Another Rapidan Convert

My friend James and I were looking for a time to fish and this Friday turned out to be the day (a cast-out goes to Fritz and Scott ...wish you were with us). 

I was introducing James to Mtn Brook trout fishing so there was no question in my mind that we'd head to the Upper-upper Rapidan.  We had an uneventful drive in Clifford and didn't see a soul until we hit the campsites just down-stream from the Marine Cabins where a large camping group had taken up residence for the weekend, as it turned out they were more interested in their fire and sipping suds than fishing (Phew....had me worried for a minute).  We parked at the park gate, rigged up with standard dry-dropper tandems (elk hair caddis and a hares-ear for me & a parachute

adams and a pheasant tail for James) and made our to the stream just upstream from the pump-house. The temps were in the low forties, the wind blustery, the water at mid-level, cold and crystal clear....cold for us, but perfect for brookies.  We fished together, pool hopping and talking tactics and presentation.  After reacquainting ourselves with small-stream drift/drag, casting and line maintenance issues we began picking up fish in the usual spots.  The fishing was slow, but dragless drifts in non-spooked pools stood a 50% chance of a soft strike. 

We exited the river about 2/3 of the way to the Brown House, stashed our gear and walked 10 minutes to show James President Hoover's Retreat.  We lucked out as there was a volunteer docent there who let us in and was happy to share her knowledge. The Brown house was simple and elegant, I loved it.  After 30 minutes at the camp and having admired both Mill Prong and Laurel Prong we returned to Clifford concluding out trip.  A great day and hopefully a new convert to the beauty of the Rapidan.

Nothing prettier than fall brookies

Fall foliage in the George Washington National Forest is breathtaking.  Add in a gin clear, cool running mountain stream and it gets even more beautiful.  Now pile on top of that a size #16 Parachute Adams drifting naturally through a likely fish holding hole, then suddenly a native brook trout rushes from the stream bottom busting the water's surface engulfing that mayfly imitation.  Talking about spectacular beauty-- it really doesn't get any better.

 My friend Paul and I fished the Dry River not far from the West Virginia state line the other day in search of native brookies on dry flies.  This was Paul's first crack at fly fishing for brook trout and I found myself watching and reflecting when I first started fishing these mountain streams in search of these prized little gems that have survived thousands of years in these waters.
Though the water was a little lower and the fish a bit smaller than what we had hoped for, the time spent in this natural setting couldn't be beat.

One dog-gone good fly fishing guide

Earlier in the day we stopped by Beaver Creek to fish for a few hours.  Paul hooked 3 rainbows but none were brought to hand.  After catching a rock bass in the long, slow pool upstream from the elementary school, we bribed a local for some intel on where the fish were holding.  The price was steep (several dog biscuits) but worth it as within minutes of the bribe, Paul hooked into a nice fallfish also known as the freshwater bonefish.



All in all, a great Columbus Day on the water.

Searching for new waters -- Dry River

Have you ever been driving along a road that parallels a fishy looking stream and wondered how the fishing might be there?  Sure you  have... we all have.  In fact I do it all the time (almost to the point of veering off the road a time or two). Such was the case yesterday after spending the morning on Beaver Creek.

 First a word or two about Beaver.... where have all the big trout gone!  The first time I fished Beaver was about this time last year -- more than a dozen rainbows in the 15-20 inch range.  With each trip, the fish count has dropped, and dropped, and dropped.  I still love the stream, but either my game has dipped a notch or two, or the fishing is off.
I'm catching more rock bass -- nothing wrong with these little fellas but there's not the target.

... and I'm catching more and more of these guys -- the ever elusive and mighty fallfish!
But again, call me an elitist (I'm really not) but I want to catch some trout.
Where are they?

I finally caught an 8 inch brookie, but I come to Beaver, and I suspect most others do too, and that's to catch some big, strong rainbows.
I did have two hookups with rainbows, but each shook free after a short 5-10 second battle.

Oh, but before I leave Beaver, let me encourage everyone to bring some dog biscuits when you fish there.  There's a little fella who always seeks me out and yesterday I had some treats for him.. He was most appreciative.  He also usually brings me good luck as I seem to hook a fish when he's around!




