“Cold, Cold ‘Br-r-r-r”, Cold Water”

This past Monday, my brother and I scheduled a trip for fresh-water trout fishing on the Green River, in North Carolina.  Our guide, Brandon Barber of www.riverbladeknifeandfly.com in Spartanburg, SC did a tremendous job in getting us into water which had lots of fish.  I myself caught the trifecta, a brown, a brook and a rainbow, twice no less for both types.  My brother did the same.  Many of these waters are stocked by the Department of Natural Resources in North Carolina, so neither of us can claim too much in the way of skill, although the method of floating a stone or may fly to mimic a natural pattern does require some skill of presentation.  Brandon spent the better part of the day instructing us, allowing us to learn to cast the 9 foot graphite fly rod with the number 5 forward weighted line.  He then put us over areas with plenty of trout.  I never knew anything about how to connect tippets to fly lines, nor tying flies on to tippets until that day.  I commend Brandon for a guided trip to any who wishes to learn fly fishing and is starting with very little skill, as I.  He is a great teacher and an excellent guide with a whole lot of patience for anyone who wants to learn the glorious skill of fly fishing!  I am hooked forever!  (‘pardon the pun’)

I begin my story with the context established above.  The surprise of the day comes at the end, although it is also at the beginning, the middle and end.  In order to fly fish successfully in a large stream of moving water it is necessary to wear both special boots and waders.  The waders are designed to cover up to mid chest high and prevent water from entering the wader.  The boots which have a special sole are designed to protect the feet and cover the lower sock of the waders.  According to our guide, these boots are needed to prevent slippage on the rocks, which have algae and cover the bottom of many streams.

I purchased a new pair of waders and boots.  Size 14 feet require special attention in foot gear, so Brandon helped me to obtain the best of both.  I looked rather like an experienced trout fisherman when I entered the water early Monday morning.  Brandon chose Monday, so the fishing pressure would be less than on the weekends. We had the river almost to ourselves, save for a few brave kayakers who braved the cold to ride the release of the water from the dam.  The water release occurred around 10am and lasted most of the day.  It was “one generator water” Brandon declared, saying “two generator water is too high and dangerous to fish.”

Our day was uneventful, but exciting until the release of the water, as we caught trout in some selected pools.  With the release of the water, the depth of the water increased by almost a foot or more, and so the trout relocated into areas close to where we were standing as the water cascaded over previously uncovered rocks.  Brandon placed both of us on the upper and lower end of a sandbar, so we would have a steady footing.  With the rising water Brandon tied on a two fly rig to a 4 pound tippet, which was tied to a heavier leader above.  All this is connected to the fly line, which is held on the spool of the reel.

To cast a fly involves stripping the fly line from the reel and casting it, either with an over the shoulder cast and a quick wrist flick to sail the line, or with a side arm rolling cast that lays the fly under overhanging limbs.  The first type of cast is easier, but the second requires some effort to master, particularly with a longer line.  A clear bobber is placed above the two rigged fly set so it is possible to tell when a fish takes the fly.  Sometime this occurs so quickly only an astute (not a sleepy) fisherman can connect with these intelligent fish.  Often they only bite once and after that will ignore the fly for the rest of the day.

Intent on my new technique and thoroughly enamored with these seductively beautiful trout, I failed to notice at first the change in temperature which occurred briefly in my waders when I waded into waist deep water.  This was necessary as we moved down river from our initial spot of fishing to another.  Brandon then separated my brother John and I by a safe distance to avoid hook ups from casting.  We fished this next spot for another hour or so.  The morning went quickly, and we caught more fish.  Then, we all came out for lunch.

While eating a light lunch of tuna and crackers, along with some lemon-aide I noticed my feet seemed particularly cold and my boots heavy.  Since this was my first experience with this type of fishing, I asked Brandon why it seemed much harder walking on the dry land than in the water.  He said, “Oh, this is the buoyancy of the water, which does that.”   Not being the best of shape to do a prolonged day of fishing, by this time about 4 hours, I accepted his explanation.

