Harman's North Fork Cottages Day 2 Evening Session

Well as I stated in the Day 2 post, Greg and I hooked up with Kevin from flytyingforum.com to do a little fishing. Kevin had asked me where we wanted to go. Greg and I talked and decided to give the trout a break from our flies and chase some smallies. Kevin met us around 1300 hours or so at the cabin. This was the first time any of us had ever met. I had been PM'ing Kevin about the North branch and other areas to fish while we were going to be at Harman's. I asked Kevin if he wanted to fish with us and he jumped at the chance.

So Kevin arrived at our cabin and had some coffee while we finished getting ready. Kevin asked where we wanted to go and we said we would like to chase smallies for the afternoon. Kevin said he knew of a couple of good places and the packing of the vehicle began. We, of course, had to take a photo of all of us:

We headed out from Harman's and ended up here:

The scenery was stunning here:

Kevin definitely put us on the fish. I was using a chartreuse Road Kill Nymph and just crushing them. It was their crack for the day. They loved it. I believe I ended the day with around 40 long eared sunfish, 20 smallies and 7 red eyed rocks. I did hook into something that took me for a run down stream before it broke my line. I never was able to turn it or get it to come to the surface. Everyone overall did well. Kevin even tried one of my poppers and was catching fish on it. This was a first for him. Here is Kevin with his first smallie on a popper which was my Luscious Lemon:

Here is the fish porn:

I was having such a great time catching fish that I didn't want to leave. Greg was worn out and told me that his wrist was hurting from the casting all day. Kevin needed to get back to the cabin since he still had an hours drive to his house. I kept saying one more cast, one more cast. Well that and I couldn't possibly go anywhere until I finished my cigar. Everyone headed back up to the car while I was still catching fish. In the end I finally had to wrap it up and we headed back to the cabin. We really had a great time with Kevin. I am looking forward to meeting up with him again in the future for some fishing.

By the time we got back to the cabin, dinner was almost ready. We all had dinner and cleaned the area up. I was busy but heard the girls yelling "rod, rod, rod." I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on. I came out to find Greg holding about six inches of the tip of a rod that had apparently broken off. Greg told me "well now I owe you a 5wt as you aren't the only one who broke a rod on this vacation." Greg had moved my rod to beside the back door of the cabin. When he went out for something, it slide down the wall. The girls realized what was happening but Greg didn't stop in time. He closed the door on the end of my favorite 5wt thus breaking the tip off.

Two rods down in 24 hours and still two and a half days at the cabin left. It wasn't looking real good for us at that particular moment.

Harman's North Fork Cottages Day 2 Morning Session Continued

Previously at Harman's: Greg and I got up early and fished on day 2 for trout out behind our cabin.  I landed 7 rainbows and Greg caught some rainbows and a tiger trout.  I had forgotten to mention that after the sun came up over the hill we moved to the big hole right at the entrance to Harman's North Fork Cottages.  Here are some photos of it.  This area is so beautiful.  We decided to take our farewell photos here as well.  As stated here are the photos of the big hole as it looked the morning of day 2:

I added a ton of photos of this area because I always find it to be both beautiful and special.  As you pull into Harman's this is the sight that greets you on the left of the road going back to the cabins.  For me it holds a promise of wonderful things to come such as wildlife to be seen, fish to be caught and good times to be enjoyed with my wife.  It really is magical in a sense and very hard to describe in words. 
What I did learn from this though is that you can't cross it.  Well maybe you could but I couldn't seem to find a way across.  Back to the story.  Greg and I hit this hole and at some point I decided to attempt to cross it in order to get to the other bank and work my way down the hole towards the bend by the road.  I distinctly remember Greg saying that there was no way to cross.  This hole is surprisingly deep... I was to learn that shortly.  I told Greg no worries that we could cross as long as we picked our way across carefully.  I managed to get about half way across when the water came up to my waist.  The next few steps I took proved just how deep the hole really is:

The water was actually higher on me than it appears in the first photo.  Greg was laughing so hard he was literally biting his hand in order to stifle his laugh from disturbing the other fishermen and the residents in the cabins behind us.  It took Greg a few seconds to realize he had a great photo opportunity.  When he finally managed to get his camera out and control his laughter these are the photos he got. 

