Plenty of Rain 5-22-2020
Up to 2″ of rain fell overnight across the Shenandoah Valley. The result is a lot of extra water in the Shenandoah River.
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Murray’s Hand Tied Fly Fishing Leaders
Knotted Tapered Fly Fishing Leaders Explained Watch Harry explain how knotted tapered fly fishing leaders work, including how they improve casting accuracy, energy
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Sulphur Fly
The sulphur mayflies are on now and provide outstanding fishing even if they are frustrating at times. The duns start coming off in
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Mr. Rapidan Family of Flies
Harry Murray discusses the Mr. Rapidan Family of Flies in this video. He discusses inventing the Mr. Rapidan Dry in the late 1960’s
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Learn to fly fish the Murray’s Crayfish Fly
Harry Murray describes when, where and how to fish the Murray’s Crayfish Fly. Harry discusses how to analyze your strategy and make changes
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Fly Fishing in May
Fly fishing in May can be wonderful on both the mountain trout streams and the smallmouth rivers. As the stream levels drop and
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Reading a Pool in Mountain Trout Streams
Reading the water, from saltwater flats to rivers to tiny mountain streams, is a skill honed from years of practice getting it wrong.
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Shenandoah National Park Access Updates
Update as of 4/24/2020 The entire Shenandoah National Park is CLOSED.From the SNP website: This is a complete closure! No hiking, no biking, no entry
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Fly Fishing in April
There are many things happening on our streams to provide some wonderful fly fishing in April. In this podcast I will be covering
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Trout Leader
Since I design all of our hand tied knotted leaders for specific purposes, I have designed four trout leaders to meet different needs.
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Fly Fishing Stream Report
Yesterday I took a few hours to check the native brook trout streams so I wanted to give you an updated stream report.
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Streamers for Trout
In March there are many large trout in the delayed harvest streams and large trout streams. The most effective way to catch these
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Backpacking Virginia’s Trout Streams
Virginia’s trout anglers are blessed with many trout streams which provide great trout fishing while backpacking. I just glanced through my books Virginia
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Flies to Use in March
March is a busy month for the serious trout angler in the mountain streams. It is also the time of the year that
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Fly Rod
Ones greatest rewards when fly fishing is using a fly rod which meets his specific needs for the fishing he is doing at
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Tying an Epeorus Pleuralis
When I started trying to identify the aquatic insects, such as the Epeorus pleuralis, in the Shenandoah National Park, I was very fortunate
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Seeing Trout
One of my favorite forms of fly fishing for wild trout in mountain streams is seeing trout on their feeding stations then going
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Read A Rise
A trout can trick you with his rise. My fishing partner, William Downey, was the finest partner one could have and a life-long
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Fly Fishing in February Podcast
Today I am going to discuss fly fishing in February for large trout on our delayed harvest areas and large trout streams. During
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Tying Bass Streamers
The smallmouth streamers with which I catch most of my bass are flies I’ve developed myself. I grew up on the North Fork
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Kick Boat
I really enjoy using my personal kick boat for smallmouth fly fishing in rivers. I’ve owned three different styles and they all work
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Deer Hair Bugs
I really do enjoy fishing deer hair bass bugs in the summer for smallmouth bass. Sometimes the bass hit it with a loud
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Fly Fishing in January
Fly Fishing for Trout Many of our delayed harvest trout streams such as Back Creek and Passage Creek have exceptionally good midge fly
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Three Nymph Rig for Delayed Harvest Trout
The large trout in our streams feed heavily on natural caddis larva, natural stonefly nymphs and natural mayfly nymphs. In order to take
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Smart Smallmouth Bass
I sent Charlie Brooks some stonefly nymphs I was developing for the Madison River. Before I arrived in September, I wanted him to
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Where to Stand?
Streamer Fishing Deciding where to stand to make a presentation cast is extremely important. When I’m doing my streamer fly fishing seminars I
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Fly Lines– Terminology
We are very fortunate to have a broad selection of sinking fly lines by many manufacturers. These lines are all excellent, well-made lines
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Fly Fishing in December
Fly Fishing for Bass A good friend routinely goes bass fly fishing in December. He catches large bass in the sections of the
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Where to Fish
Late one August evening I waded across the South Fork of the Shenandoah River just downstream from Luray. I was headed toward one
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Popular Trout Fly
Two of the older gentlemen in my advanced college fly tying classes came to me with a request. A dry fly that floats
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Three Casts
For trout fishing on small/medium size streams, I use three casts to reach my goal of accuracy, delicacy, and natural drifts. In order
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Close Friends
I worked in Jake Sheetz’s custom furniture shop in Edinburg, Virginia from the time I was 10 years old until I was 15.
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Fly Fishing in November
Bass Fishing in November The cooling rivers prompt the smallmouth bass to head for the deeper sections of the rivers. They still need
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The Three Charlies
The master anglers with whom one fishes often opens doors to angling experiences far beyond the basic rewards we may find on our
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Large Bass
Many of the serious smallmouth fishermen back when I was growing up saved their vacation time for October. They would fish all day,
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Stream Levels
Watching the stream levels and planning ahead can help you when fishing the mountain trout streams. Often at this time of the year
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Fall Trout Fishing
During October, November, and December, Virginia and many surrounding states stock designated streams providing excellent fall trout fishing. These cool streams provide good
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Indicator
An indicator with many goals. Flying back from Montana years ago, I was sitting across the aisle from Howard West. Howard was the
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Fly Fishing in October
Bass Fly Fishing in October Fly fishing in October for smallmouth fishing can be great. It is a transitional month for smallmouth fishing.
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Dry Fly Necks
How many top grade dry fly hackle necks does one need? When I started tying dry flies for trout I could afford only
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Away From Crowds
One of my guides fishes a great amount on his own and catches many fish. When asked how he does it…”I get away
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How Far To Cast
I am often asked in my fly fishing lessons, “How far do I cast?” Basically, I like to cast only far enough to
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Floating Minnow
Many years ago I hit on one of my most productive smallmouth tactics by accident. I was fishing the tail of a pool
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Fly Fishing in September
Bass Fly Fishing in September At dusk when the sun gets off the river many bass move onto the tails of the pools.
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Hellgrammite
When I was a youngster the natural hellgrammite was my favorite live bait for smallmouth bass. A hellgrammite is the larva of the
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Fly Fishing at Night
You can catch many large bass by fly fishing at night. Bass feed heavily at night on flies. I find I have my
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Fine Tuning Casts
There are times when regular casts on small mountain trout streams fail to give use the accuracy and delicacy needed. Even worse, the
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