Fishing Report: Rose River Farm

With finals looming and stress peaking, Cameron and I decided to treat ourselves to a study break at Rose River Farm yesterday. I kept hearing such great stories about the place from customers and staff at Albemarle Angler so I just had to check it out for myself. Admittedly, after hearing so many fantastic reviews I became just a little skeptical of just how great RRF could really be. After yesterday, however, my doubts were completely put to rest.

The farm is located near Syria, Va and the Graves Mountain Lodge so it only took us about 45 min to get there from Charlottesville. RRF is a fee for fish spot that must be booked in advance. That said, fishing at the farm is a perfect example of getting what you pay for. They do a good job of limiting the pressure by only allowing 4 rods per day so we all had plenty of room to spread out. Even with all of the snow we've had recently, the property is very well maintained with clear roads and tractor paths cut along most of the river. I could have easily made it there in my little Honda. I've always loved the scenery along the east slope of the Shenandoah National Park, and the views from RRF did not disappoint. In fact, had I not dropped my camera in the river like a fool I would have taken many more pictures (thank you for supplying us with the slideshow, Cam).

I'm sure that somewhere along the line an older/wiser person told you, "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is." Well, I can sincerely tell you that when it comes to the fish at Rose River Farm IT'S ALL TRUE! I've never seen so many trout in my life. Cameron and I actually lost count of the fish we caught, but it could have only been a small fraction of the trout working out in the Rose. I say working out because these are like Arnold Schwarzenegger rainbows. There were some fish we had to fight for a few minutes before we could land them. We saw plenty of jumping and tail-dancing, and we had a few fish make runs that tested the drag on our reels. A couple of these bruisers were over 20 inches and all of fish had beautiful color and spots.

Many of these big guys are in long, beautiful pools that might well be called aquariums with easily 50-100 fish each. I can only imagine what those pools are like in April and May when the 'bows are all taking bugs off the top. Must be an awesome sight! It's not only about long pools at RRF either. There are a few deep, fast runs along under-cut banks with over hanging trees reminiscent of Beaver Creek. These are absolutely my favorite sections because of the technical casting in close tree cover and the heightened activity of the fish there. Cameron and I hooked fish after fish from one bend in the river where a jumping fish seemed not to spook the rest of the pool.

I should also take a minute to comment on the ongoing copper/gold silver/gold kreelex debate. Hands down, copper/gold kreelex took in more and bigger fish yesterday. That's not to say silver won't catch fish, but if you can tell a trout from a chub you would be crazy not to fish copper (*cough* Cameron). All kidding aside, kreelex, copper johns, and pheasant tails were the big producers for us yesterday. The other fishermen we spoke with also had great luck with yellow caddis, san juan worms, and an assortment of nymphs. I saw a few rising fish in the afternoon, but I could never draw a bead on what they were eating so I stuck to the sub-surface action.

Overall, fishing at Rose River Farm was awesome. If you are looking for big fish, beautiful scenery, and a pristine stream look no further. Another cool thing to note about the farm is their commitment to hosting Project Healing Waters events. Anyone who supports our wounded veterans in such a big way is tops in my book. That said, RRF is a first class operation and I hope to make it back sometime soon.

Albemarle Angler Now Carries Kreinik Kreelex Material

I walked in Albemarle Angler today to pick up more beadheads for nymphs and of course I perused the store to see if I could walk out buying more than I intended.  (what else are student loans for anyway?)*

I was pleasantly surprised to see some of my favorite Kreinik flash material, which is what makes the Kreelex streamers have such great action, hanging up on the wall.  They had copper, gold, and silver styles.  And while there are other colors out there, these seem to be the best for catching trout.

Which brings up another topic...Rich and I have had a year long debate as to which color coordination is more successful.  He swears by the copper/gold while I swear by the gold/silver.  If you agree with me, please comment below.  If you agree with Rich, I hope you catch only chubs this year comment elsewhere.

One of last year's victims of a copper/gold kreelex

So do yourself a favor and run by the store to pick up some of this elusive material if you live here in C'ville and check out the Trow brother's video instructions which can be found here.  This doesn't pertain to those in the Harrisonburg area because the Mossy Creek Fly Fishing store has had kreelex materials in stock for a while now.

Also, if you're interested in fly tying (or as I usually call it "tie flying"... not on purpose mind you, just the dyslexia talking) sign up for email updates from Albemarle Angler as they've started having regular tying sessions at the store.  Only problem for those beginners out there: you'll need your own set of equipment and materials.  But if you're a member of the med school club then I can definitely let you borrow some materials (just not my rare collection of extinct tropical bird feathers.)**

*joke, obviously
**yet another joke... if that ornithological collection was truly wasted on flies then someone needs to set up a rehab center for fly fishermen.   

New Year Resolutions

Everyone is making resolutions; Ridiculous resolutions that inevitably fail by the time February comes around. So instead, I thought I'd make some that may actually have a fighting chance of coming to fruition (this, of course, all hinges on whether we'll have time to fish while busy on clinical rotations). Here are mine:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/captkodak/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

1. Catch another gar. After I reeled in one of these prehistoric monsters last summer, I became OBSESSED and went on numerous occasions out to the Rivanna with the only goal of pulling in another to ensure the first wasn't just a fluke. I even bought heavy duty gloves to make sure I wouldn't lose a finger or two while trying to get the hook out. Alas, I received some head turns but never a solid bite. So by far the top thing on my list is to snag one of these guys again.

