Fishing Report: Cold Day in NOLA 12/26

I just got back from visiting family in New Orleans for the Christmas holiday. After seeing my grandmother, aunts, and cousins, my dad and I had the added bonus of fishing for redfish with our friend Rich Waldner. I thought that we were doing great by escaping from two feet of snow in Virginia until we hit the bayou at a "cozy" 40 degrees. 40 doesn't sound bad to most people in Va, but let me assure you, when the humidity is up and you are the tallest thing for 10 miles in a 15 mph wind, it's cold out there.

If you can't tell already, I am going to blame the weather for our lack luster day. We fished from 8 until 4 and caught one redfish on a spinner no less. Not only was the temperature an issue, we had zero sunlight which makes sight fishing for reds nearly impossible. I sighted about 25 reds and a few black drum and sheepshead throughout the day, but we could only see them within about 10 feet from the boat. At that range, our looming shadows spooked most of the fish and the few that I could put a fly in front of were just too sluggish to bite.

While I am a little disappointed that we didn't have a better weather day, I still had an awesome time sighting fish with Rich and my dad. I can't think of two better fishing partners (sorry, Cam). We had plenty of catching up to do and we had a great time chasing after fish in very challenging conditions. I am psyched for my next trip to NOLA after seeing all of those reds in the water and not being quite able to hook one on the fly. I've landed nice ones before and hopefully after boards I can get back down to see Rich about some more redfish.

Gear Review: Fishpond Double Haul Chest/Backpack

As central Va digs its way out of the blizzard of 2009 and prepares for Christmas, I thought I would tell you a bit about one of the latest additions to my gear. I bought the Fishpond Double Haul Chest/Backpack in late september, and it has made a huge improvement in the organization of my tackle. Overall, I've been impressed with the pack's size. It's not so big that I'm tempted to take my entire collection of flies and outerwear, but it will accommodate the essentials for a day's excursion. I can hold one or two fly boxes with extra leaders and tools in the chest pack, and the backpack has space for water, light raingear, and food. I even managed to pack a sweater in there with my rain jacket on one manic weather day.

Other features include a built in D-ring to attach a net, multiple daisy chains for accessory attachments, and the option to wear only the chest pack. I mentioned earlier that the chest pack has enough room for fly boxes, but if you are a true minimalist only fishing small dry flies and nymphs you could easily just use the built in zip-down platform fly box. This is definitely the coolest/most useful part about the Double Haul and it's the envy of everyone I fish with. The platform stays suspended by parachute cord attached to the inside of the pack when it is zipped down. It let's you peruse an assortment of approximately 50 flies hands-free while you tie one on. Also, the foam pad is attached with heavy duty velcro so it can be replaced when it eventually wears out. Great thinking, Fishpond!

The only downside to the pack that I have found is that it will tug a little bit on my shoulders when I attach my net. That makes for slightly sore shoulders at the end of the day, but I think the improved organization is worth just a little pain. The soreness might also be because I have to tighten the straps down all the way to fit my frame. Even when I crank the straps all the way down, the harness is still a little loose . I'm only 155 lbs. and with the amount of girth they allow in that harness it seems like this pack was designed for someone 190+.

I hate to add to the commercialization of Christmas, but if you are looking for an excellent gift for a fly fisher this year, this will do the trick. I hope that everyone out there is staying warm and safe out there right now. Let's hope the water comes down quickly after the run off so we can start fishing again!

Apparently we're not the ones obsessed with mayflies...

About a week ago, as I was making my morning browse through the popular fishing blogs over a cup of Shenandoah Joe, I practically shot coffee out my nose when I read Singlebarbed's post about the EPA's decision to ask companies that strip mine in southwestern Virginia to show how they're going to protect the mayfly from the effects of their mining before they can receive renewed permits.

Did I read that right?  The mayfly?  The innocent little mayfly?  The elegant and regal Ephemeroptera?  So not only does this tiny insect have the ability to make men spend hundreds of dollars on overpriced colored fuzz, genetically superior rooster hackles, spools of 6x tippet, bamboo rods and and 4 wheel drive SUVs but apparently it also has the ability to move mountains.... or rather, to keep mountains from moving?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fauxto_dkp/ / CC BY 2.0

Whether you agree with the EPA's decision or not, the notion that the EPA would go after the strip mining companies because of mayflies is pretty awesome. (FYI, I'm not trying to make any political statements here, we just care about whether you debarb hooks and practice catch and release... okay that was a joke. but seriously, catch and release...)

The question is, would the EPA have tried to protect the mayfly if it wasn't for fly fishing fanatics like ourselves?

There are quite a lot of us out there nowadays so maybe we did have a role in the matter. According to the Regional Boating & Fishing Foundation's recent report, 17.2% of the American population actively participate in some form of fishing.  Of course the percent that fly fish is much less, at 2.1% of the population, but that's still 5.9 million people!

This will be something that we'll be keeping an eye on.  We'll keep you updated if anything interesting arises.  Who knows, maybe that pollution could cause an evolutionary change in the mayflies creating super huge size 4 mayflies?  I'd be okay with that if it meant that our brook trout also grew substantially.

On a side note: Rich and I are almost done with exams and are almost 7/8 of the way done with the classroom portion of medical school.  Hopefully after we take our board examinations in April, we'll be back on the water on a more regular basis.  In the meantime, I fully expect Scott to make some reports out of Blacksburg seeing as he should have soooo much more time than us only being in his first year of school down there.

Also, look out for some new updates from another contributor, Dr. Strayer who has also had a lot of experience fly fishing in central Virginia.

