As I remember these past few years and the fishing seasons, I am grateful and thankful for being able to travel to new states and explores new territory and terrain in the United States that I have yet to explore. Honestly, these past few years have been a blur. Maybe it is because of the traveling for work or maybe it is because I am getting older, and time is blending together. Things move much faster now that I am in my mid 30’s and it feels like just yesterday that I was complaining how time was moving so slowly before I graduated high school.
There’s a bug on my face…any identification on the little guy?
These past two years I have traveled to and fished in several states I have never caught fish in. They include Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Arizona. These states are not in any order and Wisconsin seems so long ago even though it was just earlier this year in June and one of the most recent trips I took. Honestly, as I type these states out, I cannot believe I have been to and fished in over a dozen new states in just a few years. Wow. I don’t know if I am impressed or worried, I won’t be able to top these adventures next year…But plans for next year’s trips are for another post.
This writing is going to showcase and explore my favorite memories from this past year. Hopefully, I can do this in some sort of chronological order. I am thankful to the photos app on iPhone that lays out pictures with dates. What a time to be alive…
First up is Virginia. In January I was invited with a friend to go see the wild ponies in Grayson Highlands State Park in Southern Virginia. Having never been there, Rachael and I drove to the park early and stayed in a local VRBO with some friends. We hiked early enough to encounter nobody else on the way up the mountain to the ponies. We didn’t start seeing people until after our encounter with the ponies and on the way down the mountain we hiked some other trails that took us to some beautiful water cascading down the surrounding mountains. There was snow on the ground and I rarely fish in the winter, but I had fun showing my friends how to fish tenkara style and maybe influence these friends of mine who are avid hikers and might have a little down time near a mountain stream. I also had fun catching my first native brook trout in Virginia! This was a perfect winter weekend fishing in just a long sleeve flannel surrounded by friends.
The next few times I went out I stayed within a few hours of where I stay in South Carolina for work. There is a state park that holds the closest trout population to me and that is where I’d say that I frequented the most last year. Above the waterfalls is where I encounter most of the scenery I like to be surrounded by and fish I like to catch. I usually never encounter many people fishing, but the hiking is accessible, and it is one of the nearest mountain ranges to Charlotte, NC, this state park draws crowds on the weekends. That is why I like to fish during the weekdays on my one day off.
Another place I fished earlier this year in early spring was a place that I found in North Carolina while studying the app “Gaia GPS” and researched further using the internet. I enjoy going to public land like this one, discovering wild trout, and meandering blue lines on a map. This stream that meanders through game lands holds some of the most pristine looking wild browns I have ever seen. I went there in March 2023 before the leaves were on the trees and I ended up going back out that way right before the leaves started falling too much for the fall season. Because it is in central North Carolina, the weather is quite tolerant of wet wading most of the year which is my favorite. I love to feel that water against my skin as I am wielding my tenkara rod and stalking wild fish.
For the next few Spring months, I fished in areas close to me where I work in North Carolina. I caught species of fish such as sunfish and shiners that are endemic and native to the Southeastern area of the United States. Also, in April, I returned to the North Carolina tenkara campout for the second year in a row and fished with friends and shook hands with some new tenkara friends as well. I was even invited to do a few small teaching sessions about tenkara fishing on blue lines up and down the Appalachia. I also caught some beautiful brook trout from Tennessee on this trip and it is a creek I will always remember because of how secluded it was and how much I bushwhacked to get there. My favorite. This would hold me over until my summer trip of fishing.
In June I ended up being able to explore and fish in the Wisconsin driftless region and attend the annual driftless tenkara campout, fish and help host the 2nd annual White Mountain tenkara campout in New Hampshire and reappear back in Wisconsin to help out/play nurse with the women’s annual fly fishing clinic.
In Wisconsin, every stream was new to me. I am lucky to have met some tenkara anglers familiar with the area who are lucky enough to call this region of Wisconsin their home waters. The driftless region is host to the most spring creeks I have ever seen. I normally fish in tight quarters with trees and brush overhanging the stream every which way as water free flows over rocks and boulders. This was definitely new territory and terrain to me. Fishing there was fun and challenging. Most streams had brown trout, but I was able to catch a few wild brook trout. The second new-for-me state this year that they are native. The spring creek I caught it on was restored to hosting native brook trout and this checked off another state in which I caught the fish in its native territory.
