Beaver Creek, VA 1-14-13

I've been  wanting to revisit Beaver Creek since my last trip in November, and Monday was clear on the calendar.  I left the house at 3:30 and headed west. I arrived at the Ottobine Country Store at 5:35 a.m. and was the sole car in the lot.  I waited till about 5:45 when I saw some activity in the store. I paid $10, grabbed my pass and headed up to the elementary school parking lot.  Daylight would not be for another hour -- that's the downside of Beaver Creek fishing.  I rigged my 4-wt Orvis TLS Power Matrix ( predecessor to the Access line) with a sculpin and hit the water.  Weather was overcast and air temps 45-50 degrees... good fishing weather, or so I thought. Nothing seemed to be working swinging streamers downstream. I changed up colors and patterns of sculpins and woolly buggers and varied retrieves -- no luck.  A disconcerting image I found in one pool that has an overhanging edge that allows you clearly look down was the presence of suckers in huge numbers.  When I was here in November, the pool was full of trout... now suckers and an isolated few trout?  I switched tactics to dead drift nymphing and finally found modest success.  Using a tandem rig of copper john and zebra midge I finally enticed a 14-in rainbow to strike.

I had a couple other strikes, but nothing was brought to hand.

I'm not sure why the fishing was so tough today compared to my last trip.  The presence of suckers this time of year also has me puzzled.  Until next time... tight lines!  spl

New Year's Day 2013 - Passage Creek, VA

What better way to start the new year than waking up at 5:30 New Year's Day and loading up the truck for a early morning fishing trip in the Shenandoahs.  Destination was Passage Creek near Front Royal.  Air temps started in the 20s and never got much higher than mid-30s..... it was cold! I met Dave McKissick there. Dave is a regular Orvis fly fishing customer and he's fished Passage Creek with some success in the past.  We met at the Fish Cultural Station at sunrise, and after rigging up my Orvis TLS Power Matrix 4-wt headed downstream to fish that section first.  We threw woolly buggers and an assortment of nymphs with no success. After taking a short break to warm up in the truck, we headed upstream and fished a really nice looking hole up by the dam. After changing up flies again and again, I finally felt that welcome bend of the rod tip as a pretty rainbow sipped a red #20 Copper John nymph.  

 Alas, that was the only fish of the day.  After snapping a quick pic, I gently released it back to its hole.  As the feeling in my toes was nowhere to be found due to the icy water temps, it was time to pack it in the for morning and head on home.
Passage Creek Delayed Harvest Section is definitely worth another visit this spring when the water temps warm a bit.
Welcome 2013. spl

Rose River Recon Dec 18th 2012

Scott and I were looking to get in a pre-holiday fish as we hadn't been out in awhile so we headed for the Rose River.  It was cloudy and foggy in NOVA, but the fog broke in Culpepper and as we broke west from Rt 29 it was sunny and clear.  We parked at the end of the road in the cul-de-sac beyond Graves Mill, rigged up and set off. We were fishing at 0830.  Instead of walking upstream and then heading to the river where the fire road towers over the river 3/4 of a mile up, we headed down to the river almost immediately.   The water was clear cold, seemingly fine, it was running about 6-8 inches lower (it seemed) than we remembered it and the fishing was slow.   I was using a new-to-me TFO 8' 2-wt and after getting the hang of the action, load and tempo it worked great.  We fished all the way up to the iron bridge ending at where the river splits at 1445 and returned to the truck.  We didn't have much luck and are unsure just where the fish were/are. We frequently will spook pools and see fish that we can't catch, not today, the river seemed barren. Scott ended up bringing 8 2-4-inchers to hand and I BTH 3 to include one respectable 6-7 inch brookie.  We had a great time being out on the river, but it was a tough, slow day for catching.

Harmons -- Project Healing Waters

Scott: Just returned last night from Project Healing Waters guiding (and some squeezed in fishing) on the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac in West Virginia.  Water was much lower than last year, but fish were there -- you could see them in several spots, but that made them a bit weary.  Fished a bit on Friday afternoon before the wounded warriors arrived Friday night to scout out the river.  I caught a half dozen rainbows in the 14-16 inch range on an olive woolly bugger, golden retriever, zebra midge and copper john.  Saturday I guided for a wounded warrior named Sam and unfortunately we couldn't get a bite on as we threw everything but the kitchen sink at them for about 5 hours.  Sunday morning I guided for another vet named Steve and he hooked into a monster rainbow using a #22 zebra midge. That fish leaped, ran upstream & downstream and after about 10 minutes finally broke off... but it was a heart pounding adrenaline rush for both of us for several minutes.

