Fishing Report

Quite a day! The 40%-predicted thunderstorms didn’t happen anywhere near this Riverbound-leased stretch of Little R, which was in good shape, down and only slightly turbid. Under full sun, the day was warm and water temperature was 19C/66F at about 1300 hr. Bob Schultz, Chair of the Roanoke College Dept of English, and I journeyed to mainly fish dryflies, and hopefully to hit a hatch of the storied Green Drake mayfly, fully cognizant that this magnificient large fly is reputed to often not show up when expected. Just a few days earlier the Green Drake had essentially finished emerging on Big Cedar Creek near Lebanon , and its hatching in Little River reportedly follows its ending in Big Cedar. I enticed Bob to join to me for the day by virtual promise of large trout whose rises often simulate a “toilet flush,” an analogy learned from noted Umpqua fly designer and VIMS graduate student Andrij Horodysky, with whom I fished Little River 12 days earlier. We arrived in late morning and fished intermittently until late dusk prevented seeing upwings out on the water. Walking banks to “read the house,” large caddisflies were sparsely aflight and two species of hoppers already populated river banks, but very few rises occurred. Bob began proffering dryflies in a pool. I started at the head of a long, somewhat narrow run from whose high bank during my previous outing, Andrij spied three large trout holding in midlength of the run – he gave me first shot, and they spooked on the first false cast! This time I crossed the stream below the run and took a wader-trackless route through woods to the head of the run. I was using a new 9-ft 5-wt system (Sage Z-Axis, CFO, Gen III DT line) and wanted to sight a fish and take it on the first cast – to properly break-in the rod; no dice, couldn’t see fish well enough. Many casts into the head of the run with my go-to #12 Isonychia nymph drew zip, until I added one medium shot to the 5x. By not many more casts I landed two Rainbow in the 18-20” range. Confidence-builders, about which I didn’t disturb Bob S’s fishing within earshot downstream. Wading about 30 ft farther down the ~3-ft deep run, a quartering down-across drift stopped, I tightened, the fish ran downstream – and rolled – Whoa! – a Riverbound Giant, immediately seen as the largest fish I’d ever hooked! I called Bob; he had to see this fish, particularly if I would lose it; hell, he saw it splash from the pool below. The battle included moderate runs, head-shakes, and big-splash rolls, basically dogged and lasting ~20 min during which I did nothing stupid. My landing net is not designed for Little River trout but I carry it there as it’s a custommade honey with about eight kinds of wood and a Dancing Bear (Grateful Dead) button embedded in the handle. The hoop of this 24” net held the fish’s head and not a whole lot more. Maybe it’s me or optics of Little River water, but its trout out in the water and closeby appear smaller than actual length. With its snout at the tip of the hoop, at least 6” extended beyond the handle; that fish was 30”, maybe 31”. Given its length and build, and convincing Jake Musick (who heads Riverbound) of 30”, Jake wrote “Conservative weight approx. 12-14 lbs!!! Possibly more.” Bob and I marveled at the fish, which quickly breathed easily and swam slowly away. This was the largest trout Bob and I had ever seen. Bob asked, how does this feel? I quietly replied, satisfaction and mellow, but that night I exclaimed several times to my two cats: “A 30” Rainbow!” (I began flyfishing at age 15 in 1955; with some years of not fishing, by 1976 my largest trout was a 18” Brown from Smith R, and in 1983 a 19” Rainbow in an Oregon spring creek. It took 51 years to hook a 20” trout, when in Yampa R, Colorado one day last summer I landed a 20” and a 21.5” Rainbow. And last November in Little R, a 24” Rainbow [which sold me on Riverbound], and two weeks later there, two Rainbow of 27”. Now 30”, so my PR has been upping by 3”-increments.) Bob returned to his pool and replaced a dryfly with a brown nymph. I removed 4” of tippet and retied the nymph, waded down a bit, and got another take, this a ~23” Rainbow which screeched the reel and, unlike the big one, almost spooled it. Seems that for Little River I need a new 5-wt reel as the CFO III and DT-F line allows only about 100 ft of very thin (gel spun) backing. I was far ahead of the game so I quit fishing for awhile; didn’t fish down to the area of the three large trout seen on the previous outing… I joined Bob who was hooked to a 23” Rainbow, which was landed despite my netting blunders – it had charged between my legs. We then explored the stream, making a few casts here and there (lost one rising Rainbow; landed a small Smallmouth Bass; casted to Black Redhorse suckers we initially thought were trout, all in a huge pool), and sat to eat a late but fine lunch provided on tablecloth by Bob. Then we collected bugs: adults along bank by sweep net, shucks by drift net, and nymphs with screen net (see below). In evening it felt time for Green Drake duns and spinners to appear. What happened was intensively increased caddisfly activity – surely ovipositing; maybe upstream group-dispersal flight; and probably emerging. In mid-dusk March Brown spinners danced; surely other insects were aflight. Noting rising in the shallow tail of a long pool, I entered slowly and perceived about seven trout; a few others were rising up-pool, and there too a few “toilet-flushes” occurred that I allocated to beaver, but maybe weren’t. Using Andrij’s new Green Drake Emerger on 6x, two Rainbow of 18-20” (smallest ones I saw) were landed, three lost (one large athlete jumped clear by 1-2 ft, 3 times, crashing back in), the others spooked. I “quit” fishing but wanted to check the next pool below, where a jillion cyprinids (minnows and allies) were dimpling the surface like light rain. Aha, big swirl! The trout slammed the emerger and sped toward Tennessee , again far into backing; the line slackened. Great day for all. No fly left in a trout mouth, only one in a tree; long drive to Salem made short by good chat. Green Drake? – all day only one dun spied in offsurface flight!

