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Fishing and Hiking

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    • Fishing and Hiking

      How many here fish or hike and fish? I have on a few hikes and enjoy the down time and not having to just put the miles in. A few of us are hiking the Lakeshore Trail in the gsmnp just for the fishing opportunities.

      I remeber standing on springer and hoping the trail went by the lakes in the distance. It didn't but I knew I'd get to use my pole sooner or later. I caught trout at the noc. Fished the French broad and caught bluegill in the pond north of hot springs. ... My pack was heavy and when I made it to Clingmans dome I decided to give my rod and reel away to the first kid I found. I knew I had to drop weight out of my pack if I was ever going to make it. (Didn't help, didn't make it). But the last couple of years the rod and reel has gone with me on a few trips. .. Catching a trout below Laurel falls and cooking it in foil over a fire for supper is hard to beat.

      Heres a a picture of last Monday at cherokee Indian reservation fishing for trout with mumbles and Underoo.
      Images
      • image.jpg

        72 kB, 548×411, viewed 713 times
    • Dmax wrote:

      How many here fish or hike and fish? I have on a few hikes and enjoy the down time and not having to just put the miles in. A few of us are hiking the Lakeshore Trail in the gsmnp just for the fishing opportunities.


      I fresh water and surf fish, but I don't hike & fish. Nice catch.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • In my opinion, unless you are in dire need of food (off trail or on the trail) there is no reason to harvest that many fish. It shows a lack of respect for the wildlife and any other outdoorsman. I am making a judgement call not on the person but the practice of over-harvesting. I fish at least 70 days of the year and I can proudly say I, that this year I have harvested (8) Trout and only (3) Stripers, which is roughly 11 out of nearly 200 fish.
    • I have hiked into a few western wilderness areas.... To fish. I would love to spend a week GSMNP... Day hike, fish. I have tried to fish SNP....tooooooooo much down hill from AT to even get a tiny brookie. When I go thru Boiling Springs..... It will be a fishing trip . That valley only has blue ribbon water.
      I don't know where else, Maine, maybe.... But not on those mtns...........would I carry a rod during a thru or section
      Cheesecake> Ramen :thumbsup:

      The post was edited 1 time, last by CoachLou ().

    • goody wrote:

      In my opinion, unless you are in dire need of food (off trail or on the trail) there is no reason to harvest that many fish. It shows a lack of respect for the wildlife and any other outdoorsman. I am making a judgement call not on the person but the practice of over-harvesting. I fish at least 70 days of the year and I can proudly say I, that this year I have harvested (8) Trout and only (3) Stripers, which is roughly 11 out of nearly 200 fish.


      Lack of respect???? It's only one meal per family. Where's the over harvesting????
    • You stated in your original post that only 3 people went? 13 fish in one day for 3 people is over-harvesting and the only instance(s) that it isn't is if you are in dire need of food because of financial hardship or starvation. If thats not true-thats cool.
    • re overharvesting -- i think there is a big difference between trout fishing for native trout at unstocked noontootla creek at 3 forks and fishing on a stocked creek or lake that you have to pay for the privledge.

      if i ever caught anything at noontootla i'd release it.

      but at the stocked cherokee sites i'd consider catching those trout one step up from going to the store and buying them. the fish are bred and raised in captivity until they are dumped into the stream for the express purpose of having people catch and eat them.
      2,000 miler
    • goody wrote:

      You stated in your original post that only 3 people went? 13 fish in one day for 3 people is over-harvesting and the only instance(s) that it isn't is if you are in dire need of food because of financial hardship or starvation. If thats not true-thats cool.


      Over harvesting? I could see that if they were past a creel limit, but it wasn't. Stocked fish are just like cows and turkeys. Raised as food. Do you have anything in your freezer or extra food in your pantry? Perhaps by your standards I've over harvested pinto beans.
    • goody wrote:

      You stated in your original post that only 3 people went? 13 fish in one day for 3 people is over-harvesting and the only instance(s) that it isn't is if you are in dire need of food because of financial hardship or starvation. If thats not true-thats cool.


