Winter Steelhead Alley

Just got back from 2 days of fishing in Pennsylvania's South Lake Erie shore. The target goal for the trip was to find and catch Steelhead in the tributaries of Lake Erie. The weather was a little on the frigid side and as a result water was slushy the first morning making for some tough fishing. The guides of our fly rods stayed constantly iced up, and my reel froze a couple of times. After going to 2 other tributaries the first day, Chris finally caught his first Steelhead on a white Suckerspawn. Grant landed about 5 fish, and I rounded out the trio with 1 fish. Indeed a tough day of fishing. Day 2 began with a temperature increase of a few degrees and we headed to a favorite stretch of the best Erie trib that PA has to offer. Few other anglers were out today and after some searching we found a few fish holding in a fast riffle and not another soul in sight. After we found what the meal ticket was, Grant, Chris, and myself all hooked and landed several fish. As the temperatures dropped, we decided it was time to call it day and head south to more snow and cold temperatures.

Opening Day 2009

November 23, 2009 saw a rather so so start to the rifle WV buck season. The weather was a little overcast, rainy at times, and a little on the chilly side; perfect deer hunting weather. Not much happened until about 8:00 am when Don Speiden killed a dark racked basket 6pt. Several does were seen up until about 9am but things slowed down considerably soon after. Dad and I were eating lunch in my stand around 1pm and we were watching the fields when he spotted a deer. I grabbed the gun ID'ed the deer as a buck, and nocked the safety off. The buck began to trot across the field and I led the buck in the scope and squeezed off. I noticed the buck flinch and worked the bolt for another shot, but that only lead to a clean miss on the second shot. After dad and I waited about 20 minutes, we got down out of the stand and went to look for blood or hair. No blood or hair found, we headed in the general direction of the buck's last heading. Upon entering the cedar thicket where he went into, I saw the buck's white belly and I slowly approched the deer. After confirming the kill, I found out the buck I shot was a chocolate high racked 8pt. After dressing the deer, dad headed to his stand, and I headed home to skin the buck. Dad managed to put a little meat on the table as well when he put a nice doe on the ground that evening.

Cloudy skies with a chance of spawning Brown Trout

Today, the Beav and I headed to a grade A #1 blue ribbon trout stream with the intent of finding some fall spawning Brown Trout showing their fall colors. We arrived at "The Spot" at about 7am and lined up the rods. We both started off with #16 Pheasant Tail nymphs and Olive Wooly Buggers. At the first hole, I hooked and landed one of the most beautiful Brown Trout Ive ever laid my eyes on. It didn't take Beaver long to hook up either, in fact his hook ups lasted all day. What can I say though, he's got 12 plus years experience fishing this stream. He knows it well and his experience and knowhow really showed that day. Now, I did hook and loose several more fish throught the day, but I was in picture mode so I snapped several pictures today. Beaver finished the day with over 10 fish and when you catch 10 or more on this river, you have recked house.

Of Beards and Broadheads

Im a little late adding this to the blog, but nevertheless here is the most recent trip report. Last Monday evening, while sitting in the stand I noticed some movement out in front of me. About 8 gobblers were heading my direction. Seeing as how I didn't have a facemask or gloves on, I stood up, grabbed the bow, and readied myself as I knew this encounter was going to happen quickly. There was 1 gobbler that was out in front of the rest and as I was waiting on him to get within range, the others made a b-line straight for my tree. I drew my Mathews DXT, picked out a bird, settled the 30 yard pin and let the RAGE 3 Blade fly. The arrow hit the bird in between the neck and the wing butt and broke the leg on the opposing side and exited. The RAGE had put a hurtin' on this bird. I didnt offically weigh the bird, but I would guess it weighed about 20pounds and it had a 7'' beard and 1'' spurs. Not the biggest gobbler, but with a bow. Thats as good as a 10pt in my book.

