I had the pleasure of spending 5 days in the WV wilderness this past week with a good friend from work. He grew up in WV and has been fly fishing the area around Seneca all his life, so I was very fortunate to get the invite. I'm also a novice fly fisherman and after 5 days of fishing with this guy I can say that I'm now a "less-novice" fly fisherman 
Here's the report:
We headed out last Thursday and set up camp about 4 miles from the falls. We fished the last few hours of daylight and had really good success right away. We caught mainly rainbow trout, but caught a few brook trout along the way. I believe all of these fish were native to the area. Weather conditions were perfect, with clear skies, 70-75* temps, and little wind. Most fish were caught on Royal Coachmen.
We fished early Friday morning and were greeted with some dark clouds and predicted thunderstorms. We didn't want to risk getting stuck in the woods so we decided to fish Spruce Knob lake which is tucked up in the mountains in a rather remote location. Half of the adventure was just getting there along mostly gravel roads and twisty turns. When we pulled into the parking lot, the DNR was just leaving after having stocked fresh trout into the lake. What luck My friend swears he didn't know about this, but I think he wanted to make sure I had a good time. We caught a few nice rainbows out of there using a clear "water-bobber" as he called it trailing a fly behind it. I believe this is the "float-&-fly" method people refer to, but his "water bobber" was half-full of water to help suspend it which was different than what I had read about. After about an hour, the rain came, but we continued to fish and my friend caught a nice 18" smallmouth on his fly which really surprised me. He caught quite a few rock bass and sunfish as well. I had just as good of luck throwing a Strike King crawfish style crankbait along some riprap shoreline. We had so much fun catching bass that we forgot all about the trout. I don't think anyone else fishes for bass there, so we caught well over 25 each and left when the lightning showed up.
We hiked back to camp to find everything so intact but soaked. We fly fished again before dark and had another great night with the rainbow trout. They seemed to be feeding on white nymphs so that's what we threw at them.
On Saturday we were a little slow to get out of camp in the morning and some hikers beat us to the falls. We had been saving that stretch for last due to the large pools and pretty scenery, but they got there first. One of them had a catfish pole and was throwing night crawlers and another one had a boombox and a swimsuit, so you can imagine how productive that stretch was. We backtracked downstream a bit and still had luck on Parachute Adams, but not nearly as good of luck as the previous few days. We hiked Sunday morning and then drove home.
By the end of the trip I was casting under trees, around rocks, side-armed and everything in between. I struggled more with the hook setting than anything else and either missed the fish or sent it flying over my head into the woods. I averaged about 5-10 good fish a day while I missed about 50 hits. My friend thinks he caught 25 each day. I brought 10 of the largest ones home to share with my friends and let the rest go.
Overall, the scenery alone made the trip well worth the drive. Seneca Falls is beautiful and so is the large rock formation in town. We saw plenty of deer, 6 different species of snakes including a copperhead, a black bear, and not a single item of trash along the way. We enjoyed great hiking trails and most of all, the fishing was amazing, even for a now "less-novice" fly fisherman. I'll try and remember to post some pictures after I take 5 showers tonight.
-House
Here's the report:
We headed out last Thursday and set up camp about 4 miles from the falls. We fished the last few hours of daylight and had really good success right away. We caught mainly rainbow trout, but caught a few brook trout along the way. I believe all of these fish were native to the area. Weather conditions were perfect, with clear skies, 70-75* temps, and little wind. Most fish were caught on Royal Coachmen.
We fished early Friday morning and were greeted with some dark clouds and predicted thunderstorms. We didn't want to risk getting stuck in the woods so we decided to fish Spruce Knob lake which is tucked up in the mountains in a rather remote location. Half of the adventure was just getting there along mostly gravel roads and twisty turns. When we pulled into the parking lot, the DNR was just leaving after having stocked fresh trout into the lake. What luck My friend swears he didn't know about this, but I think he wanted to make sure I had a good time. We caught a few nice rainbows out of there using a clear "water-bobber" as he called it trailing a fly behind it. I believe this is the "float-&-fly" method people refer to, but his "water bobber" was half-full of water to help suspend it which was different than what I had read about. After about an hour, the rain came, but we continued to fish and my friend caught a nice 18" smallmouth on his fly which really surprised me. He caught quite a few rock bass and sunfish as well. I had just as good of luck throwing a Strike King crawfish style crankbait along some riprap shoreline. We had so much fun catching bass that we forgot all about the trout. I don't think anyone else fishes for bass there, so we caught well over 25 each and left when the lightning showed up.
We hiked back to camp to find everything so intact but soaked. We fly fished again before dark and had another great night with the rainbow trout. They seemed to be feeding on white nymphs so that's what we threw at them.
On Saturday we were a little slow to get out of camp in the morning and some hikers beat us to the falls. We had been saving that stretch for last due to the large pools and pretty scenery, but they got there first. One of them had a catfish pole and was throwing night crawlers and another one had a boombox and a swimsuit, so you can imagine how productive that stretch was. We backtracked downstream a bit and still had luck on Parachute Adams, but not nearly as good of luck as the previous few days. We hiked Sunday morning and then drove home.
By the end of the trip I was casting under trees, around rocks, side-armed and everything in between. I struggled more with the hook setting than anything else and either missed the fish or sent it flying over my head into the woods. I averaged about 5-10 good fish a day while I missed about 50 hits. My friend thinks he caught 25 each day. I brought 10 of the largest ones home to share with my friends and let the rest go.
Overall, the scenery alone made the trip well worth the drive. Seneca Falls is beautiful and so is the large rock formation in town. We saw plenty of deer, 6 different species of snakes including a copperhead, a black bear, and not a single item of trash along the way. We enjoyed great hiking trails and most of all, the fishing was amazing, even for a now "less-novice" fly fisherman. I'll try and remember to post some pictures after I take 5 showers tonight.
-House
