Head Waters Virginia
Every year since 2015 we have been heading up to very remote parts of Virginia in the spring for family vacations. We usually manage about 20 days of fly fishing, exploring, outdoor photography, and just relaxing from time to time. I have found some really good fly fishing streams and creeks with no other fly fisherman on the stream for days at a time. I love fly fishing wild trout streams, and the ones we found in Virginia do not disappoint. It's just not the fly fishing but the whole photographic scenery too. Some of the stuff you see out in the back country is just amazing.
Some times my son comes along fly fishing, when he gets time off from his business. He is older now, but still finds time to come up with us and wet a line from time to time.
This one little gem of a stream is the Head Waters to an entire watershed in the George Washington National Forest. The peculiar thing about this stream, if there is low water or drought conditions it turns into a rock garden and goes underground. First time I saw this on the head water, I thought that would be the end of the fly fishing there. We returned back next year and it was in full swing with even more trout than before. It's a strange thing, because to survive the trout would have to swim at least 6-8 miles into the bigger river system to survive. That is a long way for a little brook trout, but they seem to do it.
If you follow this stream all the way up it forks and the right fork is fed by a underground spring. There are tons of springs up in this area of Virginia. It makes for great trout streams and great fly fishing. We loved this area of Virginia so much we started going for 20 days in the fall too. There is so much wildlife in Virginia's wilderness it's great for photos, and we do a lot of that these days.
The bug and fly hatches are very good in a lot of these wild streams. You never know what you will see while on the stream. One day we saw this fly and I thought it was a Salmon Fly but turns out to be a Dark Fishfly (Nigronia spp.), the little guy flared out it's wings just to show off a little. Spring time is one of my favorite seasons, because of all the bug life and hatches happening. There is so much to see and so little time, so I advise get out and wet a fly line soon as you can in the Spring time.