Every fall I start wishing for awful weather. I guess that's from growing up in Michigan where the weather is miserable from October through March. This time of year I always start getting restless to go stand in 37 degree river water in 33 degree rain. This time of year there is only one thing on my brain; Steel. As in Steelhead. Every year when the leaves fall off the trees, the wind starts blowing out of the north, and the cold rain starts to fall, my mind drifts back to searching for chrome. Well this weekend I had enough daydreaming and rounded up a few friends and headed to the closest steelhead water. New York. The first place we went to was all blown out with chocolate milk colored w
Well, with high temperatures getting lower and lower, and daylight getting less and less, a lot of people are done fishing for the year. I am not one of those people. Yes, many days heading out to stand waist deep in a stream sounds like a fool's errand, but you're going to be a fool all by yourself. If you'd rather fish without any crowds, this is your time of year. A lot of people are trying to stock their freezers with venison, so they're not on the water. And with the start of gun season next weekend, there'll be even fewer. I'm not sure why so many people think that as soon as the weather starts cooling, the fishing is done. Quite the contrary. They still need to eat. They need to eat e
A lot of the streams in and around the Shenandoah Valley are in pretty good conditions right now. They are still low, but better than two weeks ago. They are still quite clear though to you're going to need to downsize your tippet. Before the front came last week, I've had luck with 22/24 Zebra Midge in black, red, and green. With these minuscule flies, I find that using a high-floating dry, like a Royal Wulff or Humpy sized around 12/10 or so takes the place of a traditional strike indicator (its a bobber, don't lie to yourself). On streams where fish are high-pressured or are finicky, using a Thingamabobber can send trout scurrying for cover. I like using the New Zealand style indicators t
