The Albemarle Angler

Finally, the rain has arrived! Fishing is quickly picking up, not to say that there weren’t places where you could land some nice fish, especially browns. The brookie fishing should be outstanding in the next week.

Mossy Creek is actually fishing OK. I personally fished it last week and got 10 browns to 17″. The problem is with the low water levels fish are only being found in the deepest pools and runs so there is a lot of unproductive water. Small fish, however, in the 10-14″ range are common. Most of my fish were taken on EPT with flashback in size 18. There is a Trico hatch in the am and sporadic tan mayflies coming off the rest of the day especially when its overcast. I did get a couple of fish on top. Carson got a great fish under the bridge yesterday.
















The other likely spot for trout right now is the Jackson Tailwater. We fished last week and flows are good at about 250cfs. Water is off color so we decided to target large browns. Nathan landed a 22″ brown and there were at least 2 other 17″ and a 16″ with some wild rainbows mixed in. This is quality water that can be fished all summer because of the regulated flows released from the dam. This also keeps the temps consistent. We have run a number of trips in the last couple of weeks on the tailwater and we are averaging 30-40 fish per day for anglers that have good line control. Its a mixed bag of browns and rainbows.








We are stocking Big Bend Farm on Friday so all trips booked after that are a go.  Fishing should be fantastic!  We will initally stock 1000lbs of trout to 20″ and more this month as needed.

Hayfields Farm is slated for its first stocking on Thursday, October 7.  This water is availabe as a guided water only.

General Conditions
Overall conditions are great right now with water levels coming up a bit with the recent rain.  The rain and lower temps this week are helping to cool things off and heat up the fishing.  The fish are willing and concentrated more due to slightly lower water levels. Streamer and poppers are taking most fish so fish what you are comfortable with.  We are using Walt’s Poppers on top in blue, orange, yellow, and white.  For streamers a tutti frutti clouser or Kreelex is hard to beat especially when stripped fast with the tip of the rod.  Try to really make your streamers “jump” as the action is what is triggering the bite.

We’ve also been getting good reports of lots of fish on the Jackson Tailwater on small mayflies, especially soft hackles fished on the swing.  Mossy Creek has also been producing good numbers of fish on hoppers and small PT’s.

I have had the chance to fish a couple of tailwaters in the last month and the results have been fantastic!  About 3 weeks ago I fished the Jackson River with our good friend Ben Austin.  The flows were about 600 cfs, which meant perfect streamer water.  The first fish of the day was a 16″ brown that slammed a Kreelex.  The rest of the day consisted of numerous wild rainbows and another brown that measured about 19″ and was also taken on a streamer.

Early last week, Gordon and I were in Bristol, Tennessee for the Orvis Dealer retreat and were blessed to be able to fish a private stretch of the Holston River tailwater.  This river is known for its huge brown trout that are caught in the fall as well as the incredible numbers of fish per mile.  However, perhaps its most famous for being very technical with an abundant population of wild browns and rainbows that turn up their noses at most flies that do not fit in the #18-22 range.  Can you say, San Juan River?  Nonetheless, we fished Tuesday together and easily caught 100-150 fish between the two of us with a couple of browns and rainbows measuring in the 16″ range.  We both hooked bigger fish that held deep on the bottom and snapped our measly 6x tippet in no time.  We were taking fish on soft hackles, BH nymps and streamers.  If you’ve ever been wanting to fish this river, come see us and we’ll give you the scoop!

Nathan | Guide @ The Albemarle Angler