Rapidan Nymphomaniac

Mature brookie from a Rapidan Pool...the sharp prince bit me

"Now I'm very happy" James exalted with a warm laugh as he worked a lively 7 inch brookie to hand in a chilly pool on the Rapidan.  We'd been working prince nymphs under indicators all morning as it never warmed up enough for a winter hatch (as I thought it might).

Nymph of choice in sizes 14 and 18

We hit the water at the Ford downstream from Junction Pool at 0845.  With the air temp at 38 and the water at 43 it was slow fishing until a 90-min activity spike at 1000 which corresponded to the sun finally reaching the river as it penetrated the deep valley. We fished for 4 hours and made it almost back to Clifford as we concentrated our fishing on the deeper holes in this classic stretch.  The fish were wary but those that chose to play were beautiful several kype-jawed with deep rich color.  A great day on the river with  total of 15 brought to hand.

James Stalking a Pool

Sun shines on a cold little trophy

Prettiest brookie of the year

50/50 underwater pic

Icy cold beauty

Winter Nymphing on the Rapidan

Brilliant Colored Brookie

Fritz and I were determined to get out on the river and even though it was cold we (thankfully) were not dissuaded. We met in Calverton and rode Clifford out to Criglersville.

We drove all the way up the hollow to the cul-de-sac parking lot for the upper Rose River and then headed to the Rapidan.  We stopped at Junction pool and geared up as quickly as we could the temp was 35 and a might breeze was moving down from the ridge from Fork Mountain. Our plan was to reply on nymphs and Fritz started with a large dry as an indicator, I went straight to foam indicator and tandem nymph rig with both a bead-head hares ear trailed by a smaller prince nymph. 

Fritz stalks up a cold run

With many layers to keep us warm we headed down the horse trail for until we came to the ford.  Fritz worked the ford-pool while took and I checked the water; 43 degrees, just warm enough to be workable.  It had rained pretty significantly over the weekend, the water was clear but fishable as it tumbled down the mountain.

First Brookie of the Day 

Our plan was to target the back-eddies of the deeper pools knowing that the fish would be relatively dormant waiting for a meal to swirl in their direction.  We were challenged by the fast moving water which put a premium on good casts in order to keep our indicators in the backeddies lest they be washed quickly down stream and out of the strike zone.   We both broke out in big smiles when the first trout struck a dropper about 20-minutes into hypothermia.

Fritz works a small hideaway behind those rocks

 The fishing remained slow and steady as we rock-hopped the prettiest pools in the Shenandoah for about 4 hours.  We both missed strikes we were aware of and probably missed many more we couldn't sort out from the turbulence of the water. 

Prince Nymph Brookie

After bringing 10 fish to hand I got a rats nest knot and we decided to call it a day.   We had fished 3/4 of the way back to Clifford and enjoyed the heater when we returned. 

Brookie recovers on the cobble after being caught and released

Fish on for Fritz in typical pool