Post by rbaileydav on May 31, 2008 0:45:34 GMT -5
I love my job but most of the time the constant “opportunities” and the constant travel get really old. Chicago IL, Odessa TX and Dallas TX have been my most recent business travel destinations and while they are nice towns they don’t do much for my personal list of favorite destinations which nearly always require mountains and trout streams to qualify. But every now and then I have to “take one for the team” and go some place on business that has some advantages. I have a major growth “opportunity” with a site in Winchester VA and having been there four years ago on “business” I knew that there was more than business “opportunities” available, these operations cease activity around 2:30 in the afternoon and 30 to 45 minutes south lay the brookie fishing of the Shenandoah National Park. I had been first initiated into the mysteries of the area by some very kind and sage advice from some friends on a fishing board. So with this trip looming, I once again called on the SEFFF board to help me out with locations and strategies. Fortunately for me Troutchaser, FT and others were kind enough to once again share a few ideas and locations for a dumb Georgia boy to try out.
Tuesday after work I headed out to try on the scenery and the fishing. I followed the directions, and as always worried that I had screwed them up and was lost (you know that nagging feeling telling you, you aren’t where you are supposed to be). But somehow ended up at the exact parking lot I had been looking for when I started out. I am always amazed at the beauty of this part of the country from the rolling green valleys to the forests of the national park and by the time I turned the car off I had replaced the buzz of business “opportunities” with the glow of beautiful scenery and the buzz of fishing to come. I shoved a fly box, an extra leader and tippet spool in one pocket and my frog’s fanny in the other and headed off up the trail. Unfortunately I was part way up the trail before I realized my camera was still in the car………. Oh well at least I knew the camera jinx wouldn’t be working against me today (oh come on we all know that you never catch the good ones when you have your camera with you).
The water looked fishy and gorgeous …. I guess that is kinda the same thing, but you guys of all people … know what I mean. I always worry about whether or not I can catch fish in new water, so I tied on an ausable wulff a tried and true starter fly. I was getting some slashes and rolls but not many serious hits. I persevered however and eventually managed to land a few smaller fish. Now let me clarify something here for those of you that are not familiar with the various differences between VA wild brookies and our GA or NC wild brookies their small brookies are our normal brookies so I was more than satisfied. I had captured four or five small ones out of 10 or 12 strikes and was feeling contented enough that I just kind of watched the scenery change as I bounced from hole to hole. There were clouds in the sky when I had started but they soon gave way to dazzling sunlight that burst through the canopy of leaves like a spotlight striking the stage. When that spotlight struck the water it flashed with a brilliance that almost blinded the eye. I felt a drop or two of water then even more strike and cool the flesh of my sun warmed arm. Suddenly I was in a one of my favorite natural phenomenon……….. FULL ON SUNSHINE RAIN…………it was pouring drops from the sky in blazing brilliant sunlight. Each drop of rain caught the light in new prisms of color creating miniature flashes of rainbow color as they fell to the forest floor. They evaporated almost as soon as they hit leaving the skin cooled but dry ……. A sight and feeling to behold……….. one of my favorite sights in the world ……. Almost …. But it paled badly in contrast to the first yellow sallie I saw rise from the water………. Then another……… my breathing became fast and I knew the best part of the day was still to come.
I hurriedly tied on a yellow sallie pattern and within a few casts the half hearted strikes I had been getting, switched to the professional wrestler type power slam strikes that we have all come to know and love from brookies throughout the world. Not only where the strikes solid but the fish were as well. I ended up with four more fish each were in that 8 to 9 inch category, as thick and muscled as any steroid using NFL lineman. What an afternoon. Scenery was forgotten until the light began to fade and I decided that since this was new territory to me I shouldn’t push it and I should get myself out of there well ahead of dusk…….. so reluctantly I started away from the creek and back to the car……. Once again the beauty of the area sunk in and I felt a tug at having to leave but then I realized I would still get to come back tomorrow and my whole mood brightened almost immediately.
