Very, Very Local Fishing....

[Trent Jones]

At some point a few months ago I decided it would be a nice challenge to see how many steps I would have to take from my front door to catch a fish. I figured it couldn't be to far as I live in Arlington and Four Mile Run passes close by. On the other hand its the section that is non-tidal and pretty much turns into class V rapids every time it rains. I had half forgotten about this until it came up again about a week or so ago on drive to fish Beaver Creek in MD, with fellow TPFR member Miles Townes (Beaver Creek was high and off color, but we did manage one feisty Brown Trout).
 
So, this past Thursday I decided I had just enough sun light left to answer the question of how close I live to a fishing hole. I grabbed my 3 weight and reel, chucked a few Adams Parachute and beetle patterns into the brim of my hat, grabbed my hemo/nippers and a spool of 5x. Knee high rubber boots and my fishing license completed my gear list and I stepped out the front door. 1,2,3,4,5,6.........I started counting the steps as I walked. At #339 I stopped and talked to a couple from NC. The gentleman told me about fishing for Redfish and the lady told me she likes to eat fish and I told them about the Potomac and how I was counting my steps to the nearest catchable fish... we shared a laugh and parted ways. At about step number 595 while on a bridge I noticed three deer standing right where I wanted to be casting from. I snapped a picture and charged down to the water anyways (sorry Bambi, important fishing expedition going on here!)
 
At waters edge I was at step #648. At my feet were a bunch of fish I had just spooked. I made a few casts and nothing. I looked up stream and saw a rise. I took three steps into the water to get a good angle and on the next cast, wham! A nice 4-incher...with matching good looks!

 

How many steps from the front door? 651 

 

I was pretty pleased with the result and fished upstream for maybe 75 yards, picking off fish every couple of minutes. I spooked a Blue Heron along the way and also shared the stretch with a raccoon who was busy on the opposite bank. It was finally just two dark and bats were flying close enough that I thought they were chasing my fly, so I called it quits. As I put the fly in the hook keeper I was confused on how break lights could be reflecting off the water from this distance from the bridge...I looked up to see hundreds of fire flys lighting up.

 

I took 651 steps from my front door and saw 3 deer, a raccoon, a blue heron, bats, a fireworks display courtesy of a battalion of fire flies, AND....caught a bunch of scrappy little Sunfish....it was a freaking awesome fishing trip!

 

Sooooooo, when a friend tried to chuck a guilt trip on me over breakfast this morning by saying "you never take me fishing"....I responded with "I will take you fishing after breakfast"....the response I received was, "whatever".

 

We went back to my place and grabbed the 3 weight witch was still strung up with an Adams and walked the 651 steps to Four Mile Run (I didn't actually count this time, that was just for effect) and spent two catching a bunch of sunnies.

 

If you look around you may be surprised at how close your next fishing opportunity could be.

 

Attached are a few pictures from my local fishing expedition and subsequent trip.

 

-Trent

[Daniel Davala]

Awesome, awesome story Trent, well told!  I am off tomorrow and am inspired to do the very same thing, in fact I already fish a nearby creek sometimes on our family walks but have never counted the steps. 

 

I foresee this being the start of a pretty fun thread - HOW MANY STEPS FROM YOUR FRONT DOOR CAN YOU CATCH A FISH ON A FLY?  I challenge ALL TPFRers to answer just that.  Tell a story if you'd like, or simply supply a number and a picture.  Can't wait until tomorrow and my next "very, very local" adventure!  Great idea Trent!

 

Dan Davala

 

-Trent

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/-/IeqwJTQCtkUJ.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders?hl=en.

[Eric Y.]

Pretty good idea going on here... I just tried it this morning. 48 steps for a sunny and 53 steps for a small LMB. I'm cheating though - I'm at my folk's farm visiting for fathers' day yesterday and my mother's birthday tomorrow. 

