Matt & I hit the stream about 9 a.m.. Air temp was 34 degrees and windy. No other fishermen were on the river. We didn't have a thermometer to check water temp, but I'm guessing low 40s -- it was cold. The water level and flow were excellent -- a really good sign of things to come for the season.
This was my first chance to try out my new Orvis
761-4 Superfine fly rod. It did not disappoint. It cast accurately; it presented dries gently on the water, and it made even a 6 in. brook trout feel like a good fish on the end of the line. Matt and I both had hookups in the first 5 minutes of fishing -- another good sign. We proceeded to catch a fair number of brookies throughout the day.
Most of the trout were small... really small in the 2-3 inch range. But we both also landed several in the 5-7 inch class. Most fish were caught on #16 & #18
BH Pheasant Tail Nymph, the next best fly was a #18 orange parachute dry. Other flies that produced 1-2 trout were Adams Parachute, Caddis Pupa, BWO Emerger, BH Hare's Ear Nymph and Elk Hair Caddis.
The sun came out and the air temp really warmed up -- probably the warmest day on 2013 so far -- high 50s. A hatch of some really tiny off-white midges started around noon. Though the flies were stirring above the stream, there was no observable surface feeding. Several casts with a #22 Midge drew no takes. We finished up at Camp Hoover ending with our traditional "fish caught on the last cast" signalling time to go home. Fish count for the day was Scott 25 and Matt 12. Not a lights out kind of day like we had last year, but a good start for 2013 fly fishing for Brook Trout in the national park.
If you get the chance to head up to the Shenandoah National Park this spring -- we hope to see you there! Tight lines!
Scott and I set out this morning to meet our Project Healing Waters friends for a PHW outing at Rose River Farm. We knew it would be wet with a storm approaching and were anxious to see what the PHW coordinator had lined up for us. We arrived at the Pavilion at 0850 and the fisherman needing assistance were already spoken for by other guides. Scott introduced me to the PHW crew (this was my first trip) then we headed down stream to the lower limit of the farms' waters. Scott and I both opted for 4wts, his an Orvis TLS and mine a clearwater. We fished dropper-dropper combos beneath strike indicators on 4 & 5X tippets. The most successful fly turned out to be a #20 zebra midge. We began the day with several hookups in the 15 inch range and continued to fish the same holes (for too long) until our desire to fish new water became too great. The first cold rain drops hit at 0951 and came more steadily hour by hour ~ thank goodness wind was never an issue. We retreated for lunch at 1200 fishing a few holes enroute to the pavilion where we found a pot of welcoming chili. After trading stories we helped out a few friends, old and new at the pool at the pavilion. After lunch we changed clothes and headed upstream to the bridge and fished back downstream toward the Pavilion. We were skunked in the first two holes/runs then began to steadily pick up 3-4 strikes per hole often landing 1-3 fish per hole. We fished all the way back down to our morning positions then worked our way back up to a honey hole along a rock improved bank. The last two hours we spotted/guided for each other enjoying putting each other on fish at each hole. This turned out to be perfect as an uninformed cast was useless and a guided cast had high hook-up potential. Scott caught a gorgeous rainbow then put me on a gorgeous aggressive bow on the last cast of the day. As we departed two fisherman Scott had helped on a previous PHW outing approached the pool and we spent another 10 minutes putting them on fish as well. We left chilled, but with big smiles on our faces having caught 7-8 rainbows apiece, having made new friends and put some of those friends on some big fish.
