Leaves of Three: Let Anglers Be!

photo: NPS

The large trout was gently finning, staying relatively still in the gin clear water. Every once in a while he would slide to the right or the left. Given that the spring creek was absolutely thick with cress bugs, it was a safe assumption that the brown was sold out to feeding on these little crustaceans. Now all I had to do was get my fake cress bug in front of him.

But then I realized there was a problem.

I had crawled under the bushes for a dozen yards to observe this particular brown trout. Walking upstream, a flash of color and movement gave me all I needed to investigate. Since the fish in the headwaters of this stream were notoriously wary I made the decision to slither on my belly to an unobtrusive vantage point. These trout were earned. This kind of thing was normal.

As I already mentioned, after locating the fish and identifying a reasonable pattern in his behavior there was a problem. The cast and presentation would be difficult; sure. But the real quandary I found myself in was a thick tangle of poison ivy. I had been so laser focused on keeping my eyeballs on the fish that I neglected to acknowledge that I was army crawling through Satan’s preferred ground covering.

Remarkably, I came away from that scenario unscathed. I say remarkably, because that is not usually what happens to me when I come in contact with even a hint of the oil from this demon vine. Calamine and steroids are usually necessary. That is why I am usually much more observant of these three poison ivy deterrents:

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Podcast Ep. 283: Guide Stories & Insights

Guides do a lot more than put fish on the end of your line. In fact, putting fish on the end of your line is one of those things they can’t do. So when they ask questions, give ideas, or encourage the trip to go in a different direction, their expertise is worth leaning into.

Today I’m sharing four guide stories. Two are from my perspective as a client, one as a guide, and the last is from a friend with a particularly stubborn client. They’re more educational/cautionary tales than anything else, but hopefully they can give some perspective as we’re heading into another fishing season. And, potentially time on the water with a guide.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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The Kind of Moxie it Takes to be Anadromous

The history of introducing fish into American waterways is a story of interesting stories. Setting aside the ecological concerns of nonnative species for a moment, the paths taken by the ancestors of today’s trout and bass are remarkable. There are plenty of fantastical accounts of warming barrels of fry and derailed trail cars filled with parr. Of course, some may be apocryphal.

At the same time, when we watch a hatchery tanker filled with 100,000 juvenile salmon overturn and dump the majority of the fish into a river we can believe the fantastic.

This precise thing happened in early last week (April, 2024).

While we don’t know the end of the story, the beginning of this fish tale are certainly interesting:

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Reelly: Believe the Fly Fishing Unbelievable

“What is the most unbelievable thing that has happened on the river?” After guiding for decades, Ryan Johnston has probably heard that query more than a few times. The result is Reelly.

In asking a question like that, some people are  looking to be amazed. Some are probably looking for dirt.  Johnston’s book is not a tawdry list of misbehaving, rude, or clueless clients. There are a few individuals who grace the pages of Reelly that might make you wince a bit, but this isn’t an opportunity for a fly fishing guide to vent. While  “unbelievable fly fishing guide stories”  may elicit the idea of one worst day ever after another, this book does something different. And it does something better.

In a straightforward but engaging manner Reelly lays out dozens of remarkable moments from a guide’s decades at the oars. Most of the situations would be the most talked about scenario of your season. Some may very well be the pinnacle of your angling career. For Johnston, enough things like this have happened that it was probably wise to record it all for memory’s sake.

But because he did, you have an opportunity to hear about these unbelievable moments too.

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Podcast Ep. 282: Nasty Weather Fly Gear

…and a few of them are pretty inexpensive, too.

For one reason or another, you might find yourself fly fishing in the kind of weather that isn’t found on catalog covers. But there is also a very good chance that such outings yield experiences that you won’t forget.

By and large, the gear that you have will work when water is high, fast, and coming from the sky. But there are a few things that are really helpful for you to have on hand when the fair-weather anglers are warm and dry.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Bread, Milk, & Egg Patterns

As far as I can recall, I’ve only really pressed my luck once when it has come to fly fishing in blizzards.

