Winter Scouting

Did a little winter scouting last Saturday in an section of Virginia mountains I have gone over on a map, but yet to explore.  I checked out three streams and it's tribs on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised.  I don't think there are going to be many 10 plus inch brookies pulled from these streams, but that isn't always what fishing is about.  Pretty streams these mountains hold.  One of the smaller streams I had a 10 inch brookie follow the nymph out of the deep pool he was sitting in.  I has in the tailout of the pool and the brookie took a swipe two feet from my feet.  I lift  the rod but the trout missed had the fly.  The trout just sat there holding off the bottom right under my nose in calm water.  I gently, while holding still, roll cast my fly back in front of him and he spooked back into his pool.  I thought he had saw me and now would be lock jawed.  I made another cast to the top of the pool and that same trout took the fly.  Can't believe he still ate after all that.  I unfortunately lost him after a short fight, but had him hooked long enough to see it was the same brookie.  Here are some pictures from the different streams.

Some snake skin

Probably the neatest rock wall I've seen and only one I've seen on a brookie stream.  I would love to know the history behind this.

Thanks for reading.

Brookies Do Eat During Winter

I was beginning to doubt brook trout eat in the winter.  Past couple trips have been rough catching wise.  I was planning on using last Saturday as a day to explore a new brookie stream, but changed my mind on the drive. I hit a stream that has produced well for me in the past, but also had other options close by just incase the trout decided to be lockjawed that day.  Glad I did because the fishing was slow on Stream A.  I managed to catch three brookies, but they were glued to the bottom and had to be worked hard for.

I thought at first this was a bear, but after talking to some people, seems like a Pileated Woodpecker was the culprit. Destructive little birds they are.

Decided to head to Stream B and see if it was fishing any better.  It was a little bigger of a stream, and while it gets a lot more pressure, it tends to hold bigger fish.  Stream B brookies were a lot more willing to play.

Stream B

Lunch: Pita Bread and Summer Sausage.

 

Better trout of the day.

I think this was man made.

Glad to finally hit a stream on a day where the trout are active.  While I enjoy just being out in God's country, I do occasionally like to catch fish.  Thanks for reading.

Some Winter Skunkage

It's been a while since I've been skunked trout fishing.  Usually I can dredge up a few trout no matter what the conditions are.  Fished a stream that has been good to me in the past and I think the 2.5 ft of snow and brutally cold water temps were just too much.  Didn't see any trout.  I also have a new hated outdoor activity.....hiking in snow.  There is no graceful way to hike in over 2 ft of snow.  Hidden rocks/logs under the snow make for great tripping obstacles.  Looks like from foot prints that one guy fished it yesterday.  From what I can tell he got in the river at the parking lot, fished a hundred yards, said forget it, and hiked out.  I am more thick headed than that though and spent all day out there.  Still just a nice day to be out on a pretty stretch of water.  It isn't always about the fish.

Baldface Hornet Nest

Little black stoneflies were every where.

Dead doe.  Didn't see a gun shot wound.  Starve to death?

Fritter and coffee to end the day.

Thanks for reading.

Musky fly

Decided to take a break from school work and tie up a musky fly. Should be a good fly for cloudy water conditions. 

First Outing of the Year

It's been a while since I've been able to go fishing.  Between the new dog, work, new MBA classes starting up, and cold crappy weather, I just haven't been able to find the time.  I decided that this past Saturday I would be going no matter what.  Ended up being not too bad of a day weather wise.  I think the temperatures hovered around 30 to 32 degrees and the wind was in the 20 mph to 30 mph range, but considering the past week, it was a warm front for VA.  The mountains help block the wind too.  Was also able to talk a friend into fishing with me as well.  Plan was to hit and fish stream A all day long, but the past week of low single digits had this stream looking like this:

It wasn't fishable to say the least.  Luckily we had a Stream B to fall back too.  This second stream is only 15 miles by road (3 miles as a crow flies) away from the first stream, and had no ice what so ever.  The stream temp was a balmy 43 degrees due to all the springs that pour into it.  It's nice to know a stream that won't ever lock up.

The biggest surprise was BWO's coming off the water and a couple Brookies rising to them.  I never tied on a dry because the rising fish were real sparse, but still was fun to sit and watch.

The second big surprise was how many big fish we were able to dredge up.  My friend came unbuttoned on a 13 inch brookie and I landed a brookie around the 12 inch mark and one rainbow around the 14 inch mark.  Lots of 10 inch brook trout too which is abnormal for a small stream with snow on the banks.  Hey, I'll take it.  The pictures with hands with gloves is my friends fish, the pictures of no gloves were mine.

I'm not going to lie, as fun as the trip was, it was nice to round out the trip with a nice cup of hot coffee.  Hope to get out a little more regularly in the next month or so.  Thanks for reading.

Axe Restoration Part 2

So I finally got around to finishing my axe. Classes and rain have kept me busy and water unfishable so I've had time here and there to finish it up. I soaked the axe head for 48 hours in white vinegar. Then gave it a good sanding. Took a sharpening stone to the blade. Fitted the handle and soaked in linseed oil. Not too shabby if I say so myself and splits wood like a champ.