Greenbrier Trip

Labor day weekend, my family and I traveled to the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. One of our activities included fly fishing on a local river called Thomas Creek. We fished for rainbow trout and brown trout with roe flies with a nymph backing. A roe fly is basically a ball of yarn that looks like a salmon egg; it does have a hook but is primarily used as a strike indicator. A nymph is a small fly that sinks because of the wire-wrapped body and metal (usually brass or tungsten) head. The trout usually go for the nymph because it resembles an emerging, underwater insect. We also used several different levels of tippet. We started with a fairly thick 1x, then went to about 4x, then finished with 6x. The string that connected the nymph to the roe was 8x. I caught about 4 large trout including one that weighed 5 pounds. In order to cast in the fairly cramped conditions of the stream, I had to learn how to roll cast. A roll cast is where one casts without bringing the line back. You simply pull the line closer to you then drive it forward as if you were punching out in front of you. We fished from 8 to 2, totaling 5 hours. I also had a guide with me that assisted by tying tippets and flies. He also told me the best places to fish in the stream. I spent approximately 12 dollars on flies for the Greenbriar trip; I used the guide's equipment. I fished on a stream on the Greenbriar property for about 2 hours as well. I did not catch anything there.