Looking back, I should have said something when I figured out his con. Nope, he kept insisting on us using stupid, brightly colored foam flies like we were a coupe of idiots. The worst part is he didn't even set us up with a sure thing and give us some brown "egg" pattern flies and let us catch a bunch of fish. Has was just getting some trained fish to come up and eat some pellets around us. Randal was dropping fish food pellets behind us and that is what the fish were eating. This went on for 1-2 hours of fish everywhere but they wouldn't really hit anything we were using. I was getting very frustrated with what my guide was having me fish with. These fish kept surfacing and eating but not our large pink beetle flies. Being naive, we trusted our "guide" even though it was against all the logic we as novice fly fisherman had. The exact opposite of what we were told to fish the day before. ![]() Randal tied on some big bright pink foam beetles. We got excited and thought they were eating little emerging insects. Almost immediately fish started coming up to the surface and eating. Once the other guide moved on to a different location with his customer, our "guide" moved us to that famous mill pool point. He has us do this for longer than 30 minutes with no results or guidance. Our "guide" Randal had us fishing pink salmon eggs (we were told the day before to fish small nymphs toward the bottom of the river)flies with the tiniest of weight in a quick moving section of the river. We worked our way down to the "famous" mill pool behind the shop and were guided to fish a quick moving section upstream from the "mill pool" as another guide/customer were fishing the main part. That's fine, I understand fishing can be tuff at times. We started out in the morning and had zero results. This latest trip, we had decided to book a "guided" trip. With all that said, this alone is not the reason for the poor review. Several times all of the "guides" stand around bickering amongst themselves and fail to pay the customers any attention. Most of the time no one even acknowledges that you are even there. Every time I have been in the fly shop I was treated as if I was a pest. The location is great, the lodging is decent enough but the customer service is lack luster at best. The establishment is so close to being great. Every time I have been I have had a disappointing time. Once in November 2016, December 2016, and this most recent time. ![]() I have been to this establishment several times now. Just call and tell them what you are looking for and they will customize the experience to your needs.… What a fantastic West Virginia experience. Do your family a favor and visit Elk Springs. We will be going back and would happily stay at the beautiful lodge if we didn't have a place already so close. After fishing, we trekked a couple miles downstream to Whitaker Falls which is beautiful. It was a perfect introduction to fly fishing for all of us. After fishing, we had a nice lunch in the restaurant, eating fresh trout, of course. It was a wonderful experience and worth every penny. My son caught a 3 1/2 pound Rainbow and my daughter's largest catch wasn't far behind. He took particular care to ensure the kids were enjoying themselves. Patrick coached them (and us) through each cast and hook, making sure that each of us caught multiple fish, netting each fish before releasing back to the creek. We then moved to the Spring Creek where the kids immediately hooked up on Rainbow Trout. All equipment was provided and rigged by Patrick. The first half hour or so was a lesson on fly casting in the resort's yard then a short class on the various flys. None of us had ever fly fished, and my wife and I had not fished for many years. Our guide, Patrick Skeen was exceptional. ![]() We did a half day beginning fly fishing experience in the resort's Spring Creek. So, In an effort to teach them a little about their native state's wonders, we ventured to Elk Springs while staying at our condo at Snowshoe. Our 9 year old twins are not outdoorsy kids at all. The Westin Reserva Conchal, an All-Inclusive Golf Resort & Spa.
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