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Blue Lining
Written By: Matt Canter-Brookings Fly Shop | Issue: May 2024
Blue Lines whisper to anglers from all over the world. Blue Line Bar does the same thing.
A “blue line” is a term that has been created by anglers referring to streams and creeks small enough in size that when you look at a map it’s hard to find a name for it … hence the term “blue line.”
There are too many of them to count in our area. Just break out a map and take a look. These are spring-fed streams coming right out of the aquifer itself that stay cool even in the dogdays of summer. They hold water and aquatic insects year-round, which makes most of them home to wild trout.
For those fly anglers that like to avoid the crowds, and distractions of modern life, you can bet that most of these “blue lines” have very spotty cell service, and very primitive access points.
Everything is to scale, including the size of the fish, but it’s one of the best ways an angler can interact directly with Mother Nature. For those anglers that enjoy this type of experience, Western North Carolina provides more than a lifetime worth of exploring these types of streams.
Most interesting to trout fishers are the Blue Lines high in elevation (more than 3,000 ft). These streams are home to the Brook Trout – which isn’t actually a trout at all. Brook Trout are Arctic Char that came down with the glaciers millions of years ago when these mountains were made.
Brookies in these streams are the fish that have been here forever, the ones Harry Middleton wrote about in On the Spine of Time. Not just wild fish, but wild native fish. They’re mostly tiny and you may need to be in pretty good physical shape to get to them, but if it doesn’t stir your soul to its very foundation to fish for Brookies in these streams and to marvel at how they’ve survived the loggers, the erosion, the warming, and the poachers, then maybe you need to trade your fly rods in for a set of golf clubs.
You might go as far as to say that Blue Lines define Western North Carolina as a unique destination for fly anglers all over the world.
In light of that, Brookings has opened up the Blue Line Bar in its new Cashiers location on the shoreline of Cashiers Lake at 88 Cashiers Lake Road.
It’s a place for folks that enjoy the fine sport of fly fishing to come and meet others with the same interest and tie some flies, tell fish stories, or simply take in the warm breeze off scenic Cashiers Lake.
We hope to see you there! Cheers!
