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Making the most of winter’s return
After taking a hiatus of several years, winter has returned to Virginia. The mercury has been dipping into the single digits here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and daytime highs have barely peaked north of freezing for a couple weeks. “Just like the old days!” a friend exclaimed recently. Yep. Which means that instead of…
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12 hours and 305 miles of trout restoration in Virginia
Surveying a recent Trout Unlimited dam removal site deep in Virginia’s mountains, Dylan Cooper made sure to not just focus on what wasn’t there anymore, but what remained. “The dam was a complete fish passage barrier, so it’s great that we removed it,” said Cooper, a TU stream restoration specialist in Virginia. “But it was…
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Fishing is far more than just… fishing.
Fletcher’s Cove is among the finest urban fisheries in the country. Anglers ply its waters for white perch in February. Really big striped bass then follow the forage fish up from Chesapeake Bay. In March, the hickory and American shad appear...
“Griz” leaned on the counter of the boathouse and asked: “What was Ray and Joe Fletcher’s Dad’s name. Was it… Julius?” Dan, who has worked at Fletcher’s Cove since 1969 and worked for Joe and Ray Fletcher—the fourth generation of the Fletcher family to run the concession along the Potomac River in Washington, D.C, looked…
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Virginia project frees a stream — and trapped trout
Finding 45 brook trout in a single pool in a small creek may sound like a good thing. In the case of a small stream in Virginia’s mountains it was anything but. The fish were trapped in a small plunge pool beneath a perched culvert on Railroad Hollow, a small brook high in the Dry…
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Your next secret spot might be right under your nose
“He was right!” My friend Sam Dean exclaimed this as the 10-inch wild rainbow jumped around the small pool trying to throw Sam’s size 16 Copper John nymph, which it had mistaken for actual food. “He” was the guy who had told me a while back that a certain non-trout-looking creek was actually quite trout-y.…
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Returning Thanks
During the Beaver Creek Invitational, veterans understand the therapeutic nature of rivers. “There is always something therapeutic about being on the water. The river is so beautiful, catching fish becomes a bonus. The amount of support and love given to us veterans is truly amazing. I’m grateful for all the time and energy given by…
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Finding trout ‘hiding’ in plain sight
Remember the approach we took as kids when fishing? “The big ones are all out in the middle.” So we’d cast as far as we could because, well, we wanted to reach the fish that no one else could. We know now that such an approach is (usually) misguided on a literal level, but it’s…
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