Bugg's Island April 13th - 19th, 2013

Spinnerbait Bass at Dawn

Big Pig

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Weapons of Bass Destruction

Warm Up Fishing Trip - April 12, 2013

Joe and I fished Bluestone's rising waters on the day of our travel to Bugg's Island for a week of bass fishing. The bite was tough. We caught only 2 fish. One on a jig and pig and one on a shakey head worm. It was windy, raining at times, and the water was going up and getting muddy in most places.

Ground Swell Waterfall

Summertime In April - April 10th, 2013

Jrock and I fished on a day that saw near record 90 degree temps after having snow only 5 days earlier. We flipped tubes and jigs. We found the fish more shallow than I expected which is typical for a quick spring warm up. Although we didn't catch any hawgs we had a lot of fun. Jrock caught 5 and I landed 4 on the day.

Warm Sunday Afternoon - April 7th, 2013

Brad and I hole hoped the New for about 3 hours today. We pitched and flipped tubes and jigs. He caught one smallie and hooked and lost another. I lost the one fish I hooked all afternoon. But it was felt good to be on the river bank after a long dark cold winter.

New River Musky - April 6th, 2013

J Rock seen in the picture below with his first ever Musky and it was the first fish caught on his new pole as well. Well done Mr. Ballard.

Pushing Six - April 5th, 2013

Greg and I started our fishing day with about 3" of snow one the ground from the night before. The air temps at 9am where around 35 degrees. The heavy cloud cover gave way to warmer temps in the low 50's with some 10 to 15 mph wind. There is nothing more aggravating than trying to fish from a kayak in the wind. It's like fishing from a ceiling fan blade while it's turned on high. We where tying the Coosa's off to a fallen tree in the water to keep the wind from sweeping us away for a big part of the day. A camo jig and pig combo fished dead stick slow was the order of the day with all 4 of our fish coming off it today. Greg caught a 16 inch LMB and an 18 inch LMB as well as missed another. I caught a 13 inch and the 21 inch LMB that weighed in on the digital scales at 5 pounds and 15 ounces....just missing the 6 pound mark by a single ounce.  I hooked, fought and lost another bass I suspect to have been in the 2 pound range.

Kayaks if used incorrectly can also become a sleigh riding vessel.

Greg with a nice 16" LMB

An oz. short of 6lbs.

Snow Bass- March 27th, 2013

On this snowy 27 degree day with 10 to 15mph winds Greg and I decided to go bass fishing, we must be nuts. I have fished colder weather for trout but never bass.  We did manage to land 3 bass in 4 hours of  fishing. Greg caught 2 bass to my 1. Of our 5 hits all but one came off of tubes. I caught my fish off of a VMC dropshot rigged tube. I was impressed with how well the rig worked. Greg caught the big boy on his 3rd cast of the day. He weighed in at 4lbs and 4oz.

4lbs. 4oz LMB

2lbs. LMB on the GRIPPER

Cold Water Greenfish

Largemouth Bass Assault - March 24th, 2013

Christopher's March Monster LMB

WV Most Wanted Fish Poster

My First LMB of the 2013

The Crawdad my Dad bought in 1986 for $350 at Spring Hill Bait and Tackle.

This LMB was hungry.

A great looking 20 inch fish Greg caught from his Jackson.

Brad with a nice LMB

With under 40 degree water temps and snow still laying on the ground it was fish slow or go home. Fish were found from right on the bank all the way out to 80 yards offshore in deeper water. The main baits for today were tubes and jig n' pig combo's all fished dead stick or lightly hopped off the bottom. Despite the colder air and water temps these fish  know that it is spring and they are wanting to act like it.

Jason's 5 Pound Wind Blown Smallie - March 19, 2013

My friend Jason braved 15 to 30mph winds to catch this nice 5lb 2oz. monster smallie. This fish was caught, weighed and released to fight another day. And who knows how much bigger she could grow to be.

Even Panfish Can Be Hard - Febuary 22, 2013

Brad and I fished Bluestone on a warm Febuary day. The water was heavily stained and despite locating several differnt batches of fish on sonar, we had a really hard time getting them to eat at all. We only managed to catch 4 total, 3 crappie and one bluegill seen the the pic. The water temps was 40.2 degrees with air temp of 55 degrees. I watched several other boats working and everybody seemed to be struggling. Spring time adventures of  all shapes and sizes are just around the corner.

Rabbit Crossing - January 11th, 2013

Charlie, Scott and I hunted Barton Ridge from 9am til 1pm. We jumped 6 or so shot at 3 and killed 3. I killed 2 and Scott killed 1. The rabbits seemed to run good early while there was a light mist. Once the weather cleared out the rabbits running stopped. The rabbits seemed to wanna run a pine thicket along the edge of an overgrown field. They kept crossing and recrossing old tracks which made it tough for the dogs to stay on them.

Winter Time Panfish Part II - January 8th, 2012

Brad and I fished the Stone for Crappie and Bluegill from 11am till 1:30. We managed to catch around 15 or so in our usual spot on the usual dropshot rig.

Brad's 6 Pound Trout - January 5th, 2013

In the first fishing trip of the year Brad and I were able to knotch our first caught fish of the year, and Brad really started the year off right. We cautht 10 total trout but we had a 3lbs, 4lbs. and Brad's goliath 6 pounder. The water was in the 57% and the air temps got up to 45 with abundant sunshine.

December Panfishin on Bluestone - December 29th, 2012

 Brad and I crappie/bluegill fished today. The air temp never go above 42 degrees but that didn't stop the fish from biting good. There was a cold front with snow coming in and it seemed to really turn the fish on. We caught over 60 total, and about 80% of them were medium sized crappies. The bluegills we did catch were really big ones like this one in the pic above that Brad caught.  We used a drop shot night crawler rig all day. I even tried a drop shot double down but the bites always came on the bottom rig about 18 inches off the bottom. All of your fish were crappie or gills except for one squeaker catfish that I caught. It was a fine fishing day by cold water December standards.

Lost Dog - December 10th, 2012

Joe and I attempted to rabbit hunt on the Wright farm at Ballard, but 10 minutes into it Daisy got separated from Sam and ran off. We spent the next to days looking for her. We finally did recover her 3 days later. While still hunting for her we did manage to wrangle up this really cool looking squirrel. Orange tail, grey/white body, and black face.

2012 Deer Season Highlights

Rabbits Sittin Tight - November 16th, 2012

Charlie and I rabbit hunted from 10am to 2pm today. Charlie took Sam, Sampson and the pup (Daisy) out again. The rabbits were sittin crazy tight. We jumped 6 or 7 and killed 2. Charlie was kind enough to let me do all the shooting. I killed one with a single shot and another with 4. One rabbit Charlie practically hit in the head twice before it finally jumped.We only got shots at two of the rabbits we jumped and as dry as things were the dogs were not getting much of a chance either. Four rabbits went straight to the hole as they were jumped. It was still a fun day. Matthew and Avery got a to take some rabbit pics.

Stompin Brush