Smallmouth Bass Fishing Report
No smallmouth yet but I did pick up some very large fall fish 2 days ago on a Murray’s Heavy Hellgrammite. Fish these deeply with a Sink Tip III Line. Other flies that can be productive early in the season are Murray’s Black Madtom 4 and Murray’s Magnum Hog Sucker 4.

Trout Fishing Report
The streams are still cold but many large rainbows have been stocked in some of our best large streams. Two of my favorites are the Bullpasture upstream of Williamsville and Big Stoney Creek below the springs west of Edinburg. Be versitle in your fly selection to match the whims of the trout.

The trout in the mountain streams will start feeding shortly as the Epeorus pleuralis mayfly nymphs become active. You will find these in the lower parts of the riffles and just below the riffles. I designed the Mr. Rapidan Bead Head Nymph to match these so fish this in size 14 upstream dead drift on a 5X Classic Leader with two SA Indicators spaced along it. The lower reaches of the streams will give you the best fishing because there may still be some ice in the upper reaches. Other flies that are effective in these streams early in the season are the Murray’s Dark Stonefly Nymph 12 and the Murray’s Olive Caddis Pupa 12.