Doe from a Skybox - November 24 th

Dad and I hunted War Ridge with Danny today. I took the Winchester Model .70 my grandpa gave me. I hunted the middle box that's about 40 feet in air over the middle section of fields. Danny missed a doe with his flint lock due to a "leafy beach tree" he assassinated instead. I had not seen any deer by 10am when I saw 3 does run out in the field about 165 yards out. They ran towards the fence and I shot the biggest one right before she jumped over the fence back into the woods.She fell down hopped back over the fence and ran about 80 yards before she crashed out again down the ridge. It was the first deer I had ever killed with the gun my grandad gave me.

Opening Day Rifle Season - November 22nd

Dad and I hunted on Claude Davidsons at Beech Run along with Jeff's crew. We hunted a warm first day, coming off a very bright full moon, after a brutal winter that had the ground snow covered from December till March, along with a winding down rutt only to find no shots to be taken. We saw a doe each, I am quite sure it was the same doe that just walked by both of us. I heard the fewest number of shots for any first morning ever. No shots were fired anywhere close to us. Not on Angels, Claudes, Ball's, Mocks, or anywhere close at all.

No Takers - November 21st

Brad and I loaded his boat on the New River behind Richmonds store and fished jig-n-pigs from 1:30pm till 4:30 with no hits, no runs and no erros. We fished all the way around both sides. We fished the bolder rocks, deep ledges, and rocky points with no luck at all. The weather was nice and sunny in the 60 degree range at midday.

Preseason Scout Day - November 19th

Dad and I went up to the farm up Beech Run and scouted around some today. I killed 2 grey squacks with the .22 Savage and missed one more fox. I saw 7 deer and some good sign around the Madams Creek high wall. I kicked out a spot to hunt on Monday and headed home.

Trout Fest Part II - November 11th, 2010

We had so much fun last time that we just had to go back before the fishing got tougher. Brad and I fished from 9am till 2pm catchig 43 and 48 each. The water was 2 foot lower and gin clear. We caught most of our fish on spinners. We tried to get them to bite a fly, but they weren't having it. We couldn't even get them to rise. I caught 2 bigger fish in our 91 total fish. One was 20 inches and one was 22inches. I suspect the larger fish was the same one Nathan caught the trip before. It came from the same spot and had the same spotting pattern. Both were citation fish. Today was the only time I can remeber trout fishing in warm sunny weather, usually it's cold, cloudy, raining/snowing, and miserable.

Trout Fest - November 5th, 2010

On a day where you wouldn't have believed it even if you had been there Nathan, Brad, and I headed out for some fall trout fishing. We got cold and at times wet weather with low clear water. Nathan had the  best day catching a 24 inch ~ 5 lbs. rainbow as well as a 20 inch ~ 4 lbs. Brad and I didn't catch anything over 2lbs. But everybody had out of this word numbers. Nathan fished roughly 5 hours and landed 63 fish. Brad and I each fished 7 hours and caught 101 fish each for a total fish count of 265. Brad and I each wanted to stay and try to get that century mark, because you may never get that opportunity again. As a group we caugt  roughly 13.9 fish per fisherman per hour not counting the 30 minute lunch break we took. The average fish size was down from last year but obviosly the numbers were up. It was the kinda day you have dreams about and remember for a long time to come. Once those fish get some more pressure and some higher water they won't be so easy to catch. The bulk of our fish came off of crappie jigs with the rest on spinners. The jigs made catch and release easier on both us and the trout.

White Oak Mountain Lake - November 1st

Joe & I fished White Oak Mountain Lake from 11am till 2pm. The lake was about 20 feet down below normal. I caught 2 LMB's and lost one more. Joe hooked 2 and lost a nice sized walleye. We spent a lot of our time traveling on foot trying to figure the layout.

Six More - October 28th, 2010

Dad and I headed back to Little Creek. I killed 6 greys by 9am and looked around for a fall turkey without success. Steve Meadows did kill one on the National Forrest side  across from me. I saw no fox squrriels or deer.

