Appalachian Angler : Run N Gun

Got a chance to get off the mountain and get of "work" today and headed over to the Trophy section to survey the scene!  Wife and I made the maiden voyage as a married couple and ended up putting in around 2 pm - not much time, but I knew we could hit some prime spots and turn it in to a real fishing trip.  After an incredible spotting at the McDonald's (yeah that's a lawnmower in the drive-thru) of some local flair, and actually seeing the burn pile at the put in being lit on fire, we knew we were in for a treat.  Actually saw a few caddis, which is no surprise since they can be tricked easily with high water and reeeaaaallllyyyy nice weather!!  Midges (of course) were everywhere, but the real treat, and what turned out to be the bite, was a pretty significant hatch of some 18 mahogany duns - imitated with some small brown mayfly nymphs fished deep and heavy lead in the fast running current.  The rainbows are obviously starting to stage up in to the faster runs during these mayfly hatches, and with the small amount of time we got to fish it was incredibly productive!!  With the sighting of the caddis we did have some fish on the caddis emergers and pupas fished just as deep - but the most productive was the mayflies (mighty mayflies, micro mayflies, didn't try it but I bet some soft hackle pheasant tails).  The best part being that we saw no other boats and got to spend some time reviewing the finer points of landing 14+ inch fish in FAST currents!!  With the weather possibly coming back around - this great fishing should pick back up again throughout the upcoming late Winter. Reports from the Nolichucky should come tomorrow.