Escaping Up

Even with a late August let-up in the seemingly constant rain the ground is so saturated the mid-Atlantic's smallmouth rivers have established a new baseline a foot above normal. 

With Fritz and Jacob on the lower Jackson and Scott and Eric questioning the waters of the River of No Return Wilderness there was no way high water was going to keep me from wetting a line. 

Instead of chasing smallmouth in high water James and I braved the freshly rain-rutted fire road to the upper Rapidan where we knew we could head up the mountain until we found an ideal water level. 

The Rapidan was running clear and crisp at 66 degrees. Perfect. What a treat it was to be in clear cool water after casting near blindly all summer.  We fished from the 2nd bridge up for 4 hours and though the square tails were not especially active we still caught our share. 

As the sun rose you could feel and see the battle between hot and cold as shafts of sun speared through the canopy into the cool water.  God bless the canopy and the steeply carved banks which both guard against the sun's penetration.

Our best luck was on dries but I also caught a fair share on my standard #18 BH pheasant tail.

 I ended the day when a 10' brookie rewarded a good presentation by smashing a Mr. Rapidan alighted just outside the plunge-froth of a small water fall.