Fishing Report: South Holston - Marion, VA

After spending some quality time with the family down in Charlotte, I stopped off on the way back to Charlottesville in Marion, VA to fish on what sounded like an awesome stretch of the South Holston.  From what I read about it, it is a pretty short 1/2 mile section of water that runs alongside one of the hatcheries in Marion.  Being catch & release only and with VDGIF employees constantly around, it sounded like the perfect place to catch some big fish unharmed by the put & take folk.

When I pulled up, I ran into a guy, I'm sad to say I forgot his name, who had worked there for over 20 years.  He told me that originally, the section of water was stocked by the employees for their own benefit and wouldn't let others to fish there.  It wasn't until two fishermen refused to leave the water and the law got involved that they had to open the section to the public.  Fortunately, they were able to keep it catch and release.

My first impression of the section was that it had great rock structure, good flow, and certainly plenty of fish.  Only tough part is getting access to the lower half.  If you want to fish it, you pretty much have to go to the lower entry and wade up the whole section as the banks are high and overgrown.


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Fishing was good.  It wasn't great, but that was probably because I was dying in the 90-something degree heat.  Only caught rainbows but did see a larger brown in a pool near a bridge who wouldn't give any of my nymphs the light of day.  As for what I was using, it was all over the place.  Most were caught on nymphs but I was constantly switching to dry flies when I would find a trout honing in on surface insects.  There wasn't a solid hatch all afternoon, with the humid weather and sunny skies, but there were some small flies (I'm assuming midges?) that were hovering around the slower pools.

Most interesting part of the day was when I was tossing a prince nymph into the ripples at the head of slow pool.  Twice in a row my indicator was attacked by a nice looking trout.  Frustrated that he wasn't noticing the beautiful nymph I tied just for him, I switched to the only pattern in my box that was big enough to mimic my indicator (I guess you could say I was trying to match the indicator hatch)... a size 6 hopper, big, pudgy, and neon yellow.  Sure enough, just after I smacked that baby in the run, he went airborne for it.

Great section of water.  It's a little far out there so ideally, it should be part of a weekend trip where you also hit up Whitetop Laurel, or if its summertime perhaps you can get some smallies out on the Clinch River or New River.

Susie Q Farm 6/1/11

Dad came down on Tuesday night in preparation for a very early morning of fishing at Susie Q Farm. He suggested that we warm up for the trip with a little smallmouth action on the Rivanna that evening. Of course I decided to take him to one of my favorite spots, Riverview Park in Charlottesville. We got to stretch some line and hooked into a bunch of sunfish and smallies on kreelex. The river is coming down nicely; wading is still challenging in spots but it's definitely doable.

We set out for Susie Q at 0430 after a restless night of sleep fraught with anticipation of what the day might hold. This was our first time at Susie Q and as we pulled up to the stream, we were instantly impressed with the beauty of the creek and the surrounding country. After gearing up and debating what flies to start with we hit the water about 0615. There were small swells of rising fish scattered across the pool just upstream of the ford near the parking area. I decided to follow the advice from the guys at Mossy Creek Fly Fishing and tried out some trico duns. I was rewarded with a small chub for my efforts. The guys were definitely right on with the hatch, but the trout were not rising this particular day so we decided to try out some nymphs.

Almost as soon as we made the switch we got into some very nice 'bows. We found the first fish of the day in the deep channels with medium paced flows on the far bank across from the parking lot. At one point dad and I both had fish on simultaneously. Both of us hammering the same run didn't faze the fish at all and we each caught 'bows up to 18 inches there. Most of the fish we caught took our nymphs very lightly, barely moving the indicator. There is no telling how many we may have missed. As we worked our way upstream I was struck by the number and quality of deep runs with good structure for holding fish. There are some "aquarium" type flat sections, but they are more than made up for by very nice moving water. I also love the feel of this place. It's a working farm but the stream doesn't seem too manicured or artificial at all. Any stream improvements they have made are subtle, so you feel like you are in a pristine area.

We caught nice rainbows and a few small browns consistently as we made our way toward the top of the property on nymphs and copper/blue/gold kreelex. We stopped fishing about 1130 when the heat became a little too intense and the bite started to trickle off. During our break we stopped by the shop and learned that we left some really nice pools at the upstream and downstream ends of the property. After a good chat and strategy session with Jess (I think that was his name, please correct my if I'm wrong) we picked up new Mossy Creek passes at Verona, killed time running other errands, and started fishing again at 1630. By that time the wind had picked up, we had a little cloud cover, and the temp had cooled to a more comfortable 85 F.

We took Jess' advice and started at the pools downstream from the ford. Dad was rewarded with a nice 13 inch brookie landed on a nymph. He and a few other rainbows caught there were hanging out under the foam lines. We made our way up to the top of the property with a few select stops at our favorite pools from the morning and still had consistent action. I couldn't believe we didn't catch anything under the stump at the last big bend, but we did move a pretty rainbow under the last Sycamore leaning over the stream near the boundry.

