Brook Trout

In this post thesuburbannaturalist gets out of the suburbs. About a month ago a friend and I headed out to the Shenandoah National Park (SNP) for some brook trout fishing, usually, an annual event. We were well aware of the thunderstorms in the forecast but, it was the only day both of us could go so we charged ahead to those Blue Ridge Mountains early on an April morning. We arrived just inside the SNP to a comedy of self-inflicted errors including forgetting my rain jacket and my friend leaving his waders at home. The storm clouds closed in on us but we fished anyway. We actually fished for a couple of hours in the rain but failed to land any fish. After we were thoroughly soaked we headed home but not before the fishing bug inside me awoke.

A couple of days afterwards, I told my wife that I had to get back to the mountains before summer set in. She is very supportive of my passion for fishing so we brainstormed for possible days. I thought of taking a day off work but twice a week I work a second job and I could not miss both of my jobs. When I don’t work evenings I need to be around to take my children to and from their activities, cook dinner or otherwise be present as a father and husband. Weekends are, generally, equally booked with baseball, hockey, soccer and ballet. We agreed that I could go last weekend in May because most activities were called off due to the holiday, however a last minute family situation wiped out my Saturday and Sunday was my daughters birthday party. I would have to go on Memorial Day.

I headed back out to the Conway River west of Wolftown, VA, the same place my friend and I had been some five weeks before. This day I was solo and I was feeling only slightly guilty for being so excited about a day for just me and the water. The day was a polar opposite from my first trip with temperatures nearing 80 degrees and plenty of sun. I hooked a fish early in the day which energized me to hike through the stream boulder hopping from pool to pool. As always, the crystal clear waters supplied me with a few brook trout and a couple that got away. It was an awesome day. The sound of the rushing water and vireos overhead, surrounded by a forest coming alive rejuvenated my spirit.

I used to fish the mountain streams of the SNP four or five times a year but I am now down to one or this year two trips. My life is busy, very busy but sometimes thesuburbannaturalist needs to get out of the burbs. I may just make a third trip this year.