I have caught trout in twelve new creeks so far in 2024, including two from my bucket list. I got Wallace Branch on a trip to Watauga County with Bobby Kilby in January. I got Cub Creek (a bucket list creek) in Wilkes County on the day they stocked it (4/8) - there is probably only a small window of time that it actually contains trout. I got Walker Branch (unnamed tributary of Richland Creek in Haywood County) two days later. Ben Wilson guided Bobby and I on a blue line bonanza in Cherokee County April 11-13, where I got nine new creeks, including bucket list North Shoal Creek, raising my total to 1061.

Dads on the Fly

Finally, back in March, I was a guest on another episode of Joshua and Caleb Simmons' "Dads on the Fly" podcast. We did a "March Madness" tournament with trout flies, along with fly tiers "Fish Hands Franky" Ciccone (https://fishhandsfranky.com/) and Howie Fischer of "Fischer's Flies" (https://fischersflies.com/). It was a lot of fun, but the seeding and results definitely had a Southeast bias! Here are the links below:

Part 1: https://www.dadsonthefly.com/133-the-dads-on-the-fly-ultimate-fly-bracket-part-1/

Part 2: https://www.dadsonthefly.com/134-the-dads-on-the-fly-ultimate-fly-bracket-part-2-champion-announced/

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story: