Trout – Paddy Run Trout Fishing (VA – Brookie Section)

After fishing the stocked section, I was curious about the upstream water. Earlier, I had pulled in the appropriate background files from the fisheries people and the Eastern Brook Trout Venture into Google Earth and discovered that Paddy Run, upstream of the stocked section, was rated as water that would hold wild brook trout.

I drove the truck approximately 2 miles upstream from the intersection and walked down to the stream to assess the volume and quality of water. Since it was still in the middle of the spawning season, I was careful to remain on the bank as I walked in search of holes that would be deep enough to hold trout throughout the year. As you can see from the pictures, I found several. I did not see any evidence of full-grown brookies. I threw a few rocks in some of the pools to see if I could spark movement but did not see anything bigger than a few inches dash for safety.

After checking out the southern end, I drove halfway back to the intersection and walked to the stream once again. I stopped at a campsite on a high ridgeline and skidded down to the stream from there. The water looked pretty good here as well.

As I looked downstream, I saw fallen logs spanning the creek with the requisite, mandatory deep pool lurking beneath. Upstream, the same situation prevailed. I walked for a few hundred yards up and downstream to check things out and concluded that there was plenty of good-looking water to hold the invisible brookies. A few test flicks with rocks only energized movement from the tiny fingerlings.

I believe this is a place I want to investigate when it warms up in the Spring and I can fish it thoroughly. I will come out here after they stock Paddy again, and after pursuing the stockers, I’ll bounce upstream and see if I can fool a few skittish brookies.