And I'll leave you with a shot of the snowfall outside of the UVA health sciences library:

Fishing Report: Beaver Creek/Skidmore Fork (11/24) , Upper Rapidan (11/25), and Moormans North Fork (11/29)

It's been far too long since we've added anything to the blog, so this is a make-up post. We were fortunate enough to have the whole week off for Thanksgiving and I was able to get on the water quite a bit. Here are some reports from the four rivers I fished.

Dad and I woke up before the crack of dawn last Tuesday and headed out to Beaver Creek in Ottobine. He had just come off a lack-luster trip to Colorado fraught with horrible weather and sluggish trout, so we were excited to get a chance at our favorite spring creek. We had perfect weather: cool and cloudy with no wind. I expected the creek to be a torrent after all the rain we've seen recently, but to my surprise the flow was full and strong but still clear. The 'bows were actually fairly picky that day. They only took pheasant tails and completely snubbed our serendipities, red fox squirrel nymphs, and silver/gold kreelexes. I ended up getting blanked, but Dad caught three nice rainbows. I'll chalk it up to my first experience fishing with nymphs.

After a half day at Beaver, we consulted the Trow brothers at Mossy Creek Fly Fishing for any quick afternoon action we could hit. Colby sent us to Skidmore Fork, which is located on Route 33 just before the West Virginia border. We caught a couple of nice looking Brookies there in the hour we spent there using pheasant tails. I think it could be a good place to investigate further, especially because Colby told us that Skidmore Fork holds water much more consistently than neighboring Dry River.

Since I don't get the opportunity to fish multiple days a week much anymore, I had to check the Rapidan with my friend Pat the next day. Rapidan was much more affected by the rains last week than Beaver Creek and we actually had a fairly tough time wading in certain spots. Fortunately the water was still very clear and we were able to see fish darting after our nymphs from time to time. The fish were all hunkered down trying to weather the heavy flow so it took plenty of split shot to get our nymphs deep enough. We had much better luck fishing the slower pockets just off the riffles. Pheasant tails did the trick again, and we ended up catching a half dozen brookies between the two of us.

Remember how I told you that I love fishing the Moormans? Well I do, but I just might think twice before I decide to head out there again on a Sunday at 1 o'clock. The joint was completely packed this Sunday from the TJTU section up to the North Fork above Sugar Hollow Reservoir. I got absolutely no action throwing pheasant tails, red squirrel nymphs, or dry flies. I think the high water and all of the hikers playing in the river threw off my mojo a bit. It's probably a better idea to stay away on weekends except for the early morning.

Fishing Report: Upper/TJTU Moormans River 10/28/09

This first week of class has been awesome. I fished the Rapidan with my buddy John on Monday, and took the afternoon off today to fish a few sections of the Moormans. The drought has left the reservoir very low and as a result hardly any water is flowing over the dam to help the TJTU section. Even with the steady rain yesterday, things do not look like they have improved much. There are still some big fish from last year hunkered down in the deep pools, but it doesn't look like TU has been out to stock yet this fall.

Luckily, things were way better up above the reservoir. Yesterday's rain had a huge impact on the Upper Moormans increasing the water levels significantly. The brookies were aggressively attacking dry flies. I landed a bunch of little guys and one nice 6/7 incher on royal wulffs. I ended up missing two of the prettiest brookies I've ever seen. I watched each one rise slowly to sip my fly, but in my excitement I yanked it right out of their mouths; it broke my heart. Hopefully water levels will stay relatively high up there until the next rainfall.

Fishing Report: Rapidan Upper Section

After two weeks of exams and a quick three day roadtrip, I finally got to make it out on the water.  As we've been complaining about lately, the water levels have been low all across central Virginia.  Therefore, I wasn't expecting to make a trip out at all yesterday until I got on my computer and saw this:

Because of that wonderful spike in discharge levels, I knew there'd be a good chance I could see some flowing streams with hungry trout.  So I quickly brewed some more coffee, got on the road again, and headed up to the Rapidan.

I got there late in the afternoon but with enough light to get a solid two hours of fishing in.  Fortunately, it looked like the other fishermen were calling it quits so I had the river to myself.

Initially I fished like I always do, hitting up every nook and cranny of the Rapidan but soon found out that despite the brief change in water levels the trout, for the most part, remained in the larger pools.  So I fished quickly, hitting up all parts of the larger pools.  I fished parachute adams and snowshoe rabbit caddis size 16 but had the most success with adams.

Overall, I caught plenty of beautiful brookies all of which were pretty decently sized.  The newly flowing water caused somewhat of a feeding frenzy in which the larger trout didn't seem too concerned about going after a missed fly on the fourth or fifth attempt.  Unfortunately, however, I spooked two large brookies that were hiding at the tail end of deep pools.  Seriously, these guys were huge.  I'm talking like 12 inches.  I waited around to see if one of them would become "unspooked" but unfortunately it became clear he was way too smart for me.  So if you head out, look to the tail end of the pools for the big guys.

Looks like we'll be getting a little bit more rain Tuesday and Wednesday so hopefully fishing with be good this weekend as well!  Keep checking the USGS Water Levels.

Praying for rain and for VDOT to take a day off

Water levels are pretty low right now with the drought. Even so, I tried going fishing yesterday at Sugar Hollow Reservoir/Moormans River after finishing my last exam. It turned out to be the trip that never was, since VDOT was out working on the first bridge leading to the dam. I don't know how long construction will be going on, but as of yesterday Sugar Hollow and the TJTU section of the Moormans cannot be reached from Garth Road.

If I was worth my salt as a fisherman I would have enacted Plan B and headed over to Beaver Creek Reservoir for some bluegills and bass. Alas, I had my heart set on brookies and was disappointed... oh well.

