I went to Todd, NC to fish South Fork New River and some tributaries. I started out at the Todd Island Park where the South Fork DH stretch is, but there was already a crowd there, so I went downstream on the railroad grade to Mill Creek. From Todd down to the island, the South Fork is the county line between Ashe and Watauga, but where Mill Creek runs in, it is all in Ashe County. There is a pull-off at the bridge and a rough trail that follows the creek upstream, and there were signs that it had been fished (worm containers and fishing line hanging from limbs), although it is not recognized as trout water by NCWRC. I fished upstream for about 20 minutes until I saw a posted sign. According to Bobby Kilby, it had specs in it when he fished it years ago, but I caught five small wild browns on a dry fly.

From there, I drove back up the railroad grade to 194 and fished Pine Orchard Creek in Watauga County. It is a roadside blue line that I have driven past countless times on the way to other creeks. I caught several tiny rainbows on dries, but I did see a couple of decent fish that looked like browns.

When I went back to Todd Island Park, the crowd had thinned some, and I was able to find enough elbow room to catch a few stockers on midges.