This is a truly fantastic place to fish. It is well worth the $70 rod fee since you get the creek to yourself, it's beautiful, it's challenging, and it gives you the chance of catching big, quality fish. I had so much fun fishing with my dad in this awesome spot yesterday. I can't wait to come back and try to find some of the big browns in this creek. Hats off to the Mossy Creek shop for managing this place and keeping great trout water open.

Beaver Creek 4/9/2011

With a much needed week off after our block 7 and an overload of recent studying, I used last weekend to visit Charlottesville, and catch up with Cameron for a few days on the river. He's already gloated about our incredible day on the Rapidan on Sunday, where spring brookie fishing is in full effect with hungry trout rising to an abundance of flies.

The previous day, however, Cameron was my guide to Beaver Creek. We woke up early to be sure we got the reservation for the day there, and were on the river at around 7:30am. For most of the day, the weather was gloomy and overcast, but we escaped any rain and were able to get in a suprisingly full day of fishing. We fished below the bridge during the morning hours without much luck. When we moved on to the meadow section above the bridge, we met a few visible trout in the first pool, but were unable to get them to look at anything we tossed their way. After several hours of frustration and changing fly patterns, I finally hooked into one in an open meadow pool on a Copper John. From there, our frustrations continued until after a late lunch where I returned to the same pool where I caught the first one. I put on a nymph rig that I had learned over the summer in Montana, which consisted of a caddis larva and a heavy beaded stonefly nymph dropper. With some more patience, I started getting into the action and landed several decent fish until finally hooking into the beast of the day, a healthy 20+inch Rainbow. He was quite the weight to pull in, but with Cam's assistance we finally got it to land. It has been quite awhile since I've caught anything that big, and my nerves were certainly going!

Needless to say, I must give Cameron full credit for putting me on the fish. Both of us continued to have better luck in the afternoon, each hooking into a few more fish before calling it a day. Overall, my first experience on Beaver Creek was very positive, and I have Cam to thank for introducing me to another good Virginia stream that I look forward to going back to and learning more about.

Fishing Report: Rapidan River

Looks like we're going to have some pretty high rivers here for the next week thanks to that monsoon that can through central Virginia yesterday.  The water levels in the upper portions of the Rapidan over the weekend definitely spiked, fortunately, however, it looks like we didn't quite hit flood levels.  Not sure how long we'll have to wait until we have conditions as good as they were last week. 

Speaking of last week, fishing was freaking fantastic.  Scott, the proverbial master of small stream fly fishing, was able to take some time off from studying for his Step 1 to grace Rich and me with his presence.  Of course, with the forecast calling for a sunny day and 80 degree weather last Sunday, we had to hit up the Rapidan. 

We headed up to the section around Rapidan Camp to ensure we wouldn't have any company.  Right from the start we could see brookies feeding on dry flies.  Not just a few either.  We split up and put on our respective favorites for the park, Scott with an elk hair caddis, Richie with something that probably was of the royal adams family (i'm guessing, correct me if i'm wrong), and me with a parachute adams.  They all seemed to work great.  Three hours later, we all were worn out and were plenty satisfied with the more than 50 fish we each caught.  Seriously, it was probably the best day on the Rapidan I've had in several years.  We got on the water right when two mayfly hatches, which looked like blue wing olives and something larger and brown like a quill gordon or march brown, were occurring.  I switched to a BWO spinner and definitely started getting more strikes.  These brookies were going absolutely nuts.  I think I only hit up about eight pools in three hours but was able to put out at least ten brook trout, all in the 8-10 inch range, from each.  By the end of our day (only around 4:00pm), the females were depositing their eggs and a decent number of spinners were on the water.  At that point, the brookies started feeding even more aggressively.  My last pool had about eight large trout in it who were all competing for the flies coming down the buffet line.  It was amazing seeing them go airborne and slamming into each other as they fought for the fly.  I had never seen such aggressiveness on the Rapidan.  I managed to get a videoclip of one of them going airborne:

From rapidan river 4.10.11

Hopefully, once these high water levels settle out, we'll be able to hit up the park again for some more brookies.  Let us know if you've had similar success!

Beaver 'Bows 4/4/2011

I showed up at Peds Cardiology clinic today only to find that we did not have any patients. After being cut loose early, I decided to call the Ottobine Store and see if there were any passes left for Beaver Creek. It turns out I got the last one.

By the time I pulled up to the store it was almost 1600 and it looked like one of the fishermen from the morning was just putting his gear away. I paid for my pass and headed upstream to start fishing in the field across from the elementary school. Two factors made fishing difficult this afternoon. For one thing, the wind was blowing between 20-30 mph the whole time I was there. That made for some interesting line tricks to keep my fly on target. Secondly, I had never fished Beaver in the evening, and the shadows proved to be pretty wicked in the stretch I fished.