Fishing Report: Upper Moormans River 10/3/09

Cam and I decided to take a much needed study break this morning and fish the Upper Moormans above Sugar Hollow Reservoir. It was an absolutely perfect day. We hit the water at about 8:00 and fished until roughly 11:30. We had great cover from the sun because the ridge to the east blocks the sunrise over the river until around 11:00 at this time of year. This was crucial since the water is very low and clear making the fish are extremely spooky. There are some beautiful pools up there with fish huddled together waiting for higher water levels so they can spread out.

As is the case with all brook trout fishing, try each nook and cranny you think might just hold enough water; you will be pleasantly surprised. We caught five small guys between us, but we saw some very nice fish down deep in the few large pools left after this short drought. I will be sure to try my luck there again as soon as we A: get some good rain, and B: finish exams in about three weeks. That reminds me, I probably have a hundred plus drugs to memorize for Pharm. Love you second year...

What do you do when you have no time to fish?

Answer: Watch movies of other people fishing.

Unfortunately we don't have much anything to report.  Water levels are still low here in Charlottesville and the temperatures haven't dropped enough to make fishing in the park worth it, leaving us with nothing to do other than study.  It's times like these that make me wonder if fishing guides sit around in the winter complaining and wishing they were training to become doctors instead.  For some reason, I doubt they do.

So instead of a fishing report this week, here's some of the videos that have helped me through the past week of playing catchup in pharmacology:

By far the best short flick on fly fishing out there on the web, Todd Moen's video, Alpine Bass.  I stumbled upon it in Catch Magazine Issue #6.  Enjoy.


Found this video of great foam fly action on the Simms website:


And finally, this video, "7 Minutes of Mayhem", shows off some amazing baby tarpon action off of the yucatan peninsula.  Using a blunted hook, the fisherman hooks and unhooks (purposefully) numerous tarpon.  Sick nasty.

Introduction and New River

As a good college friend of Cameron's, I want to first thank him for the opportunity to have me as a new contributor to this great Virginia fishing resource. If it isn't already apparent by his far reaching knowledge of many of Virginia's finest rivers in only the few years he has been fly fishing, let me tell you that his obsession is, well, near endless. But I am more than impressed with his eagerness to explore new places and share what he has learned. (Secret holes excluded, of course). If I can, I'll give a few brief details about myself to back my credibility on fly fishing in general, and particularly fishing in Virginia. After that, I'll get into some more interesting 'fishing stuff' pertaining to my NEW favorite place to fish - the New River.

I grew up in Northern Virginia (Manassas) and went on my first canoe trip with my dad and his (our) good fishing friend Fran when I was about 4 years old, trodding down the Shenandoah River. Needless to say, my mother was rather shocked to find out that not only did I last an entire day sitting in a boat going down a river all day without complaining, but that I loved it! It wasn't long after that Dad put a fly rod in my hand (maybe 7 years old) and took me to the local pond to catch some blue gills. He tied on a tan caddis then dropped some bread crumbs in the water to get the fish warmed up, and I was catching my first fish on a fly rod in no time. From then on, it's been mostly a wild craze and definite passion for getting away and catching a few trout whenever I get the chance. I've been to Yellowstone to fish the famous waters of the Madison, Gallatin, Slough, and Soda Butte, among many others there. And for many years now, we've been going on an annual trip to fish for the notoriously challenging browns and rainbows of the West Branch of the Delaware River, near Hancock, NY.

But, my main knowledge centers on the wild brookie streams of Shenandoah National Park. Since I started fly fishing way back when, those are what you might call my home waters. We've done an annual spring trip there for a good ten years or more now, spending a few nights in a local cottage near Graves Mountain Lodge while fishing the Rapidan, Rose, Hughes, Staunton, Conway, and many other rivers by day. I've been going there for the better part of my life now, often just to get away from life's stresses, and I can say that these are some of my favorite streams to fish.

In addition to that, you could say I've pretty much fished all over Virginia, but it wasn't until I recently started medical school here at VCOM at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA that I was introduced to the wealth of great waters in southwest Virginia. Since I've been here, I've checked out Little Stony, which is a great little rainbow/brookie stream akin to the mountain streams of Shenandoah National Park. Cameron is right that if you go there, they will make sure that you pay the $3 to park at the lot there. It's certainly unfortunate to have to pay to use nature, but if you can manage the $3, it's well worth a look. You can start fishing right at the lot. The trail follows the stream closely all the way up to the Cascades, which is about a 45 minute hike. All along is great water filled with plenty of wild rainbow and brookies.

The best part about being here, though, is the New River. The closest access from Blacksburg is at Pepper's Ferry, for which there is a bridge and boat access named via Route 114. It's about a 20 minute straight shot. I am lucky to have already met several other guys in the program who also really enjoy a good evening out on the river, and I anticipate many good fish stories in the next few years. The area we've been fishing is another 10 minutes beyond the Pepper's Ferry Bridge near Fairlawn. There are several parking areas off the side of the road. The river, like so many other great smallmouth rivers in Virginia, is truly scenic. It is wider along this stretch than those of the James or Shenandoah Rivers, but it is easily wadeable the entire length across. The riffles are light here, but enough to provide lots of activity, and the rocky bottom offers plenty of ledges and hideouts for big smallmouth. Since we've been out, we've managed to get two over 18 inches among many other good sized fish. Most of the other guys have been fishing rubber worms with their spinning rods with great success, but a couple of us have stayed true to fly fishing and done well on Wooly Buggers and Poppers. Water levels and fishing right now are near perfect.

Until they stop biting...

