Many people like to hike, camp, and do a little fly fishing in the Shenandoah National Park during the summer. The little yellow stoneflies are very heavy on the mountain streams right now. The nymphs of this fly live in the moss surrounding the boulders below the water line and in the leaves in the back eddies. These are the areas to watch for the emerging adult stoneflies. There are several effective ways to fish this hatch.
- You can pause before entering the pool to spot the riseform of the trout which are feeding on the surface and cast a Murray’s Little Yellow Stonefly Dry to these trout.
- Use this same fly to fan your cast across the pool even if you do not see rising trout.
- Attach your Murray’s Little Yellow Stonefly Dry with a Little Yellow Stonefly Nymph below it as a dropper to cover the whole pool.
There are many ants and beetles on the streams so be sure to have a Murray’s Flying Beetle size 16 and Mr. Rapidan Ant size 16 in your fly box.
Smallmouth Bass Fly Fishing
Here is a fun technique that I like to use. Fish a Shenandoah Blue Popper on a 9ft 2X leader with a Pearl Marauder size 10 as a dropper. Often the bass will take the Marauder quickly and I can see the strike by the movement of the popper and quickly set the hook.
Hellgrammites have a 3-year life cycle, so they are always in the river. Often in July, you can see Dobsonfly eggs on the tree leaves hanging over the river. By fishing a Murray’s Heavy Hellgrammite on a 2X 9ft leader, you can catch some nice bass. Listen to the rest of my podcast >>>
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