Basics:

Where: Balls Bluff Regional Park on the Potomac River near Leesburg Virginia

When: April 25, 2009 (Saturday) late morning to early afternoon

Water Temperature:   56°F

Permits: Virginia state permit

Catch: Two largemouth bass, maybe 1.5 pounds each

Access: Good parking and access to the water, bad/muddy wading

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

I tried a little fishing at Balls Bluff Regional park on a nice sunny Saturday, partly to get outside, partly to avoid shopping at the nearby Leesburg outlets.  This is definitely the first time I had to walk through a civil war battle to get to the river.  There was a reenactment going on this morning, and I made my way along the path to the river under heavy cannon fire, which was sort of interesting!

There was a nice parking lot, followed by a well marked path down to the water.  Watch out for snakes, as I saw several 3-4′ black snakes sunning themselves along the trail.  When I got down to the river, there were a few bait fishermen set up at the first couple of obvious spots, so I moved north along the trail.  A few hundred feet up the trail I found what is probably the best spot for fly casting near a downed tree, with plenty of room between me and the treeline.  Unfortunately the banks of the river drop off very steeply (and muddily), so even with my hip waders on I could only get out a couple feet from the shore.  This was before the recent two weeks of rain, so it is probably running even higher now.

 

 

Despite the somewhat difficult wading conditions I did manage to land a couple largemouth bass.  There was a family bait fishing next to me that also reeled in a good-sized carp.

 

 

Bottom Line:

Although the fishing and the access here are not nearly as good as at Pennyfield Locks, it was a very pleasant alternative to shopping at the Leesburg Outlets, which are only a mile away from Balls Bluff Regional Park.  The trails were scenic and would be a nice place to walk your dog…just watch out for all the snakes!

 

 

Other Sites:

The Balls Bluff Regional Park website

Basics:

Where: Rose River Farm, outside Syria Virginia.

When: Saturday, April 18, 2009 – all day

Water Temperature:   Estimate 42-50 °F

Permits: $85 per person, plus VA fishing permit

Catch: 17 jumbo rainbows 18″-24″ (plus a dozen that broke off my line)

Access: Excellent – hip waders are useful

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

Well, I am now officially spoiled.  It will be a little harder to go in search of crafty 8″ native brook trout after a full day of catching the enormous stocked rainbow trout at Rose River Farm! 

For $85 per person, you can book a trip to Rose River Farm.  I booked my spot online through the Albemarle Angler a couple months ago.  While there is no guide or instructor included in the price, it gets you a full day (sunrise to sundown) of fishing on a mile-stretch of extremely well stocked waters and a guarantee that there will be at most 3 other people fishing that day.  There has clearly been a lot of work put into this water, which is a mile of perfectly formed pools, riffles, ledges and deep pockets set amidst a very scenic farm setting.  Although I normally reserve my “green smiley” scenery rating for wilderness areas, this place was so quiet and relaxing that I had to give it a top score.

 

 

I got to the farm first thing in the morning where I was met by a friend, and the two of us started fishing by about 7AM.  I wanted to make sure we were there early before the day warmed up and the fish stopped feeding…but as it turns out they never stopped feeding all day long, so next time I may sleep in for another hour!

There was no sign of the other two fishermen when we got there, so we decided to head all the way to the downstream border of the property and start working our way up towards the gazebo in the middle.  We actually wound up on that half of the river for the entire day, and never really bumped into the other two, who stayed on the portion upstream of the gazebo all day.

There were nice pools every two hundred feet or so, and the river was around 15 to 20 feet wide for the most part.  While most of the river was a couple feet deep (and wadeable without going over the tops of my hip waders) there were plenty of deeper pockets where literally dozens of large rainbow trout were hanging out.

 

 

These fish were not easily spooked at all; there was no need to approach the river on hands and knees.  In fact, we could basically pass different flies over the trout until we found what they were looking for.  After finding the magic fly for that particular pool (usually some form of woolly bugger on this day, with the occasional fish caught on a blue quill dry), we could generally catch 4 or 5 trout before they became wary and it was time to move on.

What the trout lacked in smarts, they more than made up for in fight.  Most of the fish we caught were between 16″ and 24″ and put up amazing fights.  Several of them  jumped a couple feet in the air while we fought them in, and all of them bent my little 3-weight rod all the way to the water.  I probably lost more fish than I caught when they snapped my leader/tippet right off.  Once I switched from a 5x tippet to a 4x tippet I solved that problem.