Scott

Fishing Report: Mossy Creek 9/9/09

Cam, Kyle, and I skipped town yesterday afternoon to check out Mossy Creek. We had classic Mossy Creek weather - dark and rainy with a few breaks for sun to peak through. The river was pretty low when we started out and the grass has grown quite a bit over the summer, but once the rain came, the river swelled a couple of inches before our eyes. Even though we had perfect conditions, we had some trouble landing trout. Kyle and Cameron each hooked up with a couple of nice browns on hoppers, but they all broke off. The browns were in all the usual places, undercuts in the bank, and popping out from under the moss in the channels. We did manage to land some chubs, however (Dad, you can still lovingly call me the "chub master" if you must).

Despite my history of marginal luck there, I still love fishing Mossy because the fishing is technical and it is one of the prettiest places around. Going fishing with my buds Cam and Kyle was perfect way to get back to fishing after a month on the sidelines.

Fishing Report: Jackson River

Last weekend, a bunch of us took a trip up to the Jackson and stayed the night there just above the Hidden Valley campground. For some reason, our trip there took a little longer than we expected so we weren't able to hit up the water before it got dark. As we set up camp next to the water, we were able to check out the water and saw some fish rising so we expected there to be some good fishing the next morning.

Unfortunately, after a very early morning breakfast, we soon found out that the rising fish were just a bunch of chubs. There is nothing more unsatisfying than being in a perfect location with water that should hold some great native trout, only to discover that the chubs have taken over.

View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

Since we had no intentions of fishing for chubs all day, we set off to the Hidden Valley "artificials only" section in hopes of finding some trout. After a beautiful 1.2 mile hike in to the section and an hour of fishing. We only pulled in more chubs. The section of the water was beautiful, however, I and suspect that during the spring months, the fishing is much better. We did, unfortunately, see several empty worm cans lying along the shoreline. Evidence that people either can't read signs or clearly have no respect for the law. Either way, seeing trash like that in such a beautiful area really spoils the moment.

After an awkward run in with a family that was skinny dipping in the shallow waters beneath the swing bridge, we headed back to the cars for one more trip father south to the tailwater section below the Gathright Dam.

View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

I wish we had fished this section the whole day. Wading into the water just below the dam, the water was noticeably colder and much more suited for trout. Within 10 minutes, I started to spot trout sipping flies off the surface so Scottie and I pulled out some size 16 parachute adams and immediately started having luck. The rainbow trout were in the 6-12 inch range and were extremely healthy. Having already worn ourselves out fishing for chubs the whole morning, we didn't stay long. But at least we now know where to fish on the Jackson.

Final line: The upper sections of the Jackson could be awesome in the springtime, but the summer months really cause the water temperatures to rise too much. The lower section beneath Gathright Dam, however, appears to be able to hold trout throughout the year. When you are there though, be cognizant of the fact that landowners in the area are very serious when they say no trespassing on their land.

Fishing Report: James River at Joshua Falls

On my way home from visiting family in Charlotte, NC, I made a quick stop off on the James River just off of route 29. It was about 4 pm when I parked at the Joshua Falls access point and couldn't find a good path on which to walk upstream or downstream from the access point so I just hopped in right in front of the parking lot.

View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

Right off the bat I started having luck with a white CK baitfish catching decent sized smallmouth near the shoreline. But then I started to notice the action that was going on throughout the rest of the river... There were smallies jumping literally everywhere! They were seriously jumping at least two feet out of the water as they chased after some large dragonflies. So I quickly changed my tactic and put on a large glitterbug and started wading out into the middle of the river. Thankfully, the water wasn't moving too fast and wasn't too high for me to do so.

Within the next hour, I pulled in about 20 smallmouth, most of which were significantly larger than the rest that I've caught all summer. Right after I'd return a big guy back safely into the water, I'd spot another one about 30 feet away jump. In the hour I was there, I caught plenty of fish and yet I didn't even move more than 20 yards downstream from the access point.

I don't know if I had gotten there at just the right time of the day/month/year, but I definitely think that this section of the James was the best piece of water for smallmouth I've seen all summer... and I've seen a lot of water.

Fishing Report: Beaver Creek Reservoir

I spent the evening today fishing my local favorite lake, Beaver Creek Reservoir, with Arun and his son, Anand. I had been promising them that senkos and jitterbugs were the way to go when fishing for bass so I was certainly a little nervous that they wouldn't deliver like they usually do. Thankfully, the bass were biting. Pretty much immediately, Arun hauled in a nice sized bass caught on a senko before it jumped off at the last second. We then hit somewhat of a dry spell until sunset at which point the fishing really turned on.

Anand and I headed over to the dam to try our luck there (on a side note, there were others there yesterday fishing all around us, but I didn't see anyone else pulling in bass like we were... gotta be the senkos.) Anand's third cast out got him a sweet largemouth which we returned safely back into the lake. Interestingly enough, while I was helping him unhook the fish, a bass took to my senko as well so I soon thereafter pulled one in as well.

Anand with his good sized largemouth

It started getting darker so I pulled out my black jitterbug to show Arun and Anand how deadly they can be. If my memory serves me right, I think we pulled in three nice bass and had a couple near misses in a span of only thirty minutes. If we had had more jitterbugs to use, who knows how many we could have pulled in.

Yet again, Beaver Creek Reservoir delivered a great fishing experience. There were more people there than I've ever seen before, but it didn't seem to hurt the fishing one bit!

Great place, great company, great fishing.

Longnose Gar on the Fly: Rivanna River

Yet again the Rivanna proves how awesome it is. This past week I was fortunate enough to find a few huge longnose gar to throw flies at. I would equate it to flat fishing for reds (although I've yet to actually catch a red, thanks Rich for continuing to rub it in). I had several successful casts which put my flies right in front of these prehistoric fish but was unable to elicit and serious bites. A green CK baitfish allowed me my first bite but the fish didn't commit. Finally, after sifting through my whole bass fly box, I turned to a white streamer I made to mimic Harry Murray's streamer, the Murray Marauder. Turns out that white flies with tons of action do the trick. I had several follows and hits before finally getting a solid hook set. It was a big guy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40626436@N00/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Five minutes later, after a fight that reminded me of my trip to the Delaware river, I carefully landed the gar. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, I was camera-less this trip out so I'll have to make do with exaggerations about how big it was. The gar must have been about 30 inches. Perhaps longer. Unfortunately, that snout really makes it tough to estimate the fish's size accurately so I may be way off. Regardless, it was an awesome fight and a great fish to pull in with a flyrod. I highly recommend it.

