My dad's side of the family lives in Elkins, WV and are surrounded by ample trout streams (both stocked and native trout). An hour drive can take you to endless water filled with even more trout. This trip, I went to a few sections of Shavers Fork as well as some family secret native streams. All excellent fishing!
My journey started in South Central Ohio. The alarm went of at 3:30am after preparing until midnight. Rough sauce. It took right around 4 hours to get to Elkins and, as always, I listened to Country Roads by John Denver as I crossed the state line. Has to be done! Anyway, after rolling into town, I went straight to Wally World to pick up a license. Continuing with my no-nonsense attitude, I head to Shaver's to get into some fish!
As soon as I arrive I know I'm out of my element. This is not the mountain streams that I love to navigate. People say that big rivers are just like a series of smaller creeks put together. I beg to differ. It's much more complicated than that. I brought my 9ft 3wt and my 13ft Kozuka 39NT. Starting with my 3wt, I attempt nymphing spots that look promising to no avail. Actually, I crashed and burned so badly, I gave up, sat down for a few minutes to cool my head, and rigged my Kozuka with a tandem nymph rig. This would be the rod's first true test on the water. I haven't figured out how to nymph well with a western style fly rod. Adjusting an indicator, Czech style, casting and mending, and millions of other factors just confuse me. I'm bad at it and don't deal with failure well. With a fixed rod, I feel at home. No indicator needed. Strike detection is so easy for me with hi-vis tenkara style level line. Casting and controlling line and flies is so much easier to me with this system.
After switching, I hit a few spots with great success. The Kozuka casts two weighted flies with seemingly no effort. BH killer bugs were the ticket for sure. Not only did the trout take the flies, they would SLAM them and take off. The key was getting WAY down and keep a perfectly tight line. When the flies are that deep, it's easy for the line to gain slack from the differing current speeds. Even with a stiff rod, the strikes would put a significant bed in my rod. We all know that there's nothing better than the tug of that first fish of the day. Mine came from a chubby brook trout (stocked) and couldn't have been happier.
Great fights, big fish, and much learned in the art of battling fish on a fixed line. Plus, I found two beaded san juan worms in a tree. The chenille was shot, but the beads and hooks were perfect. I've started to figure out how to fish bigger water, but have a long way to go. However, I can't complain at all! I love the learning process. Here's the link to the video I made. It isn't the best quality, but I hope to be upgrading my camera soon. Enjoy!
As soon as I arrive I know I'm out of my element. This is not the mountain streams that I love to navigate. People say that big rivers are just like a series of smaller creeks put together. I beg to differ. It's much more complicated than that. I brought my 9ft 3wt and my 13ft Kozuka 39NT. Starting with my 3wt, I attempt nymphing spots that look promising to no avail. Actually, I crashed and burned so badly, I gave up, sat down for a few minutes to cool my head, and rigged my Kozuka with a tandem nymph rig. This would be the rod's first true test on the water. I haven't figured out how to nymph well with a western style fly rod. Adjusting an indicator, Czech style, casting and mending, and millions of other factors just confuse me. I'm bad at it and don't deal with failure well. With a fixed rod, I feel at home. No indicator needed. Strike detection is so easy for me with hi-vis tenkara style level line. Casting and controlling line and flies is so much easier to me with this system.
After switching, I hit a few spots with great success. The Kozuka casts two weighted flies with seemingly no effort. BH killer bugs were the ticket for sure. Not only did the trout take the flies, they would SLAM them and take off. The key was getting WAY down and keep a perfectly tight line. When the flies are that deep, it's easy for the line to gain slack from the differing current speeds. Even with a stiff rod, the strikes would put a significant bed in my rod. We all know that there's nothing better than the tug of that first fish of the day. Mine came from a chubby brook trout (stocked) and couldn't have been happier.
Great fights, big fish, and much learned in the art of battling fish on a fixed line. Plus, I found two beaded san juan worms in a tree. The chenille was shot, but the beads and hooks were perfect. I've started to figure out how to fish bigger water, but have a long way to go. However, I can't complain at all! I love the learning process. Here's the link to the video I made. It isn't the best quality, but I hope to be upgrading my camera soon. Enjoy!