Believe it or not, by 4:00 we had satisfied our craving for catching giant rainbow trout and decided to call it a day.  The other two anglers were doing the same, and reported they had just as much luck as we did, but the magic fly for them had been a purple-colored copper-head nymph.  While I was tempted to stay longer to see what kind of feeding frenzy dusk brought on, I had a 2-hour drive ahead of me and a pretty good sunburn developing.

Bottom Line:

This place was amazing.  While $85 may seem like a lot for a day of fishing, it is a whole lot cheaper than flying out West, which is probably one of your only other options for catching fish like this.  The only other place in the DC area I’ve been to with fish this size was The Greenbrier, but that comes with a several hundred dollar a night hotel charge, and while the fish there were just as large, they didn’t put up the same fight as the rainbows here at Rose River Farm.

I am already trying to figure out what day to book when they reopen in the fall (Closed June 15 -mid-September ), and will probably make this a twice-a-year trip from now on.

I have not included exact directions to Rose River Farm.  I’m assuming that if they wanted this information on the internet they would have put it on their own web page.  With a little web searching you can find its location (near Syria, VA), or you can book a trip and they will email you directions.  If you have ever fished the Hughes, Whiteoak Canyon or Rose River from the lower boundary of Shenandoah you have probably driven right past it.

Other Sites:

The Rose River Farm official web site

Switchfisher’s Trip Report

Basics:

Where: Patuxent River, Laurel Stretch, near High Ridge Park, Laurel, Maryland

When: Early morning, March 31 2009

Water Temperature:   41°F

Permits: Maryland state permit and trout stamp (subject to closure periods 1,3)

Catch: None

Access: Excellent access via a paved footpath, hip-waders helpful

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

I had originally planned to drive to High Ridge Park and fish the length of the river next to it, but I got a little lost at 6 in the morning and wound up parking at a public swimming pool on 9th Street (where it intersects Main Street in Laurel) instead.  From this parking lot there was a very nice paved footpath running along the river with several signs posted about the stocking program, so I decided it was as good a spot as any.

According to the Maryland Spring Stocking Table this stretch of the Patuxent should have been stocked with 720 trout sometime between March 8-28.  Due to the closure periods, it had just opened to fishing on the 29th, so I figured there was a good chance there would still be fish in here a couple days later.  Unfortunately, if they were in there, they were huddled at the bottom of the deeper pools still asleep at 6:30 in the morning.  Maybe I should have still been asleep too, but I thought I’d try to get a little fishing in before work.

This part of the river is right next to a lot of apartment housing, so it probably gets a lot of pressure.  I saw many signs of bait fishing (which is legal here outside of Closure Periods 1 and 3), and it is quite possible that they had already pulled most of the trout out of this section of water during the preceeding two days.  Despite that, it is a fairly nice stretch of water.  There is far less pollution than at Accotinck Creek, but maybe a little more that at Holmes Run.  So, I walked about a half mile downstream, and then fished back up towards the car.

Most of the river is about 20 feet wide, varying in depth from 6 inches to several feet.  There are many types of water to fish here: deep slow moving pools, fast shallow riffles, overhung banks.  Even though I saw no sign of trout, I at least got a little practice in on my mending in some of the faster moving currents.

Despite the fact that I saw no trout, I haven’t quite written off this piece of water yet.  I gave it a “yellow smiley” for the overall rating, because it is worth returning to try out the stretch of river a little further upstream adjacent to High Ridge Park.  This would also be a great place to take a child fishing, or to teach a friend the basics of fly fishing, as long as you aren’t counting on catching a lot of fish.  If a day of not catching anything is not your speed, you probably would only want to come on March 29th…but be prepared to be surrounded by bait dunkers.

Bottom Line:

I may come back here one more time to give it another chance.  Maybe I was a little too far downstream, or maybe I was just up too early and it was too cold out.  There are other stretches of the Patuxent River nearby that are catch and release though, so I’ll probably hit them before coming back.

 

A nice bend with a deep pocket along the far bank

 

Other Sites:

Basics:

Where: Jeremy’s Run, Northwest Shenandoah Park, Virginia

When: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 (afternoon)

Water Temperature:   42°F

Permits: Virginia state permit and trout stamp

Catch: None (saw plenty)

Access: Good access from skyline drive via Jeremy’s run trail.  Also accessible from the bottom of the park.