I only fished for about 2.5 hours and landed all three fish I hooked up with. It's nice to see that Beaver still holds the big fat 'bows I've come to expect there. The first fish I caught was by far the nicest and jumped four times. I was casting nymphs with my 5 wt with a small white bobbing indicator. I saw one nice fish roll on a dry fly, but that was the only top water action of the day. All in all it was an unexpectedly awesome day.

Mossy Creek 3/13/2011

After seeing that we were looking an almost 70 degree day on Sunday, Kyle and I knew we had to stretch some line. I did the same post-call maneuver of scrambling to grab my gear after finishing rounds. We debated whether the park or the valley would have better water levels after the torrents we experienced the week before. After much hemming and hawing we decided to try Mossy.

I've had mostly a hate/hate relationship with Mossy over the years. It's a beautiful spot, but the challenges posed by wary trout, the prohibition of wading, and the foliage in the river have led to more than one skunked day for me. The saving grace was that I would be fishing with Kyle. He somehow knows exactly where to find the prehistoric browns for which Mossy is so famous.

As it turned out, the water levels were spectacular. The stream was slightly stained and the moss patties covered generously by water. This was a boon considering the bluebird sky we had and it kept us from hanging up too much fishing kreelex (copper/gold of course). We started fishing by the spillway downstream from the church. Kyle landed one on the second cast right under the car bridge. This piqued our interest for sure, but we were unable to turn any other heads in the channels along the spillway.

Things really picked up between 4:00 and 6:30. The browns turned on so much that any kreelex swung over the moss and into the channels made greedy fish give long, sustained chase. Many fish just nipped at our flies, but we were able to land 9 between the three of us. We even saw pairs of browns tailing along the undercuts and running upstream spawning. This is the most activity I've ever personally seen on the creek save last September when dad and I ran into a large group of browns steadily sipping bugs off the top. I'd say it was a very solid day for Mossy. My opinion might be veering more toward love than hate at this point.

Rose River SNP 3/5/2011

Kyle and I had been talking about hitting up some new brook trout water for a week, so by Saturday morning I was itching to get up to the park. He knew that I had to round with my team that morning, so it would be touch-and-go about what time we'd head out. After presenting my newly admitted patients from call the night before, my chief resident told me to take off around 1100. Luckily I got the nod when I did, because if I hadn't called Kyle and Cameron then they might not have turned around to come pick me up. Thanks guys, you're the best.

The plan was to briefly check out the Rose as a test run before tackling the road over the mountain to the upper Rapidan. After 20 minutes on the Rose the word "Rapidan" was wiped from our vocabulary for the day. We spooked about 25 brookies that day wading the absolutely gorgeous pools and surprisingly deep runs. Still being early in the season with temps teetering in the upper 50s/low 60s the bite really only turned on for about 45 minutes in the late afternoon and only in the deep pools on heavy nymphs. I'm sure that this place will be on fire in another month or so given the number of fish we saw on a lukewarm day.

A few things make the Rose really stand out in my mind. First, I like that the river is far from the trail. No Toykyo Drift style neon green Honda Civics with huge spoilers bumping along the streamside road a la the Rapidan. You need to do a fair amount of bushwhacking to get to the stream which keeps the mood much more serene. Also, the section we fished is fairly wide with great structure provided by larger rocks in the middle of the stream bed. Couple that with the deeper than average runs, and dry fly season should be huge with fish likely ambushing your fly from many angles. I can't wait to come back to this place.

Back on the Water/Fishing Report: Conway River, Rapidan River (lower section), and Staunton River

VAMFF took an unexpected break from updating the site there for while.  Trust me when I say it wasn't intended.  Third year of medical school turned out to be just as busy as we were told it would be.  Throw in some issues with leaky waders, a broken rod tip, and a non-functioning reel, and it made it even more difficult to be on the water.  It was as if the fishing gods wanted us to stop fishing for a while and actually tie surgeon's knots where they were originally intended to be.

All that being said, third year is quickly winding down, temperatures are rising, and hatches are happening so we have don't have any excuses not to fish.  On Feb 27th, Rich and I took our first trip of 2011 up to the mountain streams to scout out some new locations.



First stop was the Conway at the section below the confluence with Devil's Ditch.  Our initial impressions were that the river was beautiful, it had great pools, and it is far enough in on the fire roads that many weekend warriors will probably pass it up in favor of areas that have quicker access.  That being said, we may have gotten there too early in the morning for a brisk February day because we literally did not see a fish the entire morning.  Nothing hit on top or on bottom, not even a near miss or a flash.  The only other fisherman we saw out there that day had similar luck.  But given how nice the river is, this will definitely have to be a repeat location later on in the spring.

