sarce
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,504
It's been another cold winter, but I know I didn't have it as bad down here in VA as you guys did in PA. About three weeks ago, I took advantage of a brief warmup to explore a stream in Shenandoah National Park. I ended up doing pretty well, so naturally I started bugging my good friend and forum member "Lutz" to escape the PA icebox and come fish with me!
He didn't need much convincing, and last weekend (3/22) we were able to spend a whole day on a stream in the park. The chance to catch up and enjoy the warm sunny weather was already enough to make the weekend, but the fishing really put it over the top! We had to work for the fish in the morning and each nymphed up a few small brookies, but things really caught fire in the afternoon as the sun warmed the water.
Several hatches started occurring at once, the most impressive in terms of size were the few Quill Gordons but there were also little dark brown/black caddisflies in large numbers as well as little black and brown stoneflies. A #18 black foam ant worked as a great imitation for both of these small dark flies. By the end of the day the brookies were just destroying that fly. We each ended up bringing about 20 brookies to hand (my 21 to Lutz's 19, but who's counting?
). None were over 9" but there are few better ways to kick the winter blues to the curb!
I brought along the GoPro to capture some of the action (Best in HD):
If you haven't been to Shenandoah, go! As you can see, the "rivers" there are flat out gorgeous. It's up there with the prettiest places I've ever fished. Some of the rivers have significantly larger fish than we turned up in this one, but we picked this one to avoid the fishing pressure/hiking activity that the larger waters see. The terrain is pretty brutal, and it took us about 6 hrs to fish a mile of water- and this stream is not nearly as steep as some others in the park.
Highlight of the trip (should say, one of many) was looking at the footage with Lutz that night and noticing what looks like a river otter swimming right in front of us, right through the shot at the exact moment I hook a fish! Neither of us saw the animal at the time! After releasing that fish I didn't catch anything else in that pool, and now I know why.
Hope you guys enjoyed the video and the story.
He didn't need much convincing, and last weekend (3/22) we were able to spend a whole day on a stream in the park. The chance to catch up and enjoy the warm sunny weather was already enough to make the weekend, but the fishing really put it over the top! We had to work for the fish in the morning and each nymphed up a few small brookies, but things really caught fire in the afternoon as the sun warmed the water.
Several hatches started occurring at once, the most impressive in terms of size were the few Quill Gordons but there were also little dark brown/black caddisflies in large numbers as well as little black and brown stoneflies. A #18 black foam ant worked as a great imitation for both of these small dark flies. By the end of the day the brookies were just destroying that fly. We each ended up bringing about 20 brookies to hand (my 21 to Lutz's 19, but who's counting?
). None were over 9" but there are few better ways to kick the winter blues to the curb!I brought along the GoPro to capture some of the action (Best in HD):
If you haven't been to Shenandoah, go! As you can see, the "rivers" there are flat out gorgeous. It's up there with the prettiest places I've ever fished. Some of the rivers have significantly larger fish than we turned up in this one, but we picked this one to avoid the fishing pressure/hiking activity that the larger waters see. The terrain is pretty brutal, and it took us about 6 hrs to fish a mile of water- and this stream is not nearly as steep as some others in the park.
Highlight of the trip (should say, one of many) was looking at the footage with Lutz that night and noticing what looks like a river otter swimming right in front of us, right through the shot at the exact moment I hook a fish! Neither of us saw the animal at the time! After releasing that fish I didn't catch anything else in that pool, and now I know why.
Hope you guys enjoyed the video and the story.
