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Hans Loberg's report. The Smith River Mystery, I guess I'll never figure that place out, - maybe that's why we go back.

We fished late morning and were wondered if there were any trout left at all, - there was nothing, - no rises, no takes on either drys or nymphs. The usual thought of giving up on that place reoccurred, as it often has in the past.

Then, around two in the afternoon the river just transformed! Midges, some caddis and tiny blue wing olives arrived and the trout just went wild, -they were there alright! Not quite like a prime sulfur hatch in May and June, but wow, the sipping rises of the trout just covered the entire pool.

So, what's more frustrating? - not catching anything when you wonder if you are fishing in "dead' water, - or not catching anything when the water is boiling with rises....? Well, we did catch a few, but those size 26 - 28 blue wing olives can be quite a challenge to imitate. We had to leave, - Anke's waders were leaking, - if not, - I'm sure I could have figured it all out....., again. We had a very good day, and we were fortunate to be reminded of why we will always come back to the Smith River .

Hans Loberg's report. We stocked Roanoke River early October, - did someone get back in and haul all the trout back out again?

I have fished the river a few times ( Anke does not care much for "tame" trout , she only wants the real deal), but I have yet to figure out where the fish are hiding out, - apparently not in the traditional holdouts.

Well, the water has been low and clear, that could be a problem, - then, maybe it's just me, - without my guide I just don't do too well....

Terry Tsuboda's Report. I took a road trip to Washington D.C. for the Labor Day weekend and I had decided that I would take my fishing gear with me so that I can check out Bullpasture River on my way back. At gas prices being around $3.20 a gallon, taking advantage of all the opportunities has become more important than ever. As I reached "the gorge," I parked at a parking lot at the upper end. There was a suspension bridge making it easy to cross the stream where the beaten path was. But this path goes only about 1/4 of a mile down stream and after that, you would have to either wade down the stream if the water is reasonably low, or you would have to negotiate your way through the vegetation. I managed only about a mile and a half where I started fishing back up stream. The bedrock that forms the bottom was rather different in that it looked sort of like lava rock type. The river is fed by numerous small spring fed streams, keeping the water temperature respectably low even in the middle of summer day like today and even though the water level was rather low like all the other streams. I didn't see much of insect activities but I probably left there a bit too early for that. I concentrated fishing in the areas just down streams from where those spring creaks were dumping out to the river. But I had no luck with any of my drys or nymphs all day. As I was starting to get worn out, I tied a wooly bugger and tossed in. Out of nowhere, a couple big rainbows (I think) jumped out of their hiding places collided with each other. This caught me completely off guard, especially after nothing happening all day. On my second cast, one of them came after it again, and this time, I found myself with a 18 inch rainbow firmly hooked at the end of my tippet. Where was the camera when I needed it!!!

Dick Taylor's fishing report and pictures from Roaring Run. Getting over a bad sinus, chest and head virus that's lasted for two and a half weeks now. Figured the cure might be some "fishing therapy." I think it's starting to work. Figured if it didn't I'd die happy anyway on a stream! Headed for Roaring Run about 3:00 pm Monday June 27th.. Bright sun and about 85°; but, if you've been there you know it gets a mite cooler down in the "gorge." Fished the upper end of the C&R area and parked about a half mile from the Alleghany County line near the top of the mountain. Started off real good with a nice little 10" football shaped rainbow on the first cast into the pool at the end of the trail down to the stream. Only used a black foam ant that I tied, with an orange post for visibility, the whole time there. Liked that top water splat when they smacked it. Caught about 6-8 mostly in the 10" range with one nice 12" rainbow that was very stocky. Looked away for a second and thought I was hooked on the bottom till the "bottom" started racing around the pool! Missed an equal number of others and saw a few that wouldn't hit. The water wasn't too low and it was discolored just the way you'd like it. Was thinking of fishing till 7:00 pm or a little later when the rumble of thunder started about 6:15 pm. Decided to pack it in and hustled straightaway down to the beginning pool when, with a big thunderous bang, the skies opened up big time. Made it back to the truck slightly soaked; but, it felt pretty good actually.

I headed out to check out Little Stony Creek today however, as I drove down the road leading to Cascade Recreational Area, I saw a USFS truck on the side with a sign indicating that it was going to be closed today. Out of curiosity, I continued all the way to the entrance. Sure enough, the gate was down and a lady from USFS was guarding it. As I spoke to her, it turned out that there had been a terrible tree disease which killed over 600 trees in the area. In order to prevent accidents, they were cutting those trees down and cleaning them up. According to her, they planed to keep Cascade Recreational Area closed until Jun 24th (Fri.)

So I decided to do the next best thing under the circumstance, which was to fish along Big Stony Creek in Jefferson National Forest. The water was pretty low and the temperature was 68 degrees. The time was around 3:30 pm already. After I geared up, I started hitting one of the pools with a dry fly. Incredibly, I had a strike on my very first cast. There was a nice 14 inch rainbow attached at the end of my tippet after wrestling it into my net. But that was the only one I got on dry fly. After that, I did best using #16 Prince. After few hours of fishing, I counted about 8 trout, ranging anywhere from 12" to 15".

