I keep forgeting that fishing involves water and water freezes below 32 degrees F. I got all ready to head out to Passage Creek outside Front Royal Monday morning at 5:30AM. It was so cold (around 20 with 15 to 20 mile per hour wind gusts) that I could hardly gas up my car. I guess I thought that I could handle it as soon as I hooked up with the first monster stocked trout of the morning. I was wrong. I made it out to Passage right before sunrise. The water looked a little fast, but it wasn’t too high or discolored or anything so I slipped into my waders and pulled out my new Fly Logic rod. The rod cast beautifully… until the line froze to the guides. There just wasn’t a heck of a lot I could do other than knock the ice off with my bright red numb fingers every cast and retrieve. I tried some bh nymphs and a Murray streamer that I tied. After about an hour of pure misery, I packed it in and drove over to Murray’s Fly Shop in Edinburg. I asked Harry if it was even worth fishing now and he said “sure, fish eat in the cold too.” He recommended a white size 10 Murray Strymph and a black maruader. I went ahead and bought a few and asked about the best location on Stoney Creek. Harry said to go to Lutz Mill about 2 miles up the road. So I did. The temp was up another couple of degrees to 22 and there was a little sun showing so I jumped back in. No luck again unfortunately. I actually froze to a rock while I was casting, it seemed very comical at the time. The water in my felt soles froze my feet to the rock I was standing on.
I took a bunch of pictures that I’m getting developed now. I don’t think I’ll have them online until Thursday or Friday, but I will post them. The additional Smith Creek ones will be on there too.
BTW, take a quick gander at the eBay listings on the right. I have some work to do on the formating, but it’s pretty cool to get live eBay listings on your site.
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