Gerry Romer
08-04-2008, 10:38 PM
Well, as Byron mentioned in his fishing report, I did indeed take a tumble down the trail-side hill below the cascades on Lynn Camp yesterday and in the process turned my 4 piece, 8'6" TFO Pro 4 wt. into a 5 piece, 8'6" TFO Pro.:frown: But he left out some of the best parts of the story. Like the fact that I finally caught my first fish on the fabled "Green Weenie" :smile:
I have often hiked past the lower section on my way up to brookie country and wondered what that water might be like... it always looks very skinny from up on the trail. A week or so ago I talked to David Knapp about this section and he said he thought it might be worth a shot. I had originally planned on hitting the lower section of Lynn Camp at about 6 AM but got off to a slow start and didn't make it to the water 'til about 8. The plan was to fish from the trailhead up to the cascades and then work my way back down and finish up about noon.
The trip upstream was relatively uneventful - make that completely uneventful, since I didn't see a single fish aside from a few dinks slapping at my indicator. I stayed well hidden and waded only when absolutely necessary. Nothing. I began to think that it probably wouldn't mean anything if the impending fish-kill did breach the natural barrier... there's nothing in that water to kill!
So I made it all the way up to the cascades and decided to document the fact that somebody finally found that spigot that got turned off last summer.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/Cascades.jpg
There really is a lot of water there now. I remembered looking down at it from the trail last summer and seeing barely a trickle. Here's another shot looking upstream from the spot where I landed after my tumble down the hillside.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/LynnCampwater.jpg
ANYway, the trip back downstream was anything but uneventful.
First things first. I'm right-handed and prefer fishing upstream from the left-hand bank while facing upstream and fishing from the right-hand (again, right-hand side while facing upstream) bank while fishing downstream. In other words, normal. Well, the trip going upstream was fairly easy and I only had to bushwhack through a few laurel thickets on my way to the cascades... however, the trip back downstream on the opposite bank was a bit more difficult. The wall of the gorge comes almost straight down from the trail at some points so there really isn't any "trail" you can use. The water was up pretty good most of the way so that meant climbing up out of the water occasionally and bushwhacking through laurel thickets going uphill to get around an obstruction or waterfall, just to turn around in a few yards and head back down to the water.
But as soon as I turned around and started fishing downstream, I started catching fish :eek: . I was fishing the same rigs I had fished on my way up: Stimulator as an indicator with various nymphs dropped off... BHPT, SMBBSH, Crow Fly, Golden Stone, Green Weenie, etc. I had tried fishing the stimulator alone since that's what the dinks were slapping at, and I tried various dry flies. All with no success. When I began my trip back downstream I still had a Yellow Simulator tied on with a Green Weenie dropped about 20" off the bend. At the first plunge pool below the cascades, I brought an 8" bow to hand but had to lift him up over the waterfall to release him. He hit the Green Weenie!! This was the first fish I have ever had show any interest at all in a Green Weenie.
In the next 20 yards or so of water, I caught a 12" bow and two 10" bows. Two hit the Green Weenie and one hit the Stimulator.... this one hit the stimulator. Sorry about the photo quality. I was ill prepared for pics at that point.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/LynnCampRainbow.jpg
If the guy in the above pic looks a little dazed... he was. I fought him too long. I'm basically a C&R kinda guy. I have no problem with those who take their catch home (except, of course, for the meat fishermen taking more than their limit out of the Clinch and offering to share with me). But this poor guy came home with me and he tasted great! I hooked into him while standing about 12' above him on the edge of a waterfall. I couldn't get him up the waterfall, and it took me a good while to work my way around the waterfall and down to his pool without breaking him off. By the time I got him to hand, he was plum wore out. I tried to revive him but he was pretty gone. So I took his picture, strung him up on an old leader and hiked out with him.
I continued fishing downstream and having the same kind of success, occasionally bushwhacking out and back in, taking my new friend with me. Slowed me down a bit since this is something I'd never done before. Good sized bows continued to hit the Green Weenie. At one point I had to bushwhack up and out of the stream for a considerable distance - both up and down. On my way back down the hill I lost my footing on a moss-covered hillside rock and went down on my backside and slid/tumbled about 12' - 15' down the mossy rocks. When the world stopped spinning, I had my new friend in my hand and my Fishpond fanny-pack up around my neck. My rod was half in and half out of the water but seemed to be just fine. I collected my wits and headed downstream to the next good looking pool. As I cast into the next pool, my rod snapped just above the cork.:frown:
I looked at my watch and was surprised to see it was 3:30 in the afternoon. I figured it was time to head out... it's not like I could do any more fishing! So I picked up the pieces and hiked out. I noticed that, among other things, my footing wasn't the best on the way out. When I got back downstream to near the trailhead, I sat down on a streamside boulder to change out the soles on my Korkers from felt to lug soles and hike out the rest of the way. That's when I noticed I had only one felt sole on! Apparently my tumble down the hillside stripped off one of my soles. Oh well, I needed to replace them anyway!