Fishing Report: James River at Scottsville

Took a nice 3 mile float trip down the James this weekend with some friends. I brought along some fly rods just in case the fish were biting. On a side note, be careful where you put your expensive fishing equipment because as I learned at our put-in site, people will gladly swipe someone else's stuff if it's left alone for more than a minute.

We put in where James River Runners is located at Hatton Ferry and floated downstream to the takeout at Scottsville.

View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

Fishing for the first mile and a half was practically nonexistent. The second half of the trip, however, was much better. In fact, about a quarter of a mile from the take out in Scottsville, I pulled in my biggest smallie of the year with one of my glitterbugs. Overall, there was some awesome smallie fishing on the James in this section, you just have to know where to look. I'll definitely be heading back here in the near future.

Fly Tying Instructions: Glitterbug Bass Popper

I got tired of buying bass poppers at the store for $4-5 only to have them get destroyed or lost within 24 hours... and by that I mean, I bought 2 of them and thought, "hey these can't be that hard to make". Since then, I've been making my own and my wallet thanks me.

I've found that online there are not many detailed descriptions of how to make your own bass poppers so I've put this together to hopefully help you figure out exactly how to go about making your own.

The Glitterbug (name courtesy of Rich), is a basic styrofoam bodied bass popper. To make it more durable than a painted popper, I've decided to epoxy the whole thing. This has allowed me to use the same popper over the course of several days of fishing while withstanding tons of abuse. So not only are they cheaper than store bought ones, they're also extremely tough.

The materials you'll need:

- closed cell white styrofoam (I got a 1 inch thick disk of it from Michael's for real cheap)

- any color glitter you want

- hackle colored to match the color of glitter used, I've been using hen hackle

- rubber legs (I prefer using white legs for all of my poppers but feel free to mix it up)

- hooks: I prefer using Eagle Claw plain shanks in size 4 (they're a lot cheaper than orvis hooks, but work just as well)

- 5 minute epoxy: I use Z-poxy

- pad of post-it notes

- bendable razor blades: I looked all over for these. I finally found them at Walmart in the shaving section. The brand I got was called Personna Double Edge

- toothpicks (to stir and apply the epoxy)

- heavy wire (I've been using old guitar strings) or large sewing needles

Instructions:

First cut out a piece of styrofoam that's rounded on top and flat on the bottom. I do this by taking the razor, bending it, and cutting out a piece off of a flat side of the styrofoam. I've found the best way to get it to be cut evenly and smoothly is to line up the razor where you want the cut and then pressing down on it with something else (I use my pad of post-it notes).

I then taper the front of the head and the back so that it looks like below:

Next I carefully push the head of the hook through the foam near the bottom. So that it ends up looking like so...

Next step is to epoxy the face and belly of the popper. To do this, put an equal amount of the z-

poxy hardener and resin on the post-it note pad and mix them together. For this part, I don't like to put any coloring because I'd like to think that it makes it look more like a frog without it. While doing this I make sure to put plenty of epoxy on the hook shank and shimmy the head forward. This ensures that, once the epoxy hardens, the head will remain stationary. I put enough on to successfully cover the belly and the face and then let the epoxy dry while keeping it moving (I don't have a rotating fly drier quite yet... I'll probably make one out of a microwave motor in the near future.) While this is drying, I'll usually start making others so that when it comes to epoxying the rest of the head, I'll have several ready.

Next step, I pour out more z-poxy onto a post-it note pad and mix it well before adding a decent amount of glitter. (Note: if you add too much it gets very clumped up and your fly will look like some kind of lumpy mutant. Play it safe and add a little at first, mix it in and see if you think the epoxy can hold more glitter.)

Then put this over the body of the popper making sure that it meets up with the edges of the clear epoxy from the belly and face. This takes a couple tries to get good at while making sure that the end result isn't uneven or ends up with too much epoxy.

Once it starts to dry up, you'll have to move quickly to put the legs in before the epoxy gets too hard to work with. Basically, once I can touch the epoxy and it doesn't stick to my fingers I can start putting the legs in. To do this I take a large needle or a tough wire (like an old guitar string and make a sharp bend in it). I then push this needle/bent wire through the side of the popper and out the other side. At this point it'll look like this:

Now all you need to do is thread a leg through the body as seen below:

Next, just repeat the same procedure to put in another set of legs (unless you're making a smaller one, in which case, only one set of legs should be enough).

Once the legs are in the right position, I'll usually put some head cement where they enter the epoxy to make sure they don't slip out. Trim the legs and then start a thread behind the head and bring it back down the curve of the hook a little ways. I like to build up a little bit of a ball of thread at the farthest back point because I think it helps to splay the hackle out better.

Take two tips of hackle (or only one if you're making smaller poppers) and tie them in on one side of the hook making sure the bend in them is away from the hook. Repeat the same thing on the other side of the hook with two more.

Finally, take one more hackle and tie in a decently long piece with the bend of the feather pointing towards the back of the hook. Like so:

Wrap the hackle forward with several turns and then tie off and trim the hackle down so that it is just a little longer than the space between the hook shank and point. Whip finish to tie off the thread and then just clean things up! Here's the final product:

I hope you find this helpful. It you have any questions or need clarification, feel free to contact us.

