After looking back on my blog entries for 2012, I noticed one thing: I did not fish nearly as much as I had in the previous few years.
I did, however, add a few items to my personal list:
Because of the snow and possibility of snow melt, I put off the decision to go or stay home as late as possible. I made the decision to go at 8:00 AM and by 9:00 I was on the road. By 11:30 I was parked and gearing up for my first outing since late October. The temperature had already climbed to above 60 degrees so I made the decision to leave the waders in the vehicle.
It was March 10 and I was wet wading! This March weather is crazy! Four days prior the mountains of WV received several inches of snow and three days after this trip it snowed again - crazy!
I tied on my usual cold water fly, a size 12 olive woolybugger, and in the first pool I caught my first brookie of 2013.
Being a little rusty from the long winter lay off, I soon lost the bugger in a nearby downed tree. I will say this:if this stream is any indication of the damage super storm Sandy left behind, the small stream fishing is going to be difficult! West Virginia received three feet of snow in some location, combine that with trees that had yet to drop leaves, and you have significant damage.
Enough excuses, I tied on my most popular set-up: a size 12-14 stimulator with a 16-18 bead head pheasant tail. Soon after re-rigging, I caught my first brookie on a dry fly for the year.
As the sun rose higher, the water temps raised a few degrees, and the top water action was outstanding - it is March, right?
As I moved up stream, I could feel the water warming and the dry fly action rose with the temperatures.
I did, however, add a few items to my personal list:
- A new species in the Paiute cutthroat
- Eight new brookies streams in Virginia
- Only one new brookie stream in West Virginia
- TU National meeting in Madison, Wisconsin: catch brookies in 4 new states (Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula). This will also be the 2013 edition of Brookiebum
- Backpacking trip in the Smokies in June, finishing up with the Bucket Brigade back in West Virginia.
- Another visit to the Smokies with my son at the end of July.
- I've also been invited to backpack into the headwaters of the North Fork of the Big Thompson in Rocky Mountain National Park.
- A visit back to the brookie streams of the Savage River drainage in western Maryland -haven't been there since 2004.
Because of the snow and possibility of snow melt, I put off the decision to go or stay home as late as possible. I made the decision to go at 8:00 AM and by 9:00 I was on the road. By 11:30 I was parked and gearing up for my first outing since late October. The temperature had already climbed to above 60 degrees so I made the decision to leave the waders in the vehicle.
It was March 10 and I was wet wading! This March weather is crazy! Four days prior the mountains of WV received several inches of snow and three days after this trip it snowed again - crazy!
I tied on my usual cold water fly, a size 12 olive woolybugger, and in the first pool I caught my first brookie of 2013.
Being a little rusty from the long winter lay off, I soon lost the bugger in a nearby downed tree. I will say this:if this stream is any indication of the damage super storm Sandy left behind, the small stream fishing is going to be difficult! West Virginia received three feet of snow in some location, combine that with trees that had yet to drop leaves, and you have significant damage.
Enough excuses, I tied on my most popular set-up: a size 12-14 stimulator with a 16-18 bead head pheasant tail. Soon after re-rigging, I caught my first brookie on a dry fly for the year.
As the sun rose higher, the water temps raised a few degrees, and the top water action was outstanding - it is March, right?
I only landed one small brookie on the dropper, combine that with high numbers of downed trees, and I soon removed the dropper. I was fishing strictly a dry fly in early March, this was great!
This brookie stream is the closest to Parkersburg which makes it a great candidate for a quick road trip. However, it is NOT the most aesthetically pleasing stream as it happens to be the local "dump". The hillside is littered with tires, appliances, and general landfill material. If you keep your eyes focused on the water, it's just like any other brookie stream, except for the washer/dryer hole.
I landed brookies both above and below the log jam at the washer/dryer hole.
A nice brookie from above the log jam.
As I moved up stream, I could feel the water warming and the dry fly action rose with the temperatures.
Having told people I would be home by 5:00, I soon found myself looking for a good pool to call it a day. I didn't find a good pool but this next brookie made for a great ending to a quick road trip. A very nice brookie in the 8-10" range.
There was much more good looking water ahead of me but if I was going to be home on time, I had to pull myself away from the stream.
On the short hike out, I heard another sign of spring. The sound of mating amphibians filled the air. I wish I could remember back to my vertebrate zoology classes in college and the distinct sounds of each species. I believe these may have been wood frogs and the puddles were filled with both frog and eggs. As I neared the puddles the frogs headed for the woodlands but their eggs filled the small pools.
I look forward to 2013, just like I do every year, and I hope this crazy March weather holds out for my next planned trip. If the weather holds, I plan to be somewhere on a stream on Good Friday - possibly my first trip to western Maryland in eight years.
Chris
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