Currently browsing… virginia
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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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Terrestrial bugs offer great dry-fly fishing on small creeks
Late summer and early fall offer some of the season's best dry-fly fishing on small creeks in the east. This isn't hatch-matching fishing. It's terrestrial season
Most years, Virginia’s small mountain trout streams have become unfishable trickles by August. This year has been a bit different. Massive rains in May and June meant the streams were in great shape heading into summer’s peak, which was a good thing because July brought record heat and a strange lack of the almost-daily thunderstorms…
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Summer is for sun(fish)
Before trout came bluegills.Not in a biological evolutionary way, but for me in a fly fishing evolutionary way.I grew up in trout country in Southern Oregon but wasn’t a fly angler. My trout rod was a little Eagle Claw ultralight spinning rig, my tackle box full of Pautzke Balls O’ Fire Salmon eggs, Velveeta cheese,…
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TU and Forest Service team up to reconnect trout stream in Virgina
By Dylan Cooper An important historical site in Virginia got a long-awaited face-lift after more than 70 years of being hampered by the presence of man-made barriers to aquatic organism passage. Bob Downey Branch, a Class III wild trout water, is once again open for trout thanks to efforts by Trout Unlimited and the George Washington…
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Finding a balance between teaching and fishing
By Mark Taylor Beck had just made a nice cast, his lure landing in a shady spot next to the James River’s bank, when he did something you don’t expect from a 15-year-old. He admitted he was clueless “When I go to a store and look at all the fishing lures, I have no idea…
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Virginia Trout Slam a surprising, and fun, challenge
The cast was too good. The drift was too good. There was no way this was not going to work. And it did. A trout dimpled the surface as it slurped in the little olive Stimulator. It wasn’t a big trout, but I played it carefully in the fading light of a sultry Virginia May…
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Long-awaited raft a fishing game-changer
By Mark Taylor As we made our way through the final riffle, I dug the oars into the cool, green waters of Virginia’s Jackson River and aimed the stern toward the boat ramp. “Have I told you that I love this thing?” I said to my fishing partner, Sam Dean. My memory isn’t as good…