What a difference three days make
This past Saturday was spent ushering in 2012…you know, with the Apocalypse and all. Warm days, several inches of rain and feet of melting snow kinda happened all at once and all that water came down the hill with a force that I can only liken to the determination of my wife to head to the mall when we get a 25% discount coupon for the Coach store. Every last trickle was a chocolatey torrent cutting scars into the hills and valleys. Even the limestoners were furious…so Dan and I ended up chowing down in Madison, VA after 6 hours of driving around trying to find something fishable. Skyline Drive was so badly flooded from rain and snowmelt that the NPS closed it down so there was no chance of starting at the very top of the hill. Bummer.
Figuring that today, 3 days later, the Park streams would be high - but at least clear - I stuffed the tea stick and other necessary accoutrements into the trunk of the Sassy Civic hoping to reach a favorite east-sloper by mid-afternoon. I needed that fishin fix BAD, worsened by Saturday’s total wash. Definitely a roll of the dice after seeing the USGS gauges downstream of my destination…
Arriving at the parking area, it was obvious that I’d have to hike pretty far up the slope as the stream was running OVER the road connecting the 2 parking lots.
Normally this thing moves quietly through the small culvert beneath the road, or during the summer entirely underground. So…I suited up and headed in. The trail was rougher than usual having been a temporary streambed after the weekend’s deluge. At the first stream ford, the sheer volume of water coming down the hollow was pretty incredible, 2 vertical feet higher than I’m used to seeing at this crossing. All along the trail, freshets and weeps were running at full blast in their efforts to join the mainstem.
Every so often these runoff chutes dumped their contents onto the trail creating a miniature series of falls.
After a half-hour of slogging my sorry butt uphill, I found the spot I came to fish and got right to it. Jesus that water was cold - 38 degrees - and it was hauling along. Despite a number of olives and some quill gordons, no one wanted anything on top. So out came the nymphs and shot. First cast produced a healthy fella that put a good bend in the bamboo, augmented by the fast high water.
A couple smaller fish later, I switched it up and tossed an OTL Woody Bugger (thanks Jeff) and pounded up this scrappy bastard:
Finished off the day with this guy before heading back down to the car…
It felt like the weather should be turning a corner any week now, once the water calms down. Air temps were in the low 50s and the bugs were starting to show. ‘Til next time, old friend.