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

I went to Jeremy’s run on a Wednesday because I’ve heard it can get quite crowded on the weekends, being near the north end of Shenadoah Park.  Access to the stream was very easy from Skyline Drive; just park in the Elkswallow picnic area, then take the Appalachian Trail a short distance to Jeremy’s Run trail.  I recommend walking a couple miles down Jeremy’s Run, then fishing your way back uphill (and upstream) to the car.  You can also access Jeremy’s run from the bottom border of the park, but I haven’t tried that yet.

This trip was more about hiking than fishing, so I didn’t get in all that many casts, but I could see that there were plenty of trout in each of the pools.  The river was fairly low (about 6-12″), but there were lots of deeper pools with native brook trout hanging out in them.  Most of the trout I say looked to be 6-8″, but I’m sure there were some bigger ones lurking in there somewhere.

I got a couple hits on a copper john nymph that I had dropped 14″ under an indicator beetle, but didn’t manage to hook any.  I also notice a few trout had started feeding off the surface; a griffith’s gnat probably would have worked well this day if I had any with me.

The trail itself was very scenic, and the hike out, while somewhat strenuous, was not nearly as steep as many of the other trails leading up to Skyline Drive.

Bottom Line:

A very nice hike, and there were a lot of trout in the stream.  I would have liked to have some more time for fishing, but I had my dog along, and he was more interested in playing than in sitting quietly while I fished!  Definitely worth a repeat trip, but probably only when I can get away mid-week, as this stretch of river apparently gets very busy on the weekends with fishers and hikers.

 

Other Sites:

Switchfisher’s Trip Report for Jeremy’s Run

NVATU Forum Post on Shenandoah

Basics:

Where: Holmes Run, Virginia (Inside the Beltway), downstream of Columbia Pike.

When: March 7, 2009 – afternoon

Water Temperature:   44°F

Permits: Virginia fishing permit and trout stamp.

Catch: 3 rainbow trout, about 9″

Access: Excellent access with a path along the stream; waders are helpful but not necessary.

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

After fishing Accotink Creek earlier today, this was a nice change of pace.  While Holmes Run isn’t exactly a pristine mountain stream, it is clean enough that I didn’t mind walking around in it, and it definitely seems nice enough for some trout to survive, at least until it warms up in the summer.

I parked in the small parking lot at the north end of this stretch of water, just off Columbia Pike.  From here I jumped onto the jogging trail and walked downstream for about a half hour so that I could work my way back upstream to the car.   There were two other fly fisherman out today, neither of which reported having any luck when I saw them.  If there had been many more I might have had a little trouble finding a good stretch of water to work in this area, but it worked out pretty well.  The bigger problem was the group of kids that kept chucking rocks into all the pools upstream of me as I worked my way back towards the car…but I suppose it is nice that they are outside at least!

For a while I tried fishing the relatively shallow and swiftly moving riffles because the deeper pools seemed to barely have any current.  After an hour of that with no luck I changed tack and started letting my flies drift through the barely moving pools.  I tied a brown copper-headed nymph about 14 inches below a beetle dry fly and let it bump along the rocks in the pools.  This quickly produced three nice little rainbows for me, so despite the fact that I couldn’t see any fish, there are definitely trout in there!

At this point the kids with their rocks decided to follow me to each pool, and I suspected the fly fisherman downstream of me was probably getting close to catching up, so I figured it was a good time to call it a day.

Bottom Line:

All in all, this was nicer than I thought it would be.  It is the best trout fishing that I have found inside the Beltway.  I’m sure it gets a whole lot of traffic when the weather is nice, but I could see coming here weekends in the off-season and weekdays near the times that it is stocked.  This would be a good place for a beginner fly fisher in the DC area to get in some casting practice and catch a few fish.

 

 

 

Other Sites:

Northern VA TU Discussion on Holmes Run

Basics:

Where: Accotink Creek, Virginia.  Upstream of the tennis courts at the Audrey Moore Recreational Center.

When: March 7, 2009 – Early afternoon

Water Temperature:   42°F

Permits: Virginia fishing permit and trout stamp

Catch: None

Access: Very good, with great parking and even restrooms.  Highly recommend waders (hip are fine).

