The Annual Tellico Cleanup took place on March 10th. I got up early in the morning in order to make the twoish hour trek to what has quickly become one of my favorite rivers in the area. I figured it was worth being tired in order to give a little back to the river that has treated me well the past few times I have fished it. Stopped at Hardees to fuel up, and made my way to the Tellico ranger station to check in.
Had to sign a multiple page document saying I won’t hold the federal government responsible for if i get ghonna-herpa-syphal-aids from whatever I pick up, and they gave me a rockin T-Shirt, a set of gloves, and a pack of bags.
I set out up river road, driving past about twenty folks already with multiple full bags of trash. Finally arrived at an unclaimed pulloff, and quickly filled a bag. Moved up the road a bit, filled another bag. Rinse, repeat. After filling up about five bags, and a good chunk of another just containing beer cans to recycle, I decided to give fishing a go for an hour or so before lunch.
Drove up to the hatchery, and was pleased to see there was no one parked in the spot that I’ve had great luck at. I rigged up a double nymph rig with a prince charming with lively legz on the bottom, and a deadpool midge up top. The spot did not disappoint. There is a nice depression that the fish love to hang out in, and I was able to hook about six fish on the prince charming, and one on the deadpool.
Around 11:00 I made my way back to the game check station for lunch that was provided by the Appalachian chapter of Trout Unlimited. The fare was great for a drizzly day, consisting of hot dogs, and “bambi chilli”, along with chips and some various soda. As everyone filed in to eat, the trophies of trash people found were placed along the parking lot to claim the prize of the weirdest item found. We could have built a full car with all the parts found, including a steering column/wheel, front clips, cv joint, and headlights. Plenty of old pull tab cans, a mattress spring frame, and one condom were also found. The weirdest thing I found was a fidget spinner, which did not join the pile.
After lunch, I headed back up towards the hatchery to give fishing another go. By this time, it was much more crowded on the river, and a couple were fishing in my spot, so I moved across the river and got a few. I made my way down stream catching another couple before walking back to the truck. I introduced myself to the couple that were fishing, as they weren’t having any luck. They were from Knoxville, and were just starting to fly fish. I gave them a couple hints, and a prince charming nymph to give a shot, and then drove upstream to a pool I hadn’t fished in the past.
The pool is behind a low head dam that diverts the water to the hatchery thru a pipeline. I didn’t see any fish on the near side of the bank, but I cast out across towards the intake where the water was a bit deeper and faster, and I’ll be damned if the first cast I got a fish on.
Release it, cast, another fish.
Cast, fish.
Cast, Fish.
Cast, long distance release… Cast… Fish.
Cast, fish.
Cast… TREE! It was a pile of monofilimant in this ghoul of a branch. I tired my damndest to get free, or pull the whole mess down, but no joy, broke both of my flies off. I took that as a sign that I should be done for the day.
Overall, it was a great day fishing. I think the river goddess was pleased with my eight or so bags of trash that I picked up, and rewarded me with plenty of tight lines and nice fish.