back...that's the rules
Okay one more of Tahlia - this was goodbye grandma as we were getting ready to leave for home!
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