As for how to fish these, just throw then out near the stream shoreline where the water is from 1-3 feet deep preferably under some kind of tree cover. After about a 5 seconds, if you haven't had a bite yet, pull in about a solid foot of line giving the popper some action, making some sound and vibrations that will be sure to grab the attention of hungry bass.

Fishing Report: Rivanna at Darden Towe & Riverview Park

I hope you all have been out fishing like Cameron and I have. It is beautiful out, there is plenty of water, and the fish are biting... in some places more than others. I went out on Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours to Riverview Park in Charlottesville to wade the Rivanna. I actually got a good amount of action for the apparent lack of structure on the bottom of the river. Conventional wisdom is still correct with undercuts in the bank and any fallen trees being the best places to present your fly. I ended up pulling in some largemouth, bluegill and smallies that day. Harry Murray's Carolina Blue Poppers worked great, and silver/gold kreelex also did the trick. Unfortunately, I haven't bought a waterproof bag for my camera yet, so no pictures of smallmouth fishing for now.


View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

Darden Towe Park, upstream about a mile or two from Riverview Park on the opposite bank, proved disappointing. Cam and I headed up there yesterday afternoon and were excited to find lots of underwater grass and rocks, which we surmised would hold lots of smallies. This was not the case. I caught a couple of bluegill on the CK Paradox spoon fly I just picked up from Albemarle Angler, but overall the fish that I saw were much smaller than downstream.


View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

I think the next stop on the Rivanna for me is Free Bridge. I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes. Tight lines, y'all.

Fishing Report: Rappahannock River (Kelly's Ford)

Checked up to the Rappahannock River on my way up to D.C. this weekend. When I got there, I got sick to my stomach when I pulled up to the Kelly's Ford parking lots. Both were absolutely packed. I almost just drove away. But after having my fishing license was looked at by the local game warden, I headed down to the river and found that there was some sort of party/hangout going on just adjacent to the bypass which explained why the parking lots were full.

View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

As I hiked upstream, the poplars started showing off the silver underbellies of their leaves and thunder started rolling in the distance. I had a solid hour on the river before the afternoon shower hit my location which allowed me to pull in several smallmouthand a few bluegill using bass poppers. Unsure of how long the rain was going to last, I chilled out along the side of the river underneath a poplar which fortunately had a trove of blackberries underneath it. Having forgotten to eat lunch, I was certainly grateful for the lucky find. It was quite beautiful, looking out at the river, as the rain came through. Finally, after about 30 minutes, the sun came back out. Fifteen minutes later the bass were already biting again on the surface. I found several bass hiding out amongst the rock garden that predominates the section upstream of the bypass.

Although the fishing was good, I wouldn't say it was the best. Had I continued to hike further upstream, I'm pretty sure the fishing would have gotten even better.

Still had some trouble getting the hang of throwing Clawdad's out there. I just can't seem to break out of my streamer/popper mentality when it comes to smallmouth. If someone has any advice as to where to throw crawfish patterns and what kind of action to give them, that'd be awesome.

Even though this spot was a solid hour away from Charlottesville, I'd definitely hit it up again in the future. Yet another great smallmouth river to be explored here in Virginia.

Tight Lines.

Fishing Report: Rivanna River at North Milton Road

I went to check out another place to wade the Rivanna for smallies. I parked at the boat ramp parking area off of North Milton Road, crossed the street and followed the well blazed path along the river. I found a nice put in and wet waded downstream. I initially was in a section with fast moving water in the middle and nice deep pools with overhanging trees along the shoreline. Several nice smallmouth and a ton of bluegill were taken with my styrofoam poppers (I'd give them a name if I thought no one had made them the way I make them...) and safely returned to continue to grow larger.

View Virginia Medical Fly Fishing in a larger map

Farther down the water started slowing down and the river bottom became more silted and grassy. I caught a few more here on a white CK baitfish but the wading became difficult and I found myself pulling myself out of muddy banks hoping not to lose my crocs. (Yes, I wear crocs. They are God's gift to man.)

All in all, I'd say it's a great section. A lot less pressure than at the Darden Trowe Park section and better places to find big fish. If and when I go again, I'm definitely going to walk father upstream.

Fishing Report: Sugar Hollow Reservoir

Wednesday, July 8th I took a quick late afternoon trip up to Sugar Hollow Reservoir with my buddy, David. The weather was perfect and the bass were definitely biting. Overall I think we hauled in about 6 bass, two of which were of pretty decent size.
We started at the dam and just walked along the shoreline fishing all of the good locations. David was using my go-to Yamamoto Senkos while I was fishing with my new favorite bass streamer, CK Baitfish. Yet another awesome fly by Chuck Kraft. I fish it just like I do a Senko. Just let it hit the water and fall slowly without twitching it. This usually will get a fish to bite immediately as it's got some great movement to it as it falls. Then I'll give it a 6 inch strip in every so often to bring it back up before letting it fall again.

David talks to fish, btw.

This lake is just teeming with fish. We barely walked 1/8 a mile around the shoreline. For the more adventuresome fishermen, I imagine the far shorelines hold some huge fish that haven't seen a lure/fly in a long time. (No boating allowed on the lake, fyi)

Fishing Report: Clinch River and Big Tumbling Creek

Over the 4th of July weekend, I took a trip down to Southwest Virginia to see friends and to fish. I got a recommendation to first check out the fee fishing section of Big Tumbling Creek below Laurel Bed Lake. While the area was beautiful and the stream reminded me a lot of the other creeks in the area (Big Stony and Little Stony), the fishing was hardly respectable. I find it a shame that such a wonderful stretch of water was turned into a section used for the cheap thrills of catching stocked trout. Granted, the fish were much better than the usual stocked fish you find around Virginia.

