The mountain trout streams are in good shape and some of the Quill Gordon mayfly emergers are now popping their wings as they head for the surface of the stream. They are very vulnerable at this stage and the trout feed heavily upon them. A very effective technique to catch many of these trout is to fish a Mr. Rapidan Emerger size 14 or Hare's Ear Nymph size 14 straight upstream to the lower part of the riffle and impart a slow fly-lifting action. The Blue Quill mayflies are hatching and I use the Blue Quill Dry size 16, 18 to match this. If you have trouble seeing the fly on the water, consider using our Blue Quill Mr. Rapidan Dry with yellow wings. We are seeing some caddis along the streams so I am going to include the hatch chart and matches for that at the bottom of this report with the Quill Gordon and Blue Quill.
As of this morning all of the Skyline Drive is open again but some trails are still closed due to a fire. Be sure to check the Shenandoah National Park website and social media pages for updates as the conditions can change quickly. The fire ban remains in effect--per their website (Building, attending, maintaining or using an open fire anywhere within the boundaries of the Park is prohibited.) You will get the best water levels by coming in from the Skyline Drive or upper reaches of the stream. For more information on access to the streams, see my book Trout Fishing in The Shenandoah National Park.
We had a few cancellations in our Mountain Trout Schools in the Shenandoah National Park. Learn more about the native brook trout in these fly fishing schools. Each school starts at 9a.m. at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, Va for a classroom presentation then continues with on the stream instruction for a full day of learning. To learn more and to register...see our website.
Here is some information on how to match the hatches.
