A Smallie Price to Pay

the gathering clouds sit on Henry's left shoulder as he surveys the South Fork

Rivers are not created equal and when it comes to smallmouth I've yet to find the equal of the South Fork of the Shenandoah.  It's beautiful and consistently produces the high catch-rates that make people call be a fibber. I need to sample the Upper James and New (any takers), but I've a hard time imagining there could be more productive water.  I usually stop stalking summer smallies stalking around Labor Day turning my attention to cold water trout, but with water low on the trout streams and the weather still relatively warm Paul and I decided to give smallies a last late season shot.   We're glad we did.

A last minute invitation to Henry made for a party of three at Newport as we "made the waders/no waders" choice and slid into the 74 degree water.   Henry elected waders, and with his Orvis raincoat was a vision in Gray.  Paul and I, figuring we'd fall and get soaked anyway, left the waders in the car.  Hen and I weren't even rigged before Paul pulled the first of 170 Smallies from the put-in riffle, it was going to be a great day.

Yep ~ he's pretty happy

Fish on for Paul -- one of 170!

rekindling memories of youth Henry skirts a small herd

Henry was next into the action christening a new 10' TFO 6wt with a feisty smallie.  The lake section in the shadow of Pyramid cliff produced well for Paul and Henry mingled with cows curious cows as we made out way down to the first rapid. I was relaxed as I sipped coffee from the canoe and watched these two sing out hook-ups.  

no words required

I didn't have much luck swinging streamers and then things picked-up for me in the side channels with small tubes.   The bite was slow but consistent in the early part of the day, rewarding those who found deep, slow water and waited for the subtlest of takes.

The strike rate picked up as morning turned to afternoon and Paul and Henry's rods were bent over almost every time I glanced.    With the exception of a 16" beauty Paul brought to hand these bass weren't big but they were getting more aggressive by the hour.  Paul and Henry share an unbridled passion for the strike and fight and their faces are probably sore from their broad grins. I never equaled their catch rate, but it didn't matter, I caught more than enough to keep me busy and at several points switched back to streamers and from elevated rocks, when the light was right, I could see darting smallies rise from their haunts and shwack my offerings.

At 1700 with dark clouds building and a 20mph tailwind chasing us we moved to the last rapid and began laying into smallies hidden in the deeper seams.  These smallies were the most fun as we fought them upstream, each 8" smallie feeling like a bruiser and the occasional 10-12 inch smallie fighting & feeeling like a citation in the stiff current. Exhaustion, hands and back cramping and wind-blown chills couldn't take the smiles off our faces when Paul and I bid farewell to Henry with a few hundred yards left to fish and made out way to the Alma take-out.  Just as we loaded the canoe, the sky opened up with a cold windy deluge. That heater sure felt good.  After a few minutes on the road Henry checked in letting us know he'd been able to trudge through a pasture and make it off the river to safely (phew).  What a day.    Paul ended with a new PR 170 smallies, Hen for the second time passed the century mark.    Amazing.

Rapidan: A picture Story

You can see that the river is about 8 inches below ideal flow

Thanks for looking

Gunpowder Falls Re-Attack

The adrenaline hit of a strike is addictive, so it wasn't long after the Idaho trip I started planning a return to the water and a chat with Henry led to a re-attack of GunPowder Falls. Last trip to the Gunpowder, one of the top tail waters on the East Coast was challenging with high water and little knowledge leading to a frustrating day -- today would be different.   

Gunpowder Falls at low flow 



Note: tight contour lines = deep gorge

With the Falls at late summer low-flow (32 fps) and at a trout-happy 52 degree from Pretty Boy Dam we met at the upper section at 0645 to begin our adventure.   The character of the Falls changes dramatically with the release volume and at low flow we found that a 3-wt was perfect for as we planned on throwing both small Trico's and double dropper rigs  into the deeper holes.  Gene, who we met last trip, from Backwater Angler reported that the Trico Hatch was bringing some trout to the surface to feed in the morning.   Henry geared up similarly and we made out way into the water as the first rays of sun began to drip their way into deep hardwood forest gorge.

After trying several different combinations we found that the best producer was a size 20 zebra midge under a strike indicator.  The bite wasn't fast but it was there as small wild rainbows and browns sipped those midges.   The gorgeous rainbow above sipped my midge and from a deep hole, the only sign of the strike was the indicator not returning to the surface after exiting a whirlpool, a loud shout brought Henry and his net and two smiling faces.

Time and again I wonder if the next hole can get prettier than the last, and the upper Gunpowder does not disappoint.

Henry works a brown at the end of a long run.

The Upper Gunpowder, defined as above Falls Road is not stocked like the trophy section below Falls road and at this flow looks remarkably like the lower Rapidan.

Henry and I both caught a half dozen of these wild, eager little jewels.

Brown trout = salmo trutta

When it became too crowded on the the upper Gunpowder we decided to take advantage of the warmer and (i thought) wider water on the lower gunpowder.   I'd eyed it greedily from 95 often enough and Henry and I agreed that it would be a good opportunity to scout it for smallies.  Some googling later we decided on a rock-strewn stretch just east of 95 off Distillery Road.



Unfortunately Maryland must have been filling up Loch Haven Reservoir West of Baltimore as the flow on the lower gunpowder was only a fraction of the already low flow on the upper GP.  The pool below where you can see Henry working in a smallie was the only significant water we found.

This Striper, trapped in Henry's pool fell victim to a golden retriever as so many do.