The Greenbrier Sporting Club’s Fly Fishing School is open to all members and members’ guests. Our expert guides and instructors teach the tactics and techniques of successful anglers for use on our local trout streams. New anglers will quickly learn the basic techniques for a fun day on the water, while experienced anglers will refine their skills to become more productive on the water.
New this year, we will be fishing two different streams during the school. We’ll start on Howard’s Creek and after we have practiced the basics and gotten comfortable with some new techniques, we’ll head over to Escatawba Farms and fish Dunlap Creek so we can put those new skills to good use.
The school starts off with a welcome reception at The Hunt Cabin on Friday, April 7th. Then we’ll spend all day on Saturday the 8th at The Club and on Howard’s Creek. Most of the day we’ll be working out of The Hunt Cabin and using it as our classroom, where we’ll learn how to set up your equipment, casting, rigging, and fly selection. Lunch on the 8th is at The Lodge so we can easily get back to The Hunt Cabin and learn about our local aquatic environments and some basic aquatic entomology before we head out and fish for the rest of the afternoon. Sunday the 9th we start out by getting geared up and running across state lines to fish at Escatawba Farms, a private fishing area on Dunlap Creek, about 20 minutes away from GSC. There, we’ll put all that classroom learning to good use. Escatawba is a great stream to fish that’s full of beautiful trout where all the skills we picked up on Saturday will get put to good use. Lunch is streamside that afternoon before we return to GSC and finish the school.

The school is open to everyone: members, guests, friends, and children over 12 years old.
The price for this year’s school is $603.41/person, which includes GSC service charge, HPF, Rod Fees, and WV tax, two days of instruction and guided fishing, lunch, and drinks. The price does not include required fishing licenses.
A valid West Virginia fishing license and trout stamp are required to fish Howard’s Creek. To obtain a WV fishing license go to www.wvhunt.com.
A valid Virginia fishing license is required to fish Escatawba Farms. To obtain a VA fishing license go to www.gooutdoorsvirginia.com.
Dress for success!
The weather can be highly variable in April, especially the first few weeks. Dress in layers and ditch the cotton. You’ll be much more comfortable in synthetic or fleece pants and wool socks & long underwear underneath your waders than you will be in jeans. Bring a raincoat, even if the sun is shining. The weather is likely to be very comfortable, but the school will go on in all weather conditions that are safe to fish in.

The right gear
If you have your own fly fishing gear, we welcome and encourage you to use it. It’s best to learn on what you have, that way you’ll be more likely to use it. If you don’t have gear and would like to purchase the necessary equipment before the school let us know. We’re happy to have it set up and ready for you at the school. If you don’t have any gear don’t worry. We will have loaner rods, reels, and waders for your use during the school. The most useful rods will be 8 to 9 foot, 4 or 5 weight rods, with matching reels and floating lines. The guides and instructors will have all the leader, tippet, and flies we’ll need. Breathable waders are the best choice and boots should be either studded sticky rubber, or felt-soled
Get the most out of your school
April is traditionally our best month of the year to trout fish and the school is geared towards trout fishing, (if you want to talk smallmouth we’ll get you scheduled for something in June). We usually see good hatches in April, so we’ll spend some time throwing dries, but as always, the subsurface game will dominate. We’ll spend a lot of time nymphing, since that’s where the fish eat most often. If you have a specific technique or style you want to concentrate on let us know, we’ll make sure you get the most out of your school.

 
For more information or to RSVP, please contact:
Jacob Ott
Director of Outdoor Pursuits/Naturalist
304-667-8337
jacob_ott@greenbrier.com