Current Local Conditions

7/3 We hope eveyone has a happy and safe 4th of July. We will be CLOSED Sat. the 4th and back on the water Monday!

James and Shenandoah Rivers: The bass fishing is excellent right now. Last week was incredible and fishing on Sunday couldn't have been any better. The bite Monday slacked off a bit when the front pushed through. Tuesday was another great day on the South Fork. Smallmouth to 17" and largemouth to 3 pounds were landed today. Topwater bugs in black, dark blue, light blue, olive, and emerald green all seemed to work in size 2 and 4. Clawdads in brown, olive, and tan and CK baitfish in white, olive, tan, and a few combination colors slayed fish. The smallmouth can definitely be found in the shady spots on the hot sunny days. Do not neglect the mid river ledges though! The biggest fish we have caught so far have been in the deep green water behind or in between the rock ledges. Get your fly in before you boat gets close and fish it slowly and deep. Wait for you line to straighten out or twitch and set the hook...hard. We are using 16 pound fluorocarbon as our tippet material on 6-8 weights. We have trips booked every day for the next few weeks, so stay tuned for reports! Call now to reserve a day before it is too late. We only have a handful of days left in July!

Mountain Streams: The brook trout fishing is still great up in the mountains! Ramsey's Draft, St. Mary's, Dry River, Skidmore Fork, Rapidan, Conway, Rose, Mormon's, and North River Upper all have good water levels right now. Yellow stonefly imitations like size 16-18 stimulators, paralyzers, yellow sallies, and spotlight sallies will all work very well. A size 14-18 adams parachute is also one of our favorite brook trout flies. You favorite attractors will also work. As water levels recede we will tend to throw smaller flies and lighter tippets. Right now a 9' 5 or 6X leader will suffice for all your dry fly applications. A big ant in size 12-14 will also work well if fish are being picky. All the standard nymphs and small streamers will work if you have a hard time getting the brook trout to rise. Enjoy the late season in the mountains while we have solid water levels. Watch out for poison ivy, stinging nettle, and snakes! The Jackson is running right at average flow for June. It is clear and fishing very well right now. Although you may see some rising fish, be sure to take plenty of stonefly patterns with you. Large stones in black, brown, and yellow cover the stream bed. A Kauffman stone size 10-12 in brown or black will do the trick. Be sure to fish the shady spots on the Jackson and between any big boulders, undercut rock ledges and banks. South River, North River, Maury, Bullpasture, and other stocked streams are at excellent levels. You should still be able to find a few nice holdover fish in these rivers right now. Get out and enjoy them while the quality water levels are still available! River Valley Farm finally looks beautiful. Fishing will be excellent this week as the water has have very little pressure over the past 2 months from all the high water. Bookings are fairly light for July at the moment and fishing is great that time of year. Call now to book before we fill up!

Spring Creeks: The trout fishing on Mossy this week has gotten better and better. We had a trip yesterday that produced 99% of our fish on beetles!!! Our new favorite pattern in the shop is an emerald green foam beetle from Umpqua called the Butt Munch Beetle. Browns big and small were all over this pattern. The Japanese beetles are starting to cover the vegetation and the terrestrial fishing should only get better over the next few weeks. Fishing on Mossy was very comfortable this week. Temperatures only hit the upper 70's and low 80's with a nice breeze to keep us cool. This weather trend looks like it will continue for a while. We landed browns up to and over 20 inches on beetles this week! We have very limited availability over the next 2 weeks for trips, but give us a call soon if you want to experience a morning of some of the best dry fly fishing around!!! Beaver Creek and Smith Creek are both fishing well right now. The trico hatch in the morning has been excellent on all 3 spring creeks. The sulphur hatch has been strongest on Beaver Creek and on some areas of Mossy. Great reports have come from Susie Q Farm where anglers have been catching some very nice fish on ants. The beetle action should fire up here soon and it won't be but a month before we are landing the big boys on hoppers!!! Have fun out there!