Trout and Bass - Ocober 28th

Brad and I headed off on the trek through the canyon to the river for some fall trout fishing. The water was at the 77% marker and rising. Our window to catch fish was closing from the time we got on the water. We used spinners and caught 5 fish each. I caught all rainbows and Brad caught 3 rainbows, 1 rockbass, and one really nice 2.3 lbs. smallmouth which was a nice surprise. We had to leave early because the water was getting much higher and much muddier. It was at 87% when I got home. There were tons of leaves being washed down river that made fishing tough as well. We hit a farm pond on the way home and I caught 3 nice largemouth and a crappie.

October 25th

Dad and I headed up to Bluestone for some bass fishing and squrriel hunting. There was wind coming up and rain coming in. We saw 2 squrriels and killed only one. And we caught no fish and had only one hit. I did kill a crow at almost 70 yards with my Supernova 12 gauge. Other than the crow and the one squrriel it was pretty slow.

"Stonewalled" - October 20th

Brad & I fished made the last trip of the year to Stonewall Jackson lake only to find tougher fishing than we could have found up Bluestone lake. We fished from 9a to 5p with a 30 minute lunch brake in 55 degree water temp with 65 degree air temp. We had lots of sunshine and very little other boater pressure. We fished riprap, timber, backs of creeks/coves, main lake points, and timber flats. We really struggled. I caught 5 fish and Brad caught 1 and we got very few other hits. Of the fish I caught only one was above 12 inches and one was a white bass. The few fish we did catch came off of crank baits. We tried every bait in the book, flukes, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, shakey head worms, creature baits, and jerkbaits. We did see an otter eating a deer. Which before today I had never seen a otter before.

Frost on the Pumpkin - October 19th

Dad and I headed up to the Fair Chance Hunt club on a cold clear October morning. I hunted around the fields and Dad hunted the high knoll and around to the right. I saw 12 deer one of which was a big cow horn spike. I ended up with 4 squirrels and Dad had one. I missed one more and saw 8 total.

Coyotes Don't Like Buckshot - October 14th

Joe Yancey and I hunted the wood lots & feilds around the top of FairChance Hunt Club in Pipestem, WV. The weather was cold, windy and raining. About 9am the rain picked up and got heavy and steady. I killed 2 squrriels around the knoll at the cell tower and one more fox squrriel on the field edge at the end. I saw only 2 more squrriels and one deer all morning. I did see 9 turkeys out in the field after the rain began. Joe killed 2 big fox squrriels and missed 2 more. He also saw nice 9 point with a broken g-2 horn. About 8:30 while I was working my way around the fields I saw something walking the edge of the fields about 110 yard out. I looked thru binoculars and saw it was a big coyote. I slipped a load of 00 buck, that I had been caring around for no less than 10 years, in my 870 and figured I could at least try and see how fast that coyote could run. The coyote came closer and closer without paying much attention. Finally it came to no less than 65 or 70 yards and began to stare at me. So I figured even though it was to far I would give it a go. I fired and it fell flat on it's belly feet sticking up in the air and kicking. I was amazed I though I had hit it in the head or spine for that to happen. I starting walking closer and at 40 yards or so it got up and took off. I shot her 3 more times with 5 shot but off it continuted to run. I could see the smaller shot hitting it but it was hitting her in the hind quarter and obviously not getting much penetration. I chased after her and away she ran. I shot at her 3 more times before it ran down the hill and ran into a cave like hole at the base of a cliff. I am pretty sure it died from it's injuries, I just would have really like to have had a picture of it. If only I had a couple more loads of buck shot, I could have down a little better.

Opening Day 2009 - October, 10th

Dad and I headed off to the Little Creek Hunt Club in Greenbrier County for the start of squrriel season. It was a dark day with some wind and light rain. I had an exciting start to my hunt. By 10 minutes after daylight I had found a tree with 5 squrriels up it and a another tree with ~15 turkeys in it not even 70 yard on up the hill. I got 3 of the 5 squrriels and missed one more. The turkeys scatted every where on the ground around me and would have made and easy kill if only the season was in now instead of 2 more weeks. After the turkeys began to spook and fly out they quickly began calling one another trying to get their group reformed. After a quick start I went on to kill my limit in a little less than 2 hours, all greys no foxes squrriels. I saw ~ 15 squrriels and heard one fox squrriel off in the distance. I didn't see any deer and very little sign. The mass is way down from past years. The leaves are off more now than any other opening day I can remember. Dad and I both had a good time and were glad to get the hunt.

Another "Shakey Head" Day - October 6th

Yet another shakey head day. Fish won't chase much of anything, although Greg did catch one of four bass on a white spinnerbait. It was cold today with rain coming in tonight/tomorrow. The water temps were low 60 on main lake and high 50's up the Bluestone river. We only caught 2 bass each and maybe only had 7 or so total bites in 5 hours of fishing. All the fish we caught were up in the Bluestone river and they were all shallow and some of them were super shallow. Greg caught one largemouth on a hula grub in less that a foot of water. One of the fish I caught was a quality fish(2 lbs or so) but it was still a slow day. I hope the fall bite will eventually take off and fish will start to chase again. Right now it doesn't look very hopeful. I feel like the fish are in transition and are all spread out all over the place right now.

Another Slow Day on Bluestone - October 2nd

I fished Bluestone solo from 2 till 5pm. I worked crankbaits and shakey head all along the the pit bank down past the triangle rock. I caught 4 fish along that section. I also fished from the Marina to the water fall on the Bluestone River side, around the bridge trestles, and all way around the bend past the big tree with no bites at all. Of the fish I caught 2 were small and 2 were descent keeper largemouth. The time of day was a little off(middle of the day) but it was the only time I had to go. the water temps were ~65 degrees surface temp. in the middle of the day. Going forward I hope to see fish get more aggressive between 60 going down to 50 degrees. Not a lot of fishing pressure. I did watch a mink catch and eat a crayfish. Greg fished earlier in the day, he caught and lost 2 more 3+lbs. bass.