December 24th

Dad and I went to War ridge for a Christmas eve doe hunt with Danny Helms, Don Spedien, and Ron Spangler. We set off 2 drives and hunted around the fields from 8am until 12noon. I saw 3 deer one that I jumped in a thicket while doing a drive that offered no real opportunity for a shot and 2 button bucks in a field. Don saw the same 2 buttons but nobody else saw any deer, some squrriels and a turkey but no deer. No shots were fired.

December 20th

Aleshia, Avery, and I went to Petersburg for an early Christmas. While up there I headed up to Jordan Run to Aleshia's grandpa's old home place to fish for native brookies. The water was about perfect, up some but not too high. The weather was extremely cold mid 30's with some high winds, which made for some cold fishing. I used white and pink trout magnets with a 4 foot ultralight. I ended up catching 20 fish 4 of which were 8+ inches with none being larger than 10 inches. I fished for around 2 hours. Had lots of bites and hooked several more that got off. I seemed to do a lot better below the low water bridge than above it.

December 17th

Dad & I hunted the fields around Claud Davidson's place above our farm for either sex deer with a muzzleloader. Dad saw 7 total deer, 5 of which were around Jeff's feeder at daylight. While he was sneaking up on them another deer snorted behind him near the pond and ruined his stalk. I hunted a loop all the way around Claude's property boundry. I jump 6 deer in the above Jeff's tree stand down on our place. I never could get a descent shot. I had hoped the deer would go up the hollow towards dad when jumped but it never happened. I continued to follow after them and rejumped those same deer 6 more times in an effort to push them towards Dad or get a shot. But it didn't work out they ended up going over towards Maddam's creek.

DECEMBER 6TH "Last Day WV Rifle Season"

With Dad in Ohio deer hunting with slugs, in the company of Roger and Joe,I headed out to hunt on a snowy Saturday afternoon. I left the house a 1pm and went to Rogers and started still hunting my way back towards our place. By 2:30 there was an inch of snow onto he ground and you could walk deer trails and four wheeler paths without making a sound. On the way in I saw 2 does and a spike in Roger's yard, I had been instructed not to shoot the spike since he was somewhat of a pet and I figured the 2 does must be about the same so I left them be. I hunted all the way to the top and headed back toward the fields on the madam's creek side. As I was walking through a green brier thicket I saw brown flash up in the right corner of my eye no more than 5 or 6 feet away.I wheeled around in the middle of the thicket and shot once. No time to think, just react. The deer fell over dead instantly. It was a tiny little button buck. Had I had time to look the deer over I would have let it pass, but it happened instantly. I had hit him high through the lungs and the bullet had taken out the bottom of the spine killing it at once. I was happy to have killed a deer and happy to have the meat but I felt awful about killing a small yearling especially a button buck. I absolutely hate to kill buttons. The way it happened is just the way it happened. That week in Ohio Joe and Dad killed does and Roger killed a 6 point buck. Joe killed his doe at ~ 206 yards with a slug gun and Joe also missed a big non-typical buck at > 200 yards. They had awful weather for much of the week.

November 27th "Thanksgiving Day"

Dad and I hunted the farm again from the Angel's side. I didn't see any deer and Dad saw one but had no shot due to distance and thickets. We both saw several squrriels. We hunted until 3:30 at the farm. From 4pm until dark I hunted below Brad's house and saw 2 does but got no shots.

NOVEMBER 26th

Dad and I hunted our farm on Beech Run from the Angel's side. We hunted from daylight until 5pm. I saw 8 differnt deer, six of which were does and 2 that I couldn't tell. I saw several squrriels and a couple of fox squrriels. Dad saw 1 deer and didn't get a shot of at it.

NOVEMBER 8th

In what had to be the most productive day of trout fishing I have ever experienced, Brad caught 11 rainbows 1 fallfish and I caught 19 rainbow trout. We caught our fish despite super low gin clear water conditions mostly on inline spinners. Brad did catch a couple on jigs and I caught a couple on Yo-Zuri Pinn's minnow. All but 2 of the 30 trout we caught were 17 inches or better with 5 or more over 20 inches. The smallest of the trout still had length of greater than 12 inhes. The 2 smaller fish were most likely holdovers from last spring. We caught 30 trout in less than 2 and a half hours of fishing. It was a super productive day.

