Brookies Galore

Planned a much needed outing Saturday morning.  Fished a stream that is probably the longest brook trout/least pressured stream in Central VA.  Fished from 8 to 3 and still did not get anywhere near the top of this stream.  Brought 30 to hand and lost another 20.  Think my hooks are dull and need sharpening.  Oh well, who can complain with a gorgeous day and native trout. Fished dries a little, but the area just got too much rain last night.  All in all, it was a nice way to round out March.Heres the pics.

Great day to be out on the water.  Thanks for reading.

Wedding Registry, Rain, Thunder, and Brookies

Saturday I had to go down to Roanoke and do pre martial counseling and a gift registry with my fiancee. My plan was 10 to 10:45 Counseling, 11 to 1 gift registry, 1 to 2 lunch with finance and her family, and 3 to 7 fishing.  What really happened was 10 to 10:45 counseling, 11 to 3 gift registry, 3 to 4 "Linner" with her family, and 5 to 5:45 fishing.  I had a throbbing headache, and was just about to starve to death during the gift registry.  Only fished for as long as I did due to the thunder and rain that broke loose shortly after I got there.

Still managed to catch 4 in the short 30 to 45 minutes I fished, so can't complain about that.  Saw tons of march browns with some being as big as size 10 and 12. Water was still too high from the rain though to use dry flies.  I'm so ready to catch them on dries!  Another note to make is its only March and I'm already wet wading.  Its been a crazy winter.  Here are a few brookies for your time reading.

Saturday SNP Venture

Got an invite from a buddy I know up in Harrisonburg to fish the SNP, which he did not have to twist my arm to say yes.  I drove up Friday and spent the night with him and his friend.  All day Friday VA got pounded with rain, which had us worried about the streams being blown out.  Luckily my friend knows the SNP like the back of his hand and he picked out a high elevation steep feeder stream.

Ended up being a good call on his part because the water was perfect levels for big brookies.  All the fish were holding close to the bottom so tungsten played a major role.  Ended up being over 50 brookies between the three of us caught with one being over 12 inches.  I did not catch this brookie, but the size of him proves how healthy the SNP streams are.

I've never seen a brookie fight like this one did.  He was a true beast!

Here are some other pictures from the trip.

The SNP will definitely be visited more this summer!  Thanks for reading.

Escaping the Wind

Wasn't really planning on fishing Saturday due to the 30 mph winds, but my fiancee wanted to do something today and I managed to talk her into going fishing with me.  I went to a black tie formal for her last night so she owed me one!  She just sat by the stream in one spot and played angry birds and read her kindle, works for me. Fished an eastern facing stream and the mountain blocked all the wind which was amazing.  Actually started sweating in my jacket and was in a t shirt the second half of the day.  

Fished for about two hours and managed to bring 8 to hand.  The fishing was good and hard to leave, but I didn't want to push my luck with my fiancee.  Missed about 6 and had one that was over ten inches that wiggled off as I lifted him out of the water.  

Only down part is right after I caught the brookie pictured above, this happened......

It's a bummer that it broke, but I've put some good abuse into it. Still have my little 6'6" brookie rod, but I've been liking using a longer rod for the small streams.  Oh well, that's life. 

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.

Brookies and Steak

Yesterday was one of those "I'd be stupid not to get out" kind of day with 60 degrees and clear skies.  I had a great couple hours on the water and managed to catch a dozen with a couple that were good sized.  The GWNF has been surprising me lately and this is a very healthy stream!

The water was a little high from the rain, but still fishable.  I wore a jacket for the first 30 minutes on the water, but started to break a sweat.  Fishing at the end of January in a t shirt in 60 degree weather is ridiculously bizarre but I'm not complaining.  The fish were sitting deep in the pools since the water was high and fast, but that's were the tungsten pink weenie comes in.  Don't care what anyone says, it catches fish when nothing else will work.

Previous 3 brookies were caught from this one pool.

Lemonade Tea Break

Close second to being the Big Brookie of the day.

But I think this one trumps the Big Brookie of the day.

Same trout as above, different angle.

Both of these two big brookies were caught from the same pool.

Loved the colors on this guy.

And while I was out I cooked a steak in the fire after fishing and heres how I did it.  Have been wanting to do this for a while.

Bought a Steak.

Marinated over night with olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.

In the morning I wrapped the steak with about 5 layers of tin foil and put it in my backpack and hit the road.

Then after I was done fishing, I started a fire and let it burn down a little to get a nice bed of coals.

Then when I got a nice bed of coals, I put the steak in it.  I let it cooked for 5 minutes on each side.

The steak was about perfect.  I usually like mine medium rare, and this was cooked to medium, but it was still tasty.  When you cook it in the tin foil, the juices have no where to go but get cooked back into the meat.  I was very pleased for my first fire cooked steak.

Nothing like an abnormally perfect Winter day with wild brookies and steak!

Saturday Evening after Rain

Its been about a month since my last post.  I was down in Georgia for Christmas break and wasn't able to do any fishing, but it only took a week of being in Virginia to satisfy the itch. 


Rain that rolled through VA wasn't as bad as what they were predicting so me and buddy decided to get out for the afternoon.  We fished from 3 to 5 and the waters weren't too high or stained so it was a good call.  The fish were a little sluggish from the cold rain I'm guessing, but we both had several hook ups and I managed to bring one to hand. 

Felt good to get back out on the water!  Thanks for reading.

Sure beats a day of classes!

So me and a guy in the fly tying group I know hit a spring stream which produced the chunkiest average brookie day I have ever had.  Most of the streams I've fished around here in central VA have produced anorexic trout, but this stream was the opposite.  It was very cold first thing this morning, but turned out to be a gorgeous day.  The water was still a bit high from all the rain we've had, but a little high water sure beats low water when it comes to brookie streams.  Here is a picture of my big brookie of the day.

He shocked me when I pulled him out of the tiny pool.

The guy I was fishing with was throwing a Stimi with a zebra midge trailing and wasn't getting a single hit.  After seeing me pull two trout from a run he just fished, he caved and took my pink weenie I offered him earlier.  Next cast caught him this.

Sure beat my brookie as far as length goes.

Here is some more of the troot from da trip.

Overall it was a great  morning as far as fishing was concerned and an even greater day!