Monster Trout Day on the Bluestone!

I don't know if I'll ever have a day, with trout at least, that will ever replicate the one Austin and I had on this day. The Bluestone had been heavily stocked a few weeks prior to this day. We gave it a try a few weeks back, but the water was high and rising fast. That coupled with the fact that the river was littered with leaves made it next to impossible to get to many of the fish holding in deeper water. This day, however, conditions were next to perfect. The water was at normal levels and had a slight tint to it. That combined with the fact that it was overcast made sneaking up on fish easier. The leaves had been flushed away as well, which made life a lot easier. I really don't think that you could go wrong with lure selection this day as the fish were ravenous. I believe they would have hit a bare hook given the opportunity. We used in-line spinners to smashing success. Austin ended up catching 53 and I caught 50. Most of this is due to the over stocking of this small stretch of river that undoubtedly will not be sustainable, but hey strike while the iron's hot. We caught several hold over fish from last year which is encouraging, but the highlight to my day was a 24 inch 5 pound rainbow that I caught. I finally have a trophy fish to put on the wall and a day I'll forget.

Bluestone Trout Fishing Year 3

As winter fast approaches Austin and I thought we'd shift our focus towards trout. Once again the Bluestone River was stocked with Rainbows, some of which weigh up to four pounds. We had received 2 to 3 inches of rain the night before and the river was rising throughout the whole day, making the fishing more difficult as the day went on. Austin ended up catching 5 rainbows and I caught 3 along with a redeye and a nice little smallmouth weighing in just short of 2 and a half pounds. It's one of the better ones I've caught in a while and a bit surprising as the bass fishing has slowed quite a bit. One of the most intriguing things we encountered was a blue herring that followed us most of the day. It didn't seem bothered by us in the slightest and let us get quite close to him. I guess he was out fishing too. I watched him land on a rock on the opposite river bank from me. He stood there motionless for several minutes only to catch a fish of his own. I guess it was a good day for everyone.

Fishing the Wykle Pond

Fishing has been pretty slow on the lake and in the rivers as we have had some unusually warm weather so my focus has been shifted lately to farm ponds. Austin and I fished Lake and Amy Wykle's pond and had a bit more success than we have had lately. We caught several bass between the two of us. Austin caught a nice healthy one on a spinnerbait. The highlight of the day was an 8 pound channel catfish that I caught using (suprise, suprise) one of my new and improved in-line spinner elites. Even though it is not really a catfish lure, and wouldn't be my first choice had I been targeting catfish, I have caught some on this lure before. This was my first cat of the year and the biggest I have caught in some time.

Stonewall Jackson

Fishing has been pretty slow (probably due to the water temperature being a little too high) and Stonewall was no exception. Austin and I caught a few bass but nothing too special. It was nice to see some new water and do some advanced scouting for future trips. I do think that the highlight of the trip was the place that we ate at called TJ Muskies. It was the neatest outdoor sporting bar that I've ever seen with a musky mount that easily exceeded 50 pounds. I sure would like to get a hold of one of those.

Going the Distance

Austin and I have had a goal for a while to see if we could catch over 100 fish in one trip. We decided to give it a try at Claytor Lake one morning. We brought conventional tackle (spinners, crank baits, plastics, etc.) along with fly fishing gear, and live bait. The primary target would be pan fish. The weapon of choice for most of the day was foam bodied popping bugs that were cast using fly rods. The bite was on most of the morning slowing throughout the day. There were several bass mixed in with our catch, one of which, Austin caught was very nice. At the end of the day Austin had 108 and I had 103. Mission Accomplished.

Summer on the Bluestone

Austin and I fished Bluestone Lake on a hot June afternoon. We both caught a lot of fish, most of which were comprised of bluegills, green sunfish, and other pan fish along with 7 bass. Austin did, however, catch this nice channel cat.

Greenbrier Musky

On a cold April day Austin and I loaded up my Jon Boat and took it out on the Greenbrier River. Fishing was very slow and the wind was blowing pretty hard most of the day making it difficult to maneuver the boat. Even though conditions were tough Austin managed to catch a few nice smallmouth. I was able to catch one pretty good smallie, but the highlight of the trip was a really nice musky that I caught. I flipped one of my Joe Fly elites that I tied off of a log near the bank and the water exploded. After a feverish fight I was able to land him and get this nice picture. This is the nicest musky that I have caught and adds to my streak of one musky I've caught each year for the last three years all off my own hand made lures.