Blue Brook Trout in Early Spring

Today, I was able to get away for a few hours to wet some flies. I picked a familiar stream that I had fished over the summer, on that trip I caught a couple of nice brook trout and a feisty little brown trout. I had also shocked this stream during a summer internship with the Forest Service a couple of years ago. It's a class two tributary that holds good populations of brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout... there's always the possibility of a 'grand slam' there. It has a pretty steep gradient at times, with overgrown hills on both sides of the channel. This makes for great trout habitat because it keeps the stream cool all year around. There was even snow still on the ground, and it hasn't snowed around here in over a week.

I fished a nymph for the majority of the day. On one of my first casts, I hooked into a small brook trout. I can usually tell what type of fish I've hooked into once it rolls over in the water, but I wasn't really sure what I had. This brook trout was abnormally dark, with a very blue tint; a very pretty fish nonetheless. The color variation is most likely due to the chemical properties of the stream. If I remember correctly, I believe this stream had a very high conductivity for electro-fishing. This means that there is a high amount of dissolved solids in the water. Just a guess, I'm not sure how much research has been done to determine why they vary in color.

I fished on, encountering some truly beautiful sections of stream. There were several rock cliffs along the stream with large icicles hanging from them. There were lots of nice holes that I couldn't even fish due to downed trees that had all collected over the stream from flooding events. I made my way to a very deep hole with several falls contributing to it.

I hooked into a good sized fish - huge for a stream this size. My best guess was that this was an adult brown trout that had made its way up the stream to prepare to spawn in a few weeks, I had seen several fish nests in slower moving side-channel pools. Unfortunately I didn't get a great look at the fish. During the fight, my reel came loose from my reel seat... dropping into water and releasing all the tension from the line. The fish got off while I was trying rescue my reel. Not my most graceful angling of all time...

I called it a day shortly after, giving myself plenty of time to climb the steep embankments to get back the road bed. Overall, this had been a challenging trip but I enjoyed it. Though it's technically Spring now, I can't wait for some warmer temperatures and some increased fish activity.

A Sunday Afternoon Well Spent

Today I had plenty of time to fish so I checked a stream off of my list that required a pretty long hike in. Round trip, I think I put in around 7 miles on foot. This stream is located within the Mountain Lake Wilderness area. This is the largest designated wilderness area in Virginia, encompassing 12,375 acres of forest in Virginia in Giles and Craig counties, and another 2,721 acres across the border of West Virginia in Monroe County.

The trail I took paralleled the Appalachian Trail for about a quarter-mile before veering off to the left and over a ridge thick with mountain laurel. My map said that this trail was unmarked, however it had yellow blazes that seemed somewhat fresh. As I made my way further down the trail, the yellow blazes were a life saver. The trail itself seemed like no more than a wildlife trail, becoming rougher as I went along. I found myself having to stop and re-trace a few steps just to make sure I was on the right track.

I flushed out a grouse that had been nesting in a dried up stream bed, I'd hear that fluttering sound a few more times throughout the day- evidently its great grouse habitat! The trail eventually dropped me down on an old forest service road, also marked with yellow; that was much easier to navigate from that point on. This road had a muddy wetland feel to it, with little puddles full of frogs... more on the frogs later.

The sky had been cloudy for the most part on the hike in, but as soon as I reached the stream, the sun was shining down on the riffles of the stream and there were hundreds of insects hovering over it, absolutely gorgeous. As you could have guessed, dry flies were the way to go.

The water was crystal clear and the stream was filled with cascades over fallen trees, followed by slower runs with lots of fish activity. Schools of dace could be seen racing through these runs, I saw both blacknose dace and mountain redbelly dace. One of these runs produced my first brook trout, it was definitely a fighter, an orange-bellied male in the 6-7 inch range.

My second fish was about the same size, emerging from the white water of a shaded pool.  I fished a few more runs and decided to call it a day when I found myself casting a line devoid of a fly... so smooth, I guess my monofilament wore out from a long day of fishing. It was about 5pm and I decided the 3 mile hike back wouldn't be too much fun in the dark. Rising out of the stream channel, I spooked some turkeys! I counted seven but there could have been more. Not too much further along I saw two does drinking from the stream.

When backtracking through the marshy old forest service road, I came upon something I'd never seen before. Frogs breeding, I guess you could say I got a biology lesson today. Apparently the males outnumbered the females in this puddle because they were in a moving mass, fighting for position to get to the female; which was about twice the size as these feisty little males. They let me approach them and take a picture from about four feet away. Contrary to to common frog behavior, they didn't flee or even swim away from me - clearly they had other things on their minds! I'm studying fish in school, not amphibians, but trust me amphibians are some weird creatures. haha. It's unbelievable how many of these frogs were in that one puddle...

