After almost a week of heavy rain I wasn't sure if the Davidson River would be fish-able. I thought my best chance would be to hike to the headwaters of the Davidson where the water levels would be lower and more fish-able. Unfortunately, this proved to be a big waste of time, although I did get some good exercise and nice photos.
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I had a relaxing shore lunch and rested up for the long hike back down the mountain. By this time it was about 2:00 in the afternoon and the water level was steadily falling as the day went on. I decided to give the lower Davidson a shot.
(click to enlarge)I went to a big pool just down stream of a popular riffle and just sat and watched other anglers for a while. After a few minutes I saw some fish rising to the swarms of black gnats that the wind pushed in. I tied on a #16 griffiths gnat dry fly, but did not have any luck. Next, I tried a natural color san juan worm imitation that produced the nice rainbow above.
(click to enlarge)As the day got later and the water level dropped, the fishing only improved. At one point, I was getting a strike on almost every other cast. The fish were very energetic and fought hard. Several trout lept out of the water shaking their heads like a large mouth bass. One rainbow in particular jumped four times almost 3 feet above the surface making a huge splash when landing. I have never seen trout do this. Maybe it was the highly oxygenated water from the rain?
(click to enlarge)I was very surprised to catch this large brook trout (below) in the Davidson. My first on this river.
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(click to enlarge) I must say, this was probably the best day I have ever had on the Davidson. If you are ever in the Brevard area, it is definitely worth a try.
