Ivy Creek- Shenandoah National Park

Ivy Creek

We had a couple of days in Charlottesville. My wife has made many work related trips to UVA, but this was my first time. I decided I would spend one day fishing for brook trout, once I realized how close we would be to Shenandoah National Park.  I did my research and bought my license online, and after considering several streams at the southern end of the park, I decided on Ivy Creek.
 Off I went on a Tuesday morning (6/19). I paid my 30 dollar entrance fee and about a half hour later I parked at Loft Mountain Wayside, crossed Skyline Drive and found my trailhead. I hiked briskly, passing a small hut and a piped spring, and quickly arrived at the Appalachian Trail where I headed north.
 Where the AT crosses an upper branch of Ivy Creek, it's less than inviting to continue off trail and downstream. The fallen logs, thick growth, and steep descent on slippery bedrock awaiting, gave me just a bit of anxiety. But, down I went and I was glad for it soon enough. It's beautiful place amidst the oaks, maples and other deciduous trees with the occasional granddaddy pines that sit streamside. I began casting soon, but didn't get a bite till I got below a twenty foot falls.

I threw the fly blind into a pool just under a small falls formed by a fallen log. It brought to mind a very similar spot on the Rio Bonito South Fork, where I've caught many brookies. I didn't hook that first one but shortly afterward I got my first and then began bringing them in at nearly every pool. They were much more silver  which made the vermiculations much less obvious than the ones I've caught at Three Rivers, but they were still a beautiful fish, some with stunning purple parr marks.

Ivy Creek Brook Trout

 When I sat down for my first rest,  after pulling a tick off my cheek and spraying myself down again, I looked down to see my rod cracked through in the second section. I tried in vain to do some kind of rigging that would hold the thing together. It worked once when I caught another fish, but afterward I was just casting with the top three sections while holding the reel and bottom section in my other hand. I still caught six more fish. After eating my lunch, and losing my shades, I tried the last few pools below the waterfall and then called it day, wanting to get back to my car before the inevitable  afternoon thunderstorm that was coming.  I was a little sad to have broken my Redington Wayfarer rod that had been with me on the majority of my fishing trips for the last 15 years, but was elated to have caught so many feisty beautiful brook trout in their native Appalachian Mountains habitat.
 This was the simple, fun, fast and wild kind of small stream fishing that I've been used to out here in the West. It was such a good fit I can't wait for another opportunity to do it again.