A not so great Tuckasegee trip

Well, I had to settle a curiosity that had been bothering me all summer about one of my favorite tail water rivers. And despite people telling me that it is not worth fishing, like the legend of Wooly Swamp, I just had to find out for myself.

So my brother and I headed up to Webster, NC to spend the day prospecting on the Tuckasegee DH section. We launched the boat around 8:00am with at least 8 rods rigged up with everything from pencil poppers for bass to small nymph dropper rigs for trout. Now my drift boat has been known to resemble a battleship with all the rods sticking out of it, and Saturday was no exception. We fished hard and with reckless abandon for our own health and well being, but at the end of day, we were broken and longing for Monte Alban's Mexican Restaurant there in Franklin. We did catch a few trout but did not see or catch any bass. Its a shame too because there is so much good water on that section.

Most interesting observation was the water temperature. I realize that there is a long distance between the DH section and the two separate powerhouses that release water down the Tuckasegee, but knowing what I know about Hydrology, I was a little surprised. At 8:00am with the East Fork running 500cfs, the water temp was 62F. Which I thought was a little warm for that time of day. The release stopped around 1:00pm and by 6:00pm the water temp was up to 68F. On days that there is no generation, I could easily see the temps in that section hitting +70F.