The Rapidan Chapter

Thanksgiving on the Rose River Farm

John Pirkle with a fat Rose River Farm Rainbow

The strange weather that moved through Madison County the day after Thanksgiving gave fishermen cause to comment but didn’t seem to slow the fishing down one bit. Kevin Daniels and John Pirkle made their annual Rose River Farm pilgrimage and were rewarded with an incredible day on the water. The weather started sunny but cold, then rain, sleet, snow, and combinations of the aforementioned for the next hour or so.

The trout however were blissfully ignorant of our discomfort and greedy for the streamers that were presented throughout the day. John fished copper/orange Creelex flies the whole day while I stubbornly tried to ply them with dries. I gave up after an hour and no fish. John was having too much fun. I tied on a white articulated cone-head muddler and stuck with it the remainder of the day.

Kevin Daniels fighting a fat Rose River Rainbow

The Thanksgiving weekend trip has been an event for years. The last 5 or so have been at Rose River Farm. Mr. Deer has worked wonders with his stretch of stream and the resident rainbows are plentiful, fat and sassy. The rod fee is reasonable, and the water is limited to only a few anglers a day. On this trip, there were two others. We chatted upon arrival, and only ran into each other at lunch and once on the stream.