So having spent the morning with minimal success, I struck out for new waters.  Delorme maps are wonderful maps if you ever want to seek out new places to go.  With one exception (save that story for another day), you can't get lost when you follow their detailed maps.  Not far from Beaver Creek, Route 33 heads west thru the George Washington National Forest and up and over the mountains to West Virginia.  With fall foliage already coloring the forest, I caught my first glimpse of Dry River, and well, it was pretty dry truth be told.  I pulled into River Rock Park, grabbed my Superfine 1-wt tied on a Parachute Adams and headed down to the stream. 

Water was low... and clear.  From the look of the dried up stream bed, I summized that the river is usually about 30 feet wide -- perfect for trout water.  Today, however, the stream was reduced to a trickle in some spots and shallow 6-12 inch deep riffles and pools.  But it was absolutely beautiful scenery.  In about an hour to an hour an a half I caught an released 5 little native brook trout with the largest being about 6 inches. Their colors were inspiring.

After hopping out of the stream I saw on the map that the river runs to Spitzer Reservoir.   There was a gate blocking the dirt road to the reservoir, but if I venture up that way again, I'd like to fish that section as it runs away from the Route 33 and deep into the woods.  Save that trip for another time.  But for now, enjoy a few more pics of one of God's most spectacularly colorful creations.

A size #16 Parachute Adams was the ticket on Dry River

Gorgeous!

Furloughed on the Shenandoah

Fall fishing on the North Branch of the Shenandoah near Edinburg was like biting into a great apple, crisp, fresh and cleansing as I left the headaches of DC.

The water was clear and as low as I've ever experienced it on the North Branch. I parked in the usual spot and headed upstream past the cottages and stepped into the water by the bend in the road. I began sweeping a double-dropper tandem with my 5wt, but quickly found that the water was too low and the weight too much for the low flow. I switched to a blue size 6 popper trailed by a trusty size 8 green barrel-head nymph. This produced the first smallie of the day, but not before I left the riffles and got to the top of the deep hole/lake. This approach was not very exciting as there wasn't any top water action and the popper just served to suspend the nymph like a bobber.

Now that I was in the (always deeper than you think) lake I tied on my recently tied kreelex. I liked fishing the kreelex as it's very visible in the water but got no takers. I finally broke the code when I switched to a single size 8 chocolate beadhead bugger/leech. While I was getting a snack I watched it (unattended) bounce on the bottom drawing interest and light strikes. For the rest of the morning I focused on fishing a single beadhead in visible holes and setting the hook when I saw the bass breathe in the bugger. I probably caught 12-15 bass in this oddly effective fashion.

I also saw carp, catfish, and several monster smallies but they paid my bugger-nymph'ing no attention. I left at noon after 3.5 hours glorious hours on the river.

Furloughed....but on the Rapidan

Trout were holding just below the oxygenated water atop the pool

With all my fishing partners working I headed to the Rapidan by myself to make the most of my furlough fishing opportunity.  I headed into SNP and didn't see another car all day!  I parked just upstream of the second bridge and fished upstream. The water was cooler than I expected, gin clear and low. 

Colorful brookie

I decided to fish this section as the flow was so low I knew it would have been even lower another mile upstream.  I began fishing w my 2-wt with a 14 adams and an 18 prince dropper.  I switched to several other dry/dropper

Attractor pattern was best fly of the day

combinations and all I could stir for the first 45-minutes were the fingerlings. I decided to study the water in a pool where I knew there were fish.  As I was studying the water the trout appeared beneath me after a few minutes.  

Camoflaged in the falling leaves

While I was waiting I tied on a longer 6X tippet and cut off some butt section of my leader that had developed memory curls that harmed my presentation.  I decided to try a drift dry presentation with a #14 attractor pattern and that along with a much more stealthy approach allowed me to start picking up bigger brookies (all relative) almost exclusively at top of the pool-riffles or within a foot of the riffles bubbles.  I fished for 4.5 hours and in addition to a half dozen 2-inchers, ended the day with 12 smallish colorful brookies.  I left the stream just upstream of campsite 10 and walked back to the truck.  This section filled with endless small punges and pools is, I think, my favorite stretch of the river.