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!