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.

Salmon River Pilgrimage 12 October 2012

Steelhead...finally!

Bill midway down Meadow Run

           I left the Pentagon Thursday at 1000 and drove to Bill's house in Clayville, NY to hit the DSR on the Salmon Run. We left Bill's at 0400 grabbed a much needed cup of coffee & we were surprised when we arrived that there were relatively few cars at the DSR lot.  We readied and we started to walk at 0615.  It was cold, windy and rainy, we took the walk slowly so we wouldn't slip on the muddy trail or sweat-out our clothes during the 30 minute walk.  When we got to meadow run there was one guide (Lou) there with two 30ish men from NH.  They had staked out the prime spots at the top of the run.  We picked the next two positions in our normal area.  The river was running low @ 285 cfs and clear, leaves were in the water, but only fouling flies every 6 or 7 casts -- not a problem.  Bill rigged up a #8 bead-head black bugger on his 11' 8/9 wt swich rod, I started with a standard orange egg pattern below 8wtwf line with 6' of sink tip followed by 6 feet of leader then 11 lb tippet on a 10.5" 6/7 swich.  Bill hooked a salmon on his second cast and we knew we were in for a good day.  Things were initially slow for me as I wasn't in the productive slot 20 feet upstream and wasn't effectively swinging my fly with respect to depth.  Lots of fish were being caught and 50% of them were steelhead.  I ultimately changed to a short tippett 12-14 inches with two split shots at the leader/tippet knot and an orange beadhead on a yellow egg sack pattern.  I suspect that this put my fly about 6 inches off the bottom during the swing.  Once I figured it out, I began to hookup as quickly as anyone.  I hit many Salmon, but invariably, in my excitement would horse them putting too much tension on my tippet and they would break off.  I brought two to the shore, but we couldn't get our hands on them. Next year we bring a landing net!  Bill continued to be productive through the morning and we landed several of his kings and a steelhead as well. Mid morning I walked down to the school bus hole, but there was so little water on that (north) side of the island that fish couldn't come up the side channel.  Returning to Meadow run I fished the bottom of the pool hooked and fought 2 salmon and one steel head but could not land them.  I regained my position one spot up run  from Bill and began to have action pretty consistently.  I FINALLY relaxed, let the rod and reel handle the fish and landed a gorgeous steelhead with Bills help.  She was probably 24 inches, silvery, solid and strong, a great fighter. We ended the day exhausted but happy!  On the way home we stopped at the Altmar Salmon Hatchery...very interesting watching the mature fish climb the ladders en-route to their home stream (hatchery) to be farmed for their eggs and milt. We stopped and had a great Italian dinner on the way home in Oneida. We missed Fritz and hope that he Paul and Jacob might be around next year to fish the run.
 

Slow Day on Middle Rapidan

Scott and I hit the Rapidan from below the first bridge up to the bridge today and had a slow day.  The water was low but clear and cold, the stream was beautiful, the fish that were there this Spring were simply no-where to be found.  We primarily used a dry-dropper combos and tried everything to not avail.  Scott probably caught 8 small natives and I caught 4-5.  The largest brookie is pictured below.  We met another gent "Gary" who indicated that Fall fishing here is much slower than spring fishing...boy was he right.

North Fork Shenandoah Scout Trip 17 Sept

 Scott and I hit the North Fork of the Shenandoah today in 4 different locations along rt 11 from Edinburg up to Strasburg.  While the conditions were ideal, the fish were not active and in places where we'd caught +100 smallies in the past, we were nearly skunked.  We tried all manner of presentations and combos and the fish were simply not there.  Our best luck came at a bend in the river Scott and I will call 'cow pasture hole' where the remnants of an old concrete bridge caused the river to pool. We ended our day fishing the swinging bridge hole in southern Strasburg with little luck frustrated by few pools and omnipresent green-hair-grass.  A great day with good river scouting but few fish.

14 September Shenandoah

Sammy and I fished downstream of the Rt 50/17 Bride over the Shenandoah for a couple hours this afternoon.  I made a gear mistake and fished the afternoon with my 6/7 switch and 6wt wf line. I could sure throw my popper dropper combo a mile or so, but my presentation was poor.  I fished downstream around the island complex Scott described and back to the Jeep under the overpass.  The conditions were gorgeous but I only caught 3.

Quick Run to Turkey Run

Nicest Smallie of the day at 13 Inches

Always happy for popper action

Itching to get out after a few days along the banks of the Clarion River in Northern Pa.  Scott and I linked up after he finished up at the Orvis shop for the day.  We headed north on 95 and then trundled up the GW Parkway to the Turkey Run exit just past CIA but before 495.  We parked in the C lot and geared-up.  I was interested to see other fishermen in the lot gearing up.  I had checked the water gauge at Little Falls and the water was running steady at 2.98 (perfect).  I assembled by newly bought 6wt and Scott did the same with his Orvis Access 6wt.  We headed down the switchbacks before the other fellas were ready and had our pick of the clear running river at 1545.  I was very happy that there was FAR less slime on the rocks than I had remembered and the conditions looked perfect.  Scott and I entered the river at the bottom of the trail, in retrospect we should have headed upstream or downstream to get away from trail access pressure.  We were both throwing poppers with green wooly-bugger droppers. The fishing was slower than I expected with about 50% pan-fish varieties mixing in with the smallies. We each caught 5-6 smallies and an equivalent number of sunfish.  As dusk was setting the first storm bands from Issac were moving in so we moved off the water to head home.

