Established January 2009

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Lambs and Lions















Well March was ushered in by beautiful weather so I guess it was only fitting that it go out with a bang. You know the old saying, "If March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion". Well out like a lion it did, only it lasted until the 3rd day of April, and I found mysefl deep in the Monongalia National Forest for this wonderful weather. I had planned a camping trip with my cousin and faithful fishing partner Chris Mitchell. We decided no matter what we were going to have a good time and thats exactly what we did.


I arrived at our camping area on Friday April Fool's day and set up shop with a little time left to fish before we were supposed to meet. I decided to hit a stream that makes up part of the headwaters to one of the headwater forks of the Greenbrier River. I rigged my bamboo brookie rod up with a big bushy #14 Usual on top and dropped a #16 Green Weenie off the back. After fishing a little bit, I caught my first fish of 2011, a native Brook Trout, and immediately followed it up with another one. I did fish for a little more upstream, but the results were nill. I headed for the campsite and meet Chris and help him unload his truck.


The next morning, we awoke to 4'' of fresh snow and decided we would chuck some salmon eggs and catch us some dinner, or so we thought. More on that later. We fished 4 streams that were stocked only 2 days prior. We thought this would be easy pickins', but we found out we were wrong. I also was reminded of how much I hate stock trout fishing. Anways, after a long day and a lot of water covered, We did manage to catch 4 trout. I had parked my truck about 1/2 mile down the road from where we exited the river. I wanted to put my hands in my pockets to warm them up, so I layed the trout on the bank next to a guard rail and covered them up with snow. When we returned with the truck, the trout were gone, stolen. The nerve of some people. Oh well, we grilled some deer meat that night and I didnt have to clean any fish. After dinner we stoked the fire up pretty good and hit the sack.


The next day we awoke to blue skies, and the sun slowly cresting the ridges in front of the camp site. After breaking camp, we headed south for a tributary of the main Greenbrier river that a friend had told me about. After a bit of discussion we formulated a game plan and hiked down river on the old railbed and tracks. The scenery was impecable along with a vivid glimpse into a history of days gone by. What I would give to see this place in its prime. After rigging up our fly rods, we headed upstream into the unnamed tributary. It wasn't long before Chris had hooked up with a dandy Brookie. We switched places and I was also into a nice fish. Pool after pool, we continued to catch fish as we went further upstream. When we reached the headwater forks of the stream, we decided we needed to be making our way back to the trucks. The final day of this trip was the pinnacle of the entire weekend and a great way to start the year.