Paul seems almost as fish crazed as I am about our recent smallmouth success, so it wasn't any surprise that we found a recent afternoon to drive back to Stanley, VA for another fish through the amazingly productive stretch between Newport and Alma.
We set hard time limits for the outing and knew just the sections we wanted to fish. Left to do it again, we'd choose to fish even more at the end of the stretch and less so the stiller water on the top and middle thirds. The colors on the river today were amazing, the low sun twinkling diamonds off the rapids, the puffy white clouds periodically casting a shadows from the otherwise perfectly blue sky.
 |
| A
panorama shot of the Newport put-in rapid. We caught 6 standing at the
top of the rapid (far right) and fishing down into the seams |
We saw bald eagles swoop and tree-hop in front of us and Ospreys smash-dive from 30m into the water to talon their silvery quarry. There were times when schools of smallies would flash to our right and left, black-brown shadows skittering over rock tables and shelves. We didn't bring to hand any monsters, but still went over a 100 smallies in 5 hours of fishing, a respectable if not crazy catch rate. The smallies were hitting more slowly than our last trip, but they were still in the same spots.
 |
| Paul: just above the Newport rapid trying his first casts of the day |
Paul used a 6-7 wt flicking a small silver tube into likely seams and pools and letting it settle to the bottom. For his hookups, more often than not, the bronzebacks would very gently take his tube and a subtle change would alert him to set the set the hook. This was very productive for him and brought him fish in and around many different types of the abundant structure. I also used this technique, but more frequently swung my favorite streamers into the current and then let them sink just off the shoulders and then stripped them back. I had many hits with this technique, but only 4 to Paul's 5 in total. We had a hard time leaving the river at 1730, but we did just the same, content to have had another great time and live to fish another day.
 |
| Looking upstream at the Newport Rapid from just below the prime catch area |
 |
| Paul: fish on in standard 3-4 foot water -- this is the water we'll pass over next time ....there are fish here its just not as picture perfect as the boulder strewn runs further down. |
 |
| I used a Cabelas 8'6" 6 wt to throw small tubes and while the rod is serviceable, there's no joy in casting it, I'll keep it as a backup rod. |
 |
| Paul in prime water, the entire flow of the south fork is between Paul and I ripping food to fish in hidden feeding stations just out of the current. This is among my favorite places on the river reminiscent of the Salmon River where you can swing streamers. Bronzebacks in the current feel twice their size. |
 |
| Looking back up 'catfish run', the second of the first two great runs on the this stretch. You can clearly see the main flow and the deep seam just to the right of the main flow. This area is filthy with fish |
 |
| The last third of the Newport to Alma stretch looks just like this and is the next area we really need to hit hard. It's gorgeous and because we spend too much time in the top 2/3 we're always rushed through this section. The water here is gorgeous. |
|
|
Thanks for looking and drop me a note if you're looking to get out on the river.
MM
No comments:
Post a Comment