Just a look into my fly wallet from Timber & Fins!
I filled it up with some of my favorite flies.
Next up in New Hampshire I studied the topo maps and found a stream that had me catch over 50 brook trout in a day’s worth of fishing. It even rained, which I don’t enjoy fishing in, but it didn’t stop me. I don’t live in New England anymore and I had to fish when I could. No lightning, so it was game on. I ended up bringing friends back to this creek and catching some more.
The next few days were dedicated to shaking hands with tenkara anglers who attended the White Mountain tenkara campout. It rained, but I ended up being able to catch more brook trout and doing some casting demonstrations and even had a Tanuki rod given away in a “cast off” competition where the last man standing wins. This was fun and hopefully will be played this coming year at the campout!
Fly tying in the airport is new to me, but being on the road for 3 weeks called for replenishment of my resources!
Flying back to Wisconsin for the last time this year I had different plans in mind than trout. I ended up being able to stay with a friend in Madison and researched a stream that he recommended I fish at. This ended up being a lovely brook trout stream. I also got to meet a tenkara guide based in Milwaukee and fished for smallmouth and although I have caught bass on a fixed line rod it was by accident. This trip was purposefully to chase smallmouth bass and boy did I have success. I lost count and also made some friends along the way!
I made my way back to the driftless region of Wisconsin for the women’s fly fishing clinic that is taught by women for women after chasing bass in eastern Wisconsin. I ended up being able to fish a creek and catching what was my largest brown trout of the year with a fellow tenkara angler on one of his favorite Wisconsin driftless streams. What a ride!
This leg of the trip was me not just me catching fish, but also me winding down from the whirlwind of trout fishing I had done and may just be the turning point in my fly fishing journey as a woman angler and tenkara enthusiast. Sitting around the campfire with a group of women who loved the outdoors, nature, and fishing as much as me was inspiring and uplifting. I was even able to catch a nice brown trout on a western fly fish (shh!). It happened to be my first and last cast with a western fly rod of the trip, but I still am in love with my tenkara style. I ended up catching several brown trout along this leg of the trip in Wisconsin as well. I hope to be able to go back next year to help with this annual women’s fly fishing clinic again.
Typing out this summary of this past year is making me realize how much I have accomplished, and this is still only up until June!…
So, a few days after returning from my fishing fiasco, I researched and “phoned a friend” about fishing for brook trout in South Carolina. Since this is the state in which I have been staying in while working in the Southeastern United States, why not check it off on my list of states to catch brook trout in their native habitat? I was able to connect with several brookies in Western South Carolina on a creek in the mountains that border North Carolina. I had to walk a few miles, but it was worth the effort. Most of the locations I fish are at least a mile off the well-worn path anyway, so this was no different. This makes the third and final new state for brook trout this year.
In the beginning of July I was able to get into central North Carolina with a local tenkara angler and caught some natives such as warpaint shiners and smallmouth bass on a well-known creek. It rained, but it passed quickly and we had fun catching up and exploring. I ended up staying in the area overnight and fishing a tributary to a bigger river nearby thinking I would catch brookies, but I was fooled. I did catch wild rainbows though! One quite large for the trickle in which I caught them in. You never know what is lurking in those undercuts.
At the end of July and in September I was able to go to a brook trout haven in North Carolina where all the local streams on this public land are catch and release and single barbless hook only. What a dream. I camped and was able to fish early morning and late after dusk into the evening. The latter of which I can rarely do on the streams I fish because of the remote nature they are in and the miles and minutes away from my car they are. I will never ever forget hooking into two mammoth fish that I only caught a glimpse of as they spit my fly back at me. These memories still haunt me, but I know exactly what fly they were on, the time of day it was, the rod I was using, and the location of each fish. I am sure as you read this that you also have similar memories of your own experiences that you will never forget. It keeps you coming back for more and I will be exploring this place for more chances at these beautiful creatures.
