Quick Half Day Outing

Sunday I managed to sneak out in the afternoon to entice a few brookies and have some coffee on a rare 65 degree February Day.  The water was high, sun was warming the water on every pool, and the air temp was t shirt approved.  There was even a strong mayfly hatch.  It would be a perfect combination for active brookies looking up.....wrong.  Most bizarre conditions and behavior I have ever experienced.  Trout were not in their obvious, suspected holding positions for a day like today.  My friend started out throwing dries due to the hatches on the water, but not even a sniff of his dry nor did I see a trout rise to any insects all day.  The mayflies picked a good day to come off the water.  Fishing was slow and every fish I caught came from multiple slow drifts at the head of pools.  That fly had to basically sit on the bottom of the pool for a good while before a fish would pick it up.  Even though the fish were few and far in between, it was a great day to be out on the water and enjoying a good cup of joe.

Wrapped up the day with some breakfast for dinner.  Not a bad way to round out a Sunday.

Pre Tax Season Shenandoah National Park

Decided to make the most of the nice weather this past weekend to fish in the Shenandoah National Park.  Needed a little bit of SNP before new job tax season duties keep me indoors for the rest of winter/early spring.  SNP is a place where I have always said I do not fish enough, but have already hit it twice in the past couple months.  The water levels were perfection and the trout were very active from the get go.  A few big girls made their appearance with one going for close to the foot mark and several in the 9 to 11 inch range as well.  Couldn't ask for a better day.

About the average size fish for the day.

Big girl of the trip.  Will be a tough brookie to top this year.

Stream side lunch.

With a side of coffee and watching my friend work a pool.

Some big mayfly nymphs were under every rock, explains the nice average size trout.

Homeward bound.

Kicking off the New Year

This past Saturday I fished a stream my friend has been eyeballing on the map for a while.  It is a bushwhack in and bushwhack out kind of stream, but is only a quarter of a mile from the BRP.  Unfortunately it is a 700 ft elevation loss in the hike in and a 500 ft elevation gain on the hike out.  I did not know those last few details as my friend had worked out all the details for this trip and I was just tagging along.  It was a heck of a hike off that stream and my friend and I barely made it out (him more so then I).  Still was a great day to get out though and catch some trout in a stream that, for obvious reasons looking back, receives little pressure.

Hike in

Water conditions were perfect with all this rain we have received.

Coffee break.

Coffee and some Pumpkin Pie.

A bigger girl.

And the next pool had and an even bigger girl.  A very nice fish for this size stream.

Something couldn't make it off this stream.

Ice was a reminder that it is winter finally.

Painful hike out.

Friend recovering after making it off the side of the mountain.

December Post Christmas Brookies

Been a while since I've been out fishing.  Decembers are normally busy for me with Christmas festivities and other obligations, but throw in a new job, housing being up for sale, and a 6 month old and you get even busier.  But I managed to sneak away the day after Christmas.  With all this rain VA has been receiving I decided to hit something high elevation.  It rained most of the day Saturday and put my new Stetson to the test.  I was impressed with how the hat made it seem like it wasn't even raining out.

Managed to catch a few on a Stimi.  Guess a 70 degree December day will get the trout looking up.

New hat, what I was packing, and lunch. 

Managed to drudge up this pretty fish with a heavy tungsten fly.  Worked the pool first with and dry/dropper and pulled a few smaller fish.  Switched to the heavy stuff to see what was lurking on the bottom.

This little guy took a size 12 fly.....

Stream was up quite a bit.

Crazy to see anything green sprouting this time of year.

Coffee break.

Most colored up brookie of the trip.

Cheers until next time.