Darlington School Flyfishing Club at Nacoochee Bend

This in from Hamp Cross:

Henderson Stegall with first trout on a fly rod - a 14" 'bow

On Saturday November 13th, we took the flyfishing club from the Darlington School near Rome, Georgia out on a Gilligan Special.  The party was made up of five students and three adults.  The students have just recently started this club in their high school and this was their first outing as a club.  The group ranged from rank beginners to some pretty experienced young fisherman.  After brushing up on their casting skills out in the field, we broke up into parties of two to fish for a couple of hours.  I had the privilege of fishing with Director Gordon Hight and club member Henderson Stegall.  Hight was an experienced fisherman and quickly was into fish landing around five or six in the couple of hours and letting a few go on the long distance release.  His best fish was an 18" 'bow that took a size 18 Mirco May dropped off a Stimulator.   Henderson, an experienced spin fisherman, was just getting his feet wet with the long rod and had some early hookups before we were prepared to finish the battle.  After working hard for two hours and greatly improving his casting and line control, he was able to take two of his best trout ever in the last few minutes, landing a 16" 'bow that was not happy about being hooked and gave us several awesome jumps before coming to the net, with the other students watching.  I had a great time guiding these folks and commend them as a well-mannered and polite group of young men.  The world could use more teenagers like these guys.  Thanks again for letting Unicoi be a part of your club and look forward to seeing you in the future.