3wt7X
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 670
So my good friend from Quantico has been itching for a few weeks to get out, and things lined up for this weekend. I decided to explore some freestones in the Catoctin's, as this is usually a good time of the year to run into some opportunistic trout on black and brown stoneflies. We fished Saturday for several hours, and despite the slow fishing, we really enjoyed the 60 degree weather and beautiful mountain settings. We were taking fish in most of the likely areas, but it was down and dirty and slow drifting nymphs, rather than the splashy takes on stoneflies that I was expecting. On our way out, I stopped by one of the local limestone spring creeks, and I put him on a run that has always produced for me. I was goofing off in the tail out, and just kind of sitting back and enjoying the outing, when I hear him say fish on. I saw a pretty good bend in the rod, and he says it is a heavy fish. The run he was fishing was shaded, and he tells me he saw about an 18 inch shadow on the take. I had the benefit of a nice sunlit slick, where I was standing, and the fish bulldogs him down by me. I see the rich yellow belly as this large brown produces hard head shakes. A few minutes later, he works the fish into the eddy, and I slide the net under a gorgeous 20 inch brown!!!
My friend decides to head back and spend some time in DC with another friend that evening despite my temptations to go mousing with the full moon and warm weather. I decide to go out Sunday for a couple hours after church with the water on the rise, and Karma paid me back with a colored up 21 inch Rainbow on a Barred sculpin in a separate limestone spring creek. What a weekend!!! It amazes me how I enjoy the contrasting styles between limestone and freestone trout. The limestone fish have such an easy life style with abundant food and stable conditions, while the Freestone fish have to be more opportunist with limited nutrients. The freestone fish may not grow as big, as often, but they are truly spectacular fish in both spirit and beauty.
My friend decides to head back and spend some time in DC with another friend that evening despite my temptations to go mousing with the full moon and warm weather. I decide to go out Sunday for a couple hours after church with the water on the rise, and Karma paid me back with a colored up 21 inch Rainbow on a Barred sculpin in a separate limestone spring creek. What a weekend!!! It amazes me how I enjoy the contrasting styles between limestone and freestone trout. The limestone fish have such an easy life style with abundant food and stable conditions, while the Freestone fish have to be more opportunist with limited nutrients. The freestone fish may not grow as big, as often, but they are truly spectacular fish in both spirit and beauty.
