Brookies, Bears, Salamanders - Oh, and a fish ID request

[Andrew Chaney]

I went out to the Shenandoah Mountains a couple weekends ago for a long overdue fishing trip. First, I hit up Pocosin Creek. The fishing was excellent, though the trout were tiny. I had multiple strikes in just about every pool I fished. I also saw a gorgeous, bright orange salamander and what I'm pretty sure was a small, fresh bear track (thankfully no bear).

After a while, the fishing cooled off, so I trekked back to my car at the confluence of Pocosin and the Conway.I nymphed that area of the Conway for a bit. There were no trout, but I caught a bunch of other fish I can't ID. Anyone know what they are?

Finally, I ended my trip at the Rapidan River in the hopes of hooking into some bigger brookies, but other than some beautiful scenery, the fishing was terrible. It was very crowded. There were dozens of campers/hikers and about a half dozen other fishermen (just in the area I fished). Does anyone know of any rivers within a couple hours of DC that aren't usually crowded but also holds trout over 6 inches?

PS - Google Groups must not have liked the size of my pics. Here they are on imgur:

http://imgur.com/a/7Gx6Y

[TurbineBlade]

Red Eft (Newt) -- they're an interesting critter.  They're a terrestrial, juvenile form of a fully aquatic, adult animal.  So they're lifecycle is aquatic > terrestrial > aquatic, with some slight variation in certain geographic areas and some neotenic individuals as well. 

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml

Those minnows (that come flying out of the water hitting dries enough to make you laugh) are common with summer low water in our experience.  I'm not sure of the exact species, but 'cyprinid' seems safe ;). 

Fun trip!  Beth and I saw our first black bear in the SNP a couple of weeks ago as well!  Just a juvenile crossing the stream --

Gene

[Evan D]

Great pictures, Andrew!

That 'salamander' looks like a red spotted newt to me!  And the two fish look like a fallfish and creek chub, very common in our local streams.  As far as other streams, any stream flowing off the ridge line will likely hold brookies...just explore and you will likely find some nice sized fish!

Tight Lines!

Evan

On Wednesday, August 19, 2015 at 8:33:33 AM UTC-4, Andrew Chaney wrote:

[TurbineBlade]

BTW -- Pocosin is a kind of fun, extremely tight stream to fish.  We've only been there once and very briefly, mostly to fish the Conway.  I caught 3-4 little browns right away right at the confluence, but nothing further up...and the private property was confusing, so we left.  I recall some kind of hunting lodge up there and a blocked gate. 

It's easier to hit the Conway from the Wolftown/Rapidan mountain road. 

Gene

[TurbineBlade]

Clearly the same minnow species inhabit the same streams during the spring as in the summer, so I imagine the reason they're more apparent to fly fishermen this time of year (i.e. hitting flies) is the lack of brook trout in the same stretches of water, as they tend to head for the deeper pools seeking ^^ dissolved oxygen. 

Anyone confirm this?  It seems logical.  Given the gusto with which brook trout will hit a woolly bugger, I wouldn't hang out with them in the same pocket if I were a minnow.  That neighborhood ain't safe! 

Gene

[TurbineBlade]

BTW -- Thank you for reporting how crowded and miserable the Rapidan is.  We fish that stream more than every other stream combined, and I totally agree -- it gets a ton redneck use and has more ticks and stinging nettle than all the other SNP streams too I hear. 

Nothing to see there folks!  You should just go somewhere else!  ;)

Gene

Redneck use is defined as tying more than 1 pitbull to a tree (usually with a choke collar), and then sitting in plastic chairs with your gut spilling over the sides while your kids swim in the deep holes, peeing all over themselves like an old cocker spaniel. 

[Aaron O]

I'd like to thank Gene, our PC specialist for his highly technical yet always respectable definitions and for his attention to detail. I feel that we all owe him our gratitude and possibly a beer at the next beer tie. 👏🏻😏

Aaron

[Scott B.]

Larger fish is a fallfish, but I commonly call them a creek chub. Smaller fish is a red sided dace, and yes they will attack a dry fly.

On Wednesday, August 19, 2015 at 8:33:33 AM UTC-4, Andrew Chaney wrote:

[Andrew Chaney]

Thanks! I forsee another exploratory trip out there in the near future.

[Andrew Chaney]

Thanks for fish and newt IDs! I love the Rapidan as well, but I think that unless I can hit it on a weekday, I probably won't go back there anytime soon. I hooked into a monster brown at the Conway-Pocosin confluence (either that or a monster fallfish), but wasn't able to land it. I'll have to fish upstream there the next time I go.

I found some signage on the trails at Pocosin that implied that you couldn't drive up there, but that walking on the trail/road wasn't considered trespassing.

[D. Walker]

Gene, .... you may want to add a 'roll tide' shirt to the description for accuracy purposes

[Aden]

Hailing from Oklahoma, what you describe is white trash. A redneck has a certain ignorance in their bravado while white trash can't help staring blankly mouth breathing. When they speak it is hard to understand because of the chew and Twinkies in their lips.

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Sounds like a conversation for another forum.

On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 12:52 PM, Ashley Frohwein <ashleyf...@gmail.com> wrote:

The term "white trash" connotes that it's unusual for a white/Caucasian person (as opposed to non-white/-Caucasian people) to be "trash", which is why many people rightly consider the term to be offensive and politically incorrect.

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 12:34:00 PM UTC-4, Aden wrote:

Hailing from Oklahoma, what you describe is white trash. A redneck has a certain ignorance in their bravado while white trash can't help staring blankly mouth breathing. When they speak it is hard to understand because of the chew and Twinkies in their lips.

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[Ashley Frohwein]

agreed.

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 12:54:58 PM UTC-4, Jeff Silvan wrote:

Sounds like a conversation for another forum.

On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 12:52 PM, Ashley Frohwein <ashleyf...@gmail.com> wrote:

The term "white trash" connotes that it's unusual for a white/Caucasian person (as opposed to non-white/-Caucasian people) to be "trash", which is why many people rightly consider the term to be offensive and politically incorrect.

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 12:34:00 PM UTC-4, Aden wrote:

Hailing from Oklahoma, what you describe is white trash. A redneck has a certain ignorance in their bravado while white trash can't help staring blankly mouth breathing. When they speak it is hard to understand because of the chew and Twinkies in their lips.

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http://www.tpfr.org
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