Soggy Camping Trip

I'm about two weeks late posting this report up, due to being busy, but this trip was an interesting one.  A few friends and I had been planning a spring backpacking trip for April.  Well that backpacking trip fell on a weekend we got 3 inches of rain spread out Friday thru Sunday and I had some family stuff unexpectedly pop up so it all worked out.  Postponed the trip into first weekend of May, and guess what, we got 2.5 inches of rain the day before our trip.  That made for 12 inches of rain in three week period.  One of the guys bailed, me and my other friend decided to just take our chances and switched game plans from backpacking to car camping. 



Bad Omen when the speedometer isn't working?


Was greeted by the trib we were supposed to fish with this.

 

This was when we realized we wouldn't be fishing that first day.

This trib was pumping.  Made for a good waterfall.

Rocks do not make good splitting stands.

Clouds finally started to break apart and the moon made an appearance.

Showy Orchid

If you look closely, you can see my friend trying to cross the river so we can fish the trib on opposite side of river.

This was our "trail"

Finally a fish.

But the trib was still pumping out some crazy water.

And the rain and wind started back up.  After an hour of fishing in it, we found an overhanging to wait it out and dry out.

Coffee and soup break.  After a couple hours of it not letting up, we were concerned about the main river rising and not being able to get back across so we called the trib fishing off.

After going into town for Pizza (more on this later) and hanging around camp, I decided to give the main river a go and was rewarded.

See the orange lanyard on the stick? That was were the water levels were 24 hours ago.

Pink Lady Slipper

This Buffalo Chicken Pizza was a bad choice.  Lets just say my friend picked the pizza we ate and we both didn't fight each other for the left overs.......



Up top on stream levels were very fishable the third day.

 While the plans changed multiple times, still was a good time camping with a little fishing thrown in.

Dodging Rain

Had decided to get out and fish for a few hours last weekend, but the heavy rain forecast in all of VA was making it difficult to decide where. I was still bound and determined to get out for a day.  Looked at the always changing forecast and hit what was supposed to get the least amount of rain.  Fish were very active, but nothing really big.

Most were in this size range.

This guy took a size 12.

 

One of the bigger fish for the day.

Big ole tree.

Got back to the Jeep in time for the sky to open up and rain come down.  Started some coffee as I broke down my rod and got changed.