Fishing Report and Shop News – 3/26/2015
Spring is finally here…. sort of. The weather is getting nice and the first major hatch of the season is underway. The Early Smoky Sedge (Apatanidae) is coming off the South River most days and the trout are ready for them! We have been catching very nice fish on both the Delayed Harvest and the Special Regulations areas. The river is flowing at 132cfs today, a perfect level for dry fly fishing.
In the Shenandoah National Park, the waters are warming and brook trout are being caught. No firm reports of the Quill Gordon hatch yet, but it should start at any time. This is shaping up to be another great year on the mountain streams.
Registration is open for the Mountain Fly Fishing Retreat, held May 1-3, 2015 at the Rapidan Mountain Retreats camp. Participants get lodging, meals and all open activities for just $400 per person. This is a great way to meet new folks, learn some new skills and take your mountain skill set to the next level. Guides will be available on a limited basis at the special rate of $100 for a half day. Call the shop at 540.942.5566 to reserve your place at this unique retreat. It is limited to 8 participants.
In the shop, you will see some new product lines and new faces for 2015. We are having a great year with the Vedavoo gear lineup. We are honored to be a Vedavoo Premier Retailer and are one of only 9 shops in the nation to carry Vedavoo Sling Packs. We also just received a dealership for Nautilus fly reels with the first order arriving soon. Thomas and Thomas fly rods are still the benchmark all others are compared to and our expanded lineup of T&T rods is ready for you to cast. Also, T&T Factory Day is April 11th, so if you are coming into Waynesboro for the Fly Fishing Festival, be sure to stop by and cast a Thomas and Thomas!
The Waynesboro 1+Fly Tournament is back this Saturday, March 28th. This is the second year for this event and it is the primary fundraising event for the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Funds raised from this event will go to fund the supplemental stockings of the South River with large trout and also help pay for the Trout in the Classroom projects the chapter oversees.