Mountaineer Chronicles

If you look closely at this photo, you can see a handful of snowflakes that were leftover on the deck from the few flurries we had last night. Many higher elevation places had more significant snow showers yesterday.  Here in the middle Appalachians, we can get spoiled by 70 degree days like we had last week, so when we get cold rains (or even snow) and 30 degree temperatures folks get taken aback.  The average last frost date for Morgantown is still almost 2 weeks away, and for the high mountains is more like a month away. You can see from the greenery in the photo that spring is certainly here, but spring for Mountaineers doesn't guarantee 60- or even 50-degree weather. Soon enough though, winter will finally lose it's grip...

For our first outing of the year, Roger and I headed to the Savage River in western Maryland. We started on the trophy section below the reservoir, but after fishing methodically for several hours, we decided to jump up above the reservoir to fish a tributary for native brook trout. The water temps above the lake were slightly warmer, and this, combined with some clear skies and strong spring sun warmed the water enough that the trout were hungry and feeding. We caught 18 trout in about 3.5 hours, each of us landing 9. All were smaller brook trout (< 8") with the exception of one 11" stocked rainbow that ran up from the river into this small tributary. We both were using double beadhead nymph rigs, and as long as you got a good drift the fish didn't seem to care which exact pattern you were floating past them. Here are some pictures of the day... Serene Small but pretty First brookie of the year Hemlocks Rhododendrons Cannibal - th

I've tried several different approaches to keeping journals and logs of my fishing over the years. I enjoy looking back at these logs and they are certainly informative for planning future trips. So far, I have been unable to really stick with a single logging format for very long. I guess this is my own fault for simply not being devoted to keeping track of things. The best free, online option I've found is http://www.mydailyfishinglog.com/  . This website is oriented slightly toward flyfishing, but the framework is flexible enough to use for any type of fishing logs. There is even the option to attach pictures to each individual log entry. The best part is that it is 100% free, all you have to do is create a username to login. In the past I've also tried creating my own log forms in Excel. The advantage to doing this is that I can customize my log entry fields to precisely what I what, but the interface and ease of use is not quite the same as the online entry optio

As spring quickly approaches, many folks begin to long to break the winter blues by hitting their favorite trout streams. Trout are coldwater fish and are definitely more active and catchable in cold water than other Mountain State fish, which is why they are pursued in the colder months. While trout are easier than warmwater fish to catch in cold water, they are definitely not immune to inactivity during especially cold water. Here are a few tips I've found to help me make the most of my late winter or early spring fishing trips. Early spring ice formation on a wild trout stream in western MD. Fish spring fed creeks and rivers. Streams with large spring influences stay much warmer in winter than freestone creeks. Springs in West Virginia usually discharge at around 50 degrees year-round, so fishing creeks and rivers with spring influence will have much more active fish than streams that may be hovering around freezing. In WV, the Elk River is the most well known and access

I've started to realize that sometimes with my somewhat limited time to get outside, either for fishing, hunting, hiking, or sightseeing, I get in too much of a rush to see everything , and therefore overlook whats in front of me. I try to just cram two or threes days worth into just one day. All too much, I get too hung up on maximizing the efficiency of my time fishing. Efficiency when it comes to fishing is the number of fish caught per hour, or if targeting big fish, it could be the total inches of fish caught per hour. Sometimes it can even be about just covering as much water as possible. All of these metrics of fishing success or efficiency again cause me to rush. Places like this are too special to rush through Even when hunting, I get caught up in this mode. In order to explore as much territory as possible, I've found myself rushing through cover while stillhunting, which usually just leads to spooked quarry. This rush, either while hunting or fishing, ultimat

So, despite my best effort to convince Brooke to let me thin the cucumbers to a more manageable number for our small garden, we are quickly becoming overrun with cucumbers. Luckily, I convinced her to plant small, pickling cucumbers, so it is no big deal. The cucumber vines on the left, have nearly shaded out our peppers. For those looking for some abomination of a sweet "pickle" recipe, keep moving. Sweet pickles do not touch my lips, and I consider it false advertising when restaurants don't distinguish that the pickles they serve are in fact horrible sweet monstrosities. So anyway, I've been wanting to try making my own pickles for a while. The real thing, dill pickles. So after quick bit of research, it is easy to find out that there are a couple main ways to make pickles. The first way utilizes vinegar solution, and is similar to the pickles packed on most grocery store shelves. The other way involves a simple brine solution and a little patience. These

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