      3 people taking home 4 fish a piece out of a fully stocked creek is NOT over harvesting.

      i drove over two hours to get there just for the fun of it and to hang out with some hiking buddies of mine that also live a couple of hours from there, by the Charlotte area.
      Here where I live in erwin we have 2 hatcheries and our creeks are fully stocked year round. Rocky fork isn't stocked so I only catch and release when I hike up into the impoundment.
    • Dmax wrote:

      How many here fish or hike and fish? I have on a few hikes and enjoy the down time and not having to just put the miles in. A few of us are hiking the Lakeshore Trail in the gsmnp just for the fishing opportunities.

      I remeber standing on springer and hoping the trail went by the lakes in the distance. It didn't but I knew I'd get to use my pole sooner or later. I caught trout at the noc. Fished the French broad and caught bluegill in the pond north of hot springs. ... My pack was heavy and when I made it to Clingmans dome I decided to give my rod and reel away to the first kid I found. I knew I had to drop weight out of my pack if I was ever going to make it. (Didn't help, didn't make it). But the last couple of years the rod and reel has gone with me on a few trips. .. Catching a trout below Laurel falls and cooking it in foil over a fire for supper is hard to beat.

      Heres a a picture of last Monday at cherokee Indian reservation fishing for trout with mumbles and Underoo.
      "Now that's a mess of fish"
    • goody wrote:

      You stated in your original post that only 3 people went? 13 fish in one day for 3 people is over-harvesting and the only instance(s) that it isn't is if you are in dire need of food because of financial hardship or starvation. If thats not true-thats cool.


      A stocked stream is just a slightly more challenging grocery store.
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123
    • goody wrote:

      You stated in your original post that only 3 people went? 13 fish in one day for 3 people is over-harvesting and the only instance(s) that it isn't is if you are in dire need of food because of financial hardship or starvation. If thats not true-thats cool.


      Hey Goody, I understand where you are coming from but Dmax may have oversimplified the story or perhaps gave us the short version. He isn't fishing for whales, and the fish are not on the endangered list. Stocked Streams are just that, and they have to fit all the rules for length. I am sure everyone has good intentions.

      I would be more dissapointed if Dmax forgot the butter and Sea Salt.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • There is no length limit on the Indian reservation. Just a limit of 10 per day per person. They stock a little over 250,000 trout each year for catching there. That's around 700 per day of eating size trout. I've only fished there a couple of times and have only been able to hook into one native trout which I released.
      Images
      • image.jpg

        108.09 kB, 800×600, viewed 550 times
    • goody wrote:

      You stated in your original post that only 3 people went? 13 fish in one day for 3 people is over-harvesting and the only instance(s) that it isn't is if you are in dire need of food because of financial hardship or starvation. If thats not true-thats cool.
      For the most part I have always practiced catch and release where ever I fished, but here in Jersey we have few streams that will hold over stocked fish, in that instance, if it's a keeper....I will. +1 Here's to keepin' our lines wet, and light.
    • Nice rig. My friend in FL has a 30 thirty-some footer that we go fishin' the reef on off of Palm Beach. It can look like that at times with the poles, just depends on how many of us are going.
      There has never been a time when we come back in that Fish and Game haven't been there to check our licenses and catches.
      Changes Daily→ ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫♪♫ ← Don't blame me. It's That Lonesome Guitar.
    • Dmax wrote:

      Getting ready to catch some bluegills at Watauga Lake.
      love catchin me some blue gills on me light weight fly rod....so much fun I can only do it for about an hour then have to leave the little fellas alone, it just ain't fare to em after that.

      Blue gill; one of the most fightin'est fish on the planet lb fer lb. would love to catch one thet weighs-in at five lb.s if they made em that big.


      why do I get the feelin' your gonna be bringin' in a mess a fish? maybe it's the 55 gal drum.
    • The drum is a homemade bait well for Santee cooper. If you buy live Harring for bait they'll kill themselves running into the corners of a square bait well.

      the 24' pontoon isn't big enough for Santee. You need atleast a 30' for down there. We have a 26' that doesn't do any better. The next for me will be atleast 32' with three pontoons under the deck. It gets rough. We put a hole in the 24' in the picture. A huge storm rolled in and the waves were huge. The lake is shallow so every once in a while we would hit bottom. You should have seen us trying to get it out of the water. 4 different trucks tried and left all their rubber on the ramp. Finally the owner of Hills Landing called for a tractor which was able to pull it out.
    • Dmax wrote:

