If you’ve never heard of the Davidson River in western North Carolina then put it on your list of must places to visit one day.  In fact if you’ve never visited western North Carolina – go there – it is absolutely beautiful.  Lush green mountains, rivers and streams everywhere and the nicest people you’ll meet anywhere.  Our first taste of Carolina hospitality started when we drove into Cascade Lake Recreation Area where the camp host greeted us graciously and even provided us with a go cart escort to our RV site. 

We experienced our first thunderstorm of the journey just as we were turning in but the most amazing event of the day was our near miss in running out of gas near Albany, GA.  We ran 80 miles on the flashing yellow dashboard light before we found a gas station offering diesel.  When we filled up our 25 gallon take it took 25.6 gallons.  Here’s a shout out to Ann Carpenter of Kansas praying for us today and to the good Lord for answering.

The brooke trout on the Davidson River were the biggest we had ever caught by far.  14-15 inches long and shaped like footballs.  I would equate a 15” brooke trout to a 20” rainbow for shear mass and fighting power.  Landon Lipke, out guide from Davidson River Outfitters, was superb.  He taught us some new techniques (of course he’s working with wet clay when it comes to our expertise at trout fishing, but his patience paid off and the fish cooperated..  We are definitely returning to these waters one day.  We wouldn’t mind playing a round of golf nearby either.  Driving out of the Pisgah Forest area we passed alongside the Nantahala River which was a rush hour of rafters today.

We are also coming off of our longest driving leg to date at 420 miles.  We’re tag teaming the driving well.  Taylor is driving his 50% for sure which has been a huge relief.  We’re very well rested after a full 8 hours of sleep last night and on our way to northern Alabama to fish Lake Guntersville at 5:30am tomorrow for Largemouth Bass.