NOVEMBER 3rd

Dad & I headed back to Little creek for some squrriel/fall turkey hunting. On the way up there in a field back this side of Haley's house we saw 2 nice bucks fighting in a field. We stopped an watched through binoculars but they got nervous and stopped shortly thereafter. I started out a Siang again. Almost immediately after starting to hunt I jumped a grouse that offered me no shot. I saw a big raccoon and killed 6 squrriels before 10am. The wind stayed down but it is still very dry and hard to sneak on anything. Dad turkey hunted below Steve's camp in the corner but had no luck. I

OCTOBER 24th

Dad and I headed up to Little Creek in Greenbrier county to squrriel hunt. It was a cold and windy morning. All the squrriel movement happend before 9am. I started out at Siang and hunted my way back to Steve's camp. I killed 6 grey squrriels and saw a chocolate colored 5-point. The weather was bad enought that Dad never made it out of camp. He drank coffee and talked to Steve all morning. I also hunted up to the high point and back to mouth of long run. I saw 10 to 12 squrriels total, but once the wind started up all movement stopped.

OCTOBER 20th

Brad and I waded below the damn for smallmouth. We fished spinners in extremely low water conditions. The water temps were below 65 so he had to wear chest waders. We fished pockets and channels picking up a fish here and there. All totaled Brad caught a dozen or so smallmouths and I caught 7 smallies, a fallfish, and a redeye.

OCTOBER 12TH

Brad and I tried fishing the lake at Bull Falls for about 2 & 1/2 hours on a warm Sunday evening. We threw cranks, spinners and flukes with little to no luck. I caught one smallmouth about 12 inches and Brad caught 2 redeyes and a bluegill. We tried cranking the pits as well but had no luck. It was a really tough day. There were a suprising number of boats on the lake for this late in October. I guess it was a pretty Sunday evening. I saw no deer and no squirrels.

OCTOBER 11TH "OPENING DAY SQUIRREL SEASON"

Dad and I headed to Little Creek Hunt Club for the opening day of squirrel season. We got there at daylight. It was a warm morning and there was a stiff breeze. They had select cut the corner of the barn field where I have had such good luck over the last 10 years. I saw around 12 squirrels and killed 6 by 10:00am. I saw 12 squirrels, 7 deer one of which was a 4 point buck. I shot at crow at ~ 70 yards, feathers came out by he still flew off. Despite the wind it was a nice morning. It was really dry, Anthony's creek was all but dry and Little Creek was completely dry. Moving on squirrels was tough they were skittish due the wind, the leaves were thick, and it was dry and hard to move quietly. Dad hunted the lower wood lot and saw 2 squirrels but didn't get any shots, his knee was bothering him and his mobility was cut down considerably.

SEPTEMBER 27th

Brad and I headed back up to Bull Falls to see if we could locate the couple of big bass I had seen the day before. It was cool and pooring th rain off and on, but still a very fishable day. I caught one small fish off the pit bank before we started our run. We fished flukes hard for 2 hours and I caught one smallmouth on offshore structure and Brad missed one before we decided to run. We then fished for about 90 minutes up in the Bluestone River both at the head waters and around the pier. I caught one nice smallie about 15inches and we had no other hits. I don't really understand it the water was a little low and maybe too clear in places but the cool weather and rain were perfect for a big bite, but it just didn't happen for us.

SEPTEMBER 26TH

Greg and I headed up to Bull Falls on a very overcast and cool day. The water and weather looked perfect for a big fish day. Greg caught a couple small ones off the pit bank before we ran up to Bull falls campground. Right off the bat I missed 2 nice fish both of which inhaled my fluke, but still didn't get hooked. Right below the big rocks across from Bull falls I had a huge(5lbs +) small mouth come up and make a fast pass at my fluke and miss, I mean right at the boat. We fished all the way up to Buffalo hollow and then down and around steer island, which I didn't even know was possible until today. Greg caught a couple of bass off of creature baits with would have kept in a tournament. I finally caught one small mouth and 2 redyes on a fluke, and a bluegill on a small Joe fly elite spinner. While we were on the backside of Steer Island we saw a huge large mouth. The biggest I have ever seen in the lake. This fish look 22 inches or better. On the whole given the ideal conditions our production was disappointing.

