Richard Formato

Richard Formato is an avid catch-and-release fly-fisherman from Wytheville, Va. When not on the water, he operates a small business there. Formato loves to fly-fish in his native Southwest Virginia because of the great water and wonderful people. He also loves to fish the flats and shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic whenever work and weather permit. He is on the Department of Conservation and Recreation's board of directors and is a trustee of the Shenandoah National Forest and Skyline Drive.

Recent columns

• What about Bob?
• Notes from the Charlotte Fly Show
• A chance meeting
• A wish for Jack

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• Talk fly-fishing

It was a week of contrasts, beginning on Thursday tussling with the giant rainbows of John’s Creek at Maggie up in Craig County.

When I arrived at streamside I was joined by John Bass, his guide and vocal fly-fishing critic Bill Nuckels, plus his constant companion since childhood, James Arrington. John is a near quadraplegic and the most devoted fly-fisherman I have ever known. Before I could joint up my rod he had a fish on, an energetic four pounder. He played it to the bank with his usual proficiency, aided by a special rod holder worn upon his right arm. John celebrated his first catch of the day by doing a rocking wheelchair wheelie up the bank.

"Mountain gear,” he explained.

We were fishing the upper stretch of Bob Ratliff’s pay-for-fish operation at the John’s confluence with Dick Creek. The water temperature here was 64 degrees, perfect for a day’s streamlashing. The weather was quite a contrast to my last visit here on July 12, a muggy midsummer day when the water temperature rose above 70 degrees. My objective that day was just to observe and not stress out the heat-bedazzled big trout.

I asked Bob Ratliff, the owner, how he had gotten into the trout business.

"I got tired of traveling all the way out to Colorado, Alaska and Wyoming and decided to duplicate Western trout fishing conditions here in Virginia.”

Moving downstream to a picnic table, we discovered a pod of hungry monster rainbows beneath a sycamore tree. Crawfish imitations worked well, particularly a large brown Wooly Bugger, with one red-striped Rambo after another falling for it. There was an occasional splash on the surface, so I tied on a Chernoble Ant just for variety and floated it over under the sycamore branches. Several fish flashed at it, but I managed to miss their strikes. I believe it was because they didn’t open their mouths, but Bill Nuckels vigorously maintained it was just my slow reflexes.

Most of the fish we caught were in deep, slow-moving pools, so I decided to give the rapids below us a try to see if the stream’s fast water would also produce hits. My question was answered by a six-pounder that turned out to be my liveliest catch of the day, partly because he used the current to fight me. But I also concluded that living constantly in a “fast lane” gave him more muscle. He gave my 4X tippet its most trying test of the day, streaking across, downstream and back with the line cutting the water like a salt water leader. Many tippets were broken that day, and I would suggest using a 5-pound test leader and tippet here. I preferred the lighter 4X because of the challenge of giving the fish just enough rod pressure, but not enough to break off.

Probably the story of the day was James Arrington, who had just taken up fly-fishing. I gave him a #8 Rabbit Zonker and tied on 4X, which was a mistake. He proceeded to break off time after time, “horsing” his fish in to the bank. As we were leaving to eat dinner we stopped to pick up James at dusk, and he was jumping up and down on the bank like a 4-year-old, partly due to having just broken off another fighting rainbow, and partly due to the frustration of having to leave the stream. I told John Bass, “We’ve probably created a monster here.”

Saturday Cathy and I returned to the Cascades at Hot Springs. Instead of following our usual route upstream around the falls, we fished the lower, more level stretch. I was using a #20 Copper John, and picking up what I thought were minnows on just about every cast. Examining one of the little fish more closely I discovered that it was a fingerling rainbow, less than 4 inches long. I then observed scores of them flocking out from under rocks each time they spotted my nymph.

Several months ago I talked to one of the guides on the Cascades, who had been advised by a cold water specialist at Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries. The official suggested they slack off on their stocking program and allow the trout to reproduce naturally. From the looks of these thriving little fry wearing fresh paar marks, that turned out to be excellent advice. In another year they’ll be catchable, wild rainbows.

Fly-Fishing at Maggie may be reached by taking Virginia 42 from New Castle and turning right on Virginia 658. Go down the mountain to the intersection with 632 and turn right again and you’ll come to the Maggie sign. If no one is there, just leave your $50 on the desk in the office and go fishing.