Hellbender on the Fly

Nasty Hellbender

When you get tired of catching trout in the stream, and the smallmouth are not biting yet, its time to pursue the elusive hellbender. I was fishing the Watauga DH last week, and got a nice surprise on the end of my line.

I was swinging a wooly bugger through a trough hoping to get a big trout to eat, instead I hooked this prehistoric throwback hellbender. Hellbenders are native to this area and the New River drainage, and can be as big as 2 1/2 feet long. Apparently wooly buggers are part of their diet.

If you do catch one of these things, you don’t want to pick it up trust me. When they are agitated, they secrete a disgusting slime like substance similar to rubber cement. It stays with you and its nasty. I’m gonna stick to trout from now on.