SEPTEMBER 22ND

Dad & I fished Bluestone lake from 3pm until 7:30pm. The fishing was slow for the most part. We only caught one fish off the pit bank. The wind on the main lake was howling, but the new river it was still and quiet. I started throwing flukes. I was getting some smaller fish to chase and had a couple bigger fish flash at it. I even had a smaller school of four hybrid bass come by and hit at my fluke, but I just couldn't get hooked up. Finally I ended up catching a little small mouth and a red eye on the fluke. Despite the fluke being slow I kept throwing it and it paid off. I had seen a couple of nicer fish come up and take a look at it so I figured if I kept trying it had a chance of landing a nicer fish. Once the shade set in up river I caught this 18.5 inch small mouth he also had fish about this same size follow him in as I was fighting him in. This fish was heavier than usual I measured his length but I didn't' want to put him to go thru stress of being weighed since I was turing him loose. I think he weighed just a shade over 4 lbs. Dad caught a small mouth on a minnow as well. We only caught 5 total fish but this fish made the evening worth the trip.

SEPTEMBER 17TH

Dad & I headed up to Bluestone lake to see if the bass fishing had picked up any with cooler weather. I caught 2 largemouth and a smallmouth off the pit bank with a grave digger. The wind was whipping around and there was very little cloud cover. We headed up the bluestone river and cranked the cliffs behind bluestone pool and fished the banks across from the bathhouse. I caught another largemouth on a black Berkley trick worm rigged up to a drop shot. Dad saw something in the water that looked like a musky, and given the number of muskies that have been caught there this month it may have been one. We saw lots of shad balls up in the bluestone river but not fish giving chase. We headed up to Bull Falls Campground and fished below the campground and from the big rocks on the left all the way up last big cut. After finding some shade and somewhere the wind had settled I started throwing a fluke. I was getting some hits on the fluke and some good ones. I ended up catching 9 total fish, 3 of which were really good quality. I caught a 15 and a 16 inch smallmouth as well as a 17 inch spot. The spot was by far the biggest I have ever caught. He was well over 2 pounds. I had several smaller fish hit at, grab, and miss the fluke. It was a good evening and a good time has had by all.

SEPTEMBER 13th

I waded from Welton park upsteam ~ 1 mile, on an overcast day between 10am and 12:30pm. I caught 23 fish using Joe Fly Elite spinners. All the fish I caught were small, the water was very low and gin clear. I multiple fish from five different species, small mouth, redeye, bluegills, fallfish, and even a stray rainbow trout of about 10 inches in size. The trout look native and had been in the water for quite some time. Given my late start and the water conditions I didn't think I did to bad.

AUGUST 25TH

Dad and I went to the lake at 6am and cranked the pits for about 25 minutes. I caught 2 nice largemouths in the 12 inch range on back to back casts. At around 7:30 we ran down the lake towards the dam and started looking for breaking hybrids. There were 3 other boats doing the same thing. One boat was Michael Taylor and one was Roger Williams. The hybrids were breaking but they were not in concentrated pockets and they were not staying up very long. I managed to catch one, but I didn't see or hear of anybody else catching one despite the large number of breaking fish. The fish I caught was 19 and a half inches. It was a half inch longer and a good bit heavier than the other 5 hybrids I have caught. By 9:30 the hybrids had quite biting and we went back to bass fishing. We re-cranked the pits and fished down below the marina. Dad caught a big crappie and 4 bass and I caught 1 more bass. The sky was overcast and the bass seemed to be more active. Later that day Dad talked to Roger and he caught a catfish, a smaller musky and hooked and lost a big musky around 1pm down on the Bluestone River behind the Bluestone pool bathhouse.

AUGUST 21st

Jason Brown and I fished the New River below Sandstone at Meador Creek and from 5pm till dark. The water was so low that we where able to wade all the way across. Jason caught 12 or 13 small mouth and I caught 6 smallmouth and a redeye. Jason was catching his fish on a drop shot finesse worm. I caught a couple on a rebel jerkbait and a couple on a spinner bait and the rest on a drop shot, after he showed me how to rig and use it. These bass were the first bass I have ever caught on a drop shot rig. It's an interesting technique. Definetly something I will try again. Jason says it has become one of his favorite techniques especially when fishing vertically in lakes. Most of the fish we caught were around 8 to 10 inches. We each caught one that was 12 to 14 inches.

