Grannom Caddis on the Little J

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I met my good friend Tom on the Little J for the famed grannom caddis hatch.  For many reasons, this is probably my favorite hatch.  I'll never forget my first experience walking right into this hatch and not having a clue what was going on.  It was insane!  The tough part of this hatch is timing it right.  Its a relatively short hatch and one can easily miss it.  This day, the bugs were not at peak levels, but were pretty dang good. 

It was a cold morning (27 degrees) and the grannoms didn't start emerging until around 10 am.  By 10:30 am, the run above me looked like popcorn was popping out of the water with these bugs emerging.  What a cool sight to see!  There wasn't a ton of dry action so I stayed sub-surface and absolutely had a field day.  It was almost every cast at one point.  I could watch the trout feeding in the current and it was a bona fide feeding frenzy on the helpless caddis pupa.

It was really a nice day to be on the water.  There weren't many people and it felt like we had the stream to ourselves.  We ventured upstream and checked out some new water that I had not fished ever before.  We fished a solid 6 