nearby trout

[Jeff Tranguch]

Hi all,

I live in Alexandria now and am looking for a good place to fish for trout. I've never caught one before as I typically fly fish for bass. Any good places to go for a beginner trout fishermen within an hour or so drive?

Many thanks.

Jeff

[Rob Snowhite]

Closest id send you would be Big Hunting Creek and then Yellow Breeches. Not much within an hour, you have to drive past the piedmont.

Sent from my iPhone

> --
> http://www.tpfr.org
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/68a7ca83-7cc3-42fb-8b39-c620a05e1627%40googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Jeff Tranguch]

Thanks for the suggestions, Rob. I may head up to Big Hunting Creek next weekend. Got your email about the snakehead at four mile run. I haven't fished there in quite some time. Sounds like I may need to head up there soon.

Thanks again.

[Bob R]

If you want to stretch your drive time to 1.5 hours it brings the Shenandoah in to range.  I'm not sure they are the best streams to learn on, but I've been self teaching myself how to fish for trout on the streams of Shenandoah National Park this spring.  Somehow I managed to catch my first brook and rainbow trout.  If I prepare correctly, I can leave my house in Woodbridge and within 1.5 hours be standing knee deep in the Rose River.  There are a couple other streams a bit closer that I haven't explored yet.  I'd be interested to know what most people consider is the closest reliable trout stream is to N. VA. 

Bob

[Ryan DiAndrea]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure they stock Accotink park (not the lake) with trout. Not sure how good the fish is for trout. Whenever I'm there I'm usually fishing for bass in the lake.

--

http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/11db186c-d241-4ca3-ade2-68916873553c%40googlegroups.com.

[Carl Z.]

The local streams and lakes (in the DC metro region) are put and take fisheries and are stocked in the winter and early spring.  The fish tend to evaporate early even in the catch and release water.  I don't fish Accotink, but it might do a bit better since it has a lake feeding it.  The key to trout is cold water with a lot of oxygen.  Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, so when the water temperature hit's 80, trout get really stressed, don't eat and if it stays that way for a while they will die.  So most trout don't make it through the summer around here due to temperature and water quality (nitrogen content). ** disclosure: I'm not a fisheries biologist and these numbers are taken from my memory,  The details may be wrong, but the gist is correct **.  

SNP is brook trout water.  High gradient (steep) with not a lot of food in the system.  The fish become active when the bugs are active (spring-fall) but during the heat of the summer, the water warms up, dries up and the fish get stressed, so many people don't fish this season.  Fall is the spawn (Oct-Nov) and the fish are active, but many people avoid this time so they don't step on the eggs.  Brook trout water is 30' and under casts and a lot of rock scrambling and hiking.  It's fun, but much different than what you would see in "The Movie".

Big Hunting Creek is rugged but has more water in it.  I find it is still some scrambling and a lot of short casts.

Gunpowder is a tail water fishery.  Water is released from deep in the resevoir, keeping the water cold all year.  Flows are more constant and the stream is less steep, giving it bigger pools and better casting lanes.

As you hit South Central PA, you get into spring fed streams.  The Yellow Breeches in the Catch and Release section near Boiling springs is a crowded, heavily fished section but has a lot of fish.  A few miles up in Carlisle is the LeTort which fully spring fed and has some big fish, but the crystal clear water makes the fish spooky.  Big Spring is another favorite.  If you go up, stop by the Boiling Springs fly shop.  It's an institution.

I was up at the Yellow Breeches and Hunting Creek yesterday and they were both high and stained.  The fishing was not great, but it was nice to stand in cold flowing water.

For beginning trout fishermen, A great investment is a day on the water with a local guide.  It can be reasonable and they know the local water, what the fish are eating, when they are active and where they are holding.  They can't guarantee a fish, but they can increase your odds dramatically.  Once you've got an feeling of the fish, it's a lot easier to go back to the same area and catch fish on your own.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/CACucFBDUmvxq3pL9zEgu%3D-wxxoqtRp8oVi03-YFEdUm0f%2Bo3AA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Danny Barrett]

For me its the Rapidan.  But its what i grew up fishing.  I only fish the highest parts of it which more or less really requires a vehicle with ground clearance.  But any brookie stream is easy to learn.   Shoot me a PM if you want to talk brookie streams more

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

--

[Jeff Tranguch]

Thanks all for the input. This is all extremely helpful.

[TurbineBlade]

The quality of the advice here is great.  I was just going to tack onto some of the others here that fishing the SNP has really helped my (our) dry fly fishing skill.  You can watch youtube videos of people making long casts with dries across stupid-easy, even currents and it's all well and good, and then go to SNP and have so many cross currents that you couldn't make any cast without getting drag in literally 1-2 seconds, showing you that you must wade into the right position to make a decent cast (often at very short distance) vs. ripping out a long cast or double hauling like a jerk, which isn't effective. You also learn how to not sink your dry fly during pick up, how to bushwhack, how to reach over currents, how to make a parachute cast, etc.  We've spent a LOT of time in the SNP this year and have really enjoyed it.  There's no point in talking about specific streams - they're all good and have fish willing to teach you how to catch them.  You also don't generally need to focus so much on your pattern, but just on your presentation....well, it's always important to have a good presentation obviously, but brook trout seem to be less selective with bugs than rainbow trout on the Elk River, WV for example.  

Of course, you can then go to the Potomac where 50'+ casts and double hauling like a jerk are highly effective....and you'll seldom ever use a slack-line cast or mend (at least not where I generally go).  This region paralyzes you with variety!  

Darn the white perch - they seem more annoying this year than before.  I'm tired of knocking those things off...

Gene

[TurbineBlade]

Here's a useful article I read earlier this year from Harry Murray about fishing the SNP streams and reading water --

http://www.murraysflyshop.com/reading-the-feeding-stations-on-a-mountain-trout-stream/

Gene

[Jeff Tranguch]

Great article, Gene. If there is one thing I struggle with, it's knowing how to locate areas where trout would feed. I've been a warm water Fisher my whole life and am new to trout fishing. I'm learning just how much more challenging it is....but I like the challenge.

Thanks again.

Jeff

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Jeff - I was in the same boat as you when I moved to this area. The extent of my trout fishing was stocked fish in lakes. Going after the brookies definitely helped my understanding of where to find trout in bigger/non-mountain stream waters. At the end of the day, nothing beats practice and some trial and error. That process can definitely be accelerated by hiring a guide for a day or at least a half day, like Carl suggested. 

A river I haven't seen mentioned yet is the Gunpowder in MD. It's around 1.5 hours away from Arlington. It can be challenging at certain times of the year, but in a month or so, you'll be able to go up there with an ant and they'll go crazy for it. That will really give you a good idea of where they lay that time of year.

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/9e0765ea-4bda-47bd-9ca8-8c9091595274%40googlegroups.com.

[Jeff Ford]

Jeff- There are viable trout streams closer and it requires a bit of exploration. One that I used to like has been pummeled of late with very hungry anglers. So my advice is to study a local map, find some areas that look wet and fishy and go exploring. I think the exploring is half the fun. Hint - Stick with the MD side ! Earlier this year I tried a local stream that used to have trout and ended up with a 24" carp and some decent fall fish. Good luck.

[Justin Schiavone]

Hey man as you can see there are a lot of options. I'll be fishing the Rapidan or some other close pa stream that was probably mentioned in this thread this Friday, if you would like to tag along shoot me a pm. And anyone else for that matter.

Justin