AUGUST 18th

Brad and I went up to Blustone lake and chased hybrid bass from 6am till 9am. We caught 1 bass each off the pit bank in the dark off of crankbaits. I hooked and lost 3 more bass on the pit bank. We had only 2 pods of hybirds break the surface adn both were right beside the boat. We caught one fish each and one fish from each pot. Both fish were caught on a silver Bill Lewis Rat-L Trap, which seems to be the lure for breaking hybrids. It was a very cold foggy mornign especially for August.

AUGUST 15th

Brad & I had been hearing about the hybrids running up on the lake for about a week now. Dad while carp fishing from the pit bank had gotten the low down on how it was down and he gave us a blueprint to try. We got on the lake that morning and bass fished from 6am till around 8am. We caught 4 bass a peice, including Brads first fish with a bait caster. We each caugh a mixed bag of small, largemouth and spotted bass. At around 8am we started seeing some other boats chasing hybirds. We would see them breaking and would run in and throw Bill Lewis Rat-L trap and spinner baits. We ran in on about 6 or 8 pods of frensied fish. We had 3 hook ups and caught 3 fish. I caught on 19 inches and 17.5 inches and Brad caught one that was 18 inches. They were all good fighting fish. The key to this type of fishing is not to fish while waiting for them to surface. Once they come up fire up the big engine and race right to them. It's really slow and then its really fast action. It's a differnt kind of fishing but it's also a lot of fun.

AUGUST 10th

Brad and I headed up to the lake around 7pm on a Sunday evening. We ran up to the grass beds and threw flukes until dark with only 1 smallmouth and a couple of missed strikes to show for it. Then right at dark we ran down to the pits and spent about 3 hour cranking from one end to the other. I ended up catching 7 and Brad caught 3. All the fish we caught were average to small sized. We caught 2 smallies, 1 large, 1 spot, and a handfull of redeyes. It was pretty slow going. We had a good time but the fishing was very tough.

AUGUST 6TH 2008

Brad & I headed out for some hot weather bass fishing around 5pm. We saw Dad & Roger chasing the carp from a lawn chair at the corner of the pit bank. We were fishing just below the fridge rock and had caught 1 small bass a peice when Brad got "the call". It was Melissa and she was having contractions and was ready to go to the hospital. I ran Brad down to the pit and dropped him off. He headed off and baby Bella was born the next morning at Raliegh General Hospital around 6:45am. With Brad's noticable abscense I called Aleshia and she brought Avery up and we went for a boat ride. I cautht a half dozen bluegills on a flypole for Avery to fondle and look at. At 8pm we headed back to the pits. When we got there Dad had a carp on. He caught it and took some pictures of him and Avery with it. It was like ~ his 42nd Carp of the summer. He has really been working on the carp with his two a day bank fishing method.

JULY 18th

I took my gradad Craigo and Uncle Doug bluegill fishing on the bluestone. We fished from 5:30 till 8:00pm. THere was more boat activity than any day I could ever remeber before. Catching fish was extemely hard. They used worma and a bobber and I used a flypole. We each caught a dozen or so fish. All fish were smaller gills except a couple nicer sized ones and couple of small bass. It was the slowest bite I have ever seen on Bluestone to date. I don't know if it was slow due to pressure, heat, boat traffic, time of year or what. I do know it was tough fishing even for smallball fishing.

JUNE 14th

Dad and I bluegills fished from around 8:30 till around 11:30am. We tried bassfihsing first with no luck. Dad hooked and lost one nice bass but we landed zero despite our best efforts. We used nightcrawlers and bobbers mostly, however towards the end we used flypole. The flypole seemed to be the most fun and easest way to boat fish. I ended up with 35 and Dad caugtht 30 gills. We had at least a dozen really solid sized fish.

JUNE 29th

John, Brad, & I camped on the East Shore Campground the night of the 28th. I woke up at 6:30 hopped in the boat and headed towards the dam. I tried to get Brad up and going but he was just too tired from the 2 days previous camping/fishing/drinking adventures, so I went alone. It was cool and overcast and the lake was unusually quiet for a Sunday morning. I fished with worms and a float. I didn't get a lot of hits like but the fish I did catch were big gills. I caught 6 of the first 7 on a downed tree limb coming out of the 1st cove across from route 20. Those 6 were as big as any blue gills I have ever caught at Bluestone. They all had bull heads, good thickness, and fought well. I fished for 2 more hours and ended up catching 21 total, a slow day by bluegill standards. I did however catch 10 gills that were of really good quality size.