A few miles and a few horny toads later (haha), I was back to my truck. This had been one of my best back country trout fishing trips to date. The amount of wildlife I encountered was incredible. Going to pretty places to catch some pretty fish, you can't beat that. It was one of those days that made me thank God I was from the mountains of Virginia, and its quite easy to talk to him in the peace and quiet of the wilderness.

They Live There For A Reason...

On Saturday, I took advantage of the unusually warm weather and went fishing. I believe the high was 59 degrees that day; pretty odd considering it had snowed the day before. With snow still on the ground, the back roads were a soupy mess. My truck was covered in mud so thickly that you could barely tell what color it was by the time I got to the top of the mountain.

I parked my truck at a pull off right before a ford in the creek. On foot, I followed an old logging road that was closed to vehicles. I hiked on this road for about a mile, seeing signs of a controlled-burn forest fire that looked as if it had taken place within the last 5-10 years, just a guess. Small pines were beginning to pop up around the base of larger deciduous trees. I heard water in the distance and went down the hill through some thick brush to get closer to the stream.

When I saw the light through the bushes, my next step was into a muddy marsh.. not exactly what I was expecting. I had arrived right in the middle of a marsh created by a string of beaver dams. I was excited to try my luck at fishing the beaver ponds, but it would show to be a very difficult part of the stream to fish. Part of the ponds were frozen, so not only were they impossible to fish, but I had to stray from the stream channel to move upstream to fish-able water. When I got to unfrozen portions of the ponds, I found that the water was crystal clear, just a normal occurrence for such ponds in the winter.  With the water so clear, I assume that the fish were able to scatter long before I could reach a good position to cast my line. Wild trout have great senses. Pair this with a deep pool of little or no flow where the trout can sense vibrations more readily, and the advantage definitely goes to the fish. In the right conditions, beaver ponds can produce great numbers of large trout, but in February, it just wasn't happening.

As I moved on, the flow increased and the average depth decreased, still in the open sunlight. It was here that I saw my first brookie of the day, in fact, I almost stepped on it. I guess he was just as excited for the warm weather as I was, leaving a deeper pool for sunlit riffles in the sun. As I waded upstream, the channel began to narrow and resemble a textbook brook trout habitat. Rhododendron bushes didn't just encroach on the stream, they smothered it. With about half of my casts going into the stream and the other half going into the bushes. Let's just say some practice in my casting game wouldn't hurt.

I noticed several adult stoneflies clinging to my waders, these are one of the only types of insect that hatch during the winter. I switched to a fly pattern that I thought resembled the stoneflies and used it the remainder of the day. There were some great holes throughout this section. I saw a trout rise for my fly in one deeper run, but I failed to set the hook. I fished a few more similar spots until I arrived back at the ford where my truck was parked. My first fly fishing trip of the year had come to a close empty handed... and I was starving. A trip to Subway was in order.

I didn't catch anything, but trips like that are what make me respect native trout. They sure know a good hiding place when they see one. Their habitats are truly rough and I'm thankful that people have kept these backwoods areas intact for these fish to continue to thrive.

Has anyone got advice for fishing beaver dams? I'd like to hear your input in the comments below.

The Legend of Ultra-Light

The standard for fly fishing has always been a rod somewhere between 8 and 9 feet long. Or at least, that is the length that most retailers carry. If you were to go buy a starter kit for fly fishing, the rod would probably be 9', either a 4-weight or 5-weight, with some standard inexpensive floating line, and a handful of popular fly designs. Going out on the lake in a canoe in the middle of the summer would be a blast with your new fly rod, you'd probably find yourself up to your eyes in panfish in a matter of hours. But after you go feed your whole community with this mess of bluegills, your eyes will probably wander to a secluded blue line on a map of a national forest; a brook trout stream.

For this trip, you've probably gained a couple-hundred foot of elevation, and with that elevation, the game changes. You're staring up a channel between mountains so thick with brush that you can't even see the water 50 yards ahead of you. In order to even access the stream you had to crawl facedown through laurel thickets, reminiscent of the giant parachute game we all remember from elementary school gym class. You have a face full of spider webs, briars tore the crotch out of your pants, and if you still have any of your gear with you, you're a lucky man. Once you find a good hole to fish, achieving the right presentation is extremely difficult when you stay hung up in the brush 75% of the time. No doubt, the smallest streams are often the most intimidating.

