Adopt-A-Stream

Tonight some friends and I checked out a section the TFF club may be adopting. After meeting up with everyone late because I had to go back for my boots and waders we got on the water. The Eno really has no ugly sections. The water was muddy but nothing I hadn't seen before. The section where I first started was a large pool.The water looked good upstream.and downstream.In the shallows I could see fish moving. When I cast close to shore I had a few hits on my popper but I couldn't keep the fish on. It took quite a few more casts but I started to get the hang of things. The fish were colorful and this one was the brightest color I had ever seen. You can see in the photo the legs of the popper I was using. I had several takes where the fish inhaled the fly, it couldn't be seen when the fish came to hand.The day went on with me catching sunnies here and there. The water had some nice features for fish cover. Submerged logs and decent size rocks just a tad smaller then what I would consider a boulder. There seemed to be sunfish in every small piece of slack water that was seen. The day ended with me catching a little bass on the white bugger pattern that's been the best this year. On the water my friends and I ran into one another. Everyone was having a pretty good day.The sections were like this and some had cover of trees that hung over the bank. The Eno really is a piece of water that is under rated.

The Hunt for White Bass

A freind invited me to go in his boat on the Eno River. There were reports of a bass run that has been picking up. We got to the boat ramp at around 10am and we weren't the only ones enjoying the first 60 degree day in months. Trucks were lining up to put in the water and even after we had launched other trucks were getting in line. The river was pretty murky but you could still see several feet. The level of the water had dropped considerably from a few weeks prior. Signs of the high water stained the trees.

There were so many boats it was slow go finding a spot away from others. The fish finder pinged several times and we found a spot and made some casts towards shore. After a few several casts my buddy was able to hook up with a nice crappie. He continued to catch fish now and then. The key was to get the flies down to the bottom without getting them hung up. There were plenty of places to snag your line. The river was clogged with logs and submerged trunks. Eventually after trying several tactics I was able to catch a fat little bass. I didn't get many more fish after that. The fishing was pretty slow all day. We saw some other people using bait that seemed to catch fish consistantly. None of the fish were huge. It seems the run is just beginning and it will only get better. We called it a day and looked forward to more productive times on the Eno and warmer weather.

The Eno Never Disappoints

I have some friends that are somewhat new to fly fishing and I've been filling them in for months on how great the Eno is. They decided to accompany me this morning to see if the reputation is deserved. I tried going to a place that I went a few weeks ago. I couldn't find it and after a few twists and turns we ended up on a section I've never fished before. The parking lot was small and the place didn't look like it see's too much action. I wasn't sure if that was good or not. Jen headed down stream, while Claudia and I worked our way upstream. It wasn't long before small fish started to play with the flies. We were using poppers and I imagine the fish were small or they were fisherman wary bass. The bass in the Eno have a skill of swimming ever so gently up to your fly and kiss it with the slightest touch. I had a few decent hits but I couldn't seem to hook anything. As we moved up stream I saw a spot that looked promising, made my cast and had a fish take the fly almost simultaneously with it hitting the water. The water was so clear I couldn't tell if it was a fish or what. It was a strange view, it almost looked like my fly was being dragged around beneath the surface by an invisible force. I set the hook and saw a nice green flash. I figured it was a roanoke I became excited and really tried to work the fish. As it swam in front of me I could see the big blue mark on it's gill. The signal of a bluegill. My mind had a hard time processing this, because this fish was bigger than any bluegill I have caught before. As it came closer it seemed to get even bigger, it didn't fight that much until it was about a leader length away. Then it was a project landing the fish. I really needed a net. I usually don't catch anything that requires a net in the Eno but this was an exception. I finally wrapped my hand around the fish's gut and pulled it out of the water. It was a thing of beauty.This was by far the biggest sunfish I had ever seen. It was a really healthy fish. This fish was wide as it was tall I did some research and found this fish is a red eared sunfish alos called a shellcracker. After releasing the fish I tried around the area where it was caught. Nothing else even sniffed my fly. Claudia and I decided to check on Jen.Right as we walked up Jen was pulling in a little sunfish. She had caught quite a few and found a honey hole. I had Claudia work the back of the hole to see if she would have luck there. It wasn't long until she had a sunfish of her own.The fishing slowed down a lot. The water seemed to get shallower. I decided to be a good samaritan and pull and old raft upstream that was deflated and draped over a tree. While dragging it back I kept asking myself why I picked it up. The raft was really heavy and waterlogged. We all had a really good time exploring the area and catching some fish. The Eno never disappoints. This is probably my favorite place to fish in the Raleigh area. I'm going to hit this river again in a different spot next month.

The Elusive Roanoke Bass

It's been over a year since I was at the Eno River. At the last Trout Unlimited meeting I had the chance to met Sam who lives on the river. He told me about some locations where he caught Roanoke Bass. I've been trying to catch one of these fish for awhile. I was pleasantly surprised when Sam invited me to fish with him. I jumped at the chance and looked forward to it all week. We headed out on an overcast morning and the weather was great for August. The temperature wasn't that bad, maybe in the mid 80's. The Eno looked just how I remembered, pretty similar to a mountain stream but has a style all its own

Sam gave me coordinates to where the Roanoke's were supposed to be. We decided to try some water he hadn't fished much first. We worked pockets here and there and it wasn't long until we caught probably the most prevalent fish in the Eno.. Sunfish never get boring, when you think you've seen the prettiest one you'll catch one even better looking on the next cast. This river has to be the best sunfish river in North Carolina. It is great for beginners. The fish are feisty and they almost always hit top water poppers. The action is exciting. We found one pool were I found a pod of sunfish under a tree. I caught a fish on almost every cast. The strikes varied from a sip, inhaling, to a rocket launch accompanied by water and a glimpse of fins as your fly disappears. As we waded there were tons of dragon and damsel flies. Minnows jumped here and there, probably escaping roaming bass. While working some of the pockets that Sam recommended I wasn't able to catch a Roanoke. I decided to take some pics of him fishing because often when you go fishing you never get pictures of yourself.I went to tell him do some false casts so I could get some pics and in the middle of my comment....Fish On! After a few seconds Sam says "It's a Roanoke!". I couldn't believe it, I was just fishing in that same spot 5minutes before he got there. He was able to land the fish and show me what the fish looks like.This was a nice fish and you could tell it had been eating well. The fish looked just like the rock bass I've seen in Virginia. I was really excited and eager to catch my first Roanoke but it was not in the cards for me. I was still happy to catch sunfish. The experience made me eager to get back and go for the Roanoke again. Sam is great fishing partner and I look forward to fishing with him again. On the hike back upstream, Sam almost stepped on a moving rock.A good size snapping turtle. About the diameter of a basketball. Not something you'd want to annoy. That's the fun part about fishing you'll always see other wildlife, turtles, insects, birds you rarely see anywhere else. It's hard to come off the water after days like this.