Passage Creek is easy to reach from Northern VA. Because of this Passage Creek can be very crowded and unpredictable fishing. I had a few hours to kill this past Sunday and what a better way to spend some time then fly fishing.
However, I immediately new I was in for trouble. Lot's of traffic heading out Rt 55 from Front Royal to Fort Valley Rd. I first stopped at the fish hatchery but several fisherman were already fishing both up and down stream. I talked briefly with a guy just getting ready to head in the river moving up stream and found that he was having a slow day. 4 fish in 4 hours. He also told me that he was very disappointed to see so many worm containers, power bait and other forms of live bait on a Artificial lure stream.
I started heading south on Fort Valley Rd. to find one of my other favorite sites. Unfortunately I had to head up stream for quite a while. I finally found a location that is hard to get too but I have always wanted to try and with all the other locations taken by more than one fisherman I decided to rough it. Turns out the hike was not as bad as I thought. Once I got to this remote part of the river, I saw some great fishing holes, but unfortunately the water was too high and too fast for my limited skills. I caught 1 six incher by pure luck, snagged it.
I had one great experience on the river though. I am standing in the middle of the stream, at peace with nature, completely relaxed. I look up to enjoy the scenery and a beautiful Mink walks up to the stream takes a drink, looks at me for a minute then runs away. This animal was beautiful.
As for the fishing, too many people, too many rules violations. I am going to give it one more try during the week and if I have no luck I am going to eliminate Passage Creek from my fishing list.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Fishing the Robinson North and South of Criglersville
We traveled south on Rt. 29 and turned West on Rt 609 toward Criglersville. After Haywood you will see the Robinson on the left hand side of the road. We picked a pull out and jumped in the river, working up river toward Criglersville.
The river is wide and has plenty of deep holes and riffles. I started off fishing just under the water line with an emerger and did not have much luck. I continued to move up stream and just before the 609 bridge, I changed to a bead head numph. Bang I caught 3 nice Rainbows, 10 inches and the largest sucker fish I have seen in these waters. The fish were down deep in the holes. I had to add weight to get the fly down quickly. Well after that the river went quiet. I continued up river to some nice riffle areas, but did not catch anything. This is when my lack of experience really kicked in. What was I doing right before the bridge that helped me catch some fish and then after that nothing.
We took a break for lunch and then traveled North of Criglersville on 600 to check out the upper reaches of the Robinson. We found some very nice water with stocking signs posted, but got nothing the rest of the afternoon. I was feeling very down, because the water looked great. I inquired later with some of my experienced fly fishing friends. Come to find out it seems the locals poach this part of the stream, even use nets from what they told me. Where are the cops when you need them.
I would encourage you to fish the Robinson from Criglersville, south.
The river is wide and has plenty of deep holes and riffles. I started off fishing just under the water line with an emerger and did not have much luck. I continued to move up stream and just before the 609 bridge, I changed to a bead head numph. Bang I caught 3 nice Rainbows, 10 inches and the largest sucker fish I have seen in these waters. The fish were down deep in the holes. I had to add weight to get the fly down quickly. Well after that the river went quiet. I continued up river to some nice riffle areas, but did not catch anything. This is when my lack of experience really kicked in. What was I doing right before the bridge that helped me catch some fish and then after that nothing.
We took a break for lunch and then traveled North of Criglersville on 600 to check out the upper reaches of the Robinson. We found some very nice water with stocking signs posted, but got nothing the rest of the afternoon. I was feeling very down, because the water looked great. I inquired later with some of my experienced fly fishing friends. Come to find out it seems the locals poach this part of the stream, even use nets from what they told me. Where are the cops when you need them.
I would encourage you to fish the Robinson from Criglersville, south.
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