Dragon Slayer!

 Jamie Goins recently acquired a Jackson Coosa from John Cooper and has been floating with Austin and me lately.  We decided to put in for our usually New River float to the first take out.  The weather was nice and mild.  A typical early fall day . The fishing was slow, as it has been a lot lately. The whole float yielded around 20 fish between us; however, the event that made the whole day was a monster musky Austin caught.  It was right at 40 inches and around 17lbs.  It's the biggest Musky I've seen in person.  It was amazing that he landed it.  Fishing for bass we were using 1/8th ounce jig heads baited with 3 inch G-Tails, 8 to 10 pound test line, and no steel leader.  It jumped one big time and after tiring it out Austin was able to land it.  Another awesome site came a little later as we observed bald eagle circle high above stalking its prey.  Making several passes it descended and easily snatched a bass from the water in its talons.  All and all it was a great day.

Bella's Bluegill

 Bella is really starting to get the hang of fishing on her own.  I took her up to Lake's pond a few times this summer and she has gotten to where she can cast on her own and even bait her own hook!  I took the fly rod once and she insisted on trying.  With some assistance she actually caught a bluegill on it.  She's really starting to enjoy the different aspects of it and likes to go any chance she can get; however, still being a little kid her attention span begins to wane when the fish stop biting.  I look forward to taking her again.

Morning New River Float

Austin and I floated the New to the first takeout.  The fishing was pretty slow and the weather was overcast and rainy.  I think all and all we ended up with about 16 between us, but I did manage to land this stud.

Fly Fishing for Pond Fish

Austin and I took a crack at Lake's pond to try and break things up a little.  We decided to make it a fly fishing trek.  The fish were pretty active as we landed around 25 between us.  They responded well to top water foam bugs and poppers. It was a mixed bag of mostly bluegills a few largemouth and one crappie.

Banner Day on the Greenbrier!

For my brother's birthday I went on a float trip with him, Austin and Greg on the Greenbrier.  We absolutely slammed the fish, well all except Brian who doesn't fish.  He actually fell asleep in his kayak in the middle of the river at one point.  Oh well, he always has a good time floating.  I ended up catching 51 made up of a mix between smallmouth and redeye.  Austin caught 31 and Greg caught 23.  There were several nice sized fish and I ended up with a whopper that was right at 20 inches and somewhere between 4 and 5 pounds.  All and all, a great day.

Memorial Day New River Float

Austin, Greg and I decided to float the New on Memorial day.  We started early and got out early before the crowds showed up.  Fishing started out a little slow and then picked up as we went.  We caught over 20 fish each, but the real excitement
was a 28 inch musky Greg landed.

Return to Moncove

I made my second trip to Moncove Lake.  Austin and I decided to fish here this day because everything else in the tri-county area was flooded out due to some heavy rain we got earlier in the week. It was very cold for this time of year and the wind made it difficult to fish.  We caught about 15 between us and I managed to catch my second perch ever.  Kind of made me think of Craig (RIP) as he was fond of catching perch from Moncove and taking them home for dinner.