      The drum is a homemade bait well for Santee cooper. If you buy live Harring for bait they'll kill themselves running into the corners of a square bait well.

      the 24' pontoon isn't big enough for Santee. You need atleast a 30' for down there. We have a 26' that doesn't do any better. The next for me will be atleast 32' with three pontoons under the deck. It gets rough. We put a hole in the 24' in the picture. A huge storm rolled in and the waves were huge. The lake is shallow so every once in a while we would hit bottom. You should have seen us trying to get it out of the water. 4 different trucks tried and left all their rubber on the ramp. Finally the owner of Hills Landing called for a tractor which was able to pull it out.
      I love stupid herring, they end up in a bowl with cucumbers, onions, and sour cream. Truth is we catch em in one spot on the river, then take em up river to live line for strippers when there runnin' along the Delaware, catch some huge bulls that way, 26" to 30" better still is end of season after they've fattened up from eatin' all the herring, but they don't fight for crap then, like reelin in a old wet boot.
    • I need to look at a map of the Palmetto Trail. It runs by Santee Cooper and might have great hiking and fishing opportunities. I've only walked about a mile of it between the two lakes by the bridge. I just don't know how well I'd sleep with all the gators down there. I'm not used to them, none here in the mountains. And I'd rather sleep with the Bears than gators.......
    • Dmax wrote:

      I need to look at a map of the Palmetto Trail. It runs by Santee Cooper and might have great hiking and fishing opportunities. I've only walked about a mile of it between the two lakes by the bridge. I just don't know how well I'd sleep with all the gators down there. I'm not used to them, none here in the mountains. And I'd rather sleep with the Bears than gators.......
      Being a yankee boy swamp rat up my way, I have zero experience with gator country...I like hiking, not wading. I'd never make it down there, to damn hot and humid too.
    • milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      I'm wanting to go duck hunting though, I like that.

      I'll show you how. All you need is a reliable vehicle.
      Funny, we used to go rabbit huntin' that way. Buddy of mine had a VW "BUG" them big ole front fenders keep the rabbit from gettin away when ya hit three at once, and tenderizes the meat...makes a gawd awful sound though, kinda of a thump, thump bump dee dump.

      poor thumper, but the dam things run right out in front of yeah and do alot of damage to the paint, you gotta use there tails to buff it out. LOL rabbit tail is great for buffin'
    • socks wrote:

      milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      I'm wanting to go duck hunting though, I like that.

      I'll show you how. All you need is a reliable vehicle.
      Funny, we used to go rabbit huntin' that way. Buddy of mine had a VW "BUG" them big ole front fenders keep the rabbit from gettin away when ya hit three at once, and tenderizes the meat...makes a gawd awful sound though, kinda of a thump, thump bump dee dump.

      (LOL) Never tried that way. The only way I ever hunted rabbit was with a bow and arrows when they burned the sugar cane fields. The rabbits came runnin' out like crazy. We put spent rifle shells on the tips of the arrows, that way they bounced up off the dirt. You always shot short and the arrow would hit the dirt and come off the ground about 6 - 8 inches and fly right there for a pretty good ways.
      Changes Daily→ ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫♪♫ ← Don't blame me. It's That Lonesome Guitar.
    • milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      I'm wanting to go duck hunting though, I like that.

      I'll show you how. All you need is a reliable vehicle.
      Funny, we used to go rabbit huntin' that way. Buddy of mine had a VW "BUG" them big ole front fenders keep the rabbit from gettin away when ya hit three at once, and tenderizes the meat...makes a gawd awful sound though, kinda of a thump, thump bump dee dump.

      (LOL) Never tried that way. The only way I ever hunted rabbit was with a bow and arrows when they burned the sugar cane fields. The rabbits came runnin' out like crazy. We put spent rifle shells on the tips of the arrows, that way they bounced up off the dirt. You always shot short and the arrow would hit the dirt and come off the ground about 6 - 8 inches and fly right there for a pretty good ways.
      There truly is no exception or replacement for local technique, love it. :D
    • socks wrote:

      milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      I'm wanting to go duck hunting though, I like that.

