Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Fish Kill in the SNP section of the Hazel River?

I learned my lesson about hiking down from Skyline the very first time I fished in the Park.  Never again.  It was 98 degrees and humid that day.

R

From: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gregg DiSalvo <grdisalvo@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 9:09 AM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Fish Kill in the SNP section of the Hazel River?

I second what Richard said.  I much prefer to start from skyline where possible.  I will hike down AT LEAST one hour (fast paced) and then fish my way back up.  I find it oh so tempting to jump in the stream too soon when hiking in from the bottom.  I fish usually once or twice each winter, just to get out.  I will go to my more productive park streams from the spring/summer where i'll have 20+ fish days.  I find in the winter that it is a good day when I land 1-2 fish.  

As for fishing behind somebody, that is definitely a possibility.  I fished Big Run for 2 days a couple years back.  Both days had other anglers sighted and I found the fishing terribly tough.  In what should have been at least 10+ fish days, we totaled four fish in two days.  It can be frustrating, but luckily, there are usually some feeder streams that you can detour to in these instance.

Maybe drop Harry Murray an email.  He's usually quite responsive and may have some intel.

Gregg

On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 8:03:32 PM UTC-5, Richard Farino wrote:

Something else to keep in mind – brook trout, especially mountain populations, have a pretty short life span.  3 years is average.

If there’s a population changing event, like drought, or overfishing, or increased predation, you can expect the populations to change.

Also you might not be going up far enough.  Most anglers don’t want to travel much further past the parking lot.  Next time put boots to the ground and don’t start fishing until you’re further up.

R

From: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Andrew Sarcinello <andy...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 5:14 PM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Fish Kill in the SNP section of the Hazel River?

Someone I know caught a single nice brookie there last year, I think in June.  He didn't find anything until he got about a half mile above the park boundary.

It doesn't explain BOTH fishless outings, but sometimes in winter things will completely shut down.  I've had this happen in SNP anytime the sun is not hitting the water in winter.  Can walk past a sunlit pool with feeding fish in the late morning, but pass it on the way out after the sun has dipped behind the ridge, and there isn't a fish to be seen.  Maybe this is what happened on your recent trip, and your previous trip you could have been fishing behind someone.

One thing to keep in mind is we've had very dry late summer/early fall conditions the past two years.  I personally believe trout populations are noticeably down in many streams from where they were 2 or 3 years ago.  However, I don't think it's anything to worry about (yet) as these fish have handled worse droughts for thousands of years.

On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 2:03:07 PM UTC-5, Andrew Chaney wrote:

I first fished the upper section of the Hazel River (from the point the park begins to the two decent sized falls upstream) a few years ago. It wasn't the most productive stream in the area, but I was still able to land a handful of brook trout. I've since been back a handful of times with similar results except the last two times I went.

The 2nd to last time I fished there (about a year and a half ago) I didn't catch anything and didn't see any trout. I didn't think much of it at the time and moved on to an nearby stream and had better luck.

I returned this last weekend after a few warm days culminated in the beautiful weather we had last Saturday. I fished the entire SNP section of the river and not only did I not catch anything, I also did not see a single trout, fallfish, dace, or other minnow. Every pool, seam, and eddy looked completely devoid of life. The water itself was crystal clear, however. I've fished all over the SNP for more than 15 years and I've never seen anything like it in an SNP stream that was big enough for fish.

So, has anyone had any luck on the Hazel River recently? If not, are there any known issues with that stream?

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