Elkhorn Cleanup 2010

It would have been a 6-hour drive from my new location to this event; luckily I had business in WV the two days prior to the event. Either way I don't plan on missing this event anytime in the coming years. This is one of the best TU events going as far as the comaraderie of the weekend goes.

As with 2009, I was able to hit some brookie water on the way down.

I fished this small stream during Thanksgiving weekend, 2009. This is what it looked like last time I was on this stream:

I had a new fishing partner on this visit and the fishing was still very slow. In a couple of hours of fishing I brought one brookie to hand and missed another small fish - he gave me a couple of opportunities.

The one brookie was all I had to show but it was another new stream to add to my personal list.

The following day was the cleanup and the numbers for 2010 were about half that of 2009.

I helped clean a new section of stream this year and we could have used the numbers from the previous year, as you can tell by the before and after photos.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Following the work we all gathered back at the Ashland Company Store to exchange stories of rare finds. During my work that morning I discovered the area "rich" in sports. Among the items I picked up were: a baseball, football, multiple basketballs, soccer ball, and a boxing glove. I believe the winner of the rare find went to the individual that found a parking meter.

After a nice fried chicken lunch, it was time to hit the water. Over the last three years, I believe this is the only stream I've fished not in search of native salmonids. The closest brookie water is over an hour away, across the state line, in Virginia. What this stream does hold is some of the nicest colored 100% wild rainbows and browns...and on this day I caught plenty of both.

The blood-red adipose fins on the wild browns are amazing!

After a nice day of fishing, I finished off the day with a great surprise. I was dredging a woolybugger through a deep hole when I felt a tug on the swing. Much to my surprise, and my partner's surprise, I landed this guy.

My fishing partner has been fishing this stream for over 15 years and has never caught a brookie. I'm not sure where the closest stocked water is or if a "bucket biologist" has tried to introduce brookies, but I do know there are currently ZERO "natives" in these coal-country waters.

I have since received reports of others catching brookies in this stream and the possibility of brookies in one of the tribs, of the tribs...so who knows??

Chris