Harman's North Fork Cottages Day 1

I had spent all of my free time tying flies the week before we left for Harman's North Fork Cottages in Cabins, WV.  This was not going to be our first time there.  Well for my wife and I at least.  We took another couple with us this trip.  Greg and his fiancee came along.  It was our wedding present to them.  This part is important so as you read this adventure please keep it in the back of your mind.  Anyways, I tied poppers for smallies in the area and nymphs and woolly buggers for the trout at Harman's.  As a side note, this is the Harman's from the show Fly Rod Chronicles hosted by Curtis Fleming.  Here is a photo of cabin 13 which is the cabin we stayed in:

So, Greg and his fiancee arrived around noon on Thursday at our house.  We had planned to take two cars so in case we wanted to go elsewhere to fish and the girls wanted to do something, everyone would have a vehicle.  We left around a quarter to 1 and headed out.  I can honestly say that the trip out was relaxed and easy.  Nothing eventful happened.  Everyone was so excited just to be on our way.  We had been planning this for months and with work being the way it was I, for one, couldn't wait to get away.

Around a quarter to four we arrived at Harman's.  Apparently three thunder storms had just past through so the water was up, a little stained and moving fairly well.  After checking in we proceeded to our cabin.  I have to admit that I do love this place.  Maybe even any place like this.  I want to own something in the future where I have a stream running through my yard/property which is nestled in the mountains.  Boy I can't wait for retirement.  Anyways, back to the story.  So Greg and I helped unload the vehicles, got dressed and raced down to the stream.  This is the sight we were greeted with:

Looks good right?  It actually has a lot of rocks and some deep runs.  We could see trout and smallies cruising all over the area.  We decided to fish from behind the cabin to up the bend.  I was switching between a black woolly bugger, the Batman as well as the Colorado Special.  All flies I tied.  I will try and post some photos of these later on.  We ended up getting into the trout.  I landed four tigers, three browns, and two rainbows.  I almost managed to land two smallies, two fall fish and two long eared sunfish.  I believe that Greg landed around 5 or 7 trout.  Before this trip, Greg had only caught two trout on the fly rod.  For those that remember, I have been teaching Greg how to fly fish and tie flies for the past year now.  On to the fish porn:

My best Tiger Trout:

Greg's big catch: a red eyed rock

After hitting the hole at the bend we decided to work our way up to the pool behind cabin 15.  We didn't have much luck there so we came back to the run behind our cabin.  This is probably where the turning point in our trip happened.  My wife, when she tells the story, insists that the turning point for our vacation was when she broke her favorite pair of flip flops.  I disagree.  I believe it was when we returned to the run behind our cabin and I was casting to a cruising trout only to have my 3wt Cortland rod snap in half.  Literally snap in half.  I have had this rod for 18 years.  It was the first rod I ever got when I started fly fishing.  I have caught thousands of fish on it.  I love it.  It is my go to trout rod.  I only have five rods anyways.  I own a 2wt, 3wt, (2) 5wts and an 8/9 that I hate.  My 2wt is for the brookies I chase.  It really isn't designed for chasing 15-18 inch trout.  Hence the problem.  I will say though that I brought the 2wt along with both 5wts with me.  The wife mocked me for bringing four rods but as the weekend progressed, it would turn out to be a god send and she would eventually apologize for it. 

The weekend was now off to a start with a rather loud snap.  I was pissed.  First day there and I was already down a rod.  If only I could see into the future, I would have been happy it was just a rod broken at that point in time.  One rod down and more adventures in the coming days so stay tuned.