As with many fishermen who make plans months ahead, you never know what the weather will be when the day comes. Back in January we decided on a late April date, with an alternate date a week later in case of a weather problem. Needless to say the weather did become a problem as a storm dumped about 2” of rain on the area and the creeks were blown out. Fingers were crossed that the alternate date would be fishable. If not, we wouldn’t be able to fish together until September. After the storm the area was blessed with a week of dry weather, so the alternate day was on. Road trip!
On the day of the outing we all met at the Mossy Creek Fly Shop in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Brian Trow would be our guide. We have fished with Brian before and he is knowledgeable, patient, and enthusiastic. Brian explained that since the rain the previous week, Smith Creek only starting fishing again a couple days ago. If today was to follow the last couple of days, the fishing would be slow during the morning and pickup after lunch. The rain had not only raised the levels of the creeks it also brought unusually cool temperatures, which kept the fish down until the sun could warm the water. How right he was.
Both Art and I fished hard in the morning, and earned everything we caught. Brian had me fishing a streamer with a dropper nymph. After no action we switched to a Clawdad and fished along the bottom. Finally we got to fool some fish, landing a couple of fall fish and hooking (and losing) a couple of rainbows. At least we found out what was working….until it didn’t. We all limped into lunch with only a couple of nice rainbows landed by Art. Listening to Brian at lunch talk about the rising temperatures and how he thought the fishing would pick up was a song we longed to hear. Boy, was he right.
Nice thick rainbow
After lunch Brian put me in a long pool and rigged my rod with a Golden Retriever and a pheasant tail dropper, all floated under an indicator. The streamer was used as an attractor with the nymph following. That was the ticket. For the next hour I moved through the pool landing a bunch of bows and missing a few more. Brian was indeed correct. Things really picked up not only for me but for Art as well. He settled in at a nice riffle upstream and had some good action. Brian, being the net man, got a good workout running between the both of us.
This was the scrappiest rainbow of the day.
The rest of the afternoon we both hit a few more pools and riffles picking up some rainbows and a few fall fish. In fact, I landed a stoneroller, which in Virginia is called a horny head because of the spikes and bumps on their head. That was a strange one.
All in all, it was a good day. We landed some good fish and missed many more. I don’t know what it was but we missed about as many fish as we caught. It was one of those days when I was a little late with a lot of strikes. Glad we learn from our mistakes.
One thing I learned is that using an 8wt the last six months fishing for steelhead doesn’t help when you pick up a 4wt and fish a smaller stream unless you practice. My timing was way off and it took about an hour or so to forget the feel of the 8wt. I don’t know if I would have caught more fish but I would not have struggled trying to make a cast.
Enjoy the photos and video. (click on photo for a larger view)
Go out and fool a fish!
Smith Creek. Great fishing and scenery.
Susie Q Farm.
Working a pool. There are hundreds of fish in this pool.
Spring has arrived in the Shenandoah Valley.
Team T - W - Z
These hands have held thousands of trout.
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