Looking Glass Creek

I finally managed to go fly fishing for the first time sense returning from Japan. I would have gone sooner but I had to have outpatient surgery that I had been putting off.

Susanne and I went to the Davidson River in the Pisgah National Forest located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. About a 2 hour drive from Greenville.

The main part of the Davidson River is hatchery supported, but heavily fished making the fish very spooky. I decided to fish one of the streams feeding the Davidson called Looking Glass Creek. It is a small spring creek with constant water temperatures between 50-55 F (10-13 C). Because of the cold water conditions, it can be fished all summer long (with no closed season).

Looking Glass Falls is a 60 ft (20 meter) waterfall which provides a natural barrier that prevents the hatchery fish from going upstream. This means that the area I fished above the falls is a "wild"area.

(Susanne at Looking Glass Falls)

The “wild” areas are mostly inhabited by native Brook trout (brookie), wild rainbows and browns.

We arrived at the stream side around 2:30 pm. I tied on a #18 cripple mayfly (a fly given to me by Kurematsu-san while I was in Japan). The stream was only 2 to 3 meters wide and the water level was low because of a recent dry spell. There was also a lot of mountain laurel and rododendron overhanging the stream, making casting difficult. Short side casts were the best way to fish most areas. My first cast produced an 8” (20 cm) wild rainbow, the largest of the day as it would turnout. It was fun catching the fish right in front of Susanne. After a few pictures I walked about 15 ft upstream and caught another one. I new it was going to be a good afternoon!

I managed to catch 7 raindows in an hour and a half. They were small fish but it was big fun!

On the return home we stopped at the Ranger Station and spoke with the park rangers. They gave me some good information on other places to fish in the future.
I really would like to catch some of the wild native brook trout that live in the remote higher elevation streams. I will definitely be returning to this area soon.