The Nantahala River, January 2008

There is a difference between being politically active and being a political junkie. If I stayed inside for one more minute watching the 2008 primary coverage, I'd have bordered on junkie... maybe even fanatic. Not good. Not good at all. So, I packed up the gear and drove down the mountain.

After hitting the thrift stores in Franklin, I made my way up to the Nantahala for an afternoon of fishing. It was cold. I mean rod-eyelids-iced-over, frozen-stiff-net, numb-feet cold. And with that cold, I thought I wouldn’t see much action of the river.

Initially, I didn’t. That prompted me to do the unthinkable. I set up a nymph rigging. I can’t remember the last time I seriously nymph fished a river—too much hassle, too many knots. I prided myself on the simple life: dries and streamers. But, I did it… and, the change of underwater scenery gave me the needed "bounce" (if cable news shows can use "bounce" for the primaries, I can apply it to fly-fishing). Well, the switch to nymphing wasn’t initially effective, but after I hooked a tree limb, lost my original dropper setup, and switched to an olive beadhead, the trout got hungry.

The first fish I caught was a small rainbow. The pessimist that I am, I thought that was it. That babe-of-a-fish was only the beginning. Five ‘bows and a brown later, I made my way out of the river before darkness fully set in.

The last hole I fished provided the most action. Three landed, and one missed. Yet, it was the last fish, as light disappeared, that made the day. The rainbow measured, well, measured big, and its girth was unexpected for the size of the river and the time of year.

So ended day two of my last four days of NC fishing.