we're not done yet!

Nation's River

Swing your favorite streamer and hold on!

After a mild weekend, the Nation’s River is back around the 50 degree mark (after spending most of last week in the mid-40s). Despite the colder water temps last week, feeding fish could still be found in areas with depth variation, current, and bait. With temps on the rise this week, look for the bite to pick up a bit.

Albeit sluggish, the resident striped bass bite remained a strong option for those willing to brave the wintry weather at places like Gravelly Point and the outflows of Little Hunting Creek and Pentagon Marina. Swinging streamers and clouser minnows to these fish on sinking lines and a few feet of 0-3x tippet remains the go-to technique for this time of year. But if stripers aren’t your thing you have a couple other options!

Look for largemouth bass to move shallow on sunny days and to hold in areas with dark bottom or hard cover (both will warm faster than surrounding areas and thus, hold more bass in winter). Think areas near deep water close to shallow water. Tidal creeks can also be a great place to find bass this time of year with Four Mile Run, its warm water discharge, and an outgoing tide the prime place to be. For flies, think like a spin-fisherman (who are almost exclusively using soft plastics, slow-rolling spinnerbaits, or jerkbaits this time of year) and bring out your deadliest baitfish imitations or clawdads. FISH SLOW…..or throw small woolybuggers, crazy charlies,  and big nymphs to panfish/carp/whatever you find in there…..There are few places with a more eccentric fishery than 4MR….especially in the winter.....

Carp on the C&O remains a strong option as well…..

Hotspotting

With ideal tides last week, I ended up getting to fish Gravelly Point a few times before and after work. Fish were hanging slightly deeper than normal but that’s to be expected when the river dips into the mid-40s and it's dark out. Despite these less-than-ideal conditions, I was able to land a dozen or so stripers up to 18” over the course of a couple trips.  Swing streamers on sinking lines…nothing really too new to report here!

Stay fly.

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Trout water

This 18" WV bow munched a sz20 zebra midge

With most of the leaves gone, now is the time to start thinking micro-midges and dries or swing for the fences with streamers and CHUCK THE MEAT for that fish of your life. 

BWOs, zebra midges, and sculpin patterns are all solid bets as far as flies go this time of year on the wild trout streams in our region. 

Flashier attractor nymphs and woolybuggers remain the go-to on local DH streams. Just remember to taper your expectations. While fantastic fishing days certainly still exist, it’s still the early stages of winter. Things are starting to slow down and food is generally smaller in size……

After travelling for most of October, I finally had time to fish one of my favorite trout waters in the region this past weekend—West Virginia’s Smoke Hole canyon. 

Fishing the C&R section on Saturday with my buddy Andrew, we managed to get on the water at 10am and fished all day until a 4:30 sunset pushed us off the water and back onto the road.

Having last fished Smoke Hole in the midst of September, I was accustomed to hungry, aggressive trout that were looking up for food and asking few questions about what drifted in front of their fezzes… What I found on Saturday was the exact opposite of those trout.

Arriving around 10am, the sun was just starting to peak over the canyon walls and shine on the cold, crystal clear water. From the get go, I could tell this was going to be a game of light line and small nymphs.

After cleaning up on egg patterns, stimulators, and terrestrials earlier in the fall, I did not find a single taker on any of those patterns Saturday. Instead, most of the action came on the zebra midge trailing said egg….which despite the refusals  still worked well in tandem as an attractor fly.

 On top of the midge takes, there were a few monster blow ups and a snapped line on both a dead drifted and swung #Runwayspecial. Always cool to see a new pattern get some love and that fish were still aggressive enough to commit – but by far, the fly of choice on Saturday was a size 20-22 zebra midge.  

Expect the pattern of smaller nymphs, midges, and dries to continue as water temps keep dropping….and remember—streamers will find your active fish.


Stay fly.

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