Entomology: Results of brief bug-sampling in Little River; methods noted above; some com parisons with sampling 12 days earlier; ad = adult; la = larva/nymph; pu = pupa; sh = shuck; spp = more than one species.

Shucks – These drifting larval/nymphal or pupal outer-skin casts are departed by emerging adults, hence indicating current “hatching.” Often described in fishing literature as opaque, shucks more typically are translucent including darker areas, and essentially transparent at pale areas including seemingly stretched or unfolded intersegmental lines. They are extremely flimsy, bending or wiggling with every vagary of water current. (Does anyone have or know of an extremely thin, readily flexible, but durable, cellophane-like substance, one that would hold marking-pen coloring, to use as shucks tied to the posterior end of emerger flies?)

Ephemeroptera – Mayflies baetids – 8 la, 4 sh; all very small; some 2-tailed species, some 3-tailed species, so-called Blue-Winged Olives; some of each tail-type of species about to hatch. Isonychia – 1 ad, 2 sh. Drunella – 2 la, tiny. Ephemerella dorothea – 9 la, 5 sh, Small Sulphur, hatching in small numbers; nymphs mostly yellowish tan, some yellowish brown, size 18-20. Eurylophella – 1 la, about to hatch. Ephemera guttulata – 1 sh, 1 ad seen, Green Drake. Paraleptophlebia – 3 la of one sp.; 1 la, 1 sh of another sp. Epeorus – 4 la, Quill Gordon type, some about to hatch; less numerous than 12 days ago. Heptagenia – 7 la, about to hatch; 1 sh. Maccaffertium vicarium – 3 la, March Brown, about to hatch; less numerous than 12 days ago. Maccaffertium sp. – 4 la, probably Cream Cahill. Stenacron – 6 la, some about to hatch into Cream or Yellow Cahill; 1 sh. Plecoptera – Stoneflies PteronarcysIsoperla – 2 ad Yellow Sally; 1 ad of a different species. Nigronia? – 2 ad; many of these fishflies, black with white-patched wings, seen. Trichoptera – Caddisflies (Jenkins needs to study; see Jackson River report)