The Quantico and Fort Belvoir Project Healing Waters Chapters are led by Marty Laksbergs and Bob Gartner, and those folks do an absolute terrific job establishing fly fishing programs for wounded warriors and service veterans. 

Scott's Beaver Creek Solo

• I (Scott) arrived at the Ottobine Corner Market at 0540.  Not open yet, and there was one other car in the lot already. The friendly folks opened up at 0545 and I was 2nd in line for a pass.... no one else was around. I asked the first person where they were going, and it was a different section than me so no conflicts there.  I got back in the truck and set the alarm and snoozed till 0620 when it was just starting to get "less dark." I suited up and headed to the stream.  2nd cast, I got broken off clean with a big sculpin pattern. A good sign.

   I walked upstream with the intent of fishing streamers downstream.  after about 20 casts in the first hole, I hooked into a nice 15 inch rainbow.  I progressed moving down all the fishy looking water and picked up over the next 3-4 hours about a dozen rainbows to hand... the smallest was 13, the four largest 18, 19, 20 and 20. Best flies were sculpins and golden retriever.  I probably lost another half dozen after short battles and had a3-4 more clean breakoffs.  Definitely worth future trips. My Orvis magazine cover shot submission below.  If they don't want it, perhaps the Future Farmers of America might be interested...

Rainbows on Knapp Creek

Scott met a fisherman (Mark) at Orvis and they got to talking about Mark's Private trout water in Marlington, W VA. Mark invited Scott to fish and Scott asked if he could bring me along!  Scott and I left at 0345, drove through the rain and arrived at Mark's home at 0800 on Tuesday 13 November.  We were warmly greeted by new friends Mark and his daughter Ann.  After a hearty breakfast and introductions we hit the river and Mark showed us/recommended to us some holes and stretches to fish.  The water was cold and gin clear running in most place 1-4 feet deep.  The rainbows were visible but docile in the cold of the frosty early morn.  Neither of us had success in the first 45 minutes or so,  Mark then pointed us to a hole we'll call satisfaction hole where we immediately started catching fish in the 12-16 inch range.  Beautiful acrobatic, feisty rainbows.  After wearing out the hole and tattooing  a huge smile on our faces Mark guided us to the far end of what turned into a horseshoe (that would end back at satisfaction hole).  We fished the length of the horseshoe spending time and catching gorgeous bows at the different named pools per Mark's suggestion. About half way through the horseshoe we hit a deep pool (lunker pool) where I hooked into a 22inch rainbow in the 4-5 lb range.  He hit on a #8 green sparkle wholly bugger.  Scott helped me land him and almost fully submerged in the process!  A good fishing partner as the water was in the high 30s. We continued fishing the rest of the horseshoe and killed-em though the last 4 holes.  Our greatest success through the day w our 4~wts was w green buggers.  We caught  25-30 fish each. Mark obviously took alot of pressure showing his guests a good time and sharing with us the secrets of his river. At the end of the day we met Mark's friends Joe and Jeff who were fishing in the vicinity of satisfaction hole. We ended the day with chicken pot pie cooked by Ann and beers by Mark's fire place.  Scott and I turned in early.  We repeated our horseshoe trek on day two caught about ten fish or so each in even colder weather. Scott actually re-caught the 22 inch lunker in the lunker pool as well as a truly gorgeous 19 incher. At the end of the horseshoe we were lucky enough to share some fly-fishing tips with Joe, Jeff and cousin Mike and put them on some fish.  We again shared lunch and camaraderie at the lodge before we said many thanks to our gracious hosts Mike and Ann and hit the road for NOVA.  What a treat!

NOVA Stripers 10/21

Scott cajoled me (it wasn't hard) to giving the Occoquan River a try for an hour or two Sunday Morning before the Skins game.  As I have yet to really figure out Potomac Stripers and he said he had some intel from his customers we made out plans.  We launched Scott's kayaks from Occoquan Region Park and paddled up stream till we hit the fall-line pools.  The rocks were slippery and the runs were deep and fast which made for some cautious moments. Scott had near immediate success throwing a chartreuse and white clouser minnow with his  Access 906-4 (S) casting downstream letting it sink and then stripping it back against the current. He caught 7-8 stripers all in the 10-14 slot.  He could have caught more but ceded the hotspots to me.  I was using a combo to heavy for the occasion and it doomed me for the trip.  All and all a great close spot for good action.  It looks like these fish may stay/remain here as their progress is halted by the fall-line.