It was a very warm day. I fished just above the picnic area on Roanoke River at Green Hill Park. It was so warm that it was visibly obvious that the fish were pretty lethargic. In fact, I walked up to one of them, bent over, reached into the water and was able to pet its head, which caused him to wake up from her afternoon nap and to dart away. I guess she didn't appreciate that very much.

Fished upper section of Roanoke River at Green Hill Park, past the picnic area only, this afternoon till about 8:00 pm. Sulpher hatch came off starting about 5:00 pm and continued till I left. Caught about half a dozen rainbows in the 12" to 15" range. Met another fisherman and he was catching them on BWO's. Caught mine on BWO and a home tied olive bodied mayfly imitation with white Krylon wings. Broke off three nice ones including a big brown that almost came to hand. Fishing was better after the "rubber rafters" and "stone peggers" got through doing their thing!
Dick Taylor

Roanoke River, Green Hill Park, Sunday, May 22, 2005.

The new "stockers" became educated quickly and are now expert entomologists. After 5pm there was significant action by both insects and trout in the upper section of the river at Green Hill park. No more March Browns, but plenty of Light Cahills were coming off. There were a few big splashes, but mostly sipping in the surface. However, they are not easy to catch (Power Bait, spinners, Peach flies and Red Necks don't count). ( -and as usual; Anke and Rolf caught more than I did in spite of the fact that I hogged the "hot spot"!)

Hans Loberg

Smith River - Friday, May 13, 2005

Generation stopped at 2pm so we could get in around 3:30. Not much action in the beginning as the water was coming down, but around 5pm the sulfurs started to come off according to their May tradition and the fish got busy. The trout were coming up all over to show us why we always come back to this river which at other times of the year can be very unfriendly. (The sulfur hatches sure make us wonder where they all hang out the rest of the year....)

As usual, Anke out-fished Dick Cole and myself by making the first catch, then continuing to catch more and bigger trout than both of us. Her "broken record" comment; "It's a big one!" got to be annoying at times! Oh well, -as the evening fog and darkness started to hide the Smith we left the river to a lonely beaver and half a dozen squawking Canada geese; it had been good fishing.

Hans Loberg

I visited the North Fork of the Buffalo with my 2 wt Ultrafine in my hand, looking for some brookie action. The stream is, as I understand it, one of the few places set aside exclusively for brook trout in Virginia.

The brookies at North Fork of Buffalo are particularly vivid in their color. Though it is not for someone looking for big fish, if spending your day chasing those gorgeous brookies in solitude in a stream that's heartbreakingly beautiful is a just a cup of tea for you, this is one of many streams in our area that would fit the bill.

In the past couple of years, it was not unusual to see brookies whose sizes reaching almost a foot at this stream even in early summer so I was rather surprised to see that all the fish I saw were averaging only 6 - 7 inches.

There were may flies hatching all over the place, with their colors ranging anywhere between tan, cream and light green. So, I was using dry flies that somewhat resembled them in sizes 18 and 20, such as BWOs, Light Cahills, etc. Attractor flies such Royal Trude in green worked well also.

I tried Green Hill park again to check out the action. The place was a zoo due to the great weather, with tubers and kayakers out in force. Poachers abounded. The water flow is going down fast. I only caught five fish (one brown, four rainbows), but three of them were really quality fish. The brown was a little over 20 inches. Big hatches were coming up, but the trout were largely ignoring them. I caught all my fish on streamers.

I just had to see what DGIF had left for us with the Monday, May 2 stocking, so I was at the river early Tuesday morning. Expecting predominately rainbow action, I opened with an olive Wooly Bugger fished in the riffles. I caught three rainbows, including one very pretty 14 incher. I then switched to an ugly, predominately white streamer to see if I could convince some stupid brown that I was presenting a fat, juicy minnow. I was immediately rewarded with a beautifully colored 18 inch plus hook jawed male. Where was that camera when I needed it? Within a few minutes I landed two more browns and lost a hard strike - all in slow water, at the end of a slow drift. With time running out, I just explored the remainder of the pool I was fishing with no luck. Going back by the area where I had caught the browns, I flipped out another cast and caught another nice brown. Then I had to go. A hatch was just starting as I left, but I didn't see any rises. So, 3 rainbows and 4 browns - all subsurface. Not bad considering my lack of time. The surprising thing is that there was only one other fisherman at the park. As I drove home, I went by the lower Special Regs area and saw no one. I hope to get back by there soon, but other activities call.

Last week we had a good day on the Jackson, Hidden Valley, overcast and rain no wind. We walked in from the upper end and killed 'em. Especially enjoyed two trout on one cast. I was using a Humpy with a 16 bead head prince dropper. Two trout on same cast. Two species. Brown and Brook. What a treat!

This trout was taken at upper Jackson River on April 11th, 2005. I fished in both the section between the parking lot and "the bridge," and the section immediately above "the bridge." About the half the fish I caught below the bridge were stocked rainbows. I saw some brookies above the bridge as well.

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