[Daniel Davala]

I am very fortunate to have the day off today, so this morning VA and I decided to set out on foot and measure just how close we live to the nearest fly rod fishery!  We have actually fished this little stretch of Little Rocky Run many times before on family walks, but it had never occurred to us to count the steps until Trent told his story.  So we strung up our little three weight, grabbed 5 dry flies, some tippet, and my little scissors/forceps and crested the threshold - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9..........

 

It took us 1030 steps to get to the bridge overlooking the water where we could see the occasional fish darting around.  VA took a moment on the bridge to do, well, what all fly fishers do and survey the situation.  Another 60 steps and we were off the bridge and had rounded the corner to start our descent - 1091,1092,1093.......

 

At 1118, we got to a good place for VA to sit, and 4 more steps put me on a solid, level, dry patch that gave me a good angle up the stream.  About four casts in my Parachute Adams disappeared in a swirl and I had the first fish on! 

 

Front door to fish on - 1122 STEPS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Fascinated as always, VA helped me land the fish and we both looked at its colors for a bit before letting it swim away.  The next little guy she actually wanted to hold and did so until he wriggled loose and went lippity, lippity, not very fast back to the water (Peter Rabbit reference for those who haven't read it in a while!).  At this point, my beautiful girl requested that I catch one with purple and pink spots, and I told her I would try.  Instead, I managed a very cool little Rock Bass with brilliant blue accents.  We decided he was pretty enough, and after he swam off we climbed back up the bank and started our walk home. 

 

While there was no need to count the steps home, I did observe that VA takes approx. 1.87 steps for every one of mine, so if she had undertaken this endeavor on her own the total step count would have been around 2098.  That's still very good! 

 

So come on folks, let's hear a few more stories - take a walk!  Take a kid, or a spouse, or a friend, or significant other, or just go solo!  Smile as people stare at you for looking pretty out of place, walking down the sidewalk or roadside with a fly rod strung up.  If they ask, let them know what you are doing and tell them about the club and our unique perspective.  Most important, HAVE FUN WITH IT!!!!!  I look forward to more reports!

 

Dan (and Virginia) Davala

 

On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 9:47 AM, Eric Y. <theeri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Pretty good idea going on here... I just tried it this morning. 48 steps for a sunny and 53 steps for a small LMB. I'm cheating though - I'm at my folk's farm visiting for fathers' day yesterday and my mother's birthday tomorrow. 

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/-/RQcnz_td-mcJ.

[Carl Zmola]

On 06/19/2012 04:49 PM, Daniel Davala wrote:
> I am very fortunate to have the day off today, so this morning VA and
> I decided to set out on foot and measure just how close we live to the
> nearest fly rod fishery!

Oh my Virginia has growed up. Blink and she's bigger.
Great story.

Carl

[Rob Snowhite]

I decided to take part in this local fishing challenge. We have lived on a golf course for 8 years and I've never fished the ponds. Tonight I decided to do this. I was walking out the door with a tall boy of beer when the wife cut me off. We were ending a dinner party. So I walked down to my car, pulled out a 5wt and my mouse fly (I decided I'd do this in style) and download the pedometer app for my iphone (Dan, an Iphone is like an Atari/telephone hybrid). I started walking.

The golf course manager cart passed me and waved, I lowered my rod so he would not see it. I got down hill over greens and what ever else you call golf course parts. I passed red breasted black birds (robins) and a few rabbits. The smell of honeysuckle perfumed the air. I came upon the last group of golfers and had to lay low till they passed. Eventually they moved on and so did the managers cart.

I clocked 699 steps to the first sign of water. The creek feeding the pond. Just minnows and 2 suckers. I moved over the bridge and to the water. I started to cast my mouse and got a nibble. A minute later the first solid bite and I set the hook. First fish from my front steps was 1074 steps according to my phone.

I walked the edges and dodged the bat hatch. I managed 3 more largemouth on the 5wt and mouse fly until my wife called worried about me. 1361 steps until the last bass.

