Tubes, Bucktails, and No Takers - January 24th, 2012

      I fished for and hour or so with tubes on the Greenbrier today and for another hour and a half on Indian Creek with bucktails trying to at least locate a Musky. The sun was bright with bluebird skies which always makes me a little superstitious about how tough the fishing is going to be. Although I had no luck today Jason Brown and Mr. Dillon caught 5 smallies on the New today in the  2 to 4lbs range in about 6 hours of fishing. And Todd Mounts son caught 2 nice bass today as well, so maybe it wasn't the weather or water conditions maybe it just wasn't my day. I only fished for 2.5 hours, which by wintertime big fish standards is only a drop in the bucket of time. 

The Hunt Begins - January 23rd, 2012

   After a little time off I headed back to the river to start the 2012 fishing campaign. This year I am hoping to land a big musky as well as a few nice bass. I rounded up my Dad's musky rod, some 20lbs. test line, steel leaders, and a few buck tails to aid in my search for a large toothy critter. With the water up and the bright sun out today I spent some time below the dam throwing a bucktal in the slack water below the dam outflow. The water was stained up pretty good and I didn't get any bites in a coupe hours of fishing. I also threw a tube as well with no takers. I have heard several stories around town of people catchig muskies and nice bass during this unseasonabe warm January and it makes me want to get out and get into the game.   

2011 Year End Review

    This year I landed 1,111fish of various freshwater species on 85 fishing trips for a average fish catch per trip of 13.07, up almost 25% due in large part to fishing rivers more often. This past year has been my most productive  for fish in both size and numbers. I fished only 16 times from May 1st - July 31st. Most of my fishing went on in the early spring and then again throughout the fall.
     On the hunting front I killed 40 squirrels and 2 deer, 8pt and a 4pt. Over the last year a pattern in my fishing habits has emerged. There are basically seven ways that I fish throughout the year and they are as follows.
1) Wading for trout during the cold water period.
2) Bank fishing for Smallmouth bass on local rivers from the bank during the cold water months.
3) Fishing from a bass boat to target bass in the spring on lakes.
4) Fishing from a john boat on local rivers to target late winter to early spring smallmouth bass.
5) Crappie fishing lakes in early spring to early summer from a bass boat.
6) Bluegill fishing lakes from a bass boat with ultralight tackle or a fly pole.
7) Fishing rivers from a kayak for bass from early spring into late fall.

If I were to invest some more time in trying some new tactics in the coming year I would look to fish more at night both on the river for bass and with the aid of a light for crappie in the summer. I would also like to wrangle up a brown trout in the coming year, it's been about 4 or 5 years since I have caught my favorite kind of trout. I want to spend a little more time in the summer fly fishing for bass and bluegills than I have in years past as well.