So I caught my first Green Weenie fish and about six more, took my first fish out of the mountains (cooked him up and he was quite tasty), turned my 4 piece rod into a 5 piece rod, and left a felt sole somewhere stuck to a moss covered boulder. All in all... not a bad day!:biggrin:
Gerry Romer
I have often hiked past the lower section on my way up to brookie country and wondered what that water might be like... it always looks very skinny from up on the trail. A week or so ago I talked to David Knapp about this section and he said he thought it might be worth a shot. I had originally planned on hitting the lower section of Lynn Camp at about 6 AM but got off to a slow start and didn't make it to the water 'til about 8. The plan was to fish from the trailhead up to the cascades and then work my way back down and finish up about noon.
The trip upstream was relatively uneventful - make that completely uneventful, since I didn't see a single fish aside from a few dinks slapping at my indicator. I stayed well hidden and waded only when absolutely necessary. Nothing. I began to think that it probably wouldn't mean anything if the impending fish-kill did breach the natural barrier... there's nothing in that water to kill!
So I made it all the way up to the cascades and decided to document the fact that somebody finally found that spigot that got turned off last summer.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/Cascades.jpg
There really is a lot of water there now. I remembered looking down at it from the trail last summer and seeing barely a trickle. Here's another shot looking upstream from the spot where I landed after my tumble down the hillside.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/LynnCampwater.jpg
ANYway, the trip back downstream was anything but uneventful.
First things first. I'm right-handed and prefer fishing upstream from the left-hand bank while facing upstream and fishing from the right-hand (again, right-hand side while facing upstream) bank while fishing downstream. In other words, normal. Well, the trip going upstream was fairly easy and I only had to bushwhack through a few laurel thickets on my way to the cascades... however, the trip back downstream on the opposite bank was a bit more difficult. The wall of the gorge comes almost straight down from the trail at some points so there really isn't any "trail" you can use. The water was up pretty good most of the way so that meant climbing up out of the water occasionally and bushwhacking through laurel thickets going uphill to get around an obstruction or waterfall, just to turn around in a few yards and head back down to the water.
But as soon as I turned around and started fishing downstream, I started catching fish :eek: . I was fishing the same rigs I had fished on my way up: Stimulator as an indicator with various nymphs dropped off... BHPT, SMBBSH, Crow Fly, Golden Stone, Green Weenie, etc. I had tried fishing the stimulator alone since that's what the dinks were slapping at, and I tried various dry flies. All with no success. When I began my trip back downstream I still had a Yellow Simulator tied on with a Green Weenie dropped about 20" off the bend. At the first plunge pool below the cascades, I brought an 8" bow to hand but had to lift him up over the waterfall to release him. He hit the Green Weenie!! This was the first fish I have ever had show any interest at all in a Green Weenie.
In the next 20 yards or so of water, I caught a 12" bow and two 10" bows. Two hit the Green Weenie and one hit the Stimulator.... this one hit the stimulator. Sorry about the photo quality. I was ill prepared for pics at that point.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l233/gwrom/LynnCampRainbow.jpg
If the guy in the above pic looks a little dazed... he was. I fought him too long. I'm basically a C&R kinda guy. I have no problem with those who take their catch home (except, of course, for the meat fishermen taking more than their limit out of the Clinch and offering to share with me). But this poor guy came home with me and he tasted great! I hooked into him while standing about 12' above him on the edge of a waterfall. I couldn't get him up the waterfall, and it took me a good while to work my way around the waterfall and down to his pool without breaking him off. By the time I got him to hand, he was plum wore out. I tried to revive him but he was pretty gone. So I took his picture, strung him up on an old leader and hiked out with him.
I continued fishing downstream and having the same kind of success, occasionally bushwhacking out and back in, taking my new friend with me. Slowed me down a bit since this is something I'd never done before. Good sized bows continued to hit the Green Weenie. At one point I had to bushwhack up and out of the stream for a considerable distance - both up and down. On my way back down the hill I lost my footing on a moss-covered hillside rock and went down on my backside and slid/tumbled about 12' - 15' down the mossy rocks. When the world stopped spinning, I had my new friend in my hand and my Fishpond fanny-pack up around my neck. My rod was half in and half out of the water but seemed to be just fine. I collected my wits and headed downstream to the next good looking pool. As I cast into the next pool, my rod snapped just above the cork.:frown:
I looked at my watch and was surprised to see it was 3:30 in the afternoon. I figured it was time to head out... it's not like I could do any more fishing! So I picked up the pieces and hiked out. I noticed that, among other things, my footing wasn't the best on the way out. When I got back downstream to near the trailhead, I sat down on a streamside boulder to change out the soles on my Korkers from felt to lug soles and hike out the rest of the way. That's when I noticed I had only one felt sole on! Apparently my tumble down the hillside stripped off one of my soles. Oh well, I needed to replace them anyway!
So I caught my first Green Weenie fish and about six more, took my first fish out of the mountains (cooked him up and he was quite tasty), turned my 4 piece rod into a 5 piece rod, and left a felt sole somewhere stuck to a moss covered boulder. All in all... not a bad day!:biggrin:
Gerry Romer