Saturday afternoon we drove out to the Field House to meet our guide Mike Steiner, who heads the Orvis-endorsed fly fishing operation for Nemacolin. In addition to fly fishing, the resort also offers sporting clays and upland bird hunting trips. After a quick lunch over a couple of Sierra Nevada Pale Ales, we joined up with Mike for the 20 minute drive to the Yough.
The Yough is a tailwater, and with the river on the low side there was a significant release flowing from the dam. Mike noted that the water was moving at about 900 CFS, which was a bit on the high side. Once we got there, though, we noticed that the current was moving, but not too fast to make wading too uncomfortable. Water depth was knee to thigh high. Air temps in the mid to upper 70s. Water temps in the upper 60s.
Got on the water around 1330. We fished about 400 yds downstream from the dam, and you could see the water churning out. But where we were the conditions were not too challenging. We fished on top (Adams/parachutes), and hoppers/droppers (scud patterns), and only covered about 200 yards or so of water.
Given we were only on the water for about 4 hours, and the water was higher and faster than normal (around 600 CFS), I'd give Mike and the river a 95% . Mike put us on fish immediately. In the end I brought 2 to the net, one a nice rainbow that took me to the backing. Mary got a rainbow as well. But we both lost nice fish, and missed several takes. There were certainly a lot of fish in the river, and some big fish. Chalk it up to shaking off the rust.
But a great day in all. Mike was everything you'd want in a guide. He obviously knew where the fish were and put us on them. But he demonstrated a great personality, talked about all kinds of things in addition to fishing, and was just a pleasure to be with out on the water. Many thanks Mike!
Enjoy the pics. Looking forward to getting out to western Pa in the spring.
Tight lines. MikeyDFishing.
