Lots of fish, impossible spot, need help!

[Neil Chilson]

Hello, all,

I'm a relatively new fly fisher who has been quarantining out in Criders, VA (about 4 miles from the West Virginia border) and fishing as often as work and my 11 month old permits.  The German River is less than a mile from where we are staying, and while very low, there is a spot that has fish - but is very difficult to cast to and the fish are ultra picky.  I've probably fished there 10 times at this point and early on caught one trout on a spinning rod and have caught a few chubs on the fly rod, but there are decent size trout there and I very much want to land one on the fly rod. 

Here is the situation:  a 4-6 foot hole under a low bridge.  Bridge is maybe 5 feet off the water. The trout sit on the upstream side of the bridge (I can see them from up top and from in the water - see linked pics). 

So i have two challenges:

First, how do I cast under that bridge to the upstream side?  There is adequate clearance on the downstream for a backcast (although a few annoyingly tall plants that I've snagged with crappy casts) but I cannot figure out how to get a low enough arc on the cast to get it to travel under the bridge any real distance. Any thoughts?

Second, these fish seem super spooky or picky. I've gone under the bridge and bow-and-arrowed a few decent casts with a dry fly indicator and nymphs and have repeatedly watched the fish just sit there while my flys drift by. As you can see, the water is quite still and clear; my thought is they are seeing my 5x tippet or my fly line or me. I don't have smaller tippet on me, sadly.  

I could really use some advice here, I'm going crazy seeing these fish in the water, rising to eat, and not being able to even tempt them. I leave this Monday so I am running out of time. Please help.

Absent that, if any of you know the area and can suggest nearby fishing spots less likely to make me lose my mind, I'd welcome your suggestions.

 

Thank you!!!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10wnq4PzbFdXa4NvuiuWNilb8yTXUoVEP/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qAeNTrdMSuY5qdNMiMauqMtTV_fT011m/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rvAdWl11sTjC7G60L3ZuCy9gk1pIar0X/view?usp=sharing

-Neil

[Yambag Nelson]

Could you fish it from upstream and make a downstream presentation so that they see the fly before the leader?

You could also wait until it rains and fish streamers down.

[Rob]

From upstream skate a small Chernobyl ant/pax or similar across surface with a twitch to make it kick. Have a dropper - small egg, midge, flashback nymph trail behind.

Use Art’s ‘dip & wiggle’ to get the flies down to the fish from above.

Have someone standing from your photographs vantage point to guide you or set up your phone to record from that angle.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 7, 2020, at 3:58 PM, Yambag Nelson <northstreet...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Could you fish it from upstream and make a downstream presentation so that they see the fly before the leader?

>
> You could also wait until it rains and fish streamers down.
>

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[Andrew Sarcinello]

What's the water temp? If it's above 70 they aren't likely to eat anything.

[Andrew Sarcinello]

If the water temp isn't the problem, casting under that bridge should be manageable using a sidearm cast. So rather than casting the traditional way with the rod tip slightly less than vertical, do your casting strokes with the rod out to the side parallel to the water. Everything is the same as a normal cast, you've just rotated it so the rod tip stays well under the height of the bridge. Practice this cast over the stream somewhere out of sight of those fish so as not to spook them with a bad cast, then only go in after them once you feel comfortable.

As for flies, I would try an ant, maybe a green weenie. 5x is fine but make sure it's a pretty long leader.

On Tuesday, July 7, 2020 at 10:48:51 AM UTC-4, Neil Chilson wrote:

[Neil Chilson]

Last time I checked water temp was high 60s, very close to 70. So maybe that's the problem. 

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[Neil Chilson]

Thanks! What's the "dip and wiggle"?

[Jamie Carracher]

Personally, that looks like a really hard place to catch a fish with the water so low, still and clear. I'd personally give that a few goes and move on. Spots like that are tantalizing because you can see the fish, but from my experience, it's more rewarding to keep going and hit the spots that look like they might hold fish but you don't know for sure. 

[Andrew Sarcinello]

Yeah if those are all brook trout, they probably won't eat much unless things cool down. I don't have much luck with brookies once the water is above 65-66 degrees. If you can get there super early in the morning, you may find them more active, but it's a tough time of year for trout fishing unless you can find very cold water.

[Dennis McMorrow]

The dip and wiggle, one of his guests explains it during his podcasts. basically you drop the rig in front of you and wiggle the rod tip to let the line feed out as it drifts downstream. can be quite deadly. 

On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 6:00 PM Neil Chilson <chi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks! What's the "dip and wiggle"?

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[Neil Chilson]

Thanks, all, for the advice. I never did land a trout in that spot (although I got a big ol bluegill that I didn't even know was in there).

I explored a bunch of the dam made lakes in the area, some of which had decent smallmouth. So if anyone is ever in the area west of New Market and want some suggestions, let me know.

(Although what you should really do is talk to the guys at Mossy Creek Fly Fishing in Waynesboro, which I very stupidly did not do until the last week I was out there. Be smarter than me.)

[Luke Morrison]

I’d love to hear suggestions on lakes to fish in that area if you’re willing to share. I’ve fished many of the streams but I’m not aware of lakes worth targeting west of New Market. Thanks in advance for the insight!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 22, 2020, at 2:43 PM, Neil Chilson <chi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks, all, for the advice. I never did land a trout in that spot (although I got a big ol bluegill that I didn't even know was in there).

>
> I explored a bunch of the dam made lakes in the area, some of which had decent smallmouth. So if anyone is ever in the area west of New Market and want some suggestions, let me know.
>
> (Although what you should really do is talk to the guys at Mossy Creek Fly Fishing in Waynesboro, which I very stupidly did not do until the last week I was out there. Be smarter than me.)
>

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[Doug Graebner]

My experience every time I fish a small mountain stream is that there are some very attractive and fishy areas, possibly with visible cruising fish, close to where you start fishing, and they inevitably turn out to be either mediocre spots, overpressured, or both.