Catsup
Old man winter has been a crotchety shite this year. With 30 inches of snow over the last 3 months in our yard, and probably 2 to 3 times that in the mountains and the valley, ample angling opportunity has been a pipe dream. Locally there’s nothing going on - the James is still damn cold and running well above normal flow. So any chance of getting fish slime on my hands is hours away.
Well not so unusual then. One of my go-to limestoners over in the Shenandoah Valley has been a real day-saver all winter. Two weeks running I’ve been able to get out there with a couple of trusty fishin pals and the place never disappoints.
Had a few lonely tugs on a swung marabou and bunny streamer but was willing to bobber up a few, including a pair of wild fish and another half-dozen stockers. Throw in an ass-hooked sucker and the mother of all fallfish and the baby boo had quite the workout.
We’ve seen a few bugs around but they’re still very small winter stones and midges on the spring crick. With some luck (read: normal weather) some mayflies will break out of their winter doldrums and get their asses on the water. Otherwise nymph-n-bobbering is gonna turn my addled brains to total mush.
