After a long day on the property, yesterday, settin' up auto-deer feeders, I decided
to spend a lazy day inside today. Sittin' here listenin' to NPR and watchin' PBS, I
watched a program about scientist who were attemptin' to capture--live-- a monster
man-eater croc (better than 45' long and estimated to be 60 y.o.) in Burundi. They
didn't succeed.

The next program to come on was Carolina Outdoor Journal which, I believe is produced
down around Mr. Miller's way in Greenville, NC. Today's show centered on flyfishin'
in the Pisgah--though they never say exactly where--on a delayed-harvest stream. I
think that it may have been up in Wilkes Co. on Stone Mountain Creek, but I don't
really know. They did say that they were fishin' in May and as always they do a
segment on the gear they use. The fishermen used the tried and true caddis and Adams'
patterns primarily, but they also fished with droppers--beadhead pheasant tail.

A few thing that they did or suggested seemed odd to me: They netted most all of the
fish, no matter the size and then handled the fish for what seemed an eternity. Now I
realize that they are producing a TV program and need to show the fish to make the
show interesting, but handlin' the fish after netting seems to defeat the purpose of
the net?

One, of the two guides, stated that a 7 1/2' to 8' rod and 4 and 5 weight rods were
recommended for the small streams in the Pisgah. I tend to use shorter and lighter
weight rods myself, but then I'm not a guide. There are times when I fish that I wish
that I had a longer rod on the small streams that I fish; mostly, those times are when
I am tryin' to keep my line off the water when castin' over a spill, or when tryin' to
get my line across a fast current to an eddy on the other side of the stream. For the
majority of my fishin' needs, on our small streams, I like a 6' to 7 1/2' rod in the 3
wt. range. I find that I can cast to difficult to get to sections of water by
positioning myself and I can get under rhodo branches more easily with a shorter rod.
I like usin' a 3 wt., cause *I believe* it gives me a more delicate presentation and I
can feel the fish I catch. The majority of fish I catch are in the 7 to 11 inch
range, though it's not uncommon to catch wild trout up to 18 inches on some stretches
of water I fish.

Finally, I couldn't help but notice that neither the guide nor their guests took any
but the largest fish to reel? Obviously, COJ isn't produced with the elite flyfisher
in mind.

Mark