The next day I could barley concentrate on work and twice I had to juggle my schedule with people that wanted late afternoon conference calls but I truly understand the hierarchy of business very well, who do those pesky customers think they are …… trying to interfere with a man’s fishing breaks………. The nerve of them….. I have half a mind just to dump the whole lot of em. Somehow eventually I did manage to get my priorities in order and myself out the door and the afternoon found me back in the same parking lot shoving the same things into my pockets , except this time I remembered my new camera ( yes your’s marmot). Since my fishing lust was under control from yesterdays expedition I was able to stop and take a few pictures of the scenery before I even got a line wet………. A real rarity and show of self control for me…. There must be something good to this getting old thing after all.
The next sight brought me to standstill as all of my years in the Carolinas , Georgia and the Smoky Mt Park have yielded a rare few bears and generally only at dusk or at night but there standing right by the trail in broad daylight as unconcerned as a fellow hiker was a young bear cub. I approached a few steps but then got worried about the whereabouts of mom so I took a quick picture and let it go at that, but that bear sighting really got me in a great mood as if fishing trips didn’t already do that for me.
On I went until I happily stumbled into the water do begin the days fishing. I went straight to the yellow sallie this time expecting that to be a magic ticket …. Forgetting of course that until the naturals are on the water the trout would just slap at that they way they did the wulff yesterday. So once again I found myself spending a few hours watching the scenery and trying to sharpen my reflexes to faster than the speed of sound to deal with the half hearted slashes that I was getting. A few smaller fish managed to somehow get themselves hooked like this one.
And the scenery was even prettier than the day before. The sun was blazing through the trees in solid sheets of light and physical sun rays that looked exactly like the search lights from the old war movies except in the bright of day. The beams and rays were so solid that you felt like you could reach out and touch them….. but like the leprechauns gold they always seemed to shift and vanish as I got closer…….. like all ethereal images of beauty I guess.
The world was so pretty I felt like I was in heaven………. And then once again like clock work my newest favorite girl friends started rising from the air around me……. The yellow sallies were back ….. and so was the spectacular fishing . Fish like these soon were rushing to hand. They weren’t record size but they sure as hell brought a mighty wide smile to this poor country boy’s face…. And more importantly a smile to my heart and soul and in the end that is what we go fishing for.
This brought on one of the best dilemma dichotomies a fisherman can ever find himself in……… which is prettier the fish or the scenery and the beauty of that question is there can be no losers ………. Except maybe the stress that has been building up in our lives……
Scenery
Or fish
What happened to that last picture …… well obviously that was the biggest fish of the day …….. don’t they always flip out of your hand right before the picture. You should have seen the size and girth of that one….. at least 10 inches…… and I mean real inches not “man inches”. But as you can also see from those last two pictures it was beginning to get dark so I headed out of the water and began to make my way back to the car. As I rounded a bend in the trail I saw something that absolutely blew me away. As I said I always consider myself lucky if I glimpse a bear and I had already seen one this trip but there standing in the woods near my trail were three of them, a mother and her two cubs. I froze worried about the mother and cubs thing and they froze as well, luckily that was the length of time I needed to get my camera uncased. I tried to focus a picture of the three of them but the mother bawled a command and the cubs obediently and quite quickly tore up the trunks of the nearest trees and the mother sat and stared at me. She made no moves just kinda sat down to wait me out. I stood and watched for a while transfixed by the sight, Eventually she grew bored of me or decided that I wasn’t a threat and she bawled again for the cubs to come down…… but just like human children they didn’t move and she had to do it twice more before the finally descended the trees and allowed themselves to be shooed off. Dispersing into the woods without a trace as the mother slowly turned and gave me one last stare and then she joined them in their disappearing act. Excuse the shaking camera it wasn’t that I was afraid…….. just excited …….and at my age that produces the shakes.
