Fly Fishing for Brook Trout - Shenandoah National Park

This was a fantastic day of fishing on the Piney River in Shenandoah National Park. Temps got up to 80 degrees on this February day. It felt like spring. A warm breeze, hatches all around, and lots and lots of Brookies. Doesn’t get better than that!
I parked at the lower boundary at the end of Route 600 (there's only parking for about 2 cars here), and worked my way up towards the headwaters. The first mile of the stream in Park boundary is relatively flat and not worth fishing. When you pass the stream monitoring station on your left there are a few pools worth stopping at on your way up the river, but I wouldn't spend more than 3-4 minutes at each. Keep hiking up until you cross the river 2 more times, right before the second crossing is where the trail splits and can take you to the Thornton River. Keep on pressing up the Piney Branch trail and as you see the valley form around the stream hike down and start fishing up. This is where the best water is with lots of plunge pools. I fished up to the waterfall and about 100 yards past it before starting my hike back to the truck. The return journey took about 1.5 hours.
Stripping a Dry Dropper Set-Up:
Something I learned from an older and much more experienced angler was that if your dry fly or indicator goes underwater don’t give up on that cast. Start slowly stripping line to get tight to your flys and then you can either just swing nymph the drift or strip it like a streamer to give it action. I find this especially useful with big elk hair caddis'

[@gregrusteikas9578]

Is this the same Piney River that’s confluences with the North Fork Of The Thornton River and that’s very nearby Sperryville?

[@EastCoastFlies]

Hey Greg, yes it is that piney river. Just recently learned about the other Piney in Nelson County.

[@johnfarel3152]

I love piney. Looked like you covered a lot of water. I don’t think I’ve been that far up piney. I usually start just inside park boundary and fish 4-6 hours. Usually end up in that section where it flattens out. I haven’t made it up to the headwaters.

[@soundbwoikilla764]

Def you should hike up and try up above. Did you have problems with the neighbors parking at the bottom?

[@MaHa-mr4rn]

So very beautiful small river 😇

[@EastCoastFlies]

These small Mountain streams are my favorite. Can't beat the scenery and the beauty of these fish!