Having extensively fished the Jackson tailwater in May through November 2006, this year I couldn’t get away or the river was too high until mid-May. Finally today I aimed to refamiliarize with its river-bred trout. Another warm clear day, water 58F/14C, flowing 300 cfs (a bit high for com fort), and lots of damn Didymosphenia on the bottom. Fished 5 hr of 1530-2030 hr, through which caddisfly activity and trout-rising steadily increased, joined in early evening by cream mayfly spinners and probably several other kinds of bugs. After the Little River success two days earlier, today was an educational slap-in-face. Despite all the bugs and risers, I landed only 3 Rainbow, 1 of 8”, 2 of 12”. Oh but they are pretty! Many of us are mayfly enthusiasts, and while acknowledging caddisflies and having occasional success using, e.g., the venerable dry Elkhair Caddis, we don’t really know the local caddis species, don’t have proper or any imitations of the critical emerging pupal stage, or don’t fish them correctfully from a trout’s perspective. Other than ovipositing flies, virtually all caddis I sighted were first noted when flying off the surface, and com bined with the very frequent surface bulges, splashes, and jump rise forms not preceded by a stand-up fly drifting to the rise spot, this indicates the fish keyed on the swimming, gas-buoyed, emerging pupal to nearly fully winged forms. Simply, I didn’t have imitations of the right structure, size, and color. Back to the tieing bench… Maybe a Woolly Bugger would have drawn strikes, but my game and probably the most successful approach is to try to catch fish on what they’re selectively eating!

Roanoke River, Green Hill Park , Monday, 30 Apr 2007 by Bob Jenkins

I skipped office in late afternoon and fished the Roanoke DHS in Green Hill Park for 1.5 hr, ending at near dark. Air 27C, water 19C (66F). Fished only 1 pool-run – the upper pool-run of Double Pools – the short reach leading into the brawling riffle that glides into Picnic Pool. Before the sun dropped below the western ridgetop the river surface was a sparkleout even with new expensive shades on. No hatch early on; an occasional March Brown (Maccaffertium vicarium) and Early Sulphur (Ephemerella invaria) flew off; small, cream- or yellow-bodied craneflies were emerging; small black and larger tan caddis, and microcaddis adults were around; and I grabbed two large Golden Stones (which are mostly black, with a few yellow plates), one of them off my neck. No rising. Often I looked down to Picnic Pool, wondering what’s up there – um, rock-skippers and swimmers… Swallows perched in trees and peered around, me thinking something’s about to happen. About 15 min after sundown, several March Brown male spinners appeared and danced; something to look at, until the first rise happened in the slow run at the pool tail, and then another riser near the first fish. Game on…

After 5-10 drifts to each fish, both Rainbows latched firmly onto Andrij’s March Brown Emerger, and were landed on 6x. Despite their 12-13” size, their struggle for escape was solid, about par to that of the (1 each) 14, 18, and 24” Rainbows landed the previous day on Little River (Riverbound lease). Then there were two more closeby frequent risers that wouldn’t take the MBE; I suspect they were taking something in the film or just subsurface. Instead of changing flies in gathering gloom, I started down to Picnic Pool, lost attention to wading and fell in “good”. That confirmed end-of-day, and I left for home to dry fly boxes…

So now I have a 2-day streak of fishing. My first outings of 2007 were last week on Tue and Thu late afternoons in RR GHP; 3 Browns and 2 Rainbows, 9-13”, were landed on nymphs or dries (Andrij’s BWO Dun). That 2^nd day I fished until dark in Picnic Pool, again noting almost no rising until late dusk, when 2 were landed and 2 briefly hooked, and again not knowing what they fed on.

I’m glad to see the 2006 fishing reports still on-site. Anyone interested in the trout bugs can read my info from last Apr-early May concerning identity, description (or not), and chronology of some hatches in the Roanoke at Green Hill Park. Good fish’n to all!

Fishing Report, Roanoke River, GHP, April 2007.

Tuesday 3-13-2007 from about 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm - Was preparing to go fishing at Green Hill Park in Salem about 4:00 pm today at the very upper end of the park. Standing beside my vehicle about 50 feet from the river stringing up the rod. Something caught my attention and I looked up and noticed a big bird gliding right up the middle of the river at tree top level. Thought it was a vulture at first; but, as it got even with me the sun broke through and I could see it's beautiful white head and white tail as it passed. Only the second or third time I've seen an eagle and never this close before. Had a digital camera in my pocket; but, didn't have time to get it out before the bird had passed from view. Ran down to the river bank hoping it would land somewhere nearby upstream; but, it was out of sight when I got there. What a magnificent sight!

Caught nothing and nary a strike at the Park for about an hour and a half. Went just below the Colorado St. bridge in the swift water section and caught two rainbows about 12" on Dover's Roanoke River Grubb. Tried downstream a little ways up from the Rt. 419 Bridge with no success there. Fished about two + hours altogether. Dick Taylor

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