JUNE 26th

Dad & I fished Bluestone Lake from 7am till 12pm. We bass fished for 2 hour then bluegill fished the rest. I caugtht 5 small bass and Dad caught 1 on crankbaits fishing the pit bank and the Hoche Minn Trail area. We used fly pole with flies and worms with bobbers blugill fishing. Dad caught 23 bluegills and I caught 30 of varying sizes. There were a lot of people on the water and the fish seemed pretty lethargic. The bluegills didn't even seem like there usual selves, they would hit but not very well and you had to work for the fish you got.

JUNE 20th

Greg & I bass fished the lake from 5:15am until 12pm. We caught 10 bass each of which only 4 or so had much size. We had the most luck on Lucky Craft Ghost minnow crankbaits. Despite throwing one a ton I didn't catch any fish on flukes. I did have 4 smaller fish strike at it but I had no takers. Most of the fish we caught were on the pit bank stacked up in one section from the main point down towards the dam. There were many people out on the lake and the seasonal fishing pressure on both the lake and the rivers is really starting to pick up, especially on Friday and Saturday. On our way back it we spotted Dad set up on the bank fighting for carp. He caught 2 that were 27 inches, one was ~ 10lbs and the other was ~ 8 lbs. Dad also lost one more good sized carp after a long fight before giving it up for the day. He also had several other hits were the carp didn't fully take or stole the dough ball bait. But as carp fishing has been going on Bluestone this spring/summer he had a pretty outstanding day especially when you consider the amount of traffic on the lake. Although he didn't see carp jumping everywhere as you often do, they were feeding heavily in that area on that day.

JUNE 17th

Brad & I started bluegill fishing beside the dam on a sunny afternoon around 5pm. Using worms and a bobber we fished from the dam down to just above the east shore campground. I caught 30 bluegills and 5 bass. One of which was an 18 inch fish that weight a little over 2lbs, the picture didn't take though because the memory stick wasn't pushed in all the way. Brad caught 35 bluegills and a redeye. We then went down and tried to cranked the pits. I caught a 12 inch bass on a grave digger right away and Brad hooked and lost a bass on a red 300 series Bandit crawfish crankbait. Because the pit was so crowded we decided to head down the the triangle rock and fish. I caught 2 more bass down there on a fluke, one smallmouth and the largemouth in the picture that measured 14 inches. In roughly 3 hours we caught over 70 total fish and 6 bass including 3 bass over 12 inches.

JUNE 16th

Dad and I started bass fishing on Bluestone lake around 5:45am. Dad caught 2 spotted bass and I caught 3 bass on the pit bank with a grave digger crankbait. We then headed up to the fridge rock and fished up about 500 yards. I missed 3 smaller fish with a fluke and otherwise we had no success in a place that usually generates some fish. We headed over to the cliffs and fished. I caught one more smallmouth and a small largemouth on a grave digger and then we headed back down and re cranked the pits with no luck. We switched gears and headed up the bluestone river behind the pool and started carp fishing. We fished for carp from 9am until 11am having only one bite and no hook ups. At 11 we headed back home because it was getting hot. We caught 7 bass but they were all fairly small, the biggest being a 12 inch smallmouth.

JUNE 6th

Dad & I started fishing Bluestone lake on a hot one. It went from 70 to 90 degrees by 10 am. We caught all of our fish before 9:30am. We fished from 6am until 11am, but all the action was early in the shade before it got hot. I missed several fish off the pits and caught one smaller black crappie. We then got on a pretty good pod of fish above the fridge rock. I caught 5 LMB's up there a bluegill and a white crappie. Dad caught 2 nice sized largemouth bass. Dad also hooked and lost really good bass on a Zara Puppy. That fish was ~ 3 to 4 lbs, it hit on his first cast and only about the second twitch. I believe had that plug had a little bigger hooks he would have got that one. Before it got off it had a couple of really pretty jumps right in front of the boat.