Conway River (Middle Section)

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Determined to not be blanked on our first day back fishing, we then headed to the lower section of the Rapidan near Graves Mill.  There we saw fish.  At first we saw some chubs in a beaver pond and we definitely felt the urge to throw a line in to ensure we at least caught something.  But we fought the urge and got to the confluence of the Staunton and the Rapidan and started there.

On the Rapidan, the water levels were great and we could see some brookies slowly exploring the deeper sections.  Eventually, around 2-3pm,  a small hatch of black caddis started to emerge and with the temperature getting into the low 60s, we started seeing fish rising.  Finally.  We ended up only catching a few before they stopped rising but it was enough to make the trip worthwhile.

Staunton River

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We did fish up the Staunton for a little while as well.  In fact, the Staunton was actually where I learned how to fly fish courtesy of Scott Rusteikas.  Plenty of fish but really, unless you have a 2-3 wt and don't mind sidearm casts and getting caught in trees, you may want to look elsewhere.

I apologize for the lapse in writing.  Hopefully we can pick things back up where we left off!

ps. Expect to see some renovations to the site in the coming months.

Martinsville AIM rotation and the Smith River

It's been a while since I've posted, but believe me when I say it's because I've been too busy fishing.

Upon hearing that I was placed in Martinsville for my Ambulatory Internal Medicine rotation, I quickly went to google to find out about fishing opportunities in the area.  I was dismayed when I saw no significant smallmouth waters in the area.  I tried to convince myself that no fishing was a good thing as I'd be able to actually get some studying done for the Medicine shelf exam.  I packed up and headed down, leaving my waders and fly tying kit at home.

Little did I know that Martinsville has a premier tailwater loaded with trout just 15 minutes away.

On my first day of clinic, I was fortunate enough to interview a patient who had a bass pro shop hat on, which meant I ended up spending most of the interview talking about good fishing locations (whoops!).  He told me about the Smith River and stories he's heard about people pulling monster browns out of the river in the special regulation section (always a good sign if there's a special regulation section).  He hadn't been up to the river in a while though and didn't want to promise me anything.

So after two days of researching the river I finally made a trip up.

Note: since it's a tailwater, the dam releases water for a certain amount of time each day which makes it unfishable.  The past month it was usually running from around 1pm to 6-7pm each day.  I'd recommend hitting up the water just when they turn off the generators.  It seems like the insect life plans their hatches for right as the water starts to level off which means you can prepare for top feeding trout starting about 20-30 minutes after generating ends.  To find out when they will be generating, call to hear the Army Corps of Engineer's recorded message at: (276) 629-2432.  Also know that since it's a tailwater, the water will be cold all the time making fishing for trout possible in the late summers while it also keeps the water unfrozen in the winters so if you want to fish a midge hatch in January, you can.

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I first set out to the special regulation section at 7pm to see what was going on.  Unfortunately, I almost died of shock when I got in the water without my left-at-home waders.  The waters in the section just above the bridge at rt. 666 were high still as it would take a while for the levels to subside.  So without even making any casts in the section, I shivered my way back to my car and headed up to Philpott Dam to see what was going on there.

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What I found was quite possibly the best half mile of water I've fished in Virginia.  Because of the difference in temperature between the humid air and the cold water, a thick 10 feet of fog sat over the water.  Through the fog I could just barely see rising trout.  And I could see them everywhere.  They were mainly in the seams feeding regularly on a decent hatch of tiny insects which I assumed were tricos.  Despite my lack of waders and a medical condition where I get paralyzed because of extremely cold temperatures, I wet waded in to try my luck.  I put on a a size 16 parachute and immediately started getting hits.  Most of the browns and rainbows were from 10-16 inches but I know I missed hooking on to at least two browns that were much bigger.  Unfortunately, because the generating schedule ends so late, it only leaves about 2 hours for decent fishing before it gets too hard to see with the lighting and the fog.  There are talks in the works though that will hopefully result in better scheduling.

I eventually made the trek home that weekend to retrieve the rest of my fly fishing equipment and spent about 2-3 days each week fishing the Philpott Dam section.  In the end, Martinsville was a complete surprise and a great place to fish.  I'd drive the 2 1/2 hour drive down from Charlottesville anytime to spend a weekend fishing the Smith.  It's just that good.

Fishing Report: Mossy Creek 7-9

It's been a while since we've last posted.  Fortunately it hasn't been because we're not fishing.  We just have been too exhausted after trips to put up anything.  Hopefully we'll be able to make relevant posts now despite being two or three weeks late.

