Fishing again!

We had a fantastic time in Marble, NC.  First off, I should say we did not drag coming out this morning, although we went very slowly and Jan watched me carefully every inch of the way.  More campgrounds need to take these kind of things seriously because a steep incline or a road that is full of holes or drains, low branches and need to be trimmed foliage are all items that will cause someone to come back or not.  Please be sure to give them your feedback in a firm yet polite way, but do it.  Too many times we'll complain among ourselves and the campground will never know what their problems are.  It is just as important to give positive feedback so they know their efforts are appreciated.

But on to the fishing.  We drove from our campground about 20 miles to the Upper Nantahala River.  It is a small clear stream with great accessibility and all public, so for a change fishing access is easy and plentiful.  We saw quite a few other fishermen enjoying the river and the fine weather.  This river is classified as Delayed Harvest, so right now you call only use a lure with one hook, no bait, etc, and you can only catch and release, just perfect for what we had in mind.  Also the water levels are controlled by a dam as this is called tailwater, so is very consistent.  We fished on 2 different days and were successful on both, always a terrific thing.

A shot of the beautiful river

The first day, we caught one fish apiece, and spent a glorious 3 hours, fishing several different spots, really getting our sealegs back.  After all it had been last fall since we had fished.  Reacquainting ourselves with our gear, waders, tying on new leaders, tippet, and wading again took a bit of time, but it came back quickly.

One of our first day fish

Our new Rod Vault really made it easy to pick up from one spot and move somewhere else, no longer did we have to hang the rods out the window, or break them down, just slip them in the vault, and move to the next spot, pull them out and fish.  I wish I could say it was entirely worth waiting 10 months for.

Jan fishing

One of Jan's successes

We went back the second day and did even better, Jan got 2, and got another one.

What a beautiful spot, huh?

Yay, got one

One of mine

All in all we spent a very enjoyable couple days in the Murphy area, had a great lunch at Rib Country, highly recommended by the way.  You can relax, we forgot to take pictures of our BBQ:-)

And after getting out of the campground in Marble, Valley River, we drove the coach up to Mt Airy, NC to the Mayberry Campground.  It is large, quite nice, friendly people with some large pull throughs and convenient to the interstate.  We are here only 2 nights, and did a quick overview of Mt Airy which is the home of Andy Griffith, so there are lots of Andy Griffith Show memorabilia in town.  Andy's cop cars are everywhere giving tours, Floyd's barber shop, etc.  

After looking around in town we had a very enjoyable surprise visit with a former neighbor couple and friends of our's, Larry and Teresa.  They own a beautiful lot in a motor coach resort nearby, and we took a chance and dropped in on them.  They actually weren't there when we arrived but showed up shortly, and we spent a great time catching up and telling stories for a few hours.  It is wonderful when paths cross with great friends!