Here Piggy Piggy

My week of fishing turned into a week of stepping in dog crap and saying the word "No" every 5 seconds.  I had the day off today and I decided to fish a stream that is new to me but been on my radar for a while.  VA got slammed with rain Saturday so figured the water would be high, but it was fishable.  Fish were picky and tough though.  They were sitting deep and they were sluggish.  The wind didn't help either.  The stream rewarded me for my efforts with a handful of big brookies.  Took 3 hours to get my first hit, but when the sun finally started hitting the stream the action picked up.

Ran across this on the stream side.  Doesn't look like an animal killed it and there wasn't a farm around. 

Was planning on staying longer, but the wind got to be a bear to fish in.  This stream will be added to my list to hit in the spring.  Goodbye 2013, and thanks for reading.

First Striper on a Fly

A buddy of mine has been trying to figure out a Striper fishery in his drift boat.  He asked if I wanted to join him Sunday and I said why not.  Weather was awful.  Band of rain after band of rain, but the low light made our chances of catching a striper a little better.  I managed to hook and land one in the first two hours.  Man they are a brute fish that don't stop fighting.  24 inches isn't a bad start as I cut my teeth on stripers.  I'll be back to say the least.

Chasing the birds crashing the baitfish is tough when you have to row a drift boat over there.

Bad band of rain that just missed us.

My striper.

Close up.

The fumble.

The save.

After I got my fish I took over the oars, but my buddy never hooked one.  Had a good share of flashes and hits though.

Thanks for reading.

Striper Fly

This is about the only way I can tie some flies for a striper trip Sunday. I'm not complaining though. 

New Fishing Buddy

I got me.... I mean I got my wife a new dog for Christmas. It'll eventually come with me for some blue lining, but not until a lot of training!  She (Holly) will take a bite out of my fishing time the next couple weeks, but I think I will live. 

Cold Snowy Day

Got out for some trout fishing this past Saturday and braved the cold and the snow. I decided to fish a finicky rainbow and brookie stream close by due to the weather. Managed to catch a couple rainbows and called it a day when the snow really started to come down. 

It was good to just get out for a bit. With classes done for three weeks I'll be getting a lot more trout fishing in. Thanks for reading. 

Axe restoration part 1

I recently was given an axe from my grandpa. I have no idea how old it is, but it in need of some TLC. Last night I took the axe head off the old handle and going to soak it for 24 hours in vinegar to remove the rust. Here is some pictures of the axe and a picture of the axe head removed. 

I could of probably keep the handle, but I'm going to replace it with a longer handle. Fishing has taken a back seat for the next two weeks as school work has taken priority. Two more weeks and then fishing for the rest of December. 

Skunked Night Fishing and Lack of Tying.

Tis the season for skunked fishing days and holiday busyness getting in the way of tying and fishing.  I did get out last Friday for some night time striper fishing on the 10 wt, but I don't think they are in the river just yet.  Giving it until mid December to give it another try.  Was fishing with waders and a t shirt at night though which was odd.  Was still sixty degrees at 10 pm.  Fast forward 24 hours and it was 19 degrees.  Woke up this morning to scraping ice off the windshield to get to work.  Looks like winter is upon Virginia a little early this year, but I do enjoy me some winter fishing.  The skunked trips seem to be a little more frequent in the winter, but I seem to dredge up my biggest SNP brookies in the winter.  Winter is also the time to hook up with a musky in their wintering holes.  Here's to a Happy Thanksgiving and the beginning of some winter fly fishing.

Post Spawn Brookies

I went out last Saturday for a half of a day fishing.  The brookies were in the post spawn stage I believe and were pretty difficult to find.  The ones I did manage to catch were deep and small for this stream.  Still a fun day to get a break from the routine of work all day and then work on MBA in the evening routine.

Good day to get out still though with a friend.  Thanks for reading.

Fall is in full swing

The fall colors are peaking in VA right now.

With all the cooler temps, my musky fever has kicked in a little and I've been tying up a lot of these.