I got today off from my internal medicine rotation because I'll be on call tomorrow effectively ruining my weekend.  Since the last time we reported on Mossy, Kyle went back and actually caught another huge brown.  Ridiculous.  I'm pretty sure he's using dynamite.  Because I was not in attendance for his successful trip, I had to make yet another trip in search of big browns.

To make it for the morning trico hatch, I got to the fog laden river around 5:30 and found fish sipping flies off the surface all over the place.  It was obvious that they recently restocked the river because there was a swarm of something like fifty 6-10 inch fish in the pool just below the bridge.  Water levels were low but manageable and a lot of the mud that was present last time I was there was no longer an issue.  Essentially, it was a perfect day to fish.

I had a bunch of early misses that initially frustrated me as well as one hook up of a big guy on a hopper pattern that happened by accident while I was trying to untangle some line.  By the time I realized I had a fish on, he had already made an epic leap that dislodged the hook.  I'm kind of glad though; I would have been pretty disappointed about having my first huge brown caught by accident.

Starting at around 8:00, the stocked trout began to feed consistently on something small on the surface.  I tried some trico spinners with no luck but found that a tiny, size 16, parachute adams seemed to draw plenty of hits.  I was impressed by their eating habits.  Usually these stocked fish snub their noses at anything that doesn't look like a pellet.

Eventually I hooked my first decently large brown.  He had definitely been there a while and put up and awesome but muddy fight.  By the time I had him in hand, I was literally covered in mud.  But it was worth it.  He took to a tiny parachute adams down underneath the lower bridge in a pool surrounded by stocked trout.

Then I found the money spot.  I can't divulge where it is for fear of others taking to it and catching all the browns.  But I can say that it's freaking awesome.  I spent my final hour there honing my skills with a pheasant tail nymph pulling in fish after fish.  In the end I think I pulled in about 20-30 fish (and I tried to document a decent number of them just so Rich and Kyle would know I wasn't lying when I told them).

On a side note, I met another fisherman out there today who was there for the first time.  Got to talking to him and found out he was about fed up with the river considering he had had no luck and was tired of getting tangled up in the brush.  I gave him a kreelex and promised him it'd get results.  Sure enough, about 30 minutes later, he pulled in a decent size fish.  Not bad for his first day on the river having only just started fly fishing about a year ago.  The kreelex showed off how awesome it is yet again.

Arkansas River in Colorado Part 3

Terry, Dad, and I spent our last day fishing the Ark down by the Wellsville bridge. This is located just upstream from the Ark Anglers' private lease where Stuart took us the day before. Aside from that lease, I have not found a sweeter spot on the Ark downstream from Buena Vista. There is an island in the middle of the river just upstream from the bridge with excellent holes and riffles on either side. We got there very early to stake a claim, which was essential. There was moderate pressure that day with a few other parties of anglers coming out later in the morning and throughout the afternoon. The other fishermen were exceptionally respectful of our beats, and we all shared this stretch easily.

I spent the morning experimenting with different streamers and nymph rigs. I was having some trouble drawing a bead on exactly what the fish wanted, but with some help from my dad (and his ever calming presence), I ended up catching some very nice fish on a prince nymph/baetis emerger combo. Experience truly won out that day as Terry and my dad nailed fish all day long. The key was using the 5x fluorocarbon tippet that Dad bought the day before. That stuff is worth the money. It sinks like a stone and is completely invisible to the trout. We found fish mostly holding in calm slants within the riffles as well as along the foam lines, making that Thursday a wonderful lesson in reading the water.

Once the afternoon came, things really clicked in for the three of us and we had pretty consistent luck. In fact, just before lunch dad hooked into a huge brown implementing the drop and count method into the foam (see 2nd Ark post for details) at the upstream end of the island. Terry and I watched him from the bank while we chowed-down on some sandwiches. He sprang up from prone with fly line ripping off his reel. Unfortunately for him, dad failed to remember the boy scout motto "be prepared" and had taken off his vest as he edged up to the foam-topped eddy. Without a net, he had no chance of landing the monster and after a good fight the fish was gone. Still, hats off to our instructor, Stuart, who taught us a very productive and sneaky maneuver to hook some giant trout!

This trip was the best thing a boy could ask for. I had an awesome time roaming the country with my dad, got to fish with him and another great pal, and even learned a thing or two about throwing dice in Central City. A long road trip was just what I needed after four months of boards studying. If you have the time, I highly recommend savoring the journey and not just the fishing part of a trip. Tight lines, and thanks to everyone in Colorado who helped make our trip a success.

Arkansas River in Colorado Part 2

Day two on the Ark was pretty tough with much colder temps and high winds. It amazed me how much the weather could change in the mountains day to day with highs only in the 40s after 70s the day before. We caught fewer fish, but they were hard earned and still absolutely gorgeous. Sefan at Ark Angers saved the day by putting us on a public stretch not far from town for the afternoon that produced some nice browns. I have the spot marked on the fishing map.

