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.