But with all these thoughts of musky, I think I'm going to still get up into the mountains this weekend to enjoy some of the colors and chase a few brookies.  They should be done spawning and all recuperated.

Putting in my 10,000

Took a half day yesterday and went chunkin flies for musky.  Saw two musky but didn't have any serious follows or takes.  Still a great day to be out and knocked a couple hundred off my 10,000 cast mark for a musky.  Slowly but surely I will get another one.

Side note: At about 6:30 a ridiculous hatch started to come off the James.  To call this caddis hatch prolific was an understatement.  Felt like I was out west for a second.  The caddis was some type of Hydropsyche.

Thanks for reading.

Pre Trip Musky Tying

Tied up a musky fly for my afternoon trip today.  Hoping the rain and cloud cover equals a good day on the river.

Brookie trip before the classes

I have some new classes that start up today for my MBA program and thought I should take advantage of a free afternoon after church to get in one last brookie trip before classes get in full swing, brookies spawn, and musky get active.  I plan on getting out for musky more with these cooler temps and leave the trout alone to spawn.  It was a nice day yesterday with the sun out and temps in the 60's.  I wet waded and it was about perfect.  I was able to catch some quality brook trout for the couple hours I was on the water.

An after church breakfast lunch.  Bacon and breakfast casserole.

Colors are starting to change slowly but surely.

Big brookie I managed to dredge up.

Hitch hiker

Perfect way to spend a crisp fall afternoon.  Thanks for reading.

Good Company trumps Good Fishing

This past weekend I got together with four guys at a VT professors house up in Bath County.  Words cannot express how gracious of a host he was and the good time everyone had at his place.  The only things needed were a sleeping bag and he provided the rest.  My friend and me arrived Friday night and the others arrived Saturday bright and early.  We were greeted Friday night to diner and some rinky dink college football game and some good conversations about fishing, politics, and football.  My friend kept trying to revert the conversation back to grouse hunting grounds to extract some locations out of our host.

Front porch shot.

Hamburgers and seasoned fries for dinner.

His toilet seat I wanted to take.  My wife didn't think it looked as awesome as I thought it did.

In the morning we were greeted by the smell of eggs, bacon, and biscuits cooking and coffee brewing.  We got together a game plan while we waited for the other two guys to show up.  When they got there, one of the guys and me hit up wild brookie and bow stream for the first half of the day.  I was impressed by this stream and the size of fish that it gave up.  I hooked on rainbow that was in the 15 to 16 inch range that came off after I got a good look at it.  Every fish had a big belly on it from the abnormally wet summer VA has had and the abundance of bug life in this stream.

The stream.

Dry fly action was good due to these guys coming off.

Friend working a pool.

Porky colored up bow.

Big brookie that the last blog post was about.

We met up around 1:30 for the next set of streams we were to fish.  I was fishing a wild feeder stream while the others were cashing some stockers.  The second stream started off skinny due to the stream going underground and the fish were dinky, but it got a lot better the further up I went.  In hind sight I wish I would have hiked in about 300 yards before I started fishing.

The crew.

My friend worked a couple pools before heading to the stocked section.

Give you an idea of the size of the trout in the first 300 yards.

But like I said, they got a little better.

A deer on the hike out.

A guy with goofy bound shorts as I hiked past the stocker section.

The night was filled with pork chops and scallop potatoes, a good fire, and better joking around with friends.

Oh, Key Lime pie too.

The professor messing around with the drooler who fell asleep.

The next morning we were greeted with another great breakfast and coffee and then said our goodbyes.  The guy I rode with and me hit another stream on our way back home.  It is one of those "I'm glad I fished it once, but will never fish again" streams.  Heck of a hike in for fish that are 2 to 3 inches big.  Pretty little trickle though.

This sums up the bushwhack into the stream. 

A bow in a stream he shouldn't be in.

Friend fishing a choked up pool.

The things we do for trout.

It was a very memorable trip with guys I have known for a while and guys I have gotten to know better.  Thanks for reading.