PhilC
Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 596
Floated the North Branch Potomac on 6/3/12
We put in at Barnum at around 3 and floated to Bloomington. We were misinformed by a shop owner, that is was only a 2-3 hour float, so we got in pretty late.
Since this was our first time, there was bound to be some learning curve struggles...
We launched in the wrong/put and take area, which sucked pretty bad. There were a good bit of people around and I'm pretty sure they were all looking to catch dinner.
All the reports and research we did indicated that the dry fly fishing wasn't good, but you can do well on nymphs and possibly catch some monsters on streamers. I tied up quite a meat rack of streamers just for this float.
Of course the opposite happened. Iso's were going hard in the late afternoon and were followed by sulphurs. Also some crazy large Crane fly's, which went well with a large twitched stimulator. Found risers in every pool, until it was pitch dark. We took browns, bows, cutts, and palmoninos (one of these weirdos did a full 360 around my fly before gulping it down) We took fish to about 16-17" and eventually switched to streamers. Only managed a brief encounter with a large brown that shook the hook after a few seconds.
This river really puts a 'toon and your rowing to the test, especially when its completely dark...
We put in at Barnum at around 3 and floated to Bloomington. We were misinformed by a shop owner, that is was only a 2-3 hour float, so we got in pretty late.
Since this was our first time, there was bound to be some learning curve struggles...
We launched in the wrong/put and take area, which sucked pretty bad. There were a good bit of people around and I'm pretty sure they were all looking to catch dinner.
All the reports and research we did indicated that the dry fly fishing wasn't good, but you can do well on nymphs and possibly catch some monsters on streamers. I tied up quite a meat rack of streamers just for this float.
Of course the opposite happened. Iso's were going hard in the late afternoon and were followed by sulphurs. Also some crazy large Crane fly's, which went well with a large twitched stimulator. Found risers in every pool, until it was pitch dark. We took browns, bows, cutts, and palmoninos (one of these weirdos did a full 360 around my fly before gulping it down) We took fish to about 16-17" and eventually switched to streamers. Only managed a brief encounter with a large brown that shook the hook after a few seconds.
This river really puts a 'toon and your rowing to the test, especially when its completely dark...