A stretch of trail along a small overgrown brookie stream in the Jefferson National Forest. Wythe County, Va.

One of the biggest rules of fishing is to try and match your equipment with your surroundings and the species that you're targeting. Where I grew up in Wythe County, Virginia, it's almost considered cheating if you take any rod with you when you fish for native trout. You only take a couple small hooks and about ten yards of monofillament line. You find a sturdy little stick once you get to the stream, dig around under the leaves to find yourself some bugs for bait, and you're ready fish! This is the way it has been done for generations. I love the principle of giving yourself a handicap to make it fair for these little trout.

Anyway, back to the fly rod. I've had enough bad fishing trips with a 9' fly rod that I wake up in cold sweats at night. So today, all of that changed. Last week I ordered a White River Fly Shop Classic Ultra-Light rod and reel and it arrived in the mail today. Thank you Bass Pro Shops for being the only store to carry an affordable outfit for the southern Appalachian brook trout man. This rod is approximately 5' long and it's made for 3-weight line. The reel, weighing in at a whopping 2.4 ounces and having a diameter less than 2.5 inches, compliments the tiny rod perfectly. What's the difference between this rod and finding a stick by the stream to fish with? Not much, and that's exactly why I like it. Fighting an 8-inch brook trout is going to feel like a scene from the show "River Monsters."

Check out my new rod and reel!

The brook trout box was a nice touch.

The reel.

5' 3-piece rod. Perfect for stuffing into a backpack and hiking to a mountain stream.



I'll wrap it up; to anyone whose weater is permitting it, happy fishing! I'm watching it snow for now, but tying up this new rod in anticipation has boosted my hopes. Next week's forecast is slightly more optimistic, if I get to go, this blog will know about it.

First Post/Introduction

Fish nerds and other people with too much time on their hands; welcome to the Headwaters! I'm Jake and I'll be your "online fishing guide", so to speak. What's the difference between an actual fishing guide and me? Everything. In many ways I'm still a novice fisherman. I'm a 21-year-old student at Virginia Tech majoring in Fisheries Science. Hopefully my lack of incredible fishing skills will be over-shadowed by my ability to find out more about the lives of fish and share it with my friends. Documenting my fishing trips seems fun, I'll be able to look back on some of my best trips in a few years.

What to expect:

Detailed Fishing Trips:

Expect small streams, ultra-light gear, and generally small fish. If I hiked a significant amount or camped as a part of the trip, I'll include information pertaining to that. I'm going to re-trace my steps and give you a play-by-play of each fishing trip, both good and bad. If I catch a large trout, it makes the blog. If I cast all day to no avail, get skunked, and fill my waders with water; it makes the blog. If I leave my backpack unzipped and my lunch floats away downstream, it makes the blog... along with what species of minnows chased my Doritos through the swift water.


Sweet Pictures:

If you fish, you know how easy it is to inflict water damage upon your precious electronic devices. Let's just say I'm going to do my absolute best to keep a working digital camera to help document this stuff.

Guest Writers

I thought it would be a cool idea to involve my friends in this. If you're a friend of mine who fishes around here, feel free to submit me your stories or pictures! I'm also trying to convince my beautiful girlfriend, Taylor, to help with the writing process. She's a good sport and she loves the outdoors as much as I do. Nine times out of ten, if there's a picture of me in the woods, she was the person behind the camera.

What not to expect:

Specific Locations:

It's a no-brainer that if a small stream gets too much fishing pressure it's going to be hard for it to recover. I'm not saying that my dinky little blog is going to cause the masses to flock to every trout stream I visit. I guess I'm just old-school in the fact that I don't reveal my fishing spots all over the internet. If you really want to know where I was in any given post, email me! I might even be able to hook you up with a map or take you with me the next time I go.

Poetic Nonsense:

I'm taking fisheries classes, not the liberal arts. As much as I'd like to speak ever so eloquently about the gentle beauty of teal plunge pools brimming with mayflies while enveloping white cascades within the fierce grasp of rhododendron bushes from all sides as the sun carefully levitates higher and higher in the panorama of mid-morning... that just isn't me, man. I may delve into the science of it from time to time, but mainly, I just want to catch a few fish.

Unrelated Posts:

If I begin to post about topics unrelated to fishing, someone call me out on it! I love metal music, I love watching wrestling, and I love my cat; but this one's all about the trout baby!

...New posts coming soon! I have a new fly fishing rig on its way to the house at this very moment. As soon as that's here, it's time to go chase some salvelinus fontinalis.