We re-entered the mountain stream about 1:00PM and proceeded to walk a distance down the side of the stream until we found our way back into the water.  The water was deeper, about three to four feet and the current was fast.  Brandon helped me balance as I walked along side until we set up to fish another area of the river.  I noticed again that my feel seemed to be cooling a lot more than before lunch, but I attributed this to the temperature of the stream, which was about 48 degrees F.  The air was 52 degrees F by the truck thermometer, the day cloudy and cold.

I thought to myself as we set up for the afternoon, Brandon must be in a much better physical shape than me and John.  John developed a foot cramp which made it necessary for him to get up out of the water for about 20 minutes until his foot warmed.  I assumed this was an explanation for me too, since neither of us was accustomed to such cold water.

We fished on for about another two hours moving up and down this particular stretch of river, which should have been full of fish.  Brandon located only two, which he said was very surprising.  Later we found sign of beaver, who apparently had eaten a whole lot of fish!   Around 3:30PM my legs were becoming rather cold and I said to John, “Why don’t we wrap up a little early and go on back to our truck?”  He agreed, as by this time the cold was working on our minds.  We came out of the river, but the whole journey took about 30 minutes to get back to Brandon’s vehicle.  By 4:00PM we were ready to take off our waders.  On the long walk back to the truck, I complained again to Brandon, “These boots are really heavy.  Is this normal?  Or have my legs just gotten cold and I am weak in my limbs?”  He said, he did not know, but said, ‘We were in some really deep water this afternoon and I expect you worked a lot harder just moving up and down the river.”

Brandon started packing up the gear while John and I got out of our boots and waders.  John went first, since the tailgate of the truck only allows one person to sit at a time.  I helped John out of his waders and then it was my turn.

My boots came off first, of course and there were soaked as expected, but they have drainage holes in the sides which help lose any water inside.  Then my waders came off.  I noticed my jeans were wet, and my white socks.  I turned the waders upside down and about 4 gallons of blue green water came out.  The river is called the Green River for the color of the algae in the water.  I about fell over when I realized I had carried 4 gallons of the Green River on the hike out with me!

John, on inspection of his waders found a small hole on the opposite side where his foot had cramped.  When I inspected my waders I found two holes about an inch and a half apart, both about the size of a 20 penny nail.  I looked around for a cause and realized before I went in the water that I had sat down on the side of the tailgate of the truck.  There I found the latching mechanism which exactly matched the two holes in the bottom of my waders.  The two holes were under the right hip, so only in water over 34 inches did the cold river have access to the inside of my waders.  Anything of less depth made no matter at all!

I started laughing at the surprise of this all!  I am grateful to know that I had not simply imagined the cold surrounding my feet and legs.  There had been even one occasion in which I felt my testicles shrinking for a time and a sharp cold spear penetrated areas which should have been unknown.  Brandon laughed and said, “All day we did our level best to avoid a spill into the cold water, but you managed to carry the river along with you for most of the day!”

I remarked I was glad to find that I had nor simply imagined the dead weight in my feet and lower legs.  By the time I got back to the truck after our long hike, I felt like a really old man!

John and I settled up with Brandon and gave him a good tip for such a great day of fishing.  Luckily, I had another pair of jeans in my truck, so I was able to change in to dry clothes.  Burger King had a nice bathroom in which to change from wet to dry.  The cold in my legs and feet, “the brrrrr” remained though, for at least two days.  I took three warm showers over two days in an effort to fully warm my legs.  I also slept as hard that first night as I have slept in years!

It truly was a great fishing adventure with my brother John and Brandon.  I will remember the great day we had on the Green River for a long time.  John called the other day and said he has another trip planned for bream and bass fishing in a few weeks down Newberry way.   I plan to take my new fly rod and my new collection of bream and bass flies.  The waders will stay home this time.  I have a patch material for both holes, which will make them good as new.  However, to go for bream an overhead or a rolling cast from the bank should suffice!  I am hooked on fishing, but the next time I go into cold, cold water, I plan to be dry on my legs and my crotch!

Bill W.