Hello all,
First post on the forum, I've been lurking and learning for a while. Thanks for the nice site. I'm a medium experienced fly fisherman in north-west Virginia. Not quite a newbie but still lots to learn! I've been trying to find a good trout river close to me. I'm looking for something a little bigger than brook trout in the mountains (which are certainly very nice indeed). I do a fair amount of smallmouth fishing on the Shenandoah but sometimes you just want to see a nice sized trout.
I took a guided trip on the private section of Mossy Creek near Harrisonburg a few months back and had a great time. I caught several nice brown trout. The private section of the stream was beautiful for sure.
I've gone back to the public section three times so far and feeling less than thrilled. I've caused a few medium size fish and one larger fish to stir and flash at my fly, a few briefly hooked but not landed. I've landed a few smaller fish. My concern, there appears to be a large amount of this creek that is being damaged by cows. If you park near the church and go upstream, there is nearly 1.5 miles of unfenced stream. There is a very nice section at the most upper limits of the upstream section but I can't see a whole lot of fish holding in the areas that are being trampled by the cows.
This stream also appears to get heavy pressure by other anglers.
I'm almost to the point of feeling I should just look for better water elsewhere.
Anyone else have experience with the public stretch of Mossy??
Should I stick it out and look a little harder??
Happy to have any other thoughts or recommendations.
Steve
First post on the forum, I've been lurking and learning for a while. Thanks for the nice site. I'm a medium experienced fly fisherman in north-west Virginia. Not quite a newbie but still lots to learn! I've been trying to find a good trout river close to me. I'm looking for something a little bigger than brook trout in the mountains (which are certainly very nice indeed). I do a fair amount of smallmouth fishing on the Shenandoah but sometimes you just want to see a nice sized trout.
I took a guided trip on the private section of Mossy Creek near Harrisonburg a few months back and had a great time. I caught several nice brown trout. The private section of the stream was beautiful for sure.
I've gone back to the public section three times so far and feeling less than thrilled. I've caused a few medium size fish and one larger fish to stir and flash at my fly, a few briefly hooked but not landed. I've landed a few smaller fish. My concern, there appears to be a large amount of this creek that is being damaged by cows. If you park near the church and go upstream, there is nearly 1.5 miles of unfenced stream. There is a very nice section at the most upper limits of the upstream section but I can't see a whole lot of fish holding in the areas that are being trampled by the cows.
This stream also appears to get heavy pressure by other anglers.
I'm almost to the point of feeling I should just look for better water elsewhere.
Anyone else have experience with the public stretch of Mossy??
Should I stick it out and look a little harder??
Happy to have any other thoughts or recommendations.
Steve
