Semper on the Fly: Dumb as a stump

Fritz out fishes me consistently, Scott casts far better and also outfishes me. James knows more about water flow than I do and Bryan can seemingly catch trout on anything with a few strands of bucktail so I finally found a fishing pal on par with me. Sammy, my steadfast Lab. She was so happy to join me. As I tied on a fresh leader Sammy lay between my knees, content and idyllic, only later did I realize that she'd busied herself eating at least a cup of dirt. Dumb as a stump my new companion.

I caught 6 trout w/in view of the 2nd bridge

It was 65 and sunny when I pulled into the camping area at the 2nd Rapidan Bridge. The water was perfect at 47 degrees and slowly warming in the sun. I caught my first fish on my third cast and knew it was going to be one of those days.

The trout were alive in every hole, run and riffle. At first they only wanted nymph droppers but a hatch appeared at noon and by 1300 50% of the takes were on the dry and it didn't seem much to matter which dry as long as it floated high. I had the most action I suppose on a Mr. Rapidan parachute that Fritz had given me for Christmas. .

I learned alot today by slowing down and really working each stretch rather than feeling like I had any place I needed to get to. The fish flit and flittered in the pools and I really worked my positioning to make my presentations as drag free as possible.

I didn't have to share any pools with Sammy and she generally stayed behind me on the bank waiting for me to move another 10 feet. I did take a spill and my Orvis 2wt became a six-piece rod instead of 4. After collecting myself and making sure all my parts were still semi-functional I hiked back to the car for a spare rod...and Motrin....always bring a spare and lots of motrin.

Sammy and I fished until 1500 and came out between tree marker 9 and 10. Scott will remember the gorgeous pool below tree marker 9....awesome. I picked up 27 bottles and cans on the way out and saw a dozen fisherman who I hadn't seen all day making the best out of the spring day. I'm not sure how they did but I was still catching at a good rate when I left....one of those amazing days.