With the bolting of the bears I did finally head to the car. But the glow from my day in the woods with the bear and the deer but more importantly with the brookies and the scenery had left me absolutely awash with delight so I decided to take the long way back to the hotel and go back over the Skyline Drive Route. And I am delighted to say that it was one of the best decisions of my life. If you have never seen sunset from Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park you are missing one of the wonders of the world. A wonder so awesome I can’t even begin to describe it to you … so I will simply post a few pictures.
A fittingly beautiful end to a beautiful 2 days ……. A hearty thanks to all of those who provided advice and help …….. and all I can really say is I do love my job………… sometimes………..
Rbaileydav
DD
Tuesday after work I headed out to try on the scenery and the fishing. I followed the directions, and as always worried that I had screwed them up and was lost (you know that nagging feeling telling you, you aren’t where you are supposed to be). But somehow ended up at the exact parking lot I had been looking for when I started out. I am always amazed at the beauty of this part of the country from the rolling green valleys to the forests of the national park and by the time I turned the car off I had replaced the buzz of business “opportunities” with the glow of beautiful scenery and the buzz of fishing to come. I shoved a fly box, an extra leader and tippet spool in one pocket and my frog’s fanny in the other and headed off up the trail. Unfortunately I was part way up the trail before I realized my camera was still in the car………. Oh well at least I knew the camera jinx wouldn’t be working against me today (oh come on we all know that you never catch the good ones when you have your camera with you).
The water looked fishy and gorgeous …. I guess that is kinda the same thing, but you guys of all people … know what I mean. I always worry about whether or not I can catch fish in new water, so I tied on an ausable wulff a tried and true starter fly. I was getting some slashes and rolls but not many serious hits. I persevered however and eventually managed to land a few smaller fish. Now let me clarify something here for those of you that are not familiar with the various differences between VA wild brookies and our GA or NC wild brookies their small brookies are our normal brookies so I was more than satisfied. I had captured four or five small ones out of 10 or 12 strikes and was feeling contented enough that I just kind of watched the scenery change as I bounced from hole to hole. There were clouds in the sky when I had started but they soon gave way to dazzling sunlight that burst through the canopy of leaves like a spotlight striking the stage. When that spotlight struck the water it flashed with a brilliance that almost blinded the eye. I felt a drop or two of water then even more strike and cool the flesh of my sun warmed arm. Suddenly I was in a one of my favorite natural phenomenon……….. FULL ON SUNSHINE RAIN…………it was pouring drops from the sky in blazing brilliant sunlight. Each drop of rain caught the light in new prisms of color creating miniature flashes of rainbow color as they fell to the forest floor. They evaporated almost as soon as they hit leaving the skin cooled but dry ……. A sight and feeling to behold……….. one of my favorite sights in the world ……. Almost …. But it paled badly in contrast to the first yellow sallie I saw rise from the water………. Then another……… my breathing became fast and I knew the best part of the day was still to come.
I hurriedly tied on a yellow sallie pattern and within a few casts the half hearted strikes I had been getting, switched to the professional wrestler type power slam strikes that we have all come to know and love from brookies throughout the world. Not only where the strikes solid but the fish were as well. I ended up with four more fish each were in that 8 to 9 inch category, as thick and muscled as any steroid using NFL lineman. What an afternoon. Scenery was forgotten until the light began to fade and I decided that since this was new territory to me I shouldn’t push it and I should get myself out of there well ahead of dusk…….. so reluctantly I started away from the creek and back to the car……. Once again the beauty of the area sunk in and I felt a tug at having to leave but then I realized I would still get to come back tomorrow and my whole mood brightened almost immediately.
The next day I could barley concentrate on work and twice I had to juggle my schedule with people that wanted late afternoon conference calls but I truly understand the hierarchy of business very well, who do those pesky customers think they are …… trying to interfere with a man’s fishing breaks………. The nerve of them….. I have half a mind just to dump the whole lot of em. Somehow eventually I did manage to get my priorities in order and myself out the door and the afternoon found me back in the same parking lot shoving the same things into my pockets , except this time I remembered my new camera ( yes your’s marmot). Since my fishing lust was under control from yesterdays expedition I was able to stop and take a few pictures of the scenery before I even got a line wet………. A real rarity and show of self control for me…. There must be something good to this getting old thing after all.
