LET A FISH HELP YOU BEAT THE HEAT
- Chris Douglas
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Amazing! When I started my truck at 4am, the outside temperature gauge registered a muggy 94 degrees. 4 hours later when I stepped out of the truck it registered 72! That’s just one of the magical things about our state, the humidity and high temps can magically vanish when you reach the upper elevations of our beautiful mountains!
For those who know me, know I continually preach the gospel of how great our state is and the diversity of its landscape. That being said, using our landscape to your advantage can help you have fun in the outdoors while escaping the heat wave that annually takes command over the Piedmont and coastal plain. Even though it can get hot in our mountains, they typically offer low humidity, lower temperatures and plenty of shade from the summer sun.
If you plan to target a fishery in the mountains, doing your homework is mandatory and especially being that so much has changed in certain areas of the mountains since Helene came to town. It’s a good thing to check with the NC Wildlife Commission and even reach out to biologists in the districts where you plan to fish to get an update on the fishery’s status.
About my most recent trip to the mountains, we crossed the eastern continental divide to fish a tributary of the French Broad River. On this trip, we met with our friend, District 8 Fisheries Biologist, David Goodfred. David is a hardcore angler with a real passion for smallmouth. He invited us to do some wading for riverine bronze-backs to show us how this fishery is doing and we had a blast taking in the beauty of Western NC and catching this hard fighting fish on light tackle.
We were throwing a few different swim-baits in muted brown colors and consistently caught them from the moment we dropped into the river till we exited. I love this simple type of fishing. Basically only needing a light spinning rod and reel set-up with shorts, felt bottom wading boots( to minimize slipping on the rocks) and a net to help you catch and release the smallies without too much stress.
I stayed comfortable the whole time with a light breeze blowing across the cool waters of the river, and plenty of shade To get out of the sun! A fantastic day of fishing. And when I called back home the wife told me that the temps were 99 degrees at 2 o'clock that afternoon! I was missing my wife but not the heat!
So why not make a plan to escape to more hospitable climates in our mountains! smallmouth are just one of the fisheries that you can experience there but the mainstay is the trout fisheries that you can find all over western North Carolina! Watch this adventure here! https://youtu.be/HS7XKwZvKNU?si=Lmasewo-tAR_U9GP