So the morning session on day 2 at Harman's ended with me taking a swim and having to empty out my vest and all my fly boxes.  Most of them were full with water.  I had to dry everything out back at the cabin.  I am still drying stuff out at my house (on the dining room table, much to the wife's dismay) even as I write this!

Harman's North Fork Cottages Day 2

Previously at Harman's: Greg and I had caught a number of trout the first afternoon we were there and I broke my 3wt rod.  It literally snapped in half.  It is 18 years old and the first rod I ever got when I started to fly fish so I cant say I am surprised.  But damn! 

So Greg and I decided to wake up early and head out on Friday in search of more glorious trout.  We woke at 0700 and got ready.  I know, I know some of you out there are shaking your head and saying to yourself "That's early?"  Well kind readers for me it is.  I work evenings and don't get off until midnight.  Most nights I am not home until around 0100.  So I tend to be a night owl.  Back to the story.  We got up around 0700 and headed out to gear up.  The girls decided to sleep in.  Can't say as I blame them.  This is the site from the porch of our cabin that greeted us that morning.

Here is Greg gearing up.  He is the only one I have ever met who refuses to wet wade.  He wears waders even in the dead of Summer when we are chasing smallies.

We headed down to the stream right behind our cabin.  We did pretty well.  The rainbows loved the Batman and the Colorado Special.  It was a blast to watch them chase those nymphs.  They got mighty irritated at those nymphs.  Here are some photos of what we caught that morning.  All in all it was a good morning.  Greg landed a tiger but we couldn't get a photo of it.  Other than that, they were all rainbows.  Greg did mange to land two more monsters.

Like I said, all in all it was a great morning.  I ended the morning with 7 rainbows and I believe Greg landed 4 plus a tiger.  As soon as the sun peaked over the hill we called it a day and headed back to the cabin for breakfast.  We had to get ready to meet Kevin from flytyingforum.com anyway.  We were planning on heading out to chase some smallies in the afternoon/evening with him.

While waiting for Kevin after breakfast, Greg decided to go back and try for more trout.  I believe he actually enjoyed fishing for them.  So off we headed again around noon back to the stream.  We decided to hit the hole right outside our cabin for the second time that day.  Greg managed to land a brown.  He also lost another fish.  I have videos of each but they won't load for some reason.

Alright well the morning at Harman's came to an end without any issues.  Stay tuned for the second half of the day when we fished with Kevin from flytyingforum.com and Greg ended up breaking the second rod of the trip.

New Nymphs

These are two nymphs that I tied up before going to Harman's last week.   The first one is one I call the Batman.  As some might remember, Batman and friends are a big deal in our house.  I was trying to come up with something new to take with us.  The second nymph is something called a Colorado Special.  I found it on Youtube.  Taking a look at it, I decided to play around a little with the UV Ice Dub I have.  I pulled out my old Batman nymph and tried to copy it a little.  Both nymphs did really well last week and landed quite a few fish.  I actually had only tied up one Batman.  I never got around to photographing it before hand so sorry for its appearance but it did fool quite a few rainbows.  Let me know what you all think.

Sorry about the photo of the Colorado Special.  For what ever reason, I could not get it to come into focus so I did the best I could.

New Popper Color

Here is a new popper color I have been playing around with.  I bought some teal saddle hackle a while ago and couldnt figure out what to do with it.  The wife and I were finally able to find some teal paint at Michaels to match.  I like it.  Curious to see how it does as I havent even had a chance to use it yet.  Let me know what you all think.

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.

Where I Have Been Lately

Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  I was busy getting ready for a trip I just got back from in WV.  We went to Harman's North Fork Cottages to chase smallies, red eyed rocks, rainbows, browns and tiger trout.  I was tying up a storm before we went.  We were supposed to have Internet access which we did but it was a joke.  It would not stay connected for very long.  So, in order to show what we did and to explain what happened, I thought I would do a series of posts for each day we were there.  We got there on Thursday 09/01 and left to come home on Monday 09/05.  So stay tuned for the adventure.  A lot happened and much of it wasn't pleasant.