James River Expeditions: The James River Runs Through It

The Crew After An Afternoon Of Fly Fishing With The Pros

Day 11, July 5th

We’re back after our Fourth of July break and want to say thank you to the friends and family that came out and spent part of the day with us. (The great eats didn’t help one bit either ;).)

We were all eager to get on the water and worked quickly to strike our three night camp. L.E., Martha, Eric, and David with the Forestry Service came out to join us, talking about their many duties: monitoring logging, water quality, invasive species, and fire management just to name a few. After the introduction they hit the water with us and we all headed for Wingina. Along the way we had several events including seeing another bald eagle to add to the count (bringing the total to twelve) and discussing the importance of riparian buffers.

Once we hit Wingina we said goodbye to L.E., Eric, Martha, and David and were greeted by Dan and a load of Dominion volunteers ready to teach us the art of fly fishing. After an introduction including some James River geography and quotes from “A River Runs Through It” we were ready to get started. We all went out into the nearby field and practiced casting with a few “dry” runs. After receiving a gift of flies we all headed for the water. In no time some of us were casting like old pros. Many had bites and we even had a few catches by Lena (a fourteen inch small mouthed bass), Troy, and Derrick. We all enjoyed ourselves, but had to say goodbye in order to make our camp on Sycamore Island by nightfall.

We enjoyed our delectable chili dinner and a chocolate treat before wrapping up our evening by discussing the “rose buds” awaiting us in the coming days.

Written By Student Reporters:

Derrick (E.C. Glass) &

Jessica “Frazier” (Albemarle)