Magazine Writer Samples Private Waters

Headwaters Outfitters was proud to host a writer and photographer from Mountain Traditions Magazine on our private waters in late January, as part of a story they're working on for spring. The writer, Scott Parrott, is an editor and outdoors columnist with the Hendersonville Times-News who has fished with me in the past. Scott is a great angler, so it wasn't long before he stuck some of the fat rainbows we have up there. The water temp was 39 degrees, so the trout weren't super active, but we consistently hooked them on a double-nymph rig consisting of a Glo-Bug or stonefly nymph, followed by a dropper nymph. As usual, most of the fish took the dropper, whether it was a small Baetis pattern or a #18 black beaded Prince with rubber legs. The current was cookin' from recent rains, so the challenge was getting the flies down in front of the fish quickly, but not so fast that we hung up on the bottom halfway through our drifts. I'm not a fish counter, but I think in the four hours we fished, Scott landed several 15" rainbows and a small wild 'bow of 5 inches that was the prettiest fish we caught all day. We had a bunch of LDRs (long distance releases), too, mostly where the fish went berserk and pulled out the tiny hooks.
On paid trips, I'm a firm believer that guides should guide, not fish. But this was a "media outing," so when Scott encouraged me to fish for awhile for the sake of photographic diversity, I wasn't about to say no. I missed a couple of strikes right off, proving that even so-called "professionals" are fully capable of blowing it when the pressure is on! However, I soon hooked and landed a beautiful wild brown of about 12 inches, which had blood-red spots on its flanks and adipose fin. Photographer Michael Justus got a great close-up shot of it, which made me happy, since everything we had caught up until then were rainbows. That's not too unusual on our private waters, which consist mostly of high-gradient plunge pools and faster, broken water that rainbows favor. But I wanted a pretty brown photo for the magazine. Mission accomplished. 
With our photography needs met, it was time for Michael to step from behind the lens and up to the plate. For a guy who hadn't picked up a fly rod in awhile, he did great, hooking two or three trout once he got the drift right. Alas, those fish came unglued because a tree limb overhanging us kept him from raising his rod tip enough to keep the line tight. We stepped out of its shadow a little and BOOM, Michael landed a silvery 12" rainbow on his next presentation. From there, we moved upstream and flipped some cobblestones so Michael could get some shots of bugs. We didn't have to look long; we found Baetis nymphs, golden stoneflies, Rhyacophilia caddis larva, Hydropsyche larva and an adult Dolophilodes skipping across the surface. That's probably my favorite thing about our private water, other than the solitude and beauty of the place. There's lots of diversity among the aquatic invertebrates, ranging from giant black stoneflies to regionally rare mayfly species. They don't always hatch when I want them to (i.e. when we have a four-person guide trip), but there's always a bunch of different insects in the drift, even in winter.
If you want to read more about our private water, check out the Spring Issue of Mountain Traditions Magazine. If you want a guided trip on this special stretch, give us a call at (828) 877-3106.