After a tough day two, we decided to book a morning guided wade trip through the shop. I think they pulled out all the stops for us and called in a true ringer named Stuart Andrews. Stuart has been fishing for about 40 years and really knows his stuff. The wade trip was on a private lease starting below the Wellsville bridge that had a great mix of deep pools, short cliffs, and some shallow pocket water on the sides. We started out showing off our casting "prowess" for Stuart who fine tuned our strokes. I was amazed by how he could make small adjustments to my casting and cause huge improvements in minutes. Again, hiring a guide every once in a while is a GREAT idea and made our third and fourth days on the Arkansas truly memorable.

We fished nymph rigs with a small chartreuse Copper John dropper. That little thing was deadly! I had never seen chartreuse copper wire like that before, but it imitated the chartreuse caddis larvae we found teeming under the rocks. Here's another pearl, go ahead and spend the extra money for fluorocarbon monofilament for your nymph rigs. It's completely invisible to the fish and it sinks like a stone. Just another trick I learned from Stuart. This setup gave us a real edge and we caught some truly stunning browns and 'bows.

As for actual fishing techniques, I learned a few awesome tricks from Stuart. First and foremost if you don't know about fishing the foam lines, try it! Stuart reminded us that wild fish don't like to expend a lot of energy while they are feeding. No joke, but how does that help you? Well, look for the seams between faster water and more calm water. These are generally the places where foam bubbles will form and make streaks down the current, and they are perfect spots for trout to lay in wait for food being swept downstream in the faster water.

Stuart also taught us some secrets about finding big fish. If you are on a larger river with collections of foam in the deep eddies along the banks, get your nymphs in there! You'll see lots of spent flies lying in the white foam and maybe even some trout sipping there. Also, bigger fish feel secure because the foam forms a canopy protecting them from birds like ospreys. The trick here is to sneak up on your belly very slowly, and with just a little fly line out, drop your nymphs right into the foam. You may see a take on your indicator, but if not just count to five and blindly set. Repeat this maneuver and work around the foam until you hook a 20+ inch brown.

Not only is he among the best fishermen I've ever met, stuart is also an accomplished artist. His compositions capture the American West and the changes that we have made on the landscape as we have tried to tame it. He has some really beautiful works, and I hope to own a few of them whenever I pay off my student loans. Check out his gallery online, it is worth more then a few minutes of your time. Thanks for your expertise and teaching, Stuart. We hope to fish with you again sometime soon, hopefully on a high mountain lake trip for cutthroat.

Fishing Report: Muddy Run 4/27/2010

The boards have finally come and gone for the majority of us.  Thanks to my procrastination, I was left with only limited time to hit up our friendly Virginia waters.  Right after I finished taking the boards in Lynchburg, I hurried up to the Hidden Valley campground located on the Jackson River.  Last time I was there, it was with a bunch of the guys and unfortunately our first impression of the spot wasn't too spectacular.  In case you didn't know, I'm not a huge fan of chubs or of stocked waters, which was pretty much all that we found when we were at the Jackson's special regulations area last fall.  So I was a little pessimistic.  Upon arriving, I still had about an hour before sunset so I quickly went out to the river to see what the conditions were like.

My first impressions of the Jackson in the spring is that it's got some great insect life.  Stepping out into the section of water near the parking area, I was surrounded with a huge hatch of mayflies.  I have no idea what type they were, but they were definitely large.  Knowing that I only had a few short minutes before I'd have to get back to setting up camp, I quickly put on a size 12 parachute adams and went to work throwing to the great runs along both banks.  I saw a few rising fish and heard even more behind me which, by the time I turned around, had already assumed their hidden positions under the sun-glared surface.

Eventually my fly disappeared and the line went taught.  Quickly, however, my enthusiasm waned as I didn't feel the fight of a huge fish and did not witness any aerial jumps that one usually associates with a healthy rainbow trout.  Reeling in I found my disappointment was appropriate at the sight of a huge chub.  This guy has obviously been feeding well.  A few more casts later and BAM, another bite with yet another lackluster fight.  Chub number two.  It was pretty disappointing to be surrounded with such a beautiful landscape and a perfect evening mayfly hatch but head back to camp troutless.

Exhaustion took over quickly and my 5:30 a.m. wake-up routine resulted in me being the first fisherman the next morning to be on the long hike up to the special regulations area of the Jackson.  At the first bridge crossing, I became disoriented and continued straight instead of heading to the special regulation area.  This, however, was a supremely awesome mistake.  This unknowingly led me to the much smaller but much more amazing, Muddy Run.  I quickly found myself on a path that was very overgrown next to a beautiful stream that reminded me of the uppermost parts of the Rapidan yet with even better pools and runs.