The next sight brought me to standstill as all of my years in the Carolinas , Georgia and the Smoky Mt Park have yielded a rare few bears and generally only at dusk or at night but there standing right by the trail in broad daylight as unconcerned as a fellow hiker was a young bear cub. I approached a few steps but then got worried about the whereabouts of mom so I took a quick picture and let it go at that, but that bear sighting really got me in a great mood as if fishing trips didn’t already do that for me.
On I went until I happily stumbled into the water do begin the days fishing. I went straight to the yellow sallie this time expecting that to be a magic ticket …. Forgetting of course that until the naturals are on the water the trout would just slap at that they way they did the wulff yesterday. So once again I found myself spending a few hours watching the scenery and trying to sharpen my reflexes to faster than the speed of sound to deal with the half hearted slashes that I was getting. A few smaller fish managed to somehow get themselves hooked like this one.
And the scenery was even prettier than the day before. The sun was blazing through the trees in solid sheets of light and physical sun rays that looked exactly like the search lights from the old war movies except in the bright of day. The beams and rays were so solid that you felt like you could reach out and touch them….. but like the leprechauns gold they always seemed to shift and vanish as I got closer…….. like all ethereal images of beauty I guess.
The world was so pretty I felt like I was in heaven………. And then once again like clock work my newest favorite girl friends started rising from the air around me……. The yellow sallies were back ….. and so was the spectacular fishing . Fish like these soon were rushing to hand. They weren’t record size but they sure as hell brought a mighty wide smile to this poor country boy’s face…. And more importantly a smile to my heart and soul and in the end that is what we go fishing for.
This brought on one of the best dilemma dichotomies a fisherman can ever find himself in……… which is prettier the fish or the scenery and the beauty of that question is there can be no losers ………. Except maybe the stress that has been building up in our lives……
Scenery
Or fish
What happened to that last picture …… well obviously that was the biggest fish of the day …….. don’t they always flip out of your hand right before the picture. You should have seen the size and girth of that one….. at least 10 inches…… and I mean real inches not “man inches”. But as you can also see from those last two pictures it was beginning to get dark so I headed out of the water and began to make my way back to the car. As I rounded a bend in the trail I saw something that absolutely blew me away. As I said I always consider myself lucky if I glimpse a bear and I had already seen one this trip but there standing in the woods near my trail were three of them, a mother and her two cubs. I froze worried about the mother and cubs thing and they froze as well, luckily that was the length of time I needed to get my camera uncased. I tried to focus a picture of the three of them but the mother bawled a command and the cubs obediently and quite quickly tore up the trunks of the nearest trees and the mother sat and stared at me. She made no moves just kinda sat down to wait me out. I stood and watched for a while transfixed by the sight, Eventually she grew bored of me or decided that I wasn’t a threat and she bawled again for the cubs to come down…… but just like human children they didn’t move and she had to do it twice more before the finally descended the trees and allowed themselves to be shooed off. Dispersing into the woods without a trace as the mother slowly turned and gave me one last stare and then she joined them in their disappearing act. Excuse the shaking camera it wasn’t that I was afraid…….. just excited …….and at my age that produces the shakes.
With the bolting of the bears I did finally head to the car. But the glow from my day in the woods with the bear and the deer but more importantly with the brookies and the scenery had left me absolutely awash with delight so I decided to take the long way back to the hotel and go back over the Skyline Drive Route. And I am delighted to say that it was one of the best decisions of my life. If you have never seen sunset from Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park you are missing one of the wonders of the world. A wonder so awesome I can’t even begin to describe it to you … so I will simply post a few pictures.
A fittingly beautiful end to a beautiful 2 days ……. A hearty thanks to all of those who provided advice and help …….. and all I can really say is I do love my job………… sometimes………..
Rbaileydav
DD
Other than that one, I prob havent seen one in the wild in the SE in over 20 years.