Here are the pictures. 

1. Baby lady and me at the tidal basin today 
2. 1st bass near my house
   
3. 1st bass again 
4. 1st bass with mouse in mouth
5. 2nd bass
6. 3rd bass
7. 4th bass
   

 

Rob Snowhite

---

From: Daniel Davala <daniel...@gmail.com>
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 4:49 PM
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Very, Very Local Fishing....

[GSFeder]

I decided to try the challenge, too. However, I live far enough west in Arlington that 4 Mile Run is pretty much a trickle near my house. My wife is traveling for business, though, so I brought my 6 wt to work and headed to the tidal basin. 1,237 steps later, I had my first sunfish on a bead head prince hanging 24" below my hopper. This proved to be a good combo as I landed several more sunfish and bluegills, one of which was a football shaped 10-incher that put a surprising bend in the rod. 

I kept going to the Ohio Dr bridge, where I could clearly see that the tide was coming in. I tried a chart/white clouser and a dumbbell eyed leech, but got no love.  A spin caster across the way caught a catfish that he took home. He must not have read the note on the bottom of his license. 

I saw an interesting fish that appeared to be breathing air.  About 12" and looked from the top like a pan fish. Definitely not a snakehead. It swam like a porpoise, coming up for air every yard or so. Any ideas?

Cheers, 

-- Greg

Sent from my iPhone

[Kurtyboy]

I just took up flyfishing last June, learning to cast from Youtube videos and lots of time on the grass with a piece of yarn.  I've lived in the Brittany Condominiums on Four Mile Run for five years, and always just stared at the fish in the water, until last Summer. But I've made the short walk with my three wieght a regular habit, and last night counted out the 161 paces from the door to my first cast (not including the hallway to the elevator...)

 

Last night was warm, and with no rain for a couple of days, the water of the Run was gin-clear.  In the pool I fished were a couple-dozen round clearings in the brown of the streambed--the sunfish are on the spawn.  Some but not all of these clear spots held bulldog males ready to chase off predators.  Two young muskrats swam and gathered vegetation on the opposite bank, and a two-foot brown water snake swam through the middle of it all.  The sunnies let him travel unaccosted.  I tied an elk-hair caddis to the 6x leader and dropped my offering on the first likely looking spot.  It took only a moment for several minute immature sunfish to notice an investigate--I've noticed that when the little guys are following, their bigger cousins ignore the fly.  So I cast a little further up stream.

 

I got my first fish of the night, a very small one, and worked up the pool.  The action is always steady here, and and I brought several fish to hand.  In full spawning colors these are just incredibly beautiful animals.  The largest fish of the night (and probably the largest sunfish in the pool) sucked up the fly and put on a helluva show trying to escape.  He's in the photo below, next to a photo of the smallest fish of the evening, a two-incher that had a healthy appetite.

 

There are also a ton fo suckers in the pool--up to twelve or more inches long--but I've never gotten one to do anything but spook.  The last few times I fished there I have also noticed a seven-inch or so goldfish swimming with the suckers. 

 

I have probably fished the Run forty times over the past year, and I have yet to see anyone else try.  Since Arlington stopped stocking trout a couple of years ago,  I guess nobody much notices this resource.  But I do, and in fly fishing I have found a deepy rewarding way of connecting to my world.

[Trent Jones]

Awesome posts!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these the last few days.

Eric, 48 steps is crazy! Hope you had a coffee in hand for that short jaunt.

Dan, the love of Bluegill fishing is clearly not lost!

Rob, Golf course report, dodging starters, and the whole bit, classic. Nice work with the Splat Rat fly on those Bass.

Greg, pure perseverance man. Didn’t like the 4mr prospects so you tote the rod to work. Very Strong sir. A 10 inch bluegill is a rare treat to be reveled in.

