trout fishing north carolina

The first couple of days I stuck around with the family and fished out of the creek that ran behind the cabin we stayed in.





I used some flies that I had tied before the trip. Olive woolly boogers, pheasant tail nymphs and blood worms. The worms worked very well and after the ones I had tore up I had to improvise. I went to walmart purchased some red yarn and tied some extras.


I caught mostly brookies and rainbows.


josh, jen and kids joined us on the week long vacation.







after a few days in the small creek we were ready for some new scenery and different trout so I headed down to the nantahala river in search of new areas








the next morning we found an area a friend told me about. I didn’t catch any monsters but I did catch a brook and a rainbow that were pushing 2 lbs. not bad for the area.














these two went home to the frying pan. All the other fish were released.


while we were there I had my 31st birthday. The morning of my birthday I decided I wanted trout with my breakfast. So I walked down to the creek and caught this nice “birthday trout.” Josh was kind enough to take a picture for me. I think that was my favorite part of the whole trip. My “redfish” fillet knife kinda dwarfs the trout.



my birthday breakfast


the beswicks cabin is beautiful and we had a wonderful time. the fishing was awesome and believe it or not i didnt take a picture of every trout i caught.

andrews, nc

going to andrews, nc for spring break with the family. hope to get a bit of fly fishing in while im there. wont have internet up there so hopefully ill have plenty to post when i get back.

joels big bass

a good friend of mine, joel batts, sent me an email the other day of his biggest bass to date. he caught it on a sinko rigged carolina style. pulled it out of a brush pile. the bass weighed 14 1/2 pounds and measured 26.5" long. a monster bass! the fish was released alive and well. great catch joel! keep on fishing and sending me pictures.

weigh in

vince and i took some of the kids over to camp mack to hang out with the lanes while bobby had his finale day weigh in. we had a ton of fun and got to meet a few more pros. fern made good friends with steve kennedy and his dog. It was pretty cool to see the whole espn production thing.

new toad

so since the price of everything is going up do to gas i decided to try out a new toad. ive used zoom horny toads for years and love them but with current prices im paying about a $1 a piece for them and for a soft plastic lure that rips up and you have to change about every fish, thats just too much. i purchased a bulk of inexpensive "off" brand toads on ebay so i headed over to my old neighborhood to see how they worked. i noticed a few pros and cons that i thought i would share with you. the new toad doesnt cast as far because of more wind resistance and seems to pick up more trash from the water. on the “pros” side it makes more noise (which could be a con sometimes), its cheaper ($.25 a piece) and it seems to be more durable (i used the same toad for all three fish). the really good news is that it catches fish.

bobby again

bobby ended the first day in 7th place with about 18 pounds. if he can keep it up he will have a good shot at rookie of the year or maybe even angler of the year. will update tomorrow.

in my own fishing news: vince and i fished a tourney today and placed 5th.

xtreme update

we had an xtreme tourney this morning. we placed 3rd. yay!

brothers to final day

bobby ended the third day of fishing in 3rd and chris shot from 50th to 5th with a 20 lb bag. the top 12 go on to fish the final day which means the brothers will compete against each other tomorrow. hope one of them can take top honors.

bobby at it again

well the lane boys are at it again this time at the harris chain of lakes. bobby currently sits in 3rd place after weighing in at huge bag yesterday of 26 lbs. chris is sitting a 50th place which isnt great but means he made the cut and will cash at least a 10k check. even robert sr. is getting in on the action as a co-angler and is sitting in 19th place. good luck boys and well done!

brush piles

went fishing with vince and andrew hig. today on some 15 ft. brush piles that vince recently found outside of a spawning area. hes been catching some nice fish off of them. when we finished vince locked his keys in the car with it running. we spent half an hour trying to get in until andrew tried the back driver side door and realized it was unlocked. in the bottom picture you can see vince trying to break in through the sun roof. fishing with vince is always an adventure!

4th at classic

bobby ended up placing 4th overall in the bassmaster classic and winning $30,000. not bad for his first ever classic. way to go bobby!

bobby to 8th

bobby sits at 8th place going into the last day of the bassmaster classic. hopefully he can go out there and catch 20 lbs tomorrow to win $500,000. go bobby! we are all pulling for you.

classic update

unofficially, bobby is now in 3rd place. im sure that will change as the day goes on. if you want to keep up with the action, espn has a classic blog with regular updates.

with the girls

took the girls out to the old neighborhood to try and do a bit of bowfishing for tilapia. saw a few beds like the one pictured but the fish werent up on them. the cold front may have pushed them off for a few days. ended up taking a few casts and caught one small bass. had a good time with the girls.

fw clays shoot

had the florida waterfowler forum clays shoot today. everyone seemed to have a great time. my skeet shooting could use some work and i had to take a few lessons from the 11 year old in my group but besides that the company and the food was excellent. the bottom pic is from the turkey shoot which i didnt participate in.

tourney update

vince and i had a touney this past weekend. we placed 16th out of 50. not bad but not in the money.

lanes to classic

two friends that i grew up with at school, church and fishing will be the first brothers to fish the bassmaster classic at the same time since 1980. chris lane has fished the bassmaster elites the past two years and qualified for the classic for first time this year. coincidentally, (being a good presbyterian i really mean providentially) bobby lane who has fished flw the last several years qualified for the classic the first time through the southern open. i talked to bobby today and he said hes heading up to south carolina next week to start prefishing. ill be rooting for both to take home a win. or at least a 1st and a 2nd.