One of the beautiful falls marred by the masses of worm cans and broken off fishing line.

I also got some funny looks from the locals as I fished in my waders and with my flyrod. Although they in return got some funny looks from me as I wondered what could possibly be exciting about sitting around a small pool with a worm on a hook or perhaps some powerbait. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against that form of fishing. In fact, I'll throw a worm out every once in a while but it doesn't make sense to do it in a would be an awesome brook stream.

The view looking out onto Laurel Bed Lake

So after I hooked a few browns and returned them safely back into the water for a few more days of life before someone else thinks they are worth removing (for bragging or eating?), I headed back down the mountain and went to check out the smallmouth population at the Clinch River. For the hour I was there at the Nash Ford, I caught quite a few smallies most of which were small but there was the occasional large one. All in all, I think it's a fantastic river. I wish I had had more time and my kayak with which to explore it. I apologize for not taking pictures, I was in a hurry and would rather catch fish then record them.

My styrofoam bass poppers delivered on this trip as they have on others. I'll have the instructions up soon.

Fishing Report: South Fork of the Rivanna

Hit up the South Fork this past Saturday with some new bass poppers I made. I started out at the dam just off of route 29 and fished downstream. Had some great luck in the slower sections hauling in several largemouth and smallmouth. It was my first time using these new poppers and I must say they worked just as well as any of the 4-5 dollar ones I've bought in stores. I'll be posting instructions for how to make them and what materials you'll need sometime this week.

Here's a largemouth I caught as he was actively searching his grass bed for a meal. He put up a great fight and tried to lose me in the grass. Thank god I had on Ox tippet.
And my best smallie of the season so far. Also taken with one of my handmade poppers.

Fishing Report: Mossy Creek

On Thursday, June 25th, I traveled over to Mossy Creek to check out how the browns were feeding. I was assured by Colby at the Mossy Creek Store that I'd see some sulfurs and tricos coming off of the water from about 7-9 pm. Sure enough, I started seeing flies on the water at around 6:30 but it was by no means a heavy hatch. Still, some fish were sipping so of course, I let the kreelex have the day off while I threw some size 16 sulfur patterns. Overall, I reeled in about 5 browns, only one of which was decent.
Probably not going to hit up the creek again until the fish start feeding on the june bugs. Look for that to happen in about two weeks.

Fishing Report: Hughes River & Sharp Rock Vineyards

Today, Cameron and I went to one of my favorite mountain streams, the Hughes River.  My dad started taking me there to fly fish when I was probably about five or six years old.  As John Gierach would say, it's "my St. Vrain".  It's not the most glamorous river, nor does it have the best brook trout fishing around, but it's home.

We grounded our gear at 12:30 today, and I have to admit that I was a little worried about a midday slump and hot weather.  Neither happened.  It was one of those charmed days with good cloud cover, a slight breeze, and steady balmy temps.  We were fortunate to land quite a few brookies today.  None would make your eyes pop out of your head, but they were some very pretty fish.  Parachute adams and blue winged olives were hot today, but humpies or elk hair caddis would have probably done well too. 

After fishing the Hughes, make sure you stop by Sharp Rock Vineyards.  Sharp Rock is just outside Nethers, Va where you park for Old Rag Mountain and the Hughes.  They have great wine, an awesome B&B, and they are super friendly.  There is also the added bonus of some very friendly dogs on the farm to play with.  I've been going to festivals and tastings at the vineyard since college and it's always a great time.  In fact, there is a festival complete with BBQ and music coming up on July 11th.  It's sure to be a winner.

Weird Fish at Moormans River

Can anybody help me identify this fish?  I've caught about five of these out of the Moormans River over the past few weeks and I can't figure out what they are.  It looks like some kind of half largemouth/half bluegill.  If you have any ideas post a comment.

Fishing Report: Beaver Creek in Ottobine, Va and Mossy Creek

Sorry for the dearth of posts from me recently, but as Cameron said, we have been soaking up the good life since exams ended.  Last Tuesday, in order to stop living in the library, my dad and I woke up early and headed for Beaver Creek in Ottobine, Va.  We could not have asked for a more perfect day on a spring creek in the valley.  It was overcast all morning with only slight clearing in the afternoon.  In my experience at places like Beaver Creek and Mossy Creek, if it's a sunny day you should reconsider fishing there.  The fish will be holed up and not taking much without tree/bank cover or clouds.

We started off the morning fishing with the old standard, kreelex.  Silver and gold was the hot pattern, and we pulled in 6 beautiful rainbows before 10:30 with them.  We caught most of our fish dead drifting kreelex from upstream into dense overhanging tree cover and then taking a few quick tugs on the line.  I would recommend bringing a net with you to beaver, because unlike Dad I left mine at home and landing some of these fish proved quite a challenge.  

After spending the morning fishing Beaver, Dad and I went on a recon mission to Elkhorn Lake on a tip of some good brook trout fishing there.  Unfortunately, when we got there we saw that the road up to the lake was closed for maintenance until June 30th.  During this detour we also decided to stop at Mossy Creek and try our luck.  True to form, Mossy was a tough fish.  We arrived right as the sun broke through the clouds, taking away our ceiling.  I managed to catch a chub (Dad took to calling me the "Chub Master" since it was so big), and he caught a small brown trout.  

At this point the afternoon was growing late and I decided to head back to Cville, while my Dad (more intelligently) returned to Beaver Creek to fish the evening.  Dad, being a more experienced angler decided to diversify his fly selection at this point.  He caught a few more 'bows and a brook trout on flies ranging from kreelex to parachute adams and bead head red squirrel tail nymphs.  This is how he managed to catch all three species of trout in Virginia in one day.  I call that "fishing the cycle".

