We can't visit Cashiers, North Carolina without spending some time at Silver Run Falls; see our previous visits here, here, and here. In places, Silver Run is placid, and from these spots I believe it derives its name, with abundant flakes of mica giving the sandy bed a silvery appearance.
In other spots, where the gradient is a bit steeper, it picks up a bit of speed and texture.
The plunge pool below the falls, though I've only had occasion to fish it twice, has become one of my very favourite fishing locations, for both its trout and its scenery. On our most recent visit, we lucked out once again and had the place to ourselves—late in the day, but all ours.
It's good to have the right tackle—here a Moonshine Revival 3-weight glass rod, click-and-pawl reel, and Cortland 444 in peach—but more critical is the right fly at the right time, and I changed a couple of times.
I started with what had worked last time, a small streamer, but that was then and this was now. Try again.
Noticing a foam line emanating from the base of the falls—"foam is home"—I tied on a black caddis, and put myself into position to make short casts into the conveyor belt of the foam line. This was an improvement, to a point: the dry fly got fish rising, but no takers.
As the light started to fade a bit, I started seeing a few mayflies in the air, creamy yellow: pale evening duns. I tied on an imitation, a bit smaller than the naturals, and immediately started catching fish. Not just any fish, but southern Appalachian brook trout—darkly colourful in the hand, but when one of them took temporary refuge in the shallows near my feet after being released, it appeared much lighter than it had moments earlier, not quite disappearing against the sand and mica but taking on something of the light background.
Brookies, I've decided, are like peregrines: gorgeous themselves, and with excellent taste in real estate. They sure know where to live...
Photos by Jessica Farrell-Churchill.
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