Spot and Stalk Turkeys Almost - October 27th

On a very windy and rainy day, Dad and I headed to Pipestem to try and turkey hunt. We only hunted for 2 hours. I worked a lap around the field with my 870. At the very end of the field I spotted 4 gobblers about  450 yards away crossing in the woods on the left. I dropped back short of the horse pen, crossed the field, and started aggressively working my way up the left wood line toward the turkeys. I covered a lot of ground quickly then started slowing down when I was getting close to where I last saw them. The wind slowed for just a moment and I heard some movement in the hollow below me to my left. I eased over to the edge and saw a doe spook. As the deer ran around to the left, she also spooked the 4 turkeys to the right. I threw a shot to try and split them up which I did. However they wouldn't talk to me after I split them up. I had no chance to call one back up. The gobblers seemed content to go their separate ways. They way this played out had the doe not been there to spook the turkeys my plan would have worked to perfection and I would have most likely been left with an east 30 yard shot down the hill on the lead bird.

Mudcats and Turkey Talk - October 23rd, 2010

On opening day of fall turkey season Brad and I headed up to Bluestone lake. We fished and listened. Then listened some more. The bites was tough. We heard some turkeys and called back to them several times but they never would speak up again to where we could get them located and go after them. We did see several squrriels and four deer. Brad caught a mudcat and I caught 4 smallmouths. All of our fish came off of a jig-n-pig.  We fished and hunted from 7am till 12pm. I don't know were the large mouth have went to on bluestone lake.                                                                                                                                    

Little Creek Greys - October 22nd, 2010

Dad and I went to little creek on a clear cold morning. I killed 6 while missing 1 by 9:30. On our way out we saw a man fishing from the Anthony Creek bridge. It was the same near def man we gave our squrriels to last year. We stopped and asked if he wanted some squrriels. He said, "I would love some". So again for the 2nd year in a row we gave him a fresh mess of squacks and off we went to Jim's drive in for lunch. A unique end to an fun day at one of my favorite places.

The Great Bear Sighting - October 19th, 2010

Dad and I hunted the Fair Chance Hunt Club at Pipestem, WV.  I saw 8  and killed 3 all greys before it got really windy at around 10am. I had Dad drop me off at the bottom hunting and exploring my way back to the top. I stopped on a bench half way to the top to take a rest for short while. While watching to greys I looked at the end of the bench and saw a huge black bear. At first I though it was somebody's escapee cow. He even stood up on his back feet and ate some grapes. The bear walked all the way across the bench to within 20 yards of me. I began to realize that it was on a path to walk right by me. I got scared and stood up. The bear saw me and took off.  It was the biggest bear I have every seen. I really must start carrying my camera with me in the woods. That bear would have made an awsome pic.

Little Creek Hunt Club Trip 1 - October 18th

Dad and I hunted little creek on a cool fall day. They were timbering Dad's lower wood lot. I killed 6 greys and Dad killed 4*. All greys. I saw some turkeys, although had they been in season I couldn't have gotten a shot off at them. I also heard some more turkeys. I saw some deer sign up high. I even saw some bear sign.

It Just Gets Tough - October 13th, 2010

I  met up with Greg at 9am and we fished Bluestone till 3pm, catching only 5 and getting very few bites. I caught 1 and Greg caught 4. All the fish we caught were smallies except for one spot. We got very few bites. The conditons were ideal and we were the only bass boat working on the lake.

Opening Day - October 9th, 2010

 With Dad still recovering from pneumonia, Joe & I hunted at Pipestem on the first day of squrriels season. I killed 6 by 9:30 with the 870 (1 fox and 5 grey) on the left side of the fields below the cell tower. Joe spent his day hunting with a .22  trying to kill an all black fox squrriel he saw run into a den tree. He never did get a shot at it however. I saw no deer and Joe saw 8 does. The tucker boys were hunting on the end and had only killed one by 9am.

Buggs Isalnd Final Day 3 - October 4th

  All 3 boats spent he final day on Bluestone Creek and it was our best day. Greg and Todd Caught 16 before noon, We caught 25 fish by 3pm. Jason and JD caught 27 before they left to head home. The wind proved to be a real obstacle, but also made for some good fishing that afternoon by pushing shad in the lauch cove at Bluestone Creek. Brad caught a couple above average sized bass on rocky points and I caught my first walleye. We used jig-n pigs, spinnerbaits, and cranks. Every rocky wind blown point we came to we caught fish off of. It was a pretty fun day of fish. I just wish I had more days to fish before heading home. I will be back in the fall again.

