Brownie Blueline

Because of the insane price of gas, I've been trying to find some streams near the house that I've always wanted to fish, but never seemed to have time, or there was always somewhere else to go. Hit a stream with Addicus that I've been looking at for a year or two. Today was the day. I had planned to get some weedeatn and mowin done today, but due to some rain early in the morning, grass was wet until afternoon. Seemed like a good excuse to go fishn!

Gettin to this stream was tough, the road was not marked well, and it was one of the rougher ones I've driven on. Didn't drive that far due to what would have been clearance issues, and don't really need to knock a hole in my oil pan right now. Went ahead and pulled over and started headin back down the road to get in the water. Some summer wild flowers are starting to bloom since it's begining to warm up here. Fire Pink (silene virginica) was blooming in sunny spots along the cliff beside the old road. I also saw clumps of this white, flower I have been unable to identify. If anyone out there knows what it is, please let me know! We continued down the road amongst the spent blooms of laurel and the growing green understory. Finally dropping off the side of a steep hill and dropping into the gorge. Moving precariously, holding onto rhodo and laurel branches to keep right side up.

Finally I made it to the bottom and to the water,I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautifully open stream that was little more than cascades falling into plunge pools. The first pool I cast into netted me a nice 8" brownie, little did I know that that fish was just going to set the pace for the day! I was landing nothing but sweet little brownies out of each hole, occasionally missing one or two, but landing a majority of what touched my fly. Fished all day with a size 16 EHC (natural) with pheasant tail/ hares ear hybrid for the dropper. It was about an even split on which fly the fish preferred. Came to an ordinary hole and cast to the tongue of it. My caddis drifted through a shute that terminated into a large rock. When the fly reached the rock, a very nice sized brownie took the dry and started running. The reel on my 2wt was singing as he pulled out line, not a sound I hear very often in the smaller streams. The fish barreled through the current and into a crevice under a ledge.... breaking me off. I believe this fish would have easily have measured 12" had I been able to land him. To my surprise, I was able to land another 8" brown just a little farther up the pool, about where I broke off the larger fish. One of the better days I've had on the water, which is saying alot since I've had some pretty good days lately. I think I caught between 25-30 fish, the smallest fish I caught was 5" and that was the only one under 7" for the whole day. Most fish were between 7"-8".

This was an absolutely beautiful stream, and I can't believe it fished as well as it did. Some of the cascades along the stream were amazing for the size of the water. Because of the violent drops, large and deep pools were carved into the stream bed, somewhat reminiscent of the upper reaches of W Prong Pigeon river. This stream is one I would imagine alot of people see and think they'll come back and fish it one day, but they never do. It was obvious that this stream doesn't get much pressure because of the large mats of moss on the rocks, and the numbers and size of fish caught. Bluelines are wonderful! Sometimes they don't fish great, but they almost always have something beautiful about them. Some of my best fishing memories have come from studying maps for hours to find some forgotten stream, hiking through ridiculous terrain and hells, only to find myself standing next to a emerald pool that hasn't been fished in months, maybe even years. I never seem to run into people in these areas, which makes them all the more special. I caught nothing but browns today, which I find unusual, but it makes this stream all the more special. There was more water that I didn't have time to fish, and things were begining to get tight when I started heading back to the truck. I hope to explore further, but it will be hard to ever pass up on the section I fished today!