JUNE 3rd

Dad & I fished Bluestone from 6am till 12pm. We started off bass fishing. From 9 till 12 we anchored below bertha and tried carp fishing. I caught 4 small bass on a grave digger crankbait off the bit bank and 1 more bass along with a 2 bluegills and redeye above the cliffs on the left. We had no luck what so ever with the carp. In three hours and moving the boat to three different place without even getting a bite. We tried Uncle Josh's carp bait, the usual homemade carp bait, berkely carp bait, night crawlers, and even trout power bait. We saw some several carp all around us, but they just wouldn't hit. We even tried chumming them up with a can of hominy. The chumming definitely got them stirred up but it didn't help us get any hits.

JUNE 2nd

Brad, Dad, & I started fishing Bluestone lake around 4pm. I caught 3 spotted bass and a spot off the pit bank with a grave digger crankbait. We headed up to the fridge rock and continued bass fishing. I caught a nice largemouth on a fluke right off. It was 17 inches long and was up shallow when he hit. Brad caught a redeye on a grave digger as well. We started bluegill fishing with nightcrawlers. We had mixed results. We caught a few here and there with mixed results. We were missing a lot of hits, catching a few fish, but the bluegills definitely weren't in full swing yet. Brad caught 20 or so bluegills and I caught 16. We caught a couple of bluegills that were pretty good sized. We recranked the pit bank just before dark. I caught one more spot and a bluegill off the pit bank with a grave digger before called it quits. The water temp was between 72 and 76 degrees.

JUNE 1st

Brad & I started fishing in the New River below the dam at 6:15am on a cloudy Sunday morning. When we arrived at 6am there were already ~12 other fishermen hard at it. We waded from just below the tail waters down to Jimmy Dillon's house. Brad threw in-line Elite spinners that he had made and I threw a Yo-Zuri Pinn's minnow. It rained lightly for a little while but the wind never blew much. Brad caught 25 small mouth bass. I caught 52 total fish including one bluegill, one spotted bass, and the rest were smallmouths. We caught 77 fish in less than 3 hours, all but about 5 of which were smallmouths less than 8 inches in length. I caught 1 fish over 10 inches and Brad caught 4 or so that were well over 10 inches.

MAY 29th PM

Brad & I decided to wade below the dam and see if we could catch some little bass and redeye. It was a really pretty afternoon. The water was clear and warm, the sun was out, and there weren't a lot of people on the water. We started off at 5pm throwing Joe Fly Elite spinner baits and catching a fish here or there. About 6pm I switche over to a Yo-Zuri Pinn's Minnow that I had been using for trout fishing. When I did I started catching or hooking a fish on about every cast. It was pretty unreal. I was catching little tiny smallmouths on about every cast. Brad switched over to a Rapala minnow, but it wasn't catching as many because it wasn't the same size. I was twiching, stopping, reeling, and twithcing it agian. I ended up catching 65 fish mostly little smallies, a few redeyes, and one largemouth. Brad caught 31 including a couple of really nice sized smallmouth. I believe between the 96 fish we cauth there were no more than 6 bigger than 10 inches. We caught a lot of fish but it was a lot of little smallmouth.

MAY 29th AM

Dad & I loaded up the rod racks he built for the bass boat and headed up to Bluestone to do some Carp fishing. We got there at 7:30 and cranked the pits. I caught a crappie and a bluegill off the pit bank on a Bomber Fat Free Shad. We headed up to Bertha and set up around 8am. The rod holders worked great, but we just couldn't get the fish to cooperate. We missed 4 good bites, on two of those bites the fish ran with the bait and everything. The carp bait was made with root beer oil instead of the usual vanilla extract, but I don't think that had anything to do with our lack of success. Roger was fishing not even 60 yards behind us with soft shells and he only had 2 bites without catching any fish. We fished from 8am until 12pm then headed back home. The fish were fairly active, jumping all around us. We just couldn't connect.

MAY 28th

Greg & I started fishing on Bluestone at about 6:15am on a warm rainy morning. We cranked the pits, thre flukes and senkos from the "fridge rock" to the point, fished from Bullfalls campground down to picknic table island, then recranked the pits, and finished up fishing around triangle rock up at around 12:30. I caught 11 fish and Greg caught ~ 13 or 14. We caught fish on Grave Digger crankbaits, Strike King Flukes, Senkos, white spinner baits, and Ghost Minnow Crankbaits. Of the > 20 fish we caught we caught 3 that were exceptional. I caught the one in the picture left that was 17 inches and Greg caught one that was 16 inches and another that was 19 inches. We also caught some "bonus fish" bluegills, rock bass, and crappie. We each caught all three forms of black bass (largemouth, smallmouth, and spot) It rained lightly most of the morning and we had some wind we had to deal with. For the first time all year the water temps were in the low 70's through out the lake.

