Submitted by Mark.Taylor on Fri, 2015-05-15 13:35 Conservation Trout Magazine Southeast Conservation Project Vote Up Down +499 + IMG_1987.jpg An evening trek over .82 miles of Virginia mountain trout water produced a handful of brook trout for TU's Mark Taylor on the first leg of his quest to complete TU's 11-Mile Challenge. By Mark Taylor Eleven miles. It doesn’t sound like a lot. Until you step into a small trout stream in the southern Appalachians and think about covering those 11 miles while fishing. So hatched an idea by Damon Hearne, who directs Trout Unlimited’s Southeast Conservation Project in a region that includes North Carolina’s mountains and adjacent trouty regions of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and western Virginia. IMG_1981.jpg Any angler who regularly fishing the Southen Appalachians is familiar with this kind of mountain stream. This summer the program will reconnect 11 miles of trout streams, primarily through the replacement of perched culverts, which block upstream passage of fish and other aquatic organisms. Connectivity is critically important in such systems because those stream critters do better when they have access to more and varied coldwater habitat. Hearne wants folks to understand that the 11 miles is not a small amount, so he’s challenging anglers to get out there and wade fish 11 miles of small streams this season. He did a soft rollout of the 11-Mile Challenge in late April, at TU’s Southeast Regional Meeting in Asheville. This week brings the official launch. This isn’t one of those you-must-follow-all-the-rules-or-else kind of things. It’s really casual. Anglers sign up online. They track their own progress, however they want. Paper map? Sure. GPS? Of course. Smartphone app? Yep. Every couple of weeks participants will get an email asking for updates. (If they opt-in.) Mile figures will be appreciated. Stories and pictures are great. Angler updates will be posted on the project’s Facebook page and through its Twitter account @TUSoutheast (#TU11MileChallenge). Everyone who actively participates by submitting regular reports -- completion of the 11 miles is not a requirement -- will be eligible for some killer prizes throughout the challenge season, and at the end-of-challenge bash at the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Expo in Asheville. OK, that thing about “everyone” being eligible for prizes isn’t completely accurate. TU employees aren’t eligible. So, while I’m signed up, I won’t be nabbing any of the prizes from our sponsors, who include Hunter Banks Fly Shop (tenkara fishing package), Davidson River Outfitters (donating a guided trip), Fly Men Fishing Company (sweet flies and tying material) and Orvis, TU’s partner in the 1,000 Miles reconnection campaign. While the focus is on the Southeast Conservation region, if someone wants to tackle the challenge by fishing small streams in their neck of the woods -- say, the Northeast, where culvert projects are helping to achieve big progress in the Orvis/TU 1,000-mile Campaign -- go for it. The key here is to build awareness through fun. IMG_1985.JPG Sulphur mayflies were among the many bugs in the air. On a recent breezy spring evening, I knocked out my first leg on a tumbling mountain stream in Virginia’s Alleghany Highlands. Just getting to the water required a bushwhack hike of about a half-mile. When I got to the stream at 6 p.m. I was pleased to see the air filled with all manner of bugs, including sulphur mayflies and stout yellow stoneflies. A size 14 yellow Stimulator seemed a good choice for the creek, the kind where attractor flies always seem to work well. Surprisingly, the fish weren’t looking up. After just one little brook trout rose to the fly in the first 30 minutes it was time to go deep. Nymphing did the trick. IMG_1980.jpg Despite the heavy hatches, the key to connecting was to bounce nymphs along the bottom of plunge pools. Just about every pool that seemed like it should produce a fish, produced a fish, including a couple of decent brookies. I had started my GPS just prior to my first cast and resisted looking at it while I made my way upstream. As the sun dropped, light started evaporating quickly in the canyon. The fishing had slowed by then, making it a little easier to reel in and start the hike out. According to my trusty Garmin, I’d covered .82 mile in just less than two hours. Getting to 11 miles won’t be easy. But it certainly will help me and other 11-Mile Challenge participants gain even more appreciation for the significance of the task facing the Southeast Conservation team this season. Mark Taylor is Trout Unlimited's eastern communications director, and loves just everything about late spring and summertime mountain trout fishing, with the only downside the swarms of gnats that often circle his head.