Posted Property

Fished some well known tribs that had some stock waters below.  The stogger hunters were out in full force.

Every pool had multiple people fishing it.  One pool ten foot wide pool had over twenty people fishing it.  It's a shame the state stocks these waters because they stock over wild fish sections.  It should be a great brook trout water shed, but wild rainbows have taken over pretty much every trib except one.  The state of Va just baffles me sometimes.  Here is a link to a good article with good comments on the problems with the VDIGF stocking program.

http://blogs.roanoke.com/wildlife/2013/04/share-your-thoughts-on-trout-truck-followers/

Fished the first stream lots over the past couple years and noticed a new no hunting or fishing sign next to the spot I park.  Didn't think much about it since I saw the national forest spray painted trees going up the stream still.  Caught this rainbow.

And then 30 yards upstream I saw this sign.

Realized that is a new sign and someone must of bought property at the top of this trib and posted it even though there are national forest marks all over the place.  Started to hike out of the woods and I see a car pull up and two guys get out.  It was pretty obvious that they were looking for me.  They didn't see me in the woods and as soon as they were making there way up the stream and walk to my Jeep, open the door quietly, throw my fly rod and pack in the passenger seat, and take off.  I look in the rear view mirror and see them both running out of the woods.  Shame that more access to wild waters is lost. 

Stream two is more remote and no worries of running into people.  Even though I did run into a british couple going up the mountain on a dead end road asking me if they were close to a highway.

Lunch/hike into stream 2.

This stream has some of the prettiest bows I've seen.

Creepy abandoned house.

Some stones were coming off.

Got tired of catching bows and wanted to catch a brookie so off to stream 3.

A little brookie to break the rainbow streak.

Caught this bow in the same pool as the brookie above.  Thanks Va.

Also a shame to see this kind of erosion on a brookie stream.

Going to give the VDIGF a call sometime soon and find out the story on the posted stream.  Hopefully it shouldn't be posted and the department will take care of that soon. 

Thanks for reading.

Finding New Waters

There has been a stream I've been wanting to fish for a while, but there is a house with a couple acres at the bottom of the stream.  He has his property posted heavily, but after studying the topos, I figured out a way in.  Had to park about a quarter of a mile up the rode and hike up a small drainage ditch up the mountain, then cut over two small ridges and hike down into the stream.  This put me about a half mile from the road, but far enough back to where the owner couldn't see me and into National Forest territory away from the landowners property.  It was worth the hike though.  Lots of active fish.

Hike in.

About the average size for the stream.

Came to a pool that was a little on the small side for this stream.  Only a foot deep but pulled my biggest fish from this pool.  Very healthy fish.

Same fish from above.

Stream got steep fast.

Called my exploring quits when I got to this falls.  It was steeper then what the picture looks, and I decided not to go above it by myself.  Will be back this spring with a buddy for further exploring. 

Spring is upon us.

With two consecutive days of sixty degree weather, I decided to head out Sunday afternoon for some brookies.  I brought my 2wt dry fly rod, but when I got to the stream, the snow had me second guessing my decision.  Luck for me though, the first pool I cast to confirmed that dries were the ticket.  Every pool I at least had one hit if not two or three brookies to hand.  I was expecting a few caddis coming off, but all I saw were stoneflies.  Switched from an elk hair caddis to a black stonefly and pulled two bigger guys with the pattern.  Fish acted like it was late April or May with the vicious dry fly attacks.  Great day on the stream to burn a couple hours. 



First brookie on a dry for 2013. What a beast.



Weird fishing a stream with snow on the ground and fish acting like it's late April.  I'll take it with pleasure though.  Thanks for reading.

First Musky on a Fly

I had purchased a 10 wt, tied a bunch of 10 to 12 inch flies, and did some reading on musky, just haven't been able to successfully get out after a musky.  Well Saturday I finally was able to get my plans to work with a guy who I knew.  Plan was to fish from 9 to around 3 slinging for musky.  Being a fish of 10,000 casts, I honestly was not expecting to hook up, let alone catch one.  I even told the guy I was with that if I got a good follow I'd be stoked for the day.  We fished all day and did not even see a musky.  It was a freezing day with snow flurries off and on.  Since we were casting 10 wt rods, the wind wasn't affecting our line, but it affected us.  12 to 15 mph winds on a river in 30 degree weather wasn't the best weather conditions I've fished in.  Also the nickel size chunk of flesh taken off my hand from the friction of casting a 10 wt in freezing conditions wasn't a plus either.  But you know, it was addicting.  I enjoyed the wind, snow flurries, the battle wounds because I knew I was knocking away on the 10,000 casts I had to put in.  Just so happens that every once in a while God smiles down at you and rewards you for your stupid efforts.  I didn't complain.

It was getting towards the end of our trip and we anchored at a musky looking area about 50 ft from the boat ramp.  We hammered the sunken trees hard putting about 40 casts into this 15 foot long section of shore. The guy I was with made a cast towards the middle of the river stumped to as why we hadn't seen a fish all day.  I made another cast towards the timber.  I was talking to my buddy when I started stripping my fly.  One strip.....two strip....third str.....tight line.  I quickly look back at my line and make two more fast strip sets and see the fish start to flare.  I then peed my pants.

I am hooked to say the least.  It was a nice musky around the 32 to 34 inch range.  Not the biggest they get by any means, but I was still excited.  It will be very hard to go back to 6 inch brookies (okay, I lie). Thanks to the guy I was fishing with for taking me out on his drift boat and show me the ropes to musky fishing.  Here are the rest of the pictures from the day.

Musky fly I tied and caught my fish on.

The guy I was with figure eightin his fly.

Gorgeous stretch of water we were on.



Victory lunch.

 2013 has been good to me so far.  I had two goals for 2013 and that was to catch a 12 inch brookie and to catch a musky on a fly.  Both of which I've completed by March. 

Thanks for reading. 

What I've been tying.

Half a Day of Work

Was planning on getting out Saturday, but the weather will be crappy (35 Degrees, 15 mph winds, and 705 chance of rain).  Saw though that it was going to be 56 degrees today so I told my boss I'll be working half a day today.  It was a good call, fished today in a t shirt and caught about 30 to 40 fish in three hours.  Granted they were all in the 4 to 6 inch range, but still beats working a full day.  The stream I fished usually holds quite a few in the 8  to 10 inch range and a few I've seen bigger, but they made no appearances today.  Didn't matter though, still enjoy catching the little guys.  Hope catching 5 inch wild brookies never get old and boring to me.

It's a rough little stream.

I liked the colors on this little guy.

I hate this pool.  It skunks me just about every time, yet it's one of the nicest pools on the stream.  Baffles me!

Picture perfect day!

Thanks for reading.

Wishing for Spring.

Haven't been out in about three weeks so I gave Doug a call.  Wanted to find some streams close by to fish when I'm at the inlaws house.  Doug had a couple in mind that he hadn't had a chance to fish yet so I said lets go.  It was the warmest 20 degree fishing day I've ever had.  Actually had to shed a layer because I started to sweat.  First stream was promising and I think will fish great in the spring.  I moved one brookie that was big and caught another shortly after.  Due to the tough access, I think this stream holds big fish but they just holding deep and were lock jawed.  The rest of the afternoon we just drove around and checked out a few streams.  One we were going to fish until we saw how blown out it was.  Overall it was a good outing even with the lack of fish.

Stream 1:

Stream 2 AKA blown out stream:

Driving Scenery:

Thanks for reading and stay warm.