So, per yesterday’s post, I made a day trip to Blacksburg today. Left the house at about 6:45AM, after being fortified with a couple of grande lattes, and drove the 200 miles to the land of the Hokies. Stopped in Radford for just a minute to pick up my cheap old folding chair from Rob Tucker’s house (thanks, Rob!) which had been left behind at Bassclave ’07, and got to Jason’s apartment around 10AM. Unloaded, and he showed me the new TV that he and his two roommates had bought. Seems that they found someone in Roanoke (via Craiglist) who had a 2002 vintage rear projection 56″ TV, who was replacing it with an LCD or plasma. The guys paid $200 for the privilege of hauling away this 300 pound beast! Well, it will be great for sports in a guy’s apartment. Left Jason’s place around 10:30.
Arrived at Little Stony Creek around 11AM, and quickly hiked up to the first footbridge. Lots of folks around, as this was a holiday weekend. This was my first trip to Little Stony, and Rob said I might see 100-200 hikers. Well, that was on the low side! However, I only saw one other fisherman, and he was hiking in while I was headed out in the afternoon. Folks were constantly going up and down the trails on either side of the creek, but that didn’t bother me! I was fishing my Winston 8′ 3wt. I hadn’t fished this rod in a while; I should fish it more often. What a fantastic rod. Tied on a Tweeter Caddis, and hit the water. LDR’d one, and missed a couple. Saw several trout come up and inspect the fly and refuse it, so I decided that the 5x tippet was too big in the gin-clear water. Rummaged in my bag and pulled out some 7x, and that did the trick. Caught a number of trout like this one, in all the places where a trout should be. Mostly rainbows, some a bit bigger than this one, some smaller. A couple of brookies. I ended up using a Mr. Rapidan most of the time, size 16 (parachute tie). Worked well. The tippet seemed to be more important than the fly (as long as the fly was a 16 or 18). I did see some *big* stonefly nymphs (probably a size 6 or 8 ) and if I’d been spending more time, I would have plumbed the depths of some of the big pools with a imitation. This is a very pretty place, a typical Jefferson Forest freestone.
Normally, I’m somewhat circumspect about mentioning stream names, but this is a well-known place, and it is covered by special regulations. You can bet I’ll be back here. I fished until about 3:30PM, and then headed back to Blacksburg to grab a shower at Jason’s place and take him out to supper. Poor guy had been working all day on an assignment for a Numerical Methods class. I know that one sure challenged me when I did my CS degree. Took Jason out for supper at Outback, and then hit the road for home. A busy day, but a heckuva a lot of fun.
