hard strike that streamers provoke, the question of which species has hit heightens the excitement. The quick runs and aerials of the rainbows as opposed to the strong underwater runs of the stripers usually answer that question quickly. Still, the occasional brown trout has fooled me, fighting beneath the surface like a striper. The possibility of hooking an occasional largemouth bass, redbreast bream, chain pickerel (jackfish) or yellow or white perch makes the Saluda a real "smorgasbord" fishery.
		form appeared beneath and behind the fly, crumpling the water's surface as it surged to catch and inhale the fly with a loud splash. Setting the hook, I came to the brilliant realization that I had not changed the tippet at the end of my leader when I tied on the larger fly. I was hooked to a big fish with a fly tied to a piece of monofilament testing only three and a half pounds!					Recognizing its value, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources stocks the Saluda with rainbow and brown trout throughout the nearly ten-mile stretch below Lake Murray Dam. Each year from December through June more than 70,000 fish arrive by truck from the state trout hatchery located above Walhalla. The trout measure from five to ten inches in length, with a few reaching fourteen inches. Hal Beard, DNR district fisheries biologist, says helicopter stockings made annually since 1994 have greatly expanded the areas stocked from the traditional road access points used since the early 1960s, when the Saluda trout stocking program began.
		This fish was not another trout, as I found out quickly. A large striped bass, or rockfish, as it is sometimes called, sped downstream, passing within only a few feet of me. Apparently intent on swimming back to the Santee-Cooper lakes with me in tow, it moved like a locomotive, pulling out line. Knowing that the light leader wouldn't let me apply much pressure without a break-off, I let it go.
							Hatchery trout usually stay in the area where initially stocked and tend to school together as they did in the close confines of the hatchery raceways. Fed by man at the hatchery, these trout lack the wariness of wild trout and are usually not difficult to catch, hitting a variety of natural baits, spinning lures and flies. Sometimes just a bright-colored lure or bait or an active presentation brings on a strike. But given time and a second chance by fishermen who practice catch and-release, they begin to spread out in the river and to feed on the natural food sources. Aquatic insects such as mayflies, caddis flies, midges and stoneflies soon become staples of their diets. They also learn to feed on the small freshwater shrimp called scuds, crayfish, aquatic worms, minnows, and land-based terrestrial insects, such as ants, grasshoppers and beetles, in the warmer months. As they become attuned to the natural life cycles of these aquatic organisms, the stocked trout change from curious, indiscriminate feeders to wary predators that react with suspicion to any artificial offering that looks or moves unnaturally.
		The six-weight fly rod required that I play the fish patiently and with a light hand. Twenty minutes and some luck later, I brought the exhausted striper to my net. I would have preferred to have hooked and fought this fish on a heavier, eight-weight fly outfit, but that is one of the challenges of fishing this state-designated Scenic River, with its many varieties of fish. Measuring just over thirty inches and weighing more than ten pounds, the rockfish required nearly ten minutes of reviving before I could safely release it.
		Many years of fishing on the Saluda have taught me this river is a special place, a natural oasis in the heart of urban Columbia that provides a rare opportunity: angling for both stripers and trout. When fishing with small streamers to imitate the plentiful shad and other minnows in the river, I have often caught rockfish and rainbows on alternate casts in the same stretches of water. In addition to the thrill of the