Hunted this morning on my landlords property right above my house. Left the house here at about 6:30 in the stand and quiet by 6:50. Cold morning, 37* when I left, when the sun came up and hit the woods things started moving. I saw 1 squirrel at about 7:45 and I noticed 3 does moving my way at about 8:15. One of the does didnt like what she saw or smelled and when she turned they all left in the opposite direction of me. I decided I would give it until 9:00 and I was headed for the house for some breakfast. At about 8:35, I noticed another deer heading towards my stand on the path that looked like I-68. I saw that it was a buck but didnt concearn myself with that, because I was going to shoot at it regardless. He came trotting by at 25 yards and I mouth grunted to get him to stop and I let the Rage 2 Blade Carbon Xpress Maxima arrow go. It slammed through the drivers side ribcage got both lungs and the buck ran about 45 yards before piling up in my sight. This buck is my first buck of the year, and biggest buck with a bow.

Fall Steelhead Journy #1

Today I left Preston County at 2:55am. I met up with Beaver in Morgantown shortly after and we were Lake Erie bound, geared up for our first Steelhead trip of 2009. We arrived at our destination around 7am and were fishing by 7:45am. Low water greeted us depsite the recent rains. We began searching for fish and quickly found a few holding near the tailout of a long run. Beaver and I both tried most everything in the fly box, and eventually Beaver hooked and caught the first Steelhead of the day. Later in the morning, reports of more fish farther upstream motivated us to head up the creek to another spot. The reports rang true and we found far mor fish farther upstream. Shortly I had hooked and landed 3 Steelhead on various patterns. The afternoon brought us to a different creek altogether and we found more fish, lots more people, and high winds. Beaver hooked and caught 1 more Steelhead, and soon it was time to call it day and make the agonizing drive back to Morgantown. All in all it was a fantastic trip and hopefully it wont be the last of the fall run.

The Last or the First

This post is a hard one to catagorize. Its either a fishing trip into the last of Summer or the first of Fall. Either way today was no let down. I left the house for a quick jaunt into the wilds of Preston County for some Brook Trout and some early fall colors. I was not dissapointed for either of my quarries. Today I would be fishing 2 native Brook Trout streams in the greater Cheat River drainage. I began at the headwaters of a small stream that I had previously fished and had done well at in the past. I lined up the boo and tied on a #10 Rubber Legged Stimulator and began my way upstream. The water was a bit on the scarce side, but I managed to scrounge up 4 trout and letting 2 more off. I headed for the truck and made my way off the mountain and down to the mouth of another stream I had no clue about. I was still using the same fly and began hopping rocks and boulders upstream looking for a decent pool to begin at. After spooking a few nice fish, I landed a few here and there. I wrapped it up after catching my seventh fish of the day and headed home. More fall brookies to come.... Stay Tuned

The Last Hoorah

Today, I traveled south from Preston County into Tucker County in search of Native Brook Trout. I left Clifton Mills around 7:30am and arrived at my destination around 9:15am. After gathering my stuff, and loading up the pack, I hiked over the mountain and down into a rather steep gorge and began fishing a stream where stories of legends are born. I strung up "Salvelinus" my favorite bamboo brook trout fly rod, and tied on a size #10 chartruese rubber legged stimulator. I began catching fish after fish in every pool that the fly hit the water. Although I didn't catch any over the 11 inch mark today, I enjoyed being outside and the time alone fishing a new stream. I believe I ended up landing 18 fish and letting a few more off.

Summer Rain

A lot of people dont tend to think of July as a typical month to trout fish, but with this summer's out of the ordinary rains, July has been a rather exceptional month to trout fish. Taking advantage of the weather, I talked Chris Mitchell into heading to Southern WV. We arrived at our starting location around 8am and lined up our rods. We both began using large wooly buggers to dredge the water. The stream had excellent flows today, but the water was a little off color so black was the color. The day started off a little slow but that soon changed. Today was largely dominated by Rainbows and only a few Browns. Chris and I both brought a chunky Brown and countless other acrobatic Rainbows. We finished the day out with about 20 fish between the 2 of us.

Floating under the Sun

Today my I spent the day floating down the New River with my wife Andrea, brother-in-law Shawn, and his wife Trista. We floated about 7 miles of the lower New River and while we didn't boat a lot of fish, we did catch some that were very nice in size. The sun was very hot and consequently we all caught a few too many sun rays. It was a great day out to be away from work, and the everyday life. No clue as to how many we each caught, but Andrea caught the biggest of the day. We released all the fish.