January Brook Trout Fishing

Fished a stream this past weekend and it fished like it was already January in Virginia.  The fish were sluggish and deep in their pools.  It took several drifts in order to coax them into eating as well.  I thought it may of just been the stream I was fishing, but I drove to another stream and it was fishing the same way.  Still a great time to get on a trout stream though.

Lots of ice built up around the rocks on both streams.

Neat tree growing between two rocks

Winter is closing in.

Smith Mountain Lake Striper Fishing

I have a love hate relationship with this fishery.  Yesterday was one of those "this lake is awesome, but I hate it" kind of days.  There were a couple hours where the stripers were rising all over the place in the middle of the day busting shad.  A couple stripers did a complete summersault out of the water.  We witnessed one pretty good blitz going on but by the time we got over there they were gone.  No stripers were caught, but it was a nice day to get out and see the potential of this lake now that I have  a good boat for it.

Lake with it's fall colors.

Managed to get the wrong variety of bass to take my fly, I won't complain though.

It was a great day to get out on the water and I'll figure out this fishery before the end of the year.

Some Striper Flies

Weather is cooling and been tying up some striper flies for the local lake.

Also messing around with some bigger flies for the saltwater trophy stripers this spring.  Big one is on a 6/0 hook.

Liking the fish mask, even though they are more for the human eye appeal than the fish eye appeal.  Plus they hide my crowded hook eye well.

Fall Trip Part 2

So I arrived at my friends cabin after fishing the stream earlier.  I beat him there so had time to browse his collection of bugs.

When he arrived we ate some dinner and chatted with the neighbors for a while before calling it a night.  We were planning on hitting the stream early the next day as there was a big stretch we were planning on covering.  We awoke to 30 degree temperatures and a thick layer of frost every where.  Some good breakfast was a good start to the cold morning.

We hit the stream from the top and got to watch the sun rise over the mountains before we started the cold descend down the stream.

This tree had a neat burl.  Would fetch a pretty penny on the market if you could haul it off the mountain.

Started the morning with a creek chub.

Shortly after I caught the fish I posted about previously.  He was a nicely colored up brookie getting ready for the spawn.

 

The overall average size of the fish were impressive.

 

 

Came back to some good BBQ bear, Venison burgers, and Rabbit cooked by a neighbor.  The people back in this town are super friendly and I enjoyed talking with them over dinner and a campfire.

Thanks for reading.