To be fair, I was fishing the Lake Erie tributaries. Not only are the lake effect weather patterns erratic, but combat fishing for steelhead* puts you in an unstable state of mind. After two days with moderate success with the trout, we woke to a report saying that the entire Northeast and Mid-Atlantic was going to be covered in snow. Immediately.

Bearing an implicit assumption that the media sensationalizes things, we thought we could get a morning of fishing in. By the time we waded into the river the visibility had dropped to a long double haul’s length. So we thought we could still get half a morning of fishing in.

Crawling down the interstate a few hours later, flanked by giant PennDOT salt trucks, we began to second guess our decision.

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6 Simple Fly Reel Maintenance Steps

For most fly fishers, their reel isn’t what they think about with great detail until something goes horribly wrong. It locks up. It starts making a weird sound. The screw holding the handle falls into the river, with the handle soon following suit.

Modern fly reels are incredibly  resilient.  But an ounce of prevention between trips or before the season starts can forestall the $200 new reel cure. Or, more importantly, a little work on the front end can circumvent a very frustrating moment on the water.

Below are 6 tips for taking care of your fly reel. Truth be told, it is really only 5 (because #1 ought to be a no-brainer). But if you take care of your reel, it will more than likely take care of you. Whether it is a simple click and pawl trout reel or a mammoth saltwater machine that could stop a midsize sedan, a little bit of maintenance can keep your reel winding and keep you on the water.

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Podcast Ep. 281: Fly Fishing VA, 2 Ways

I was blessed to get a week and a half of vacation in one of my favorite places in this world: Virginia’s Blue Ridge.

Along  with general rest and a lot of family time, I was able to get out and do a little bit of fishing. In this week’s episode I talk through why  this region is special, how I spent my time on the water, and some tactics that you might find useful.

On a related note, I usually get some great feedback from others who fish the areas I mention on the podcast. Please reach out and let me know if you have fished or are planning to fish the mountain brooks and spring creeks of central VA!

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Coming Back to New Water

I only lived in Pennsylvania for seven years. But the quantity and quality of the angling I squeezed in during grad school and my first career was remarkable. Primarily focusing on spring creeks, with the overwhelming majority  of the time on three in particular, I can’t fathom how many  days of my life were spent stalking Keystone trout.

While I’ve logged more hours fly fishing in Pennsylvania than in any other state, the list of different streams I’ve fished in Virginia is the longest by far. Driving down either side of the Shenandoah National Park, there are memories linked to countless trailheads and bridge-side parking spots. There are plenty of brook trout creeks south of the park and, further west, in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests that I have spent time on. I have ticked a lot of larger rivers and spring creeks off my Old Dominion list, but the mountain streams have worn the soles off of multiple pairs of wading boots.

There was the fishing that occurred alongside the outings when a friend and I performed amateur biological surveys with the blessing of the Department of the Interior. Often these days started in the dark and ended in the dark. Multiple times have I been fishing a stream with the strong, sneaking suspicion that I had been there before.  In all likelihood, I was in the same pool that I had stood in a decade or more before.

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Time in a Bottle

You’re never going to look back, excited about the mornings you slept in.

It will never be the half-way, B- for effort fishing that you’ll remember. It will always be the mornings when the coffee couldn’t come soon enough. The times when you had to wait and watch the minutes tick by before you could make that first legal cast. All the uncomfortable nights in reclined seats and makeshift campsites. It is the times that you worked for it, that you went for it, that you felt like you earned it.

Those times are the times that will come up first as you remember last season. The moments you still talk about years and decades from now.

Are there pragmatic benefits? Absolutely. Pressured waters fish much better for those who get to the coveted runs first. More hours on the river translate into more opportunities. Hiking further and deeper puts you places others won’t or can’t go. Again: you’ll be happy you fished with a bit more of an intense edge.

But there is more to it than that.

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