Semper on the Fly: Shenandoah Recruit

The Good Life is a process,

not a state of being.

It is a direction -- not a destination.

James in full smile captured in black & white moves on the North Fork o the Shenandoah -- Easter Fly-Fishing Magazine worthy photo?

Abby and James gear up below the low water bridge put in off 609

We headed for the river Sunday morning with great anticipation. I had fished the Shenandoah on Saturday and Fritz had fished in Toms Brook on Saturday reporting that the river was lousy with bronzebacks. James' daughter Abby joined us, their outings together, and an Orvis 101 class led by Mark and Duber set her up for smallie success.

James mends a drift into a seam with his new 5wt

I promised Abby 20 fish as we T-swizzled our way south on 81. The air was warm and heavy as we unloaded at the low-water bridge off 609 in Woodstock. Shafts of sun occasionally speared through the marine layer increasing the heat, but the day would remain partly cloudy...perfect for fishing. The water was fishably high and stained, rising and becoming increasingly brown throughout the day as the river drained the rain-soaked valley.

On river instruction at its best

Abby and James began in their canoe and after a short casting refresher we moved down to the first dead-fall on the left for Abby to catch her first fish. The (small) smallies didn't disappoint and a feisty bronzeback soon bent Abby's 5wt putting a smile our faces. A golden retriever was my guide-fly for Abby and and the smaller bronzebacks couldn't resist the standard version tied on a size 10 2x hook. Thanks Mossy Creek and Scott for showing my how to tie this pattern. I used a barrel-headed, heavier version tied on a size 6 2x hook with 10 wraps of .2 lead to ply deeper water but the current and an infestation smallies caused me to rarely get it down deep enough to pester larger fish.

After we sorted out our fishing rhythm it worked best for James to canoe and for me to wade with Abby tethered in the canoe in front of me casting to either side. This allowed some spacing and for Abby to flip back and forth between an ultra-light spinning rod I'd brought with a 32-oz white beetle-spin and the 5 wt we'd rigged for her.

Working three in a line we moved downstream chatting, reading water, working on casting technique and being rewarded by smallies who struck on most well presented casts. We made a game out of having to touch the bass (brought to hand) to count it as caught and all of our catch mounted quickly.

Abby became a skilled fish de-hoooker

We sandwiched on the table rock on the right 1/2 way down the first straight away and the first time I checked my watch it was already 14:21! We'd been fishing for more than 5 hours before I even bothered to check it. We'd fished about 50% of the float and we decided to fish for a few more minutes as we had alot of river before us before the takeout.

I had told Abby and James that my goal was to catch 100 smallies on this trip and I approached, but didn't meet that lofty goal. Another 90 minutes and I might have made it. Abby ended the day with a fish on her last cast and 23 brought to hand. James caught his share, but his reward was a great time with Abby. The fish were almost exclusively small today but many small with a new anger is many times better than only a few larger ones. I think that we might have made another convert.