Mountaineer Chronicles

We are a little more than half way through the year. Here is my update of how I've done on my goals so far. Fishing Goals: Catch a fish in every month of the year  Unfulfilled -- cold temps in Jan, Feb, and March put a damper on this.  April - July I've done well though. REVISED goal is to fish at least once in each of the remaining months. In WV, catch one new species of fish (northern pike, hybrid striper, tiger musky), and/or a species I haven't caught in a few years at least (flathead catfish, musky, freshwater drum, eel, or yellow perch). Currently unfulfilled Catch a 15"+ smallmouth bass on a fly FULFILLED -  Big smallmouth on the fly I have also caught two 18+" smallmouth bass this summer on conventional tackle Big smallmouth in the summer on conventional tackle Catch a trout over 17" on a fly Currently unfulfilled Float a new stretch of water FULFILLED x 3. Floated 2 new sections of the Cheat River. Floated

Well, we are 2 months into the new year, and I've yet to land a fish. My goal to catch a fish in every month of the year will go unfulfilled. Perhaps for this year, I'll have to modify that goal to be that I want to go fishing in every month of the year. Winter fishing is always tough, and for me, the best bets are either trout or walleye. I'm not an ice fisherman, so I need open water, which has been tough to find this year so far. Even the Mon was mostly iced up during mid-late January, which is pretty rare. Many trout streams were locked up tight. I missed my best opportunity in early January before the super deep freeze set in. I finally got out on the final day of January when some slightly warmer temperatures allowed some of the ice on the Mon to retreat just far enough that I was able to wet a line one evening to try for a walleye below the Morgantown locks. With water temperatures hovering just above the freezing mark, I knew most fish would be deep and lethargi

Most all of us make resolutions or goals at each New Year. Some think it is silly, but our human nature sees the New Year as a time of renewal, and as such I feel it is a good time to refocus our personal efforts, whether or not you want to call them "resolutions". I, along with my wife, have made a list of some things we want to accomplish in our personal and spiritual lives, but those goals are personal, and wouldn't be all that interesting to share anyway. That said, I'm going to share a handful of outdoor activity related goals down here. I know most of these are of little real consequence, but are things I want to accomplish this year nonetheless. Here goes: Fishing Goals: Catch a fish in every month of the year (this is usually tough for me because I get so focused on hunting in the fall). In WV, catch one new species of fish (northern pike, hybrid striper, tiger musky), and/or a species I haven't caught in a few years at least (flathead catfish, m

I didn't keep that great of a log, but to the best of my recollection, I fished on about 20 different days in 2013. That certainly isn't a ton of time compared to some, but is quite a lot for others. Some of my trips were all day, some were not much more than an hour. Overall I didn't catch anything enormous, but I think I did well considering. Here are some highlights from the year. First fish of the year and the only one I ate First trout of the year - gotta start somewhere First and largest brown of the year - early March, Savage River I always spend a lot of time after these guys each year For better or worse, a lot of my small stream brook trout fishing is with this guy Sometimes those rough fish can be pretty - this is a spawning male striped shiner from NF at Seneca Rocks I lucked into several slab crappies like this from the Mon Of course fishing the Mon, you'll catch some sauger too This monster redbreast sunfish came from De

Dew droplets on a leaf of kale Fine coating of dew on a sugar snap pea leaf Baby cucumber plants popped up over the last day or two These were the first green bean spouts to break the surface Sage has quite showy purple flowers The thyme (right) is covered with hundreds of tiny white blooms right now

Some pictures from our annual Men's Retreat which was a little over a week ago. A little fishing, a hike to the top of Seneca Rocks, and plenty of food! Ben the tough guy Me with a cheesy pose on the top of Seneca Rocks Chunky rainbow from Smoke Hole This is my fish geek picture - a male spawning striped shiner (Note color on fins) Pile of kabobs ready for the grill View from Seneca Rocks looking west.

A post was made on the wvangler.com message board that begged the question "Is catching fish the point?" and it linked a video response. It got me thinking.... Here was my response on the message board, copied to here: "If it didn't matter, we would focus as much of our time and energy in the least productive times of the year as we do in the most productive times. I'd have to say that the Elk has more people fishing during hatches that make catching fish easier. The freestone streams don't get pounded in the middle of winter when the water temps are 34F, so yeah catching fish matters. With my increasingly busy schedule and additional responsibilities, I find myself scheduling my longer fishing trips into periods when the probability of poor fishing is as low as possible. I don't take as many winter fishing trips. I don't fish as much in the heat of summer. I try to maximize my potential, and we all do something like that to an extent.