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Nip and
Tuck
The lower Tuckaseegee can be really pretty
in spots
I first heard of
the Tuckaseegee River from some friends of mine who swore it was one of
the better trout streams in the southeast. I first laid eyes on the Tuck
on my way home from the mountains a few years ago and made a mental note
to see if it held any bass as it got a little closer to it's terminus at
Lake Fontana near Bryson City. Looking at a map the other day, the
Tuckaseegee once again caught my eye. I had never made the connection, but
both the Tuckaseegee and the Little Tennessee River feed Lake Fontana. The
Little T has long been a favorite smallmouth destination of mine, and I
hypothesized that the Tuck should have some smallies since it lies in the
Little T's watershed. A little bit of research told me I was probably
correct, and that's all it took for me to head up to the mountains.
The first difficulty I
encountered occurred on the drive. See, I had to drive right past the
Little T to get up to the Tuckaseegee. It took all my will power to drive
past a place I KNOW has good fishing to drive to a place that MIGHT have
good fishing. "Well, at least the Little T is on my way home if the
fishing on the Tuck isn't any good", I thought to myself.
Finding a good parking spot can be a real
pain, however!
I decided to fish fairly
close to Bryson City, although a local told me the smallmouth fishing is
pretty good (and the river is a lot more scenic) all the way upstream to
the dam at Dillsboro. From what I've been told, there are a few rapids on
this section of the river that reach Class II, so I'm gonna do some
research before I try and float the river. Finding a place to hop in the
river was easy, since there is almost always a road somewhere near the
Tuckaseegee.
Since I was unfamiliar
with the river, I decided to bring my kayak and tie it behind me in case I
encountered some water that was too deep to wade. There were a couple deep
spots, but I would've been fine without the kayak. Still, it was nice to
have an extra rod, a cooler, and my whole tackle box on what was basically
a wading trip.
I started fishing about
10 AM on a brilliant July day. The Tuckaseegee, though not nearly as
scenic, is very similar to the Little Tennessee. The water varies a lot,
with sections of fast current, deep pools, and ankle-deep riffles. I
fished about 1 1/2 miles of river, and there were some stretches of the
fishiest-looking smallie water you'll ever see along with a few stretches
of water that are ankle deep all the way across with a featureless bottom.
Every stream I've encountered in western North Carolina seems have "feast
or famine" stretches of water like this, and the Tuck is no exception.
How come I can never get this close to a
bunch of geese during waterfowl season?
As usual, I began the day with
a topwater lure, the famous Heddon Tiny Torpedo and soon tried a small
spinnerbait with no success. Next, I started bouncing a 4" worm on the
bottom. By noon, I still hadn't had a strike. Honestly, I was
mentally packing my bags for the Little T, which was only 20 minutes away.
As I was reeling in the remnants of another fruitless cast, a fat little
smallie came up and nabbed my worm as it was swimming back my way.
Not much to brag about, but at least I'm no
longer skunked!
Shortly thereafter, I
switched to a 3" curlytail grub (smoke color) and started catching fish
simply reeling the grub in steadily near the bottom. By 1 PM or so, I had
caught five smallies between 9 and 11 inches in length, which is a fairly
typical size for mountain smallies. Then I reached the best-looking water
I'd seen all day. Fast water near both banks with two eddies curling
towards in rocky water that ranged from one to six feet deep. I knew the
biggest bass in the river probably lived here. I attacked the area for an
hour with my "big guns": huge lures that I normally use for largemouth
bass. Nothing.
Finally, I decided to
try the grub and see if there was anything at all in the area. I
immediately caught a small bass, and was just about to move on when my
line just stopped coming in. I literally thought this fish was a rock or
tree for the first five seconds of the fight. I simply couldn't move it,
and it wasn't moving. Then I felt a tug and gained some line, but until I
saw a faint fishy silhouette in the water I was convinced I had hooked a
turtle. The silhouette I saw looked huge: at least two feet long. I just
knew this was about to be my biggest smallmouth ever, but the fish never
jumped or really moved a whole lot. It was just a tug-of-war, which I
finally won when I landed the biggest walleye I've ever seen in person
(which, I'll admit, is not very many walleyes).
Now all I need is a Lund boat to be a true
walleye fisherman
Hangin' with Wally
I never weighed her, but
I think even Al Linder would have been proud of this fish. After snapping
a quick picture and releasing the fish, I yanked the seat out of my
Ultimate and ate lunch sitting in the cool river in complete comfort. Then
I noticed I had company. The released walleye was using me as a refuge
from the current and stayed right next to me for at least five minutes. I
was able to snap a few pictures of her before she cruised off for deeper
water.
After lunch, I decided
to try topwater again and tied on one of my favorite mountain smallie
lures: a baby Chug Bug. They absolutely loved it. Over the next couple
hours, I caught at least a dozen smallies up to 14". To my eyes, the water
appeared much less fishy than the water I had been fishing earlier. It was
mainly shallow and mostly featureless, with a bunch of small rocks rather
than boulders. Every place that looked like it might hold a fish did hold
a fish. Further up, the water deepened a little, and the fish got a little
bigger. Then, just as the water seemed to be transitioning into really
good smallie habitat, the fish quit biting. I called it a day around 5 PM,
having caught about 20 smallies and one big walleye between noon and 4 PM.
Topwater smallie!
A better topwater smallie!
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