Julian Byrd

Byrd has pulled the oars down south and out west, but calls Georgia home.  Like most of our guides,  he got started fishing at an early age...read more about him here.

One Brother's Admiration

I’m lucky to have the friends I am close to. They keep me humble and grounded.

I’m blessed to have the family I have.

They are always there and are constant reminders that I belong to something greater. My brother in particular is the best brother in the world as far as I am concerned. I am truly proud to be his brother. Since the day I was made an uncle by he and his wife, I couldn’t wait for this particular day to arrive, Guy Weekend. It was time to introduce my nephew Joe (who is 4 years old) to the world of trout fishing. I know my father was hauling my brother and me around on fishing trips when we were Joe’s age and we both turned out just fine, so nothing wrong with getting Joe started early. So with a truck load of groceries and fishing gear, we headed up to the cabin for a weekend of burger grilling, Chocolate Yoo-Hoo drinking and trout fishing fun.



There is no better job than being an uncle. And to think that in a couple of years I get to do it again with Joe’s younger brother Jack.


There is also no greater joy than watching the fire being lit in the next generation of trout fishermen.

Tuck DH Float with Julian Byrd

Julian Byrd and I floated the Tuck DH on Friday and it was a challenging day. They had just stocked about 10 days prior, so we figured it would be absolutely silly fishing. However, even with an angler/guide as skilled as ol' J-Byrd, it was still one heck of a challenge. We were trying to figure out what was going on for a while when Julian stuck his hand in the water and said, "Wow, this water feels warm". Sure enough, it felt warmer than the 60-degree air temperature we had that day. I had read of several other reports from people on NGTO saying that they had only caught a couple of fish or had caught nothing but the proverbial skunk, but you never know if the person posting is just a lousy fisherman! Of course, Friday night the temps sank to about 34 degrees and the reports from Saturday were the usual - 30 fish, 50 fish, etc. Odds are that cold weather dropped the water temps significantly and those same fish started eating every fly they came across.

If you get a chance, take a float on the Tuck with Julian or Butch. The fall weather is perfect right now, there's water everywhere, these guys know the river well and can get you on these nice and plentiful fish. Here are a few shots from the day:

















David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com

Toccoa River Fishing with Julian Byrd

I'm a little late on posting this, but I was able to float with Julian Byrd and one of his brothers a few weeks ago and we had a great time. We saw some absolutely gigantic browns and rainbows from the high vantage point of the drift boat and even spotted one great big smallmouth in a clear, deep pool. Too bad that guy wouldn't hit a woolly bugger!

Anyhow, we caught some very nice fish, as well. But the best thing is that it really doesn't seem to matter what time of year you fish the Toccoa tailwater - any day can turn out to be a banner day and there's seldom a bad day of catching here.

Here are a few photos (if you want to see the rest of the photos from this gallery, go to www.CannonOutdoors.com, click on 'Clients' in the menu bar and enter the password 'julianbyrd'):





David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com

No Title Neccesary

They say a picture speaks a thousands words. So I will simply let Noontootla Creek Farms speak for it self.

Tuckasegee River DH Opens October 1st

Stay tuned for next week.

Outdoor writer, photographer and recent book author, David Cannon http://cannonoutdoors.com/ and I hitch up the Clacka Craft and head up to the Tuckasegee DH to see whats going on. Should be a good time as the two of us look for eager fish willing to pose for a few pictures and eat a few fake bugs as we open the 2009 North Carolina Delayed Harvest season.

J Byrd

Prospecting for Rainbow Gold!

Friend and Fellow guide Brad Wayne and I decided to take a prospecting trip on Saturday last week. I have some fly patterns that I have been wanting to try. Deer season, college football and school have started which tends to thin the herd down a little bit on the river. We started later in the afternoon as both of us had been getting up early the past few mornings and neither one us felt like getting up at the crack of dawn that morning………..it happens……….even to those who are hopelessly addicted to fishing. As best we could tell, we were the only boat on the water with a few scattered fishermen wading around in spots. There were a few bugs flying around with very little surface action, but once we got past the waders, the fish started rising all around us. Started sticking rainbows left and right and just about the time I made the comment to Brad that I had not caught a brown in a while “Wham”, a lively brown trash canned my dry fly. Today was goooooooood day. I won’t mention how many fish we caught in the 5 hours we fished because folks will want to check our boat cooler to see what we’re sipping on, but I’ll just say it was on. We didn’t get to fish long because the DAWGS were kicking off at 7:30 and we both had “obligations” to attend. Fall is here and the fishing is starting to pick up as the crowds dissipate and the temperature cools down.