Fishing Report

I have great success catching smallmouth bass on the Mr. Rapidan Skater in size 8 in the tails of the pools when I see the bass leaping to catch the adult damselfies and dragonflies as they fly low over the surface of the river. A foot long skating action every 10 seconds is ideal.   This week my guides have been doing well with the Murray's Marauder size 6 in olive, black, and pearl. Both the North Fork and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River are clear and fishable.     Ft. CFS North Fork at Mount Jackson 2.60 95.8 North...

An excellent tactic for fishing mountain trout streams during the Little Yellow Stonefly hatch is to fish a Murray's Little Yellow Stonefly Dry size 16 with Murray's Little Yellow Stonefly Nymph size 14 on an 18 inch 6X dropper below it.  Go one on one with the rising trout and just cover the water if you don't see risers.  I have also been doing well with the Mr. Rapidan Dry size 16 and Murray's Flying Beetle in size 14 and 16. The Shenandoah National Park streams are starting to get a little low so be sure to sneak, sneak, sneak...

These stocked trout streams are getting low and clear so wade carefully so you do not spook the fish.  Fish a Murray's Madtom, Black size 8 along the stream bottom in the deep pools. These strikes are often very subtle so set the hook firmly and quickly at the first hint of a strike.  Keep in mind that these streams are not stocked throughout the summer.

There are great numbers of damselflies and dragonflies flying over our smallmouth rivers and many bass feed on them by leaping into the air to capture them as they fly close to the surface of the river. The Mr. Rapidan Skater size 8 is ideal for this. Dress the fly and the leader with dry fly floatant and skate it over the area you see rising bass and over the 5 foot deep cuts between the ledges. I also try different colored dragonfly and damselfly patterns during this time of the year. Update for June 27--The stream levels on the...

There are still Little Yellow Stoneflies on our mountain streams and the trout feed heavily on them. I'm seeing them all day long with the great concentration late in the day. I use the Murray's Little Yellow Stonefly size 16 to fish to rising trout and to just cover the water if I don't see feeders. I am fishing these on a 6X leader.  The recent rains have provided some excellent water levels for the mountain trout streams in the Shenandoah National Park and National Forest streams.