Occasionally folks here will post about fishing the Elk River in West Virginia, at the Elk Springs Resort. I went out there again for the Memorial Day weekend with my family, on what has become an annual trip, and had a really great time. Little things change year to year, but the resort's main attraction -- its location right at the spot where the Elk emerges from the ground after running miles under the mountains, stays the same. The river is always cold, never frozen, chock full of insects and ideal trout habitat. It's also carefully managed C&R and stocked with rainbows and browns, and man some of them are HUGE. My biggest this weekend was pushing 20 inches and they have some significantly bigger. Even the smaller ones can be tricky to fool, they put up a hard fight, and if you're not careful will get into fast water and put you into your backing before snapping off.
I wish I had some photos to share, but I am also glad I didn't have my cell on me as I slipped and took an unexpected freezing bath on two occasions. :-) So you'll have to take my word for it -- the fishing was great. This time of year the Elk has big sulphur hatches in the evenings (and smaller ones all day long) and although Fri & Sat were not big, the river was covered with bugs just as the darkness fell on Sunday. Everyone in our party, including my kids, landed nice fish in various scenarios on nymphs and dries, and I was able to cover a lot of water, too. There have been a few times over the years when the weather didn't cooperate, but it definitely did this time -- the forecast had been for rain but there wasn't much and the river was in perfect shape.
Resort-wise, the restaurant had better food and a bigger menu than I remember it having; the staff had had some turnover since last year and I noticed my favorite guides aren't there any more. But we weren't hiring guides anyway this time, everything seemed to be running fairly smoothly, the rooms were comfy, and the fly shop was very well stocked with everything anyone would need or want. If you haven't been out there, and you like trout fishing, it's worth checking out.
http://www.tpfr.org
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