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

I didn’t go into this one with high hopes after reading several other trip reports out there on the web, but I figured it was worth a shot since it was inside the beltway and had pretty easy access.  I parked near the tennis courts at the Audrey Moore recreational center in Wakefield Park, and took the dirt path that goes right by courts 1 and 2 down to the river.

The creek looked promising at first.  Although the water was not particularly clean looking, there were many nice riffles and pools that looked like they could hide trout.  As nothing was breaking the surface, I started out trying some nymphs.  After working my way through the first several pools without seeing any signs of trout it became apparent that I was probably going to strike out on this trip.  The further upstream I got, the more garbage and debris I noticed in the creek…a poor little  beaver had even dropped dead in the middle of the creek recently, which was surely not helping the fishing downstream.  I was happy to have my waders on here, I wouldn’t want to go in there with just a bathing suit on.

After a couple hours with no signs of life I made it to the first bridge north of the rec center.  Here I met another fly guy who had just covered the creek all the way from the bridge to Little River Turnpike with similar results.  Neither of us saw any signs of fish or insects in the creek.

Here are a few photos I took while I was there:

 

 

Bottom Line:

I won’t be coming back here; to be honest I’m surprised they stock this stretch of water, it seems cruel to the trout.  If I’m looking for a trip to a stream inside the beltway on the Virginia side I will go to Holmes Run instead.

Other Sites:

Switchfisher’s trip report for Accotink

Northern VA TU Discussion on Accotink

Basics:

Where: Little Tonoloway Creek, Hancock Maryland, upstream of the youth/blind section.

When: February 19, 2009 – Evening

Water Temperature: 36 °F

Permits: Maryland State permit and trout stamp

Catch: None

Access: Pretty good path from the parking area; hip or chest waders were helpful to reach some of the better pools.

Map:

Ratings:

Trip Report:

I happened to be in Hancock for work and had an hour or so available afterwards, so I figured I would drop by Little Tonoloway Creek.  According to the Maryland fisheries website about 400 trout had been dumped into the upper section only a couple weeks before, so I figured it was worth a try, despite the freezing conditions.

To get there, drive to Park Road in Hancock and park at the baseball field.  The stretch of stream just beside this parking area is designated for youth and blind fisherman…so unless you are under 16 and/or blind you’ll have to move upstream just a little ways.  There is a pretty good path through the woods north of the baseball diamond though, which will take you around the bend across from a horse farm, which is where the stocked section of the creek begins.

I decided to start at the south (downstream) end of the stocked section after reading Switchfisher’s informative post about the behavior of stocked trout.  Although I couldn’t see any signs of trout, this wasn’t surprising as they were probably hunkered down at the bottom of the deeper pools on this below-freezing day.  It was also overcast, so I couldn’t see into any of the deeper pockets, where the water would be warmer than the surface temperature of 36 °F.

Since nothing was breaking the surface, nor were there any flying/floating insects around, I decided to try out a nymph or two.  This being my first trip of the season I was primarily hoping to work off some of the rust of hiding inside all winter, and figured any trout I caught would be a bonus.  After about 30 or so casts I realized why you don’t see a lot of people fly fishing in sub-freezing temperatures…chunks of ice were slowly building up around the eyelets of my fly rod until I finally couldn’t strip or cast the line anymore.  I took this as a sign that it was time to congratulate myself for not falling into the freezing cold water or losing any flys in the overhanging trees and pack it in for the day.

Several lessons learned about winter fly fishing:

- While temperatures in the thirties might be ok for catching trout, anything below freezing makes casting very tedious due to ice buildup.

- If your camera batteries have been sitting in the ice-cold trunk of your car all day, don’t expect them to hold any charge (hence the lack of photos in this post).

- Fly fishing is addictive enough to make me stand waist deep in a pool of ice water just because I hope it will make spring come more quickly.

Bottom Line:

This was a very pleasant spot; very scenic despite being right on the edge of town.  I would like to come back here again when it is a little warmer out, but probably wouldn’t make the almost 2-hour drive from DC just to come here.

I implemented a new “?” in my ratings system because I really had no way to judge the number and size of trout.  I didn’t see any sign of any, but I’m pretty sure there were at least a couple hundred of them lurking in the pools.  While I didn’t see a single other person that day, I suspect that the ease of access and location in a settled area means that during spring/fall this river could get a fair amount of pressure.