Dry River to Skidmore Fork

Start Pool for this fish, caught 4 trout along right side

There may be a more perfect brook trout stream in Virginia than Dry River and if there is I’d like to find it as I’m not sure I’d come back (ok: I’d come back once a week).   Scott and I fished the Dry last week and promised to come back soon to fish upstream from last week’s upper limit.  Upstream did not disappoint. To begin with some housekeeping, the ‘Dry’ is the major tributary of the North River (by Rawley Springs) according to some pleasant local hunters and is primarily (75%) fed by Skidmore Fork which is a tailwater of a nearby reservoir.

First Brookie of the day

 I parked on the right hand side of Rt 33 opposite the gated-entrance to Dry Run Road (Scott will remember this as the road we walked out on last trip). It was 35 and warming as I rigged up my Cabelas mid-flex 3 wt with a Sz 16 parachute adams and a Sz 20 pheasant tail nymph dropper on 6X.  I walked down the fire road and came to the pool which was the furthest advance of our last trek and noted the beautiful fall leaves encased in a thin layer of ice in protected nooks.

Icy water in the still shallows

 To my delight the sun had begun to warm the surface and a small hatch was luring trout to the surface to feed, dimples on the surface every few seconds.  I stayed in this lower pool for a few minutes, had a nerve-slamming surface strike on my second cast and a slippery-cold brookie to hand on my fourth. The river was beautiful (yes Tim: gin clear) as I moved upstream and struck me as being bigger, less technical water than the downstream ½ mile we’d explored last week.  It had long deep (rather still) pools along the base of rocky cliffs and fewer heavily forested riffle-runs.

Seat of solitude...the perfect perch..see the high cliff ledge defining the hole

 I targeted the tails of the pools and the feeder runs with hook-ups in the likely spots.  12 out of the 18 fish to hand were surface strikes on the adams, it was fun to see the fish on the surface in the cold weather. I fished for 2½ hrs for about a ½ mile until Skidmore fork joined the dry from the left, a mountain stream climbing toward the reservoir.  The right hand fork of the Dry (smaller) looked like it continued to roughly parallel 33 but had only barely fishable flow.

Good sized mature brookie in full colors

I could hear 33 to my right so I walked out and found myself only about 150 yards from the road.  I emerged by a red gate on the right-hand side of the road, so next time I’ll walk in from here and explore the next upstream section (Skidmore Fork) as it ascends towards the damn.  I love this river.

One the fewer riffled sections of the upper Dry...doesn't much prettier than this

Skidmore Fork is on the left Dry River ebbs off to the right behind the log on right