I fished President's day with my friend Chris. After a brief stop at the Albemarle Angler, we drove up to the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area near Graves Mill and hike upstream about 1.5 miles.
Chris schooled me in the ways of nymph fishing and using a strike indicator. We rock-hopped our way upstream fishing promising pools as we went. When I caught up with Chris, he'd already caught half a dozen-the nymph zen master! We continued on, Chris encouraging me and letting me spook some choice pools, without chastising me - a saint. It was fun - crouching, crawling, casting from a kneeled position and hiding behind rocks. Even though I bought some nymphs at the Albemarle Angler, I was using my own beadhead pheasant tail nymph that I tied the day before.
Towards the end of the day, I had missed probably half a dozen fish, failed to set the hook on two deep pool beauties, and landed one. Here is a quick picture I took before returning her to the water unharmed.
It was a great day of learning and friendship. I'm a novice at winter trout fishing and at using nymphs, but Chris helped take some of the mystery out of it. Can't wait to go again!
No comments:
Post a Comment