Buggs Express Day 2 - October 3rd

  We spent this day struggling on Rudd's creek(although we did catch a few fish on rocky branch of Rudds) early and doing a little better back on Grassy Creek. I caught a chain pickeriel and lost a nice fish early on in the day. We ended up with 19 fish and many good sized keepers. Greg, Todd, JD, and Jason spent the whole day on Rudds and ended with 16 and 22 fish per boat.

Buggs Island Express Day 1 - October 2nd

  Brad and I arrived at Longwood launch ramp and go to fishing at about 11am. We had left Hinton at 5am. We only had 3 days to fish instead of a week and this was my first trip to Buggs in the fall. The water temps were in the mid 60's with air temps in the 50 to 60's. Instead of the usual 304 water levels we were at 296 but on the rise from heavy rains last week. Todd and Greg had went down a day earlier and caught some fish in Essex branch of Grassy Creek so thats were we headed off to. We caught 14 bass and lost at least 14 more. Most fish came off of shakey but a few off of a jig-n-pig. I lost 2 large fish, one broke me off and one got hung up in a tree. We also caught a few fish in Little Beaver creek. Greg and Todd fished Rudds creek and cautght over 20. While Jason and JD caught 15 off of Grassy Creek points with a late start.

Bass and Lots O Grass - September 29th

                                    - loads and loads of grass. 

  Caught 6 bass and a perch from 2 to 6pm. All but 2 fish came off of a jig and a pig (Strike King Halloween). The other two came off of a Lucky Craft Moonsalt citrus shad. I caught smallmouth, spots, and LMB. The grass died and was floating everywhere. I couldn't even fish Bullfalls due the countless pods of floating dead grass. I missed several other bites.

Back to Work on Bluestone - September 24th

Greg and I fished Bluestone from 6 till 12 in his Triton. Things were slow. We caught a couple off the pit bank, we each missed a fish in the grass below bertha, and there were a few active smallies at bullfalls. I ended up with 5 fish and Greg had 2 and that included a redeye each. Cranks, jig-n pig and a fluke all caught fish. The lake level was still up nice with water temps in the mid to upper 60's.  

Avery & Annalyn's Bluegill Adventure - June 1st

I loaded the whole family up and headed to Bluestone to do a little blugill fishing. Avery caught 12 fish, 1 bass and the rest bluegills. The fishing was slow but what we were catching we descent size and good fighters. Aleshia held Annalyn while Avery and I fished. We fished about 2 and a half hours before heading home. I went down the pit bank with a crankbait with no takers before heading home.

Finesse Jigs or Bust - May 27th

Dad & I fished the Osborne hole on the Greenbrier from 7 till 11. Fishing was slow. The water was ideal a little up, stained, with no other fishermen around. I caught 15 and Dad caught 1, but to be fair he only fished 20 minutes or so he spent all his time driving the boat. I caught a couple early on a micro buzz but the bulk of my fish came off of a jig-n-pig pitched close to cover. I tried everything to get those fish to chase but it just wouldn't happen for me. I tried flukes, cranks, g-tails, spooks, in-line  and regular spinners and still nothing. It wasn't until I started flippin the jig did I start getting bit regularly.

Cloudy with a Chance of Senkos- May 19th

On perfect weather day for fishing Brad and I headed to Claytor lake. We caugtht some bass early on main lake pockets with mini buzz baits and topwater zara puppies. At about 11 am our bite died despite it remaining overcast and cool. About 1pm we started catching fish pretty good on senkos. 4 inch smoke worked best. We were catching mostly spotted bass. We ended up with a dozen bass each in out time on claytor. Althoug we landed nothing big we got a lot of bites, lost many fish, caught several and Brad even managed to land a wiley hybrid bass off of some marked offshore fish structure.                                        

Avery's First Solo Catch- May 21st PM

Avery, Brad, and I headed to Lowell,WV for some afternoon pond fishing. Brad and I caught a dozen or so bass on Senkos. I also caught one a mini buzzer and Brad caught a bonus fish on a chugger bait. I then broke out the worms and bobber and let Avery have a go at it. I threw it out, tried setting the hook for her six differnt times each a miss. Finally I handed her pole back to her and went to the truck to get my pole. Before I got back she had thrown it out, hook a blugill and reeled it in. Her very first solo fish. And just to validate her fish she then did it 3 more times all with out any help, except taking the this off the hook. Avery was excited and I was proud.

