This June looks to be a great opportunity for fly fishing on the native brook trout streams and the smallmouth rivers. The steady rains have provided perfect water levels in the Shenandoah National Park for the trout. Hopefully that will last all of this month. Let’s start this blog with the smallmouth bass rivers. The rivers are warm enough that the smallmouth are starting to feed on hard head surface bugs. Success here depends on selecting the bug which will produce the action you...

Fly fishing for the smallmouth has really picked up over the last two weeks. The shallow gravel bars along the river banks hold large numbers of shiner minnows. The bass feed in these shiners in a hit and run manner. They literally crash into the shallows and grab several shiners then return to the safety of the deep water. Cast a Silver Outcast Streamer out in front of the marauding bass and strip it right in front of him. Often they will hit it on the first presentation. If not, then try...

Fly fishing in April is wonderful on the mountain trout streams as the water levels and hatches are ideal. We have good hatches of Quill Gordons, Blue Quill, and March Browns. All three of these start hatching about mid-day and continue until dusk. The spinners return at dusk. This means the last two hours of the day will have the greatest dry fly fishing. The Blue Quill is one of the major mayfly hatches that occurs in the East Fly Fishing for Smallmouth...

Fly fishing in March on the smallmouth streams can be productive in the bank bays. These are indentations which floods have carved back into the river bank. Some of these reach 10-20 feet back into the bank. These block major currents but hold a generous food supply for the smallmouth. Wade or float down the river to 30 feet out from the opening. I begin my casts to the upper end of the bank bay with my flies reaching all the way to the deep part and strip it out 6 inches every 4...

Today let’s discuss the fly fishing on the large stocked trout streams. There are many streams that have an abundance of springs that produce great midge hatches. Big Stoney Creek, Mill Creek, and Hidden Valley of the Jackson are just a few that have great midge hatches. At dusk there are often thick midge hatches in the tails of the pools bringing many trout to the surface to feed. Recommended flies include: Birchell’s Hatching Midge Mr. Rapidan...

While most anglers don’t like fly fishing for bass in the winter, I know a few anglers that don’t give up. Realizing the bass seek the deep water at this time of the year, concentrate on the deepest pools. The locals usually choose a five mile stretch of the river that has many pools from 5-7 feet deep. Using a canoe or a drift boat they drift from one deep pool to the next. Anchoring 30 feet upstream of each pool, then fan their casts over all of the water they can reach. Next step is to...

Fly fishing in the deep pools between limestone ledges on our smallmouth rivers can be beneficial. The ledges can run all the way across the river, frequently 2-3 feet apart with many 5-6ft deep pockets between them. Before these pools become covered with ice, get out and try your luck. Approach the downstream ledge from below and stay below it. Then wading across the river, I fan my casts up and up and across stream. After my fly sinks deeply I strip it back downstream a little faster than...

Let’s discuss the different fly fishing options for November. Many of the large bass move into the back eddies to take advantage of the great numbers of minnows that live here. This also provides protection from the full force of the river current. Some of these are located on the side of the river with the slow current below the strong riffles. These eddies may range from 20-60 feet in diameter and from 5-10 feet deep. They can be fished by floating or by wading close to the shallow bank....

Many anglers save their vacation for fly fishing in October because they believe this is “big fish” time. Many of the bass leave their feeding stations along the banks and head for the deep pools and pockets. Hog suckers and madtoms rank high on important foods for large bass. Except for the water behind the dams there are few areas on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River that are over six feet deep. However these 6-foot deep cuts attract the bass in October and you catch many bass...

Fly fishing in September can be excellent with chub and dace minnows. As the rivers get lower it opens the doors for smallmouth feeding on chub and dace minnows. This usually happens in the shallow water in the tails of the pools. At dusk you often see the wakes of bass as they chase these minnows in the water 1-2 feet deep. My favorite tactic is to enter the upper part of the riffle below the tails of these pools. I then slowly wade up into the tail of the pool. I watch the water closely for...

A good approach to fly fishing in August is to use a popper with a dropper. A good friend of mine caught a nice smallmouth using a Bass Stonefly Nymph as a dropper below a Shenandoah Blue Popper size 4. We have used this ploy often with great success. Over the past several years many smallmouth anglers have used this combination of a popper with a nymph dropper to catch many bass around aquatic grassbeds, on the edges of large trees that have fallen into the river, and along the banks....

Fly fishing on the smallmouth bass rivers can be excellent in July. This years young hog suckers are large enough to provide an easy meal for the bass. The last two hours of the day, these young hog suckers move onto the gravel bars where the water is 1-2 feet deep to do their own feeding. Here they are easy prey for the bass. The gravel bars which run down the river parallel to the bank hold great numbers of these young hog suckers. I can usually catch some large bass here. Wade...

