Raining fish!

[Eight Thumbs]

Better Loops and I finally got out for a long awaited trip to the Chattooga River last Friday around 2:00 pm. We were fishing slowly directly below the Route 28 bridge and spending considerable time there because the action was quite good even though the fish were extremely hard to hook. I suspect that the fish might have been hitting the knots in the leader instead of the fly itself. Anyway, we were happily picking up a few trout here and there when we heard this loud splashing behind us. My first thought was that some SOB on the bridge was dumping trash in the river and I was thinking about how best to report this information to the authorities. Closer inspection of the next shovelful of trash revealed that the objects landing in the water were trout. Apparently they all survived the 12-15 ft drop because none floated belly up down the river. I guess they must have been a little shockey because fishing remained about the same. Strange to have fish dumped nearly on top of you! I'm sure that the first fishermen there the next day must have cleaned up. 8T

[jimsnarocks]

Dang 8T. Next time wear a hard hat and carry a big net. Jim

[Grubb]

Can't beat that! Fish falling out of the sky...

[dudley]

When I stocked trout for the state, we often dumped them off of bridges.
It kinda gives the fish a 'jump start' after packed like sardines in the truck's tanks.
Only once did I see fish go belly up and that was a broodstock brown of about 10#.
We watched that fish while it lay on the bottom for about 8-10 minutes until it finally came around