# Long overdue trip to WV



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

I love small stream trout fishing in WV. Tight quarters, small waters, gorgeous fish. It's stuff we just don't really have in Ohio, at least not in enjoyable/accessible populations. The last time I was in my favorite WV area was November of 2017, making last year the first WV-less fishing year for me in over a decade. My favorite time to fish the area is late May-mid June, with good water levels, lots of bug life, and usually very active fish. I watched the weather for the last week and saw a good window to take a day off and head for the mountains. My trip started yesterday with a 3:30AM alarm, and I was on the road by...










Day trips suck, IMHO. I'd much rather drive down the day before and camp, wake refreshed, and be on the water at dawn, but I didn't have time for that convenience this time. Almost to the destination, the scenery is pretty spectacular.










I started off "swinging for the fences" a bit, fishing big streamers on a stocked C&R section of water that usually has a lot of fish. In the past, I have moved a lot of good fish there on 4" and bigger streamers, and this was no exception. The only problem, they were smaller fish (12-14") and none of them found the hook on my big white Bow River Bugger. I had several swipes, a few follows, but no hookups. A big fish there, even though it was first thing in the morning, I knew would have just been the icing on the cake. The real attraction for me there is the small stream brookies and rainbows. Wild, gorgeous fish in small spaces on my little 1wt rod. I started off with an olive #14 Palomino Caddis, and never took that fly off on the first two streams. 



















Pretty much every likely looking holding spot for a fish had a fish that would rise to the caddis. The only question was would I hook the fish and get it to hand/net. I missed several starting off the morning, but finally connected with a beauty.










Even the little ones are painted nicely.



















Having fished two small streams, I moved to the primary wild trout flow in the area. In the past, I have always caught fish there but it always fished a little tougher for me. Not this trip. With some slightly deeper and rougher water, I switched to a dry-dropper rig of a #14 orange hi-vis Coachman and a 15" dropper to a #16 Frenchie. That combo just wasn't fair.










I had a couple of eats on the Coachman, but mainly it was just my indicator for the Frenchie. Each good run was producing multiple fish, some of them coughing up 4-6 trout. This gorgeous brookie flopped out of my hand before I could get a better pic.










Shallow riffle water, pocket water, runs, pools, this combo was catching fish in all of them. One hole that I call "the community hole," right by a major parking area, I rarely catch more than one fish in that spot. Yesterday I caught 4. No giants, but steady action all day long. I didn't want to leave.










This little rainbow was my last fish of the day. The time had come to hit the road and get back to my family. I told my wife I'd be back for PJ and story time for the little guy, and I wasn't going to be late. This fish was the 6th fish I caught from the run behind it. I caught 4 on the first pass through, working upstream. I stopped on the way back down and caught 2 more. Ridiculous. 










Until we meet again, WV...


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## fishwendel2 (Nov 19, 2007)

Great report! Beautiful fish


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Beautiful !
Good luck and good fishing !


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## Yakphisher (Jul 9, 2013)

Sweet report as usual!

I do great on charcoal/black patterns when I do fish for them.


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## joerugz (Feb 28, 2007)

Sweet read. Only thing better, as you mentioned, would have been the camping experience. I have small water around my camp in PA. I'm new to trout fishing, so instead of calling it fishing, I call it practicing. And I love to practice. I can't wait to actually catch fish when I'm good enough!


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

This is perfect! Love those native brookies!


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