#^&*%%$@#*% Bluestone Lake - May 21st

I don't know what's going on. I fished for 5 hours today before I got my first bite. That shouldn't happen, or at least not as often as it has been happening on my home lake lately. Things have been tough on Bluestone all spring and really last fall too. I have caught some nice fish but this time of the year is usually good numbers of bass mixed  with some size. It's not like I have never caught fish on this lake before or that my fishing buddies are wearing them out. Could be the effect of reduced shad populations, maybe the crappie fishermen have taken so many crappie that they have cut down on the crappie minnow forage, maybe it's the tournament pressure (there are 43 scheduled on Bluestone this summer), or maybe it's just my poor luck. Greg caught 6 fish, nothing more than a pound all on a micro buzz, and I  caught 1 bass and 1 crappie on a LC CB flat.

Fluke Revival - May 17th

For the longest time now one of my prmary springtime weapons on the war on bass has been ineffective. The fluke bite has been less than non-existent.  Today however the Bluestone fluke bite came back a little. With qickly rising and muddy water bass around boat docks were actually hitting flukes. Of the 11 fish I caught about have came off flukes and the rest cranks. I also lost at least 6 more. Had a caught everythng I hooked I would have had a great day. Dad caught one smallie on a day were rainsuits just weren't enough. It rained at least an inch in the 6 hours we were there. Despite being wet and not catching a huge amount of fish we still had a good time.

Finesse Buzzbaits & Claytor Lake - May 13th

 In a who woulda guessed type of day Greg & I ended up with 24 bass in 10 or so hours of fishing on Claytor lake. We got there at 7am and tried everything before we figured out the only thing those fish would hit at all was a buzzbait and preferable a small one. It didn't matter that this was was out and bright or that the fish were in 20 foot of water or that the water was gin clear. That was what they wanted and nothing else would do. Of the 24 bass 21 were caught on buzzbaits and Greg caught 16 of them. Most of the fish we caught were smallish spots however Greg did catch one really nice LMB and lost 3 other between 2 and 4 pounds.Greg also had a 5 pounder chase a hooked spot all the way to the boat trying to get the buzzbait that the spot had just eaten out for a good 2 minutes, something I've never seen before. The weather was nice and the trip was pretty fun. Our only downfall is that we didn't figure it out until about 1pm and we caught most of fish after that. Had we put the puzzle together sooner we would have or at least could have caught many more fish. Never underestimate the abiltiy to adapt.  Realistically had I not been fishing with Greg I wouldn't have figured it out becase I throw buzzbaits only rarely.

As Tough as it Gets - May 12th

I caught ZERO fish from 6:30 till 12 on Bluestone today. Greg caught 4 including a couple pretty nice ones one a buzz bait, pics below. I tried everything shakey head, cranks, spinners, flukes, chuggers, topwater walk the dog, senkos, wake baits, and nothing. I did get one bite that I missed on a buzzbait. I don't know what's going on but I though fishing in May was supposed to be easy or at the very least easier than this. We really struggled. The water was 70 degrees and the air was nearly the same temp with some cloud cover, an ideal set of conditions for spring fishing.

Adventures on the Brier - May 8th

Brad & I took his boat and headed out to the Talcott launch ramp. It was 70 degrees when we hit the water, but  wind blew and the temps fell all day. We fished from 7 till 11 from Taloctt to just above Bacon's Falls and managed to catch a dozen fish each. Mostly redeyes with some smallies mixed in. I got on a streak below the cliffs early with a Zara Puppy catching two nice bass on back to back cast and missing another. Then once the rain stopped and the sun came out the topwater bite died. With high skies fishing got tougher. I picked a couple of strays up the pearpurple rainbow pointer and Brad continued to catch some fish on his "green bastard" in line spinner. We didn't catch anything about a pound or so but we did catch some fish and have a good time.