Asheville Adventure: Tadpole Woodstock

Fishergirl Katie

Our kids are too young for ziplines, so what else can we do in the beautiful North Carolina woods on our final full day? Fishing, of course! The kids have both fished on camping trips, but this would still be fun, so day five's adventure was drowning some worms at the Buck Creek Trout Farm about 45 minutes east of Asheville. We got there about 10 am and we didn't have reservations because the website said they weren't necessary. No one was there and we didn't have mobile service up in the mountains so we couldn't call the number we had for them. Thankfully, we remembered Elliot's Trout Farm that we'd passed just down the way. A quick jaunt had us there and getting some poles and corn to fish in a nice little trout pond. As we got set up, we walked all around the small pond to scope the place out and saw the Woodstock of tadpoles clustered in the shallow water on one side. We also saw a big, green frog staring up at us from about a foot underwater. He didn't look too happy to see us.

There were rules for fishing, mostly about about parents supervising their children and that you must take what you catch (no catch and release). They were neatly handwritten on a sign and we complied with all of them, I hope. I wish I'd taken a picture of the sign. This place was the real deal: Just a guy running a fishing experience. No corporate-style signs or rules, nothing was slick or homogeneous. I loved it!



Ethan with his first catch

We didn't get a quick bite so we switched to night crawlers and, in about 15 minutes, Katie and I had the first catch of the day landed on the bank. Then we had a long dry spell, with rainbow trout swimming around, jumping out of the pond, and basically teasing us, but not biting. They eventually gave into the temptation of the delectable night crawlers, though. We stayed for a couple of hours and caught four fish, each one being greeted with squeals of excitement from the kids.

Mr. Jim ran the place and he looked like a mountain man from Hollywood central casting. He had a beat up hat, a chest-length beard, smoked Paul Malls, and was extremely nice. He was a little shy and soft spoken but responded to me chatting with him. I discovered he's originally from Montana and we talked about learning to fish with our dads when we were kids (actually, mine was my stepdad). He knew the people who ran the Buck Creek place up the road and spoke highly of his competitors, which says a lot. When I had early success but then didn't get any more bites, he took me to two other smaller ponds that I don't think were really for fishing. I think he was just being nice. When I put the worm right into the middle of a school of about 100 trout with no bites, that was the sign he was waiting for. He declared that it had just gotten too hot to fish. We'd caught four by then, so that was enough for us. I called the kids over to the smaller ponds where he'd taken me to see about 150 baby frogs newly transitioned from the tadpole stage.


Katie and Daddy with her fish

At Elliot's Trout Farm, you only paid by the pount for what you caught, so two hours of educational fun -- including lessons in the importance of patience and being quiet -- with poles, a net, a bucket for the catch, and bait for four people cost us $14.40. We finally stopped because we'd caught enough for dinner and the heat wave washing across the east coast was making itself known about noon.

On the way home, we stopped for some refreshment and got some Cheerwine, a burgandy-colored Southern soda. It was a first for the kids and they loved it. We also learned that Pepsi originated in North Carolina, as did Cheerwine. Given that Coke started in Georgia and Dr. Peoper started in Texas, I think it's safe to say we love our sweet, fizzy drinks down South.

After going to the cottage to clean the fish, lunch was at a local place, then nap time, then hot tub. We had planned the whole day around the trout fishing, buying ingredients to grill the trout and making side dishes, but Rome discovered that the grill didn't work when everything was in process. I guess we should have checked it, but the cottage was so meticulously maintained that it didn't cross our minds. So...we chilled the trout to take home and punted for dinner, cooked in house.

We had planned to go into Asheville after dinner for a well known drum circle they have downtown which is a sight to see, apparently, but it was just too darn hot. So, after a day of adjusting plans, we had a relaxed evening around the blessedly cool cottage and enjoyed our last few hours in our temporary home.  We left the next morning, grateful for our time in western North Carolina and with each other.