Azz whupped
I’ve been chomping at the bit to fish the Shenandoah NP and since it’s been blanketed in snow for the last 3 months fishin hasn’t been so easy to come by. Skyline Drive hasn’t been open for a month. The cold air hasn’t done much to get the snow off everything and ice has become a formidable adversary.
I used to run back in the day. Much of that training has leaked out over the last 15 years. To my dismay this was recently proven on a Sunday trek up into the snowy hills, one of those occasions when the thrill of catching a bunch of fish blinds the idiot angler to the eventual long, slow trudge through foot-deep wet snow for 2 miles. Devastating. On the bright side - literally - this is the greeting we received upon fording the river at the locked gate…
The NPS has an ongoing commitment to removal of invasives from Park streams. Interloping browns, introduced into this stream during a single stocking in the 1960’s, have established themselves quite well but avoid the gavel of the NPS due to the fact that this stream borders the SNP and isn’t contained with its boundary. Score one for the maligned brown trout. Though the brown trout presence is extensively documented, there are still plenty of native char throughout the upper reaches of this drainage, and hell, the brownies provide a unique angling opportunity for the Park stream angler. I’ve personally caught two browns over 14” up on this crick and have heard of many larger than those. Throws a nice monkeywrench into the usual mix of small brookies, and this trip was no exception. The first big, deep slot gave up this chunky trutta:
Lazy char and a few browns came out from the shadows to chow down on nymphs of all sorts. Surprise of all surprises - we saw at least a dozen size 10-12 quill gordons on the snow, along with a smattering of olives and winter stones.
Highlights of the day were the outstanding weather - sunny, high 40s - and these gorgeous specimens:
Those bugs better herald the first rays of spring - if not, I want my money back, Commonwealth of Virginia. The walk back down to the truck was worth a couple days of backaches but what the hell, the omelette is always worth the broken eggs.