I realized my mistake after about a half a mile more of hiking and was about to turn around.  But, I thought I should just make a few casts, just in case.  Having had such poor luck with the chubs the day before, I wasn't expecting anything too great.  Boy was I wrong.  First cast and WHOMP, next thing I knew I was holding a beautiful, healthy 'bow.  A couple casts into the same little pool later, a brookie with great colors and decent size.  For the next 5 or 6 hours pretty much consisted of the same experience; pulling from the same pools, wild brookies and rainbows that had acclimated to their environment, acting like wild fish by the time they saw my parachute adams or snowshoe humpy float by.  I lost count quickly.  I'd keep trying to describe it all but I think you get the point.  It was perfect.

Before I headed back to camp, I made a quick dash over to the special regulations area (after stopping to talk with the game wardens who were there checking licenses, I love it when I see them doing their job well) to see how the fishing was there.  I was unimpressed.  I saw a bunch of spincasters sitting right below the beginning of the area and there was someone throwing out line practically every 100 yards.  I found myself a quick spot on the river and fished for a few minutes and did have a few follows but I was unsure if they were trout or chubs.  Frankly, it paled in comparison so much to the rest of my day that I quickly stopped chasing these stocked fish and headed back to camp.

So my final opinion of the area:
Muddy Run - Rapidan brookies but + rainbows = 9/10
Jackson River - Stupid stocked rainbows and overcrowded waters = 2/10

If you're going to fish the Jackson, I'd recommend just sticking to below the dam, especially if you have a drift boat/canoe.

*Apologies if there are spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes.  I've decided that I'll be less worried about all of that stuff because I'm lazy and in case you didn't know... I don't speak english good.

Arkansas River in Colorado Part 1

After finishing Step 1 of the USMLE (the licensing exam to become a doc in the U.S.), I needed a big change after sitting in the library for 3 months. This was the perfect opportunity to take the road trip my dad and I had been talking about for years. Randy and Richie’s excellent adventure rolled out from Virginia on April 7th and returned April 20th. We saw incredible countryside, met interesting and very welcoming people, and experienced some of the wildest tourist traps this truly amazing country has to offer. I’ll limit these next few blog posts to the fishing highlights in Colorado, but as I hinted before, the journey was just as fun as the fishing.

Dad and I stopped in Oklahoma City to pick up our friend Terry Weber. Terry is a great fishing buddy and he took a bunch of the pics you’ll see in the next few posts, so hats off to him for adding to the blog. After picking up Terry, we drove through the panhandle of Texas and northwest New Mexico en route to Colorado. It was breathtaking standing on Mount Capulin in New Mexico and watching the Great Plains sweep up into the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rockies. If you can’t tell yet, I fell completely in love with the West on this trip.

After a drive full of gawking at the still snow capped peaks of the Rockies, we pulled into Salida, CO and met up with the staff at Ark Anglers. Stefan was our point man for the entire trip, and he did an amazing job of both putting us on the fish and getting us oriented in town. I highly recommend booking guided trips through the shop; they are first class outfitters and very friendly people. I want to make sure y’all make no mistake about pronunciation when you call the shop in Salida. I automatically went for the Spanish pronunciation, but I quickly discovered that the local folks call it “Suhl-eye-duh and town just up the road is called “Boona-vista” (Buena Vista). I guess that’s about the same as us calling Staunton here in Virginia “Stan-tin”, but these things never cease to amuse me.

On the morning of the 12th, Terry and I headed out with Will, a fellow Okie and our first guide from Ark Anglers, for a 14-mile float trip on the Arkansas River from Salida to the boat ramp at Rincon. I had never floated for trout before, and fishing with Terry and Will made for an awesome trip. We started out fishing right in town and had early success on some white articulated streamers that Will ties. I looked for some in shops during the rest of the trip, but was unable to find any like them. Will, if you’re out there reading, post me the name of those flies or please tell me where I can score some. They were money! One fish chased a Will-tied streamer for a solid 10 feet. Just as an aside for Chuck Kraft, the Kreelex also worked beautifully in Colorado throughout the trip, and we handed them out like candy at every fly shop we visited.

Will also taught us a new streamer fishing technique that definitely adds more life than simply stripping in line. You can really make a streamer dance by using the rod tip to jerk the fly erratically toward you, making it seem like a distressed and enticing meal for a trout. Another thing I didn’t expect was the success we had fishing our streamers just under the surface. The fish really went wild after using the rod-jerk technique to make the fly skip the surface a little. Terry and I both agree that the best part about having a guide is LEARNING. Being put on fish is obviously fun, but learning new techniques and about the way fish feed and what they eat really adds to your repertoire as an angler. Thank you again for an awesome float, Will.