I skipped over the month of August, but this was a month for a new state to catch fish in and will not be forgotten easily. I road tripped to Michigan. I ended up catching steelhead fry in a well-known, but secluded river in the Western part of Michigan. I am lucky enough to have a friend whose family has a cabin there and I got to know that stretch of the river well for the few days I stayed there. I even got lucky and fished with a local tenkara angler and I was taken to a tailwater. There are many miles of freshwater to fish in Michigan and I am unsure if I have ever fished a tailwater section of a river before, but I did end up catching a few fish. This also brought attention to the local hikers on the bridge located above the river I was fishing. They stood there watching me for a while before I caught a fish and started applauding when I ended up catching a fish. I am still not sure what to think about that experience, but another memory I won’t be forgetting.
As I meandered back to South Carolina from Michigan, I cut back through Ohio wanting to catch a trout, but ended up catching some micro fish. Does this count as a new state for fish? Why not. Off to Pennsylvania, my home state, where I have caught several native and wild trout. However, never really fishing on the West side near Pittsburgh I ended up stopping and late into the evening when the weather had cooled and fishing early in the morning. This brought to hand a few natives. It definitely made me happy to be back in my home state.
A little sakasa kebari fished in PA.
This brought me to mid-August and Maryland where I almost fished. Almost. However, I decided against it since it was the dead of summer, there had been no rain for weeks, and the water temperatures were just not right to fish for trout safely. So, I decided to rest my tenkara obsession for the rest of the road trip back to the South.
September I fished in North Carolina and went on a trip to the public land that is regulated for catch and release only with artificial barbless lures. And October took me to the stream I fished in North Carolina before the leaves were on the trees. This time they were falling off the trees and I didn’t catch as many magnificent browns, but I did attempt to fish a 400cm rod. What a challenge underneath the tight quarters of a freestone creek. The rod was a delight, but I probably won’t fish it again underneath trees.
As the temperatures start to drop in the fall, I ended up bringing my year of fishing full circle and fishing the stream I talked about earlier. The one closest wild trout waters to me. I ended up catching a huge stocked brown trout. North Carolina is known for stocking throughout the year and keeping their fishing season open, but I had never caught such a fish before.
Like a memory that will not exit my head easily, I can remember it well. It was one of the last fish I caught for the day. I was coming upon a stretch of the creek I had fished before and I knew there was a bend with a nice sized hole decorated with some boulders around the edges. As I fished upstream, I fished below a small waterfall and run. I heard a splash and thought someone was throwing rocks at me. I made my way up and made sure I had on something that would attract a top water strike. The Cutcliffe style fly I put on did just that and the rest is history…
That stocked trout adventure was the last of the year for North Carolina, but I knew I had a trip to Arizona planned. Planned is a relative term as I really didn’t know the exact dates of when I would be able to fish. I ended up being able to fish in the desert twice and catch trout and also fish for wild browns and wild gila in Northern Arizona. What a wild time this was. I also was able to meet up with a wild gila expert, dubbed by me, since I am pretty sure he catches more gila trout in Arizona than anyone else by the sounds of how often he fishes. I also got to witness his expertise and I was out fished! This was impressive. Although I was in new territory and amongst a new breed of fish, I was humbled and in awe of his abilities to stalk, lure these fish out, and hook these beautiful babies. I consider myself pretty good at catching wild fish, but he is on another level. What a treat to be around someone who admires nature and wild/native trout the way I do. Also, to catch a trout that was illegal to fish for just a few short years ago was an honor and privilege.
Honestly, as I typed this I could have written many more stories about what it was like to fish for wild brown trout the size of my arm in the driftless and how I enticed them with mostly my red ass monkey pattern or the way the smallmouth bass whipped my rod around as they drug my fly into the water further down than most trout do or how nice it is to meet other tenkara anglers and women who have the same mindset of fishing and wildlife that I do, but that might be for another time. I hope this serves as a memory for myself and encourages others to get outside more often.
I had to look away from this computer and ask myself and my girlfriend a few times if I fish too much. The answer is no every time.
I cant believe I was able to fish in all these different areas and catch fish. I will keep looking forward to fishing with friends and in new places in the years to come. Without tenkara I would never be going to these places. Without my girlfriend I would have never moved to the South and explored these waterways. Without my job I would not have the time and opportunities to fish as much and in as many places as I do. What a wonderful world I am a part of. This is just a reminder that I am carving out a nice little tenkara world for myself and I hope you can do the same.
My Tenkara Journey 