      I'll show you how. All you need is a reliable vehicle.
      Funny, we used to go rabbit huntin' that way. Buddy of mine had a VW "BUG" them big ole front fenders keep the rabbit from gettin away when ya hit three at once, and tenderizes the meat...makes a gawd awful sound though, kinda of a thump, thump bump dee dump.

      (LOL) Never tried that way. The only way I ever hunted rabbit was with a bow and arrows when they burned the sugar cane fields. The rabbits came runnin' out like crazy. We put spent rifle shells on the tips of the arrows, that way they bounced up off the dirt. You always shot short and the arrow would hit the dirt and come off the ground about 6 - 8 inches and fly right there for a pretty good ways.
      There truly is no exception or replacement for local technique, love it. :D

      Only downside, which really wasn't that bad, was along with those rabbits came the rattle snakes. They live in the fields too and feed on the rabbits. You had to watch out for them. Back then and even now they did a lot of burning at night when the highway traffic is low. The try and burn with the wind but sometimes it shifts and they have to close the highway for a while. So when we got a rabbit in the darkened field and would walk up to get it we'd run into a snake too. We'd either shoot it with a broadhead or whack it with a machete and eat it too. An English teacher taught us how to cook rattle snake.
      Changes Daily→ ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫♪♫ ← Don't blame me. It's That Lonesome Guitar.
    • milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      milkman wrote:

      socks wrote:

      I'm wanting to go duck hunting though, I like that.

      I'll show you how. All you need is a reliable vehicle.
      Funny, we used to go rabbit huntin' that way. Buddy of mine had a VW "BUG" them big ole front fenders keep the rabbit from gettin away when ya hit three at once, and tenderizes the meat...makes a gawd awful sound though, kinda of a thump, thump bump dee dump.

      (LOL) Never tried that way. The only way I ever hunted rabbit was with a bow and arrows when they burned the sugar cane fields. The rabbits came runnin' out like crazy. We put spent rifle shells on the tips of the arrows, that way they bounced up off the dirt. You always shot short and the arrow would hit the dirt and come off the ground about 6 - 8 inches and fly right there for a pretty good ways.
      There truly is no exception or replacement for local technique, love it. :D

      Only downside, which really wasn't that bad, was along with those rabbits came the rattle snakes. They live in the fields too and feed on the rabbits. You had to watch out for them. Back then and even now they did a lot of burning at night when the highway traffic is low. The try and burn with the wind but sometimes it shifts and they have to close the highway for a while. So when we got a rabbit in the darkened field and would walk up to get it we'd run into a snake too. We'd either shoot it with a broadhead or whack it with a machete and eat it too. An English teacher taught us how to cook rattle snake.
      Great story, and a good heads up.
    • CoachLou wrote:

      I have hiked into a few western wilderness areas.... To fish. I would love to spend a week GSMNP... Day hike, fish. I have tried to fish SNP....tooooooooo much down hill from AT to even get a tiny brookie. When I go thru Boiling Springs..... It will be a fishing trip . That valley only has blue ribbon water.
      I don't know where else, Maine, maybe.... But not on those mtns...........would I carry a rod during a thru or section


      I gotta get you onto the Neversink or the Rondout some time. When Elf and I were on the Neversink, it seemed as if every little pool or waterfall had a skittish little wild brookie in it, and he mentioned that if you and a fishing rod were along, we'd never pry you out of there.
      [IMG:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5586/14736035304_4d21ddc1d5.jpg]

      I saw a big rainbow trout lurking in the hole below this fall on a little stream feeding the Rondout. Unfortunately, he also saw me. No matter, I didn't have fishing gear along. I had peaks to bag that day (I just love it when the day starts with a 3000 foot elevation gain, don't you?), and besides, I'm no fisherman. I'll let someone else show me how.
      [IMG:https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5586/14799397098_56d670fef5.jpg]
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
    • Combine it with bagging a peak or three (Six of the seven I have left are beyond my solo risk tolerance, and I'm hurting for hiking partners), and you're totally on! Just as soon as the ice is gone in the spring, when the leaves are still off the trees, the flies are hatching and the fish are hungry!
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.