Noccalula Falls Park luring more fly anglers
Story by Paul South
Submitted and staff photos
Flawless casting in fly fishing is like a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie routine, explained veteran Rainbow City fly angler and guide Frank Roden.
“The perfect rhythm in fly fishing is almost like the perfect dance. If we’re dancing with a lady, we’ve got to show her what we intend to do next, without pushing her around or stepping on her feet, that kind of thing.”
It only takes a gentle touch.
On Black Creek, that gentle touch – an elegant meeting of rhythm and cast, water and rainbow trout – begins Oct. 15 and continues until June 30, 2025. It’s a new chapter in the City of Gadsden’s successful effort to grow fly fishing at Noccalula Falls.
Twice a year, as weather permits, the city stocks Black Creek with 1,800 pounds of Rainbow trout. The effort to bolster the fish population is in its sixth year. Funding for it comes from the sale of fishing permits on the creek, as well as some state tourism dollars, Roden said.
Black Creek is a “delayed harvest” stream, meaning that up until May 1, 2025, anglers must practice “catch and release” and cannot keep any fish. After May 1, anglers are subject to the state creel limit of five fish per day.
Fishing of any type is prohibited in the park after June 30.
Roden called the city’s efforts to grow and promote fly fishing, “a great success” for Gadsden’s growing tourism industry and for the sport.
“It’s allowed a lot of people who say, ‘I’ve always wanted to fly fish,’ or ‘I’ve always wanted to trout fish, but I never got a way to do it.’ Well, right here, locally, it’s given them a way to do it.”
Black Creek has also introduced the sport to a new generation, both locally and across the Southeast.
“People that have children bring their kids right hereto the water, and they don’t have to travel any distance,” Roden said.
As for fly angling-related tourism, Roden says it’s growing. And he has an unusual way to gauge that increasing popularity. Along with his wife Tammy, he’s the co-owner of Rainbow City Auction & Fly Shop.
“This last October through January, when we were trying to get fish in (Black Creek), I was just covered up with phone calls, saying ‘Frank, when are we going to get fish in?’ ”
The calls came from South Florida, Kentucky and Illinois, Mississippi and points in between, Roden said.
“This is something people in our area have been and should be very proud of, bringing tourism in,” Roden said.
Polly Dean, the associate editor of the fly-fishing site, OntheFlySouth.com, agrees that the sport is growing in the region, both in fresh and saltwater.
“I see greater interest in the sport of fly fishing, especially with women and young adults, even children,” Dean wrote in an email. “I see the sport growing in southern states, since fly anglers aren’t just targeting trout in warm water.”
The COVID-19 pandemic may have also played a role in fly fishing’s increased popularity, Dean wrote.
“Folks were looking for more recreational opportunities outdoors,” she wrote. “All in all, fly fishing can be quite rewarding and addictive.”
According to the American Sportfishing Association, between 2010 and 2020, the number of fly anglers grew from 5.5 million in 2010 to 7.8 million in 2020.
Some may shy away from fly fishing in the mistaken belief that fly fishing is too expensive, Roden said. But the sport is affordable.
“You can go down here to (a chain sporting goods store) and buy a $49 outfit,” Roden said.
In the six years of the restocking effort on Black Creek, the trout population is mature, Roden said. He is an Orvis-endorsed fly-fishing instructor. Orvis is one of the iconic brands of fly fishing clothing and equipment. He’s toiled as a guide on local waters for nearly 20 years, he said.
But a guide isn’t necessary on Black Creek, he said.
“You don’t need a guide because it’s one of those streams where you can go in and do everything yourself.”
Just as the amount of rainfall in the area – the source of precious oxygen for trout – impacts Gadsden’s restocking efforts, precipitation also affects the quality of fishing on Black Creek.
The new fish introduced to the creek are anywhere from 12-16 inches long. Anglers have reported fish as big as 24 inches. “If the rainfall comes, it will be good,” Roden said.
Along with the fishing, there’s $11 million worth of renovation going on at Noccalula Falls Park Campground, which should also boost tourism, Roden said. “It should be a whole lot better environment,” he added.
The key to success for first-time anglers on Black Creek? It’s all in the cast, the graceful 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock motion at the heart of the sport.
“First, take a fly rod and go out and practice your casting,” said Roden, a disciple of the late fly-fishing icon Bernard “Lefty” Kreh. “If you wait until you’re on the stream to get your casting down, it’s not going to work out nearly as well.” Experience is the best teacher.
“Fly fishing is more than just putting a hook and a fly on the water and waiting for something to come get it,” Roden said. “You’ve got to learn where to put it, how to put it there, what to expect when a fish does get it. Get your drift (of the fly) right, then how to handle the fish once it gets on that fly.”
Successful fly anglers have what Roden calls “soft hands.
“It’s not how sure our hands are, or how strong our hands are. It’s how we angle that rod and that line and how we finesse that fish and also how we are going to handle that fish once we get him to the net.”
It’s comparable to how a golfer is able to gingerly chip the ball close to the hole, or a quarterback uses touch to fit a ball into a tight window between the receiver and a defender.
“You’ve got to be able to put the fly where you need to put it for it to have a natural drift in the water. You have to allow the fly to do it.”
A successful cast allows the fly to gracefully float down to the water, not slap it, added Roden. And at the end of the day, it’s all about the dance – elegance and perfect rhythm.
“If you want to spin the lady around, if you just take that left hand out just a touch, they will turn and make (the spin) for you,” he said. “They can make you look good. It’s the same way with the fish,” he added. “If we do what we need to do with this rhythm, this dance, everything else will work out.”
WANT TO GET HOOKED?
Interested in fly fishing? Check out the Rainbow Fly Fishing Club. The club meets on the first Thursday of each month at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1885 Rainbow Drive in Rainbow City. Dues are $25 annually. For more information, visit the club’s Facebook page or call 256-490-5450.