Huge Mossy Creek brown caught by Shane from Mossy Creek Fly Fishing (photo courtesy of MCFF)

2. Catch more brown trout (big ones). This may sound picky but really it means a lot more than it seems. Practically the only place to find decent brown trout around here is Mossy Creek. From our past posts about Mossy, you'll know that it's always a challenge to fish out there and going home skunked is a very real possibility. So this year, how about we pull in some of those famous monsters that the guys over at Mossy Creek Fly Fishing seem to pull in regularly.

3. Float the Jackson. Hopefully when I'm stationed in Roanoke in August I'll have some time to hit up the nearby Jackson River. From what I could tell from our quick visit just below the dam, the river is loaded with healthy fish and ideal water temperatures to ensure good fishing year round. Let's just hope that if I do float it, that I don't meet any angry landowners with shotguns.

4. Successfully fish the Shad Run. Okay last year I went out and tried my best to fish the Shad Run down near Richmond. This year, I think I'll play it smart and wade the Rappahannock instead. Also I'll probably need to get a sinking line and some properly made shad darters. Hopefully this time my trip will be more like Gordon's from Albemarle Angler as seen in the video above.

5. Catch more fish than Rich. Hey, I at least had to have something realistic on here right? Rich, you just been SERVEDDDD.

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.

Moormans Fly Fishing

Since Cam decided to take a little time away from studying (we have mid-terms approaching) I guess I can take a break to introduce myself.  My name is Richie, and I'm a pisces... just kidding.  I started going on fishing trips with my dad when I was five years old.  At first I probably played with rocks in the river, but eventually I graduated to slowly learning the intricacies of fly fishing the mountain streams of the Shenendoah National Park.  After that baptism by fire, I have been able to hold my own with the brookies and smallmouth in Virginia, the redfish in the coastal brackish waters of Louisiana, and the big water and big sky browns of Montana.  My fairly long fishing career has been off-and-on, however, so I still have plenty to learn and I am not too proud to ask Cameron (or anyone for that matter) for a hand.  Through this blog and the VMFF, I hope that we can provide a resource to compare notes, answer questions, and learn more ourselves about the art of fly fishing.

On that note, I'll share a little bit of my experience with the waters near Charlottesville.  Yesterday, Cameron and I fished the Moorman River, an easily accessible nearby trout stream.  It is only about a 25 minute drive from Charlottesville to the reservoir at Sugar Hollow and the "headwaters" of the Moorman, if you can call a concrete dam headwaters.  The Moorman is stocked throughout the year with rainbow trout, and you need a pass (available at Albemarle Angler) to fish there.  So far, the experience has been fairly positive.  

At the moment there are hundreds of fish mostly concentrated in the deeper pools.  They seem a little sluggish and maybe even disoriented right now, probably because they were just stocked last week.  We were most successful with egg patterns (yes, we did stoop that low) and copper/gold kreelex.  Correction, Cameron had luck with eggs and kreelex, I only caught one fish (you can see it above) on a kreelex.  

These rainbows learn pretty quickly what is food and what is not.  Eggs caught fish initially, but the fish soon ceased to even look as our eggs drifted down right in front of their noses.  Once we switched to kreelex we caught a few more fish and generated a lot more strikes.  We had the best luck on slow retrievals with small jerks on the line to give the fly some life.  The only real downside to fishing the Moorman is that you will find plenty of other fishers there on weekends, so try to make it out mid week if possible.  Oh yeah, and the $45 fee for the pass to fish there hurts the wallet of a med student on loans, but hey, if you live in Cville it makes sense to have access to such a close, fun fishery.

Welcome to the Virginia Medical Fly Fishing Site

I probably shouldn't start another blog for fear of wasting even more time but I feel like there is a definite need for better information about fly fishing in Virginia.  Don't get me wrong, there are some great sites like that of the Trow brothers over at the Mossy Creek fly fishing store and the Albemarle Angler has started doing a better job updating their posts to their website.  But there are several things that I thought were missing.  How does one get to the Rapidan's upper reaches by car?  Where should I go that is near to Charlottesville so that I can throw a line out during my lunch break?  What techniques work the best at each river and when?  

Thus, my co-founder, Richie, and I started the Virginia Medical Fly Fishing Club (yes we're med students).  And to help with information organization, I've decided that this would be a helpful site to make.  So I thought I'd start by explaining how I got to this point.  (Hopefully if Rich is down with blogging, he'll explain how he got here too)

A good size brookie pulled out of the Rapidan River

First, let me say that I'm not an expert in the field of fly fishing.  I'm constantly learning and I think that the best thing about fly fishing is that you have to be constantly learning.  If you're not learning, you're just catching fish, not fishing.  So anyway, here's some background on my experience thus far...

I started fly fishing about two years ago when a good friend of mine convinced me to tag along with him to the lower reaches of the Rapidan River.  I'm sort of a leech for information and therefore I love to start new things/hobbies/passions due to what I pick up from others.  (My poor parents have had to see me through several changes in musical pursuits throughout the years... not an inexpensive habit)  But I digress.  After watching my friend, Scottie, deftly hook about 20 brookies in the first two hours out there, I decided I wanted to be as proficient as he was.  

So after that, I started researching fly fishing.  I went to local stores and asked stupid naive questions until I was able to figure out how to tie on tippet to a leader and distinguish some of the most famous dry flies patterns.  I went out to the rivers in the area (with a cheap pair of rubber hip waders I got from Dick's Sporting Goods and a 5 wt. my dad lent me).  In those first months, I think I caught at least one hundred tree branches and zero fish.  But that made me want to fish even more.  I can't stand not being good at something.  Finally, after about 6 months, I started catching brookies at the Rapidan.  I thought I had mastered fly fishing because I was able to catch fish consistently on one of Virginia's most famous rivers... Boy, was I wrong.

That's enough for today, I'll finish explaining in my next post.  Again welcome to the site.