Gone fishing...for railroad spikes

I went fly fishing yesterday just off the trail. As I've said before, the Creeper Trail runs by some of the finest trout water (Whitetop Laurel) in all of Virginia. It provides terriffic access to miles of water, some stocked and some reserved for single-hook artificial (flies).

Yesterday, I was happy to introduce an old college friend with whom I've recently reconnected, to the water along the Creeper. We started in the special regulation section between Creek Junction and above Taylor's Valley but ended the day down by the bridge in Taylor's Valley itself.

Rob is a much better fisherman than I am and caught many more, but I did mange to have a good day by my standards (half a dozen or so- we practice catch and release so I don't know for sure how many). The going was slow at first with the only action on droppers. I caught my first fish on a Tellico Nymph. The hatch was pretty varied throughout the afternoon. I tried several different patterns and had luck with Blue Winged Olives and a Light Cahill as well. As the light started to fade, the hatch came off heavy with a cloud of bugs, mostly Yellow Sallies but the fish were so active, I was getting hits even on an elk-hair caddis stimulator pattern. As we wound down the day at the bridge, we were joined by a vacationing dad and his two kids who wanted to see a fish. Rob promptly pulled one out and let them touch it, much to the delight of the three year old boy who pronounced it "slimey".

The real catch was earlier in the day when Rob climbed up the bank and found an old railroad spike, surely left over from the days of the Abingdon Branch. It was coated with oxidation but still solidly intact. He knew of my interest in trail history and was kind enough to share it with me. I told him about the recent auction (see previous post) where one of the items was a collection of "date nails". These are smaller spikes with a two digit year imprinted on the head used by the railroad to mark when a section of rail was put down. As we were walking to the next fishing hole, Rob spotted an old wooden railroad tie, that had washed downstream and went to look at it. Lo and behold, it had a date nail from 1917, sticking right up and easily removable! I'm thrilled to now be the keeper of both spikes at his kindness.