The month of June can provide some excellent fly fishing on both the smallmouth and native brook trout streams. Let’s discuss the smallmouth bass fishing first. Last year I did a video on matching minnows that the smallmouth feed upon. The shiner minnow is one of the natural foods discussed. There are many shiner minnows on the shallow gravel bars along river banks in water from one to three feet deep. The bass will not hold in water this shallow but feed here by charging up on the...

Fly fishing in May is wonderful because of all the different hatches occurring on the brookie streams. We just received some much needed rain and the streams are in great shape. One of my favorite hatches is the Little Yellow Stonefly. Often you will see numerous drys drifting across the same pool and trout coming up to suck them in. The Murray’s Little Yellow Stonefly Dry is an excellent match for this beautiful natural. The real flies drift so delicately on the surface of the stream, it...

The hatches of three important mayflies and one caddisfly make fly fishing in April a favorite for many anglers. The Mr. Rapidan Dry matches the Quill Gordon and March Brown hatch. The Mr. Rapidan Delta Wing Caddis matches the caddis hatch occurring this month. The Blue Quill Dry is a perfect match for the Blue Quill adult dun. NEW this year, we have added a Blue Quill Mr. Rapidan to help anglers see the fly while taking advantage of this hatch. Correctly matching our artificial flies to the...

Fly fishing in March starts to pick up on the mountain trout streams. There are several things going on that will prompt the trout to feed. The Epeorus pleuralis and blue quill mayfly nymphs are present in large numbers and are growing to full size. I match these with the Mr. Rapidan Bead Head size 14 and the Blue Quill Nymph size 16. The emerger of the Epeorus pleuralis mayfly is one of the few mayflies which pops its wings well underwater and swims to the surface of the stream. He...

Many anglers get the urge to go trout fishing in February-March even though the streams are cold. Serious anglers realize they will get their best fishing by using nymphs which match the underwater forms of aquatic insects. Over the years of teaching to many students, I have found many anglers master this technique best by separating the tactics for the small streams from the large streams. Good examples of the small trout streams are North Creek, Mill Creek and Passage Creek...

Winter fly fishing for trout is tough but not impossible. I am talking about the brook trout fishing and not the stocked trout fishing. Even though the aquatic nymphs are not reaching their full spring size yet, they are growing. The trout will start feeding especially toward late February as the streams start to warm. The Epeorus pleuralis mayfly nymph–the first of our mayfly hatch–will move to the lower sections of the riffles. The Mr. Rapidan Bead Head Nymph are excellent matches for this...

If you don’t mind the icy edges and cold temperatures then fly fishing in the winter can be productive. The VA DWR continues to stock the streams throughout the winter. By now these trout are looking for natural foods in the streams. One of the richest areas to find large concentrations of natural foods are the springs. These provide many cress bugs and shrimp for the trout. A large spring flowing into a stream which is 30-feet wide may hold many trout for the next 100-feet downstream. The...

Since there is not much fly fishing going on in December except on the stocked trout streams and delayed harvest areas, let’s take a look at them. The large rainbows tend to live in the riffles and feed mostly on nymphs. The Dark Stonefly Nymph, Olive Strymph, and March Brown Nymph seldom let me down. Start right at the riffles and cast across stream, stripping the nymph 4 inches every 6 seconds to crawl it right along the stream bottom. Then wade slowly downstream pausing every 5...

Fly fishing in November on the little olive mayflies can be exciting. One cold day while standing beside the Letort, Vince Marinaro, reminded me to not overlook the olive mayflies. He was exactly correct. From North Carolina to the Adirondacks and throughout the Rockies, the great hatches of Blue Wing Olive mayflies have brought me some of the finest fishing. Several of my favorite streams out west as well as some in Pennsylvania have this hatch regularly. This occurs from 2-4p.m....

Fly fishing in October can provide some excellent fishing on the delayed harvest streams. The VA DWR starts stocking again on October 1 so be sure to get your trout license. Many of these trout feed heavily below the riffles on the minnows and nymphs that live in these riffles. To catch these trout I’ve developed some very heavy Tungsten Bead Marauders in size 10. Sometimes I fish these alone and sometimes I attach a Murray’s Dark Stonefly Nymph size 12 on a 4X dropper below the...

The brown autumn sedge can provide some wonderful fly fishing in September. This is a caddis hatch in the fall with the emergence taking place at night and in the afternoon. From late afternoon until dark, watch the tails of the pools for rising trout and go one on one when you see rising trout. A Brown Elk Hair Caddis and a Mr. Rapidan Delta Wing Caddis are very effective here. The trout often feed on the emerging caddis pupa just below the surface. An effective tactic is to fish a...

I try to do as much fly fishing on the native brook trout streams throughout the summer as I can. By this time of summer, I rely strongly on the Murray’s Flying Beetle. If the stream level is holding up, I use size 14. When the stream drops and the trout are wary, I go to size 16 on a 6X leader. As the trout become selective in their feeding, I use slack line casts such as a Puddle Cast or Lazy S Cast to assure a natural dead drift. On windy days when many natural insects are getting...