North Fork of Big Stony Creek: Zug Bug blues

As promised, I have news about using the Zug Bug in some early season conditions on the North Fork of Big Stony Creek in Giles County, VA. Unfortunately, there is no good news to tell. The creek was running high, as expected after significant rains that fell this past week along with the melt-off of a larger-than-average ice pack that accumulated through February. This section of stream has been defined in the past by its beaver dams; but on this trip, we found only one such dam intact and others that had been washed out to leave apparently sterile sections of the stream. From my research on the matter, beaver dams are great for the first 3-5 years since they give a few fish a large amount of habitat and food as the young pond develops, yielding large fish. Unfortunately, brook trout have a terrible habit of over-population that causes the later generations to be stunted in their growth due to food competition and the inability of the mature pond to produce the same amount of trout food as a normal stretch of river would contain. The result is smaller fish and a gradual warming of the stream due to the slow moving water. With that being said, one beautiful day in the summer of 2004, a friend and I saw and caught some beautiful fish in the beaver dams on North Fork.

I was originally very disturbed by the North Fork trip. My friend and I saw not a peep of a trout, and as far as lesser beings, only a crawfish...I thought. I kept flipping rocks looking for nymphs and saw only a few very small worm-like (probably some sort of midge) nymphs a lots of long (2-7mm), strange triangular cross-section, immobile creatures. I was not impressed by the former and was convinced that the latter were some trash organism come in to claim the nearly dead stream. But after a discussion at the monthly TU meeting, a more benign identification was obtained. Turns out most-likely to be an American Grannom, Brachycentrus numerosus, or the ubiquitous green caddisfly. These are noted by Dick Pobst in his short guide Trout Stream Insects as 'second in importance nationwide' of the caddisflies (second only to the little black caddis Chimarra aterrima).

In conclusion, it was a bad fishing day with possibly some bad angling going on. However, the day was beautiful, the stream and country were also as such, and my friend and I had a' good time' bushwacking through the laurels. The brightest spot of the day was giving a very short lesson to my friend on his first attempt at fly fishing and seeing him take to it like he was born with a fly rod in hand. It makes me look forward to a wild trout season to share with new folks who have an interest in the beauty of the creatures, outdoors and the sport.