Spring Brook Trout Fly Fishing in the Mid Atlantic

Spring Brook Trout Fly Fishing in the Mid-Atlantic

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Brook Trout - Salvelinus Fontinalis I started fishing for wild native brook trout in the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in Virginia in 1960 and although I fish many of the finest trout streams throughout the country each year these wild brook trout are still my favorite. The beauty of the small headwater streams where these trout are found and the challenges of stalking them bring gratifications I find in no other fishing.

In 1988 the officials of the Shenandoah National Park asked me to write the book Trout Fishing in the Shenandoah National Park so trout anglers would come to know

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these fine brook trout streams, how to access them, the aquatic insect hatches and productive angling tactics.

A few years later they asked me to make the DVD Fly Fishing for Trout in order to teach the best tactics for brook trout fly fishing. We have taught fly fishing for these brook trout since the late 1960’s.

Today hundreds of anglers who

started in these schools are now trout fishing successfully all around the world.

I have often thought of the wild brook trout as the gentleman of the mountain streams and I honestly believe that the more you fish for him the greater respect you will develop for him.

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March
 As the streams warm up in March the metabolic needs of the brook trout increase and they need to start feeding more aggressively. Nature takes care of this nicely by increasing the activity and growth of the aquatic insects.

For example, early in March the Epeorus pleuralis mayfly nymphs (Quill Gordon) become very active in the riffles and many of them move to the downstream sides of the boulders just below the water line.

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By fishing a Mr. Rapidan Bead Head Nymph size 12 upstream dead drift below the riffle you can catch many nice trout throughout March. Additionally, by mid March many of these nymphs hatch into duns and the dry fly fishing is outstanding with a Mr. Rapidan Parachute Dry size 14.

The duns start coming off about noon and from mid-afternoon until dark they are very heavy. The spinners come back the last two hours of the day so we have both duns and spinners on the water at this time and the fishing is fantastic.

A week after the emergence of the Epeorus duns the Paraleptophlebia adaptiva mayflies start coming off and a Blue Quill Dry size 16 will take many trout. These little Blue Quill duns are very fragile and a snap of cold weather which drops the stream temperature slows their getaway and many of them are shunted to the slow eddies on the sides of the stream. Here you will see them drifting around and around in slow lazy Susans. Watch for the trouts' rise forms below these little flotillas and fish them with a Blue Quill Dry Fly size 16 and you will have wonderful action.

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April
 This is my favorite month to fish for brook trout in Virginia.

We still have great hatches of the Eperous pleuralis and Paraleptophlebia adaptiva mayflies that started last month but now we also have wonderful hatches of Stenonema vicarium (March Brown) mayflies. This latter fly is the largest mayfly which is present in large numbers on many brook trout streams. It is not at all unusually to have all three of these mayflies on the water at the same time and the brook trout take all of them indiscriminately. This is great for us because the Eperous and the Stenonema are two of the natural mayflies I developed the Mr. Rapidan to match. Thus we can tie on a Mr. Rapidan Parachute Dry Fly size 14 and catch many of these brook trout.

However, there are some feeding trout that will trick you this month. I am referring to those trout that feed on the natural March Brown nymphs which are making their mini-migrations to the shallows along the sides of the streams to hatch into the duns. As you work your way up the stream you will often see some swirls or splashes in the foot-deep water along the banks. Assuming they are taking the natural mayflies on the surface you drift a dry over them repeatedly but you get no takers.

Finally you remember that they tricked you this same way last year. You put a Mr. !9 
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Rapidan Brown Soft Hackle size 12 on a Murray’s Nymph Leader 9Ft 5X and cast it two feet above the closest feeder and he takes it solidly.

This tactics is very effective on many o f t h e s e M a r c h B r o w n ny m p h feeders.

For the last three years we have had excellent Brachycentrus caddisfly hatches throughout April.

In most cases when I see these hatching I can catch the trout on a Mr. Rapidan Olive Delta Wing Caddis size 14.

However on cool days the natural pupa may drift several feet down the stream just inches below the surface before emerging. Here I use this same dry but put a Murray's Olive Caddis Pupa size 14 on a two foot 5X dropper below it and often take most of the trout on the pupa. !

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May Fortunately our brook trout streams carry very good water levels in May, our hatches are good and the trout are feeding well. The Light Cahill Mayfly hatches start about noon and with the spinners they are on the water until dark. The Light Cahill Dry size 16 and the new Murray's Yellow Drake Dry size 16 are great for this hatch. A very close angling friend prefers fishing a Mr. Rapidan Brown Soft Hackle size 16 during this hatch even when the duns are on the water and he always catches more trout than the rest of us.

The Little Yellow Stoneflies are heavy all of this month. Fish the Murray's Little Yellow Stonefly Dry size 16 along the sides of the mossy covered rocks and you will get great action.

My favorite fishing in May comes when the Sulphur hatch gets heavy in the middle of the month. The duns become heavy in mid afternoon and last until dark.

The spinners come back about an hour before dark and last until dark. So the last two hours of the day we have both !12 
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duns and spinners on the water and almost every pool will have several rising trout. In fact, I have one photo which shows eight trout rising to natural sulphurs in a pool just twice the size of a SUV. My two favorite dry flies for the sulphur hatch are the Murray's Dry Sulphur size 16 and Murray's Professor Dry size 16. I use these to go one on one with the rising trout and to cover the water if I do not see rising trout.

I almost always find the largest trout in each pool feeding on either the lip of the pool or in the corner at the head of the pool. Just be sure to pace yourself on the sulphur hatch so you can fish until dark. !13 
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