We ended up catching about half browns and half rainbows that first day. Most of the rainbows came after we switched to a two fly nymph rig with an indicator. I am a new believer in using indicators after this trip. Waiting for that thing-a-ma-bobber stop dead in its tracks or jump a few feet really puts you on edge. It also doesn’t hurt when it results in a tail dance by a fat rainbow covered in spots and stripes. That reminds me, we didn’t catch a fish under 10 inches the entire trip, and an average brown in the Arkansas from what I can tell is probably 14 inches. Every single fish we caught had vibrant color and they were all much harder fighters than the fish back East. I think that’s about enough for now.

Check back soon to read about more adventures in Colorado and some other very helpful techniques I learned out West.

Beaver Creek 3/25/2010

Kyle, Cameron, and I rallied at 5:30 Thursday morning for the drive to Beaver Creek. As with all my trips to Beaver, the excitement made it hard to fall asleep the night before. I tossed and turned dreaming about a mix of 'bows, brookies, mission chips, and that savory cow smell that is so uniquely Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. The anticipation culminated with the 5:58, then 5:59, and then finally 6:00 am phone call that got us through to the Ottobine Country Store to reserve the day's rod passes.

We started just before sunrise at the wooden bridge near the elementary school. The water was running a little lower than I expected with all of the rain we've had recently; however, this didn't stop Kyle from getting a fish on after about his third cast of the day. That would prove to be the story of the day for all of us with plenty of rainbows, a nice brook trout, and a few chubs by the new master (Cameron) himself. Interestingly, we spotted what we are fairly certain was a 4-6 lb. largemouth bass in the long pool just upstream from the footbridge. If it is indeed a bass I don't know how it got there, but either way it's a huge fish. If anyone out there can confirm this bigfoot sighting, please give us a shout-out. I would love to hear if anyone has caught that fish.

Now for the latest on the ever enthralling kreelex color debate. I do have to admit that silver/gold did produce just as many fish and the coppers, but I want to point out that silvers did bring in all of the chubs caught on kreelex... I'll let you all decide for yourselves which you'd prefer to fish with. We did throw some nymphs, and even a BWO for awhile but all to no avail. The only other flies that gave us luck were a green wooley bugger and a cool vintage fly from Kyle's grandfather.

Aside from the awesome fishing at Beaver, I highly recommend spending some time at the Country Store. Per the proprietor's recommendation we ordered "big otter" sandwiches for lunch, and man were they awesome. The big otter consists of turkey and ham stacked a generous 2 inches high and is covered with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, and banana peppers on a hot 8 inch sub roll. I had to catch my breath for a minute after eating it, but it definitely hit the spot after a hard morning of fishing.

Fishing Report: Rapidan River 3-21

Boards studying in now in full swing but it's been pretty easy to get stir-crazy still being in the library. Thus, with the threat of more rain coming our way, I decided to make a quick morning trip up to the Rapidan to see how the fishing was.

My initial impression was that the water levels were running a little too high. While I was able to fish most of the day with dry flies, it was extremely difficult to get any quality dead drifts. The first couple were caught on a 2-fly dropper setup with a parachute adams on top and a peasant tail nymph on bottom. A majority of them preferred the nymph, much to my chagrin. After a long winter I was going through a pretty serious dry fly withdrawal. Finally at about 11 am, the brook trout started honing in on some weak hatches that were going on. From what I could tell, there was a decent number of black caddis (or some kind of caddis, I'm not the most legit entomologist quite yet) and the usual midges.

All in all it was a great day to be out on the water despite the difficult water level. I will probably wait until things have settled down even more before I head out there again. But if you're a fan of throwing nymphs and your pack is full of humpies, then by all means take a chance out there. And of course, always be careful when wading in those high and fast conditions.

Moormans South Fork and TJTU 3/10/2010

Kyle and I checked out the south fork of the Moormans above Sugar Hollow Reservoir and the TJTU section below on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day with temps nearing 70 F and we were expecting some brookies to rise for dry flies. Unfortunately, the warmer weather early last week must have caused some significant runoff from snow that is still persisting up in the mountains. South fork, much like the north fork doesn't have too many pools, so if the water is up at all, there aren't many places where fish are likely to hold and still try to feed. That said, we threw everything at them: various dry flies, nymphs, and even my magic copper/gold kreelex wouldn't cause the brookies to bite. That's a lie - we did have a few child-abuse-specials strike at humpies and caddis, but by a couple I mean two the whole afternoon.

The TJTU section is almost completely fished out. The water level is amazing for that stretch right now, but unless they've stocked it since Wednesday I wouldn't waste my time going back. Kyle hooked up with one but broke him off using a light leader. Oh well, these things happen.

Bottom line: if you are going fishing anytime soon, make a point of checking the USGS water levels and know the river where you're going. If it's a small mountain stream, make sure it has some nice pools like the Rapidan so there might be some slightly slower water where fish will be likely to feed. Good luck out there.

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.

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.

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.