Pond Action is Heating Up

Spring is here, late, but here none the less.  Tied up a popper this morning real quick before work and on my lunch break hit a pond for a couple minutes.  The bass were in the shallows looking up.  Figure they should be spawning in a week or two.

Notice the hook in the gullet that someone so thoughtfully left?  Was able to remove the hook without spilling any blood and he was returned in better shape than he was caught.

Looking forward to the bigger bass becoming more active in the weeks to come.

Finding Clear Water

Well, last Thursday VA got hit with 3 plus inches of rain in 24 hours.  Me and a friend were planning on fishing a river on Saturday for musky, but that would of been a death wish.  So off to the lake we went for Stripers.  It was awful conditions.  Blue bird skies, chocolate milk colored water, and 20 mph winds.  We messed around for 30 minutes and then called it quits.  I ended up hitting a brookie stream that had high water, but treated me well when I got the fly to the bottom.

Buddy making friends with the locals.

Old house that looks like it could fall at any moment.

Water was high, but the fish were willing.

Big brookie that put up a respectable fight on my 2wt.

Wasn't a bad way to salvage the day.

End of Semester Blueline Relaxation

So, last Friday I was up till Midnight finishing up my two papers that were due.  I had planned on taking a half day to fish Saturday but decided I needed the whole day and there was not much going on that day.  Ended up being a good call because the first half of the day was slow due to some heavy rain and ended up having to switch streams.  The fishing at stream 2 was a lot better and the weather finally cleared up.  It really turned into a perfect day temps wise.  There was also yellow sallies, black stoneflies, march browns, and other smaller mayflies hatching off all day. Even saw a giant stonefly.  By far my favorite aquatic insect.  They never hatch in numbers, I doubt they get eaten much by trout considering they live in leave piles in streams, and they crawl out of water to hatch, but I'm sure if one falls into the water, it's like a giant burrito floating by for some lucky trout. 

Giant Stonefly

Nymph casing.

That was all from stream 1.  Stream one didn't produce great numbers, but all the fish were healthy, quality fish.  The fishing slowed down so it was on to stream 2.

Sign of bait fishermen.

My friend was a log snagging machine that day.

Was reward for my efforts late in the day.  Had this nice brookie come and take a dropper in a nice pool.  Worked and worked and worked this one nice pool and didn't have a single take.  I knew there had to be a nice fish somewhere lurking in the pool.  Saw a slow back eddy in the top left corner of the pool.  Made a cast up in it and saw my dry disappear.  Knew it was a good fish as soon as I set the hook.

Saturday was just what the doctor ordered.

Grayson Highlands Camping Trip

Been meaning to throw this camping trip report up for some time now, but with two papers I procrastinated on, all my free time went to completely those.  The camping trip was from April 25-27 and the weather was about perfect the second and third day.  Friday was nothing but bands of thunderstorms every hour.  We were on a stream fishing Friday and had to get out of the stream and under cover lots.  After the final downpour, the fishing shutdown and the stream became very cloudy very fast.

Slow drive in getting stuck behind a haul

Friend hooked me up with a vintage click paw reel for my 2wt.

Nice rainbow

Big stoneflies and kaufman stone patterns were the ticket that day.  Didn't catch a ton of fish, but the ones we did were quality fish.

Got back to the campground to see the guys start rolling in.  It was time for some good food and a campfire.

I had early posted up the quick report from Saturday's fishing, which was awesome, but here are a couple pictures of the roaring inferno from Saturday night.  We had a pyro in the bunch.

Woke up early the next, packed camp, and hit a stream with two of the guys on the way back home. This stream had a lot of people fishing it and fished very marginally.  We all caught fish but decided to leave after we saw how busy it was.  I did hook into a nice 16 plus inch bow that completely destroyed me and my 2 wt.  After a good fight he ran through the a set of rapids and launched out of the water throwing the hook leaving my friend and I with a shocked looked on our faces.  I was just happy with the fight.

Some stick caddis on the rock.  Stream was abundant with them.

Friend and his ugly hat.

Hike out.