Harman's Getaway

The Start of a Fly Fisherman

It was time for a vacation finally.  The wife and her family wanted to take a vacation/short getaway to the mountains for some family time and relaxation.  I was put in charge of finding a nice spot that everyone could enjoy.  Well the spot that matched everyones needs pretty well came down to Harman's North Fork Cabins.  I got the opportunity to stay in this cabin during the Harman's North Fork Invitational with team WVAngler and was happy to have booked it again.  It offered a place where we all could relax, spend some time together, fish, hike, and just enjoy some piece in quiet next to a nice river with room for everyone in a beautiful cabin.   I gathered all my gear and the gear for anyone who wanted to use some and we took off for the long drive arriving in the evening on Thursday.  The air temps were a little hot and the flows were not the best for fishing but an early evening rain shower helped things out a good bit and helped
those mid 70 temps cool down a little.  My brother in law had wanted to try his hand at fly
fishing so on the way over had stopped and picked up a starter kit by Pflueger.  We took everything out strung it up got
him a few flies ready and were out the door on on the water. 
I struck the first evening by throwing a big streamer
 and was rewarded with a big fat 20 inch rainbow. 
TJ took the first evening getting comfortable with the fly
 rod and casting and such but no fish the first evening. 

Those First Fish on the Fly

The next day we got up early and hit the stream the fishing was slow again. The water had cooled some overnight and was just above 70.  The trout were a little more active and I missed a few fish early on.  By evening TJ had the hang of it for sure and his casting was improving.  After all that casting he was finally rewarded with his first smallie and his first fish on a fly rod.  He just missed a good trout being a little slow on the hook set and had another heart racing rejection as the trout gave it the long drift inspection.  That first real good taste really got him excitied and looking for more.  The smallies were on the take towards evening and I finished up with a nice which even gave a couple jumps during the fight.

Undewater Bow

The next day he tied on an olive woolybugger and went after smallies.  The hookset was on and he was into fish in no time.  Gave The wife the 3wt and let her chuck flies for a little while as well.  Its always nice to see new people take up a passion for fly fishing and land there first fish on a fly and get that desire to catch more fish and keep fishing harder and harder!  Sometimes a trip is not always about the fish you catch but the waters you share with others and the excitement they get out of the trip.  It turned out to be a great trip and a nice getwaway.  Harman's offers some nice cabins that have room for everyone and the peace and quiet you sometimes need for a trip to get away to.  They have 20 cabins overall 18 with very easy access to there stretch of stocked water.  Several cabins have hot tubs, wi-fi and some of the nicest porches to relax on!   Harman's has always been a friend of WVAngler and look forward to another nice trip back to there waters with the wife. The stretch of water there is teaming with great sized trout always ready for your offering if the water gets to warm there smallmouth are in pretty good numbers even some nice sized ones in the mix.  Plans are already being made to get on the water again and the passion is growing for sure!  The addiction continues!!