Pollak Vineyards

This weekend, my parents came up to Charlottesville to visit and go winetasting. We made the fortunate decision to visit the relatively new, Pollak Vineyards. By far, they had the best wines I've ever tasted that have come out of Virginia. We got to taste 9 wines all of which were solid. Even their Rosé tasted decent, and I HATE all Rosé. After the amazing wine tasting, we asked if we could throw a line in their pond and were granted permission. In my opinion, some of the best bass fishing can be done on private ponds and their pond didn't disappoint.

I hooked my dad up with my favorite bass rig for a spinning rod: a size 2 Gamakatzu EWG with a green pumpkin or watermelon Gary Yamamoto worm. Pretty much immediately he caught a largemouth. Thirty minutes later he had caught six bass, most of which were fairly big. I chose to try a Gulley Worm, something I had just picked up from Albemarle Angler. I'm not going to lie, I thought there was little chance a worm made of chenille would be as successful as a plastic bait in catching bass but it did the trick! I pulled one bass in on it and then lost the worm to what felt like a HUGE bass that broke me off at my Ox leader. I think I'll have to start tying more of these gulley worms. I'll post directions on how to do so in the near future.

I highly recommend everyone take a trip to Pollak. It's going to be the best vineyard in Virginia once people catch wind of how great it is. For now the prices for wine are still low, lower than what you'd find at other wineries. Hopefully, they'll continue to let people fish in their pond too... just be sure to ask nicely.

Fishing Report: Moormans TJTU Section

Rich and I made a quick trip to the Moormans on Monday, June 15th, to see if we could pull in any of the left over rainbow trout that had survived the terrible poaching that occurs there.

We saw only one rainbow in the upper hole just below the dam but couldn't get him to pay attention to anything, not even the always successful kreelex. We did, however, have a fun time reeling in tons of sunfish, chubs (so gross), and small bass.

I actually stopped by the river again this past weekend with my parents to show them around. Dad threw in with his favorite black woolly bugger hoping to catch a few bass/bluegill and actually hooked up with one of the remaining rainbows only to have it unhook just as he was getting to the riverbank. I'm amazed that any of the trout have survived the poaching. Hopefully, they'll continue to outwit those who are stealing fish.

Fishing Report: Rapidan River

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Rich and I have been decompressing from finals and starting our summer research projects.

This report is two weeks old, but should still be pertinent. On my way up to D.C. on Friday, June 12th, I made a quick stop off at my favorite stream, the Rapidan. Water levels were a little high but flowing well and the fish mainly stayed deep but still came up to take dry flies if they looked tasty enough.

As seen in the USGS discharge data, the levels are high for this time of year but remember that we usually start to see some decreases this time of year. Fortunately, due to all of the rain we've had, the levels have remained at ideal levels for the upper sections of park streams.

I caught most of my brookies on parachute adams and my snowshoe humpy in sizes 12 and 14.

I also caught one on a golden retriever (a version of the classic woolly bugger that I've had a lot of success with for everything from crappie to trout) in the tan color on a size 10. I was hoping to pull in a brookie larger than 10 inches but no luck this time.

All in all, it was a great trip. The Rapidan never fails to deliver.

Late Night TV Host Conan O'Brian's Attempt at Brownlining

As I was fervently avoiding studying for the Pathology final, I tuned in to Conan last night and was delighted to see that he and his buddy, Andy Richter, decided to take a trip to the Los Angeles River. As you will see in the clip below, they attempted (a very generous use of the word) to fly fish.

Not one of his best gigs, but I enjoyed the fact that they even thought to include a second or two of them trying to throw lines.

Reminded me that I also saw some Hollywood fly fishing a while ago on the new show, Kings. Never actually see the actor throw out a cast but whatever river he's "fishing" looks phenomenal.

Beaver Creek Reservoir Revisited

Nick caught a delicious bass

Here's a quick update on some of the official VMFF trips over the past few weekends.  We've seen some new faces out at Beaver Creek Reservoir lately, all of them members of SMD12 (that's fancy talk for UVa Med School's class of 2012).  We've been catching the usual bass and TONS of bluegill, but we've missed the crappie lately.  In fact, I haven't seen a crappie at the reservoir since March when Kyle and I had our fish fry.  Hopefully we didn't eat all of them...

Anyway, on to uplifting fish stories.  I took Jon, a fishing virgin from New Jersey, along with Lee and Benji to the reservoir a few weeks ago.  It was a blasting hot day, but we did manage to land some pretty fish.  Benji, Lee, and Jon all picked up fly fishing very quickly, but it was Jon who became hero of the day by catching the first fish of his life.  Unfortunately, I think I scared him by telling him about the spines on a bluegill's dorsal fin, so it took Lee a couple tries to convince him to just go for it and grab the thing.   

Having learned my lesson in the afternoon heat the week before, Cameron, Kyle, Angie, and I went back to the lake early this past Saturday morning.  We could not have asked for a more perfect day.  The weather stayed a bit cooler and the fish responded by chowing down on Kyle's favorite spider/water bug immitation, and silver rapalas. The fish weren't even the most interesting part of the day.  Angie managed to attract some attention from a reporter from The Hook, a weekly Charlottesville publication.  He just started taking pictures of her while she fly fished from a boat dock, and only later introduced himself to ask for her name for the story he was writing.  Creepy much?  Actually, it turns out that he does work for The Hook and wrote a story about Western Albemarle High School's new boat house for their crew team.  You can see the story here (be sure to check out the slide show link for Angie's 15 minutes of fame).

Aside from paparazzi excitement, Kyle and Cameron figured they would try on their Jeff Corwin shoes and went on the hunt for some water snakes.  After multiple near misses, they succeeded in capturing one and getting some cool pictures with it.