14 August Bronzebacks on the North Fork

Scott and I took a day off to hunt Bronzebacks on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River just east of Edinburg, Va.  Scott had fished the North Fork before, but this was a new spot for both of us.  We think we hit the river where Murray's Fly shop takes their anglers for 'bass school'. If Murray doesn't he should! We geared up and headed down stream.  The water was cooler than we suspected and running at 2.1 feet on the Strasberg gauge. I would guess in the high 70s and the runs were deeper than the crystal water suggested.  We immediately started picking up smallies and the action didn't end all day till we quit.  Scott fished a new Orvis 6wt 9ft popping a small white popper trailed by a hornberg.  This seemed to be a great rig.  Scott actively popped the popper and skittered it atop the water. I used my 4/5wt 8.6 and threw a variety of combos, my most successful was a  yellow-jacket #8 popper and a #8 green wholly bugger.  I caught some on the popper but 90% on the dropper. We lunched back at the truck then walked upstream a 1/2 mile and fished back to the truck to end the day.  As we entered the water we walked thru some "fire-weed" which is still burning my calves as I write this post!  Warning it looks like strawberry vines and stings like a jellyfish! Damn.  There was so much action on this trip down to the truck that we grew tired of catching smallies.  Together me caught more that a hundred smallies.  At one point we pulled in an unheard of Quad...both of us caught two fish as the same time...popper & dropper!  Unbelievable. Our only complaint is that they were almost universally small with only a few pushing 11 inches.

Rainbows on the Conneticutt River August 5th

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Scott went fishing with his brother Marc on the Upper Connecticut River in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, NH between the First Connecticut Lake and Lake Francis on August 5th.  The water was running fast and we fished some pocket waters up by the dam where we caught both brookies and landlocked salmon. 

Later in the day, we found some slower pools downstream where Marc hooked into a mix of brookies and rainbows hitting on an orange stimulator.  

The north woods of New Hampshire present some of the most scenic and breathtaking wilderness in the U.S.  We saw three moose close by the stream where we were fishing. 

Rose River trout 2/27/12

02/27/12: Scott and I headed to the rose river on a delightful 70 Feb day.  We parked at the end of 670 and walked up the fire road for 15 minutes descending to the river about 400 yards before the bridge. The conditions were amazing and Scott started picking up fish immediately. I was not having luck until I tied my prince nymph dropper onto the bend in the hook of my elk hair caddis.  once I did it was one fire and I felt like I had solved a puzzle.  We leapfrogged from pool to pool until we hit rose river falls where we turned back to the fire road. NOTE: Hike in gear to bridge next time. GREAT DAY!

12/23/11:  Scott and I fished the Piney and North Fork of the Thornton River two days before Christmas.  It was a great warm day w perfect water flow but the fish were very slow.  Scott finally caught one on a elk hair caddis.

Scott on the Perfect Thornton River

Stripers 7/2/11

7/2/11: Henry and I fished with Captain Mike of Rip Tide Charters out of Eliot, Me.  We didn't have a lot of luck at first in the Piscataqua but Henry caught one 19 inches along the old pilings. We then went to the Isles of Shoals and didn't get anything.  on the way in, nearly disappointed, we saw diving birds and we were on the fish.  For about 30 minutes we hitter hard with fish ranging from 32 to 39 inches. We kept a 34 to eat later.  I ended up catching 3 and Henry 4

Rapidan River 3/8/2012

3/8/12: Scott and I fished the Rapidan starting at the junction pool and heading down the fire road to the ford.  It was very windy and the wind disturbed the surface.  Fishing below the ford was not productive.  We started catching fish in the small pools upstream of the ford. This is some of the nicest trout water I have ever seen. After we left the junction pool we headed upstream/up the road till we came to Camp Rapidan.  We fished here as well.  The flow was about 1/2 the flow at the junction pool.  Scott caught four beauties here. I lost my dropper and didn't catch any.  We think that the road still had a mile to go before the gate downstream from Camp Hoover (we'll tackle this stretch later). All and all it was a great day.  I caught 6 and Scott probably caught 18!  I needed to get 3wt line as the level 4 I had on there killed my presentation.
 

Confluence 5-18-2012

Friday ~ Confluence

      

 I fished the confluence for the first time this year as a scouting trip for Bill Pfeiffer's trip to Va next weekend.

       I parked at the end of the Richards Ferry Rd and Mt biked in, 10-min.  The weather was sunny and 70 with light wind.  I noted when I crossed the Rappahanock at Ely's Ford that there was a lot of water in the Rapidan and it looked quite brown.

       When I got to the confluence campsite I found, to my surprise 15 dudes there with 10 canoes, they were from the Spottsylvania Fire & Rescue and had put in the day before at Elys.  They were messy but pleasant enough.  It was apparent that there was far more water in the Rapidan than the Rappahanock.  The Rapidan was really unfishable and borderline dangerous. The Rappahanock was high but much clearer and just fishable.  The reading on the Fredericksburg gauge was 3.28. This reaffirms that I really want to fish the confluence at or below 3 on the Fredericksburg gauge.

       There was one other gent fly fishing the Rapp lower into the confluence his name was Lindsey and he was from Southern MD. I began and fished the nearside of the Rapp up about 100-150 yards from the camp site.  I used a 4wt rod and line and found that it was too light for the   #6 bead head bugger I was casting, I'll bring a 5 wt next time.  I primarily fished back into structure along the bank as the flow in the middle was too much for me to target runs and holes.  I caught 4-5 good sized panfish, great fighters, and 3 smallmouth in 75-min of fishing. 

          As I exited and looked over to the Rapidan there was a large moccasin slithering in the roots close bye trying to avoid the current.

This was a good recon as the hike in is probably 20-min and I don't feel safe bringing Bill here unless the water level is at around 2.9 or so. Mm