MAY 26th

Even though it was Memorial Day Brad and I decided to make a daylight run on smallmouths

below the dam. We got on the water around 6:15 and fished until 9am. It was a beautifumorning. When we got there we saw only 2 other fisherman, but by the time we left there were dozens with even more pooring in. We caught tons of small fish on Joe Fly Elite spinnerbaits. Brad caught 22 and I caught 29. I caught 2 bluegills, 7 redeyes, and the rest smallmouth bass. I only caught 2 fish larger than 10 inches and they weren't much larger than 10 inches. The avg. fish was close to 6 inches. We fished from just below the dam to the bottom of the arm, mostly on the outside of the edge of the arm. We found fish anywhere there was slack water or weeds. As the day went on the bite got slower and the fishing pressure kept picking up. Today was a good day to get out early, get your fish, and get home early before the crowd gets going.

MAY 24th

I started to sleep in. It was the Saturday of Memorial day weekend and even though the temps were cooler than usual I knew the rivers and lakes in Grant Co. and everywhere else would be loaded with fishermen. But at about 7am I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep. Nobody else was up yet so since I was up I figured I may as well give it a go. I drove into Petersburg gassed up my Avalanche and figured I would drive down to Welton park and bass fish a section of the South Branch of the Potomac that doesn't get stocked. Since people up here as so trout centered I figured nobody would be down there. When I got there I was right nobody was fishing it but the water was to high to fish, even with waders. So I figured I would go back to South Mill Creek lake and give the "one that got away" another shot. When I got there I saw 6 boats trolling spinners out deep for trout and at least 15 other fisherman on the bank fishing eggs or powerbait. I started walking around the lake fishing any open spot I could find and surprisingly started catching fish on Joe Fly Elite Spinners. By the time I had walked all the way around the lake to the spot I had lost that brown trout at I had caught 3 small largemouth bass, 2 good sized bluegills, and 2 trout. When I got to my spot I saw 2 old guys in a crawdad fishing the same spot where they had seen me lose the big brown on Thursday. I stated throwing a Joe Fly Elite spinner that was white with a chartreuse belly and a firetiger blade. It was a great color for the muddy water. Right off I had a big hit and missed it. Then I caught a nice rainbow about 14 inches long. I threw him back and kept on fishing. Then I got a big hit and this time I knew I had a good trout. My mind stated racing. I just knew I had hooked the one that had got away on Thursday. It was the same spot, similar weather, it had to be. The fish came up and jumped, it was a huge brook and not a brown. The fish raced back and forth and I struggled to keep him out of the standing timber and stumps that were everywhere. I got him right up to the bank and he took a hard right turn and wrapped me around a cut off tree stump. He was only 4 feet from the bank but I pulled twice and could not get my line off of or around the tree. So I jumped in the lake up to my waist, ran over and reached my pole around the tree stump and began fighting the trout again. I got him between the bank and me with no trees involved and it was over. I grabbed him up and ran up on the bank. It was a big, beautiful, brewer brook trout. I got real lucky on this one the hook set was pretty sorry trailer hook only in a skin flap in the corner of the mouth. I picked my trout up and started to head to the truck when I saw it. Unbelievable I saw one of the old guys in the crawdad fighting a huge fish. He yelled for the other guy to "get the net". Shortly thereafter I saw him hold up this huge brown trout. I yelled over and asked him what it was and he said, "it's a 10 pound brown". Now I know better, but it was a huge brown trout in the 6 plus range. It just goes to show you, if you hook and lose or see a big fish, keep digging it out, lighting can strike twice. Also it seems that certain places hold big fish in bunches, so if you catch a big one it's time to get greedy and keep fishing.

I headed to Carl's store, a must stop place if you happen to be fishing in Petersburg, WV, and got and official weight on my fish. It was 3.75 pounds and 20 inches. To put it into perspective a citation brook trout is 1.5 pounds. This one was double that weight and change.