Kurt, we are practically neighbors. I love that you knew the conditions and went to 6x, and use a caddis pattern which holds up much better than an Adams. I also like small buggers which they get all territorial over in those little reds. I have hit 4mr for those trout they stock, the sunnies are always around and fight just as hard, haha.

-Trent

[Jeff Brach]

I was rather sure that the Potomac river around Bolling AFB (where I live) just wasn't fly fishing waters but a slow evening with nothing to do at the house got me to thinking I'll take up the challenge.  250 steps to the water and my first cast (I didn't even bother to bring my vest/tackle with me because I was that pessimistic).  Over the next hour plus, I followed these initial steps up with approximately 4 sets of 10 steps as I moved my way down river.  At about the time I figured my yellow popper with a nymph dropper just wasn't going to draw anything up, something straightened the line out.  I spent a few seconds trying to figure out how much weight was on the other end (it's been a while since I've had anything of significant size on the other end of my fly rod) followed by stripping in the line.  The fish started rolling which I've figured out is the tell tale sign of a catfish (which it was).  The tide was low so the rocks near the water's edge were slippery which made it very difficult getting a hold of this guy and he ended up breaking the tippet and flopping around on the rocks as I struggled to keep my balance and not get my line tangled.  After finding a safe place for the rod I made my way back down to the fish, picked him up and struggled to get the nymph off his lip.  In the end, I walked down to some guys spin casting and borrowed some pliers, took a picture, and tossed him back.  As he swam away, I marveled at their ability to live through just about anything since he had been out of the water for almost five minutes.  I'm going to with 300 steps.  Thanks for the challenge.

[Aaron O]

Hey Jeff,

 

         Love the story and that fact that you haven't given up.  Keep up the though (correct spelling?  can't tell... DON"T JUDGE ME!... I went to public school.)   updates and I'll see you on the waters another time.

 

Aaron

 

[Joe Molloy]

Just when you thought this thread was over....

I got home yesterday a bit early and figured as long as i get out before my wife and kids get home I can get some fishing in. I grab my 5wt. Fill a fanny pack with a fly box, water bottle, camera. Put on my old running/wet wading shoes and hit the road counting. I have a fishing spot close to my house (in Aldie) on Little River. It's about 1.5 miles one way with a nice little hill to climb up and over the Bull Run Mountains just south of rt. 50. Nice and close and I get a run in.

I start running down the road counting steps...100, 200, 300 (I can't believe I haven't lost count yet!)..oh crap, I forgot my reel....now back 325 steps to my garage, get reel, now start over again once i also verify that I have shorts on.

Along the way i meet my neighbor, who is a hard core runner and told her i was going fishing. She said, "There's fish in there? I need to tell my husband!".....then off i go down the road, 500, 1000, 1200....now turn up a gravel road and up a few hundred feet over the remnants of the Bull Run Mountains...then down right to Little River just behind Aldie Elementary school.

Total count to the stream 2285. I set up my gear and try the first cast standing about 10 feet from the water since I didn't want to take any more steps. I plop(that's my cast) a muldler minnow in the water and it gets slammed by the hybrid piranha/bluegill that are all over...took all of 10 seconds...with that monkey off my back i was now free to wade where I wanted without counting since i had pretty much counted about as high as i could go.

I moved down stream and caught a few more bluegill...further down pulled in a nice little smallmouth...even further to a nice little pool that held a ton of fish. I hooked a fallfish there and hooked another big daddy fallfish that was hanging out but he broke me off...doh!

Anyway, the fishing was great. I caught fish with muddler minnow, small poper, crayfish, and wooly bugger...they ate everything. I didn't expect much with the water levels getting lower but i was pleasantly surprised. Little River is very shallow in parts but if you can wade a bit and find a little pool it's super fun.

-joe

[Trent Jones]

hahahahaaa! Great post Joe. I would pay money to have watched steps 300-350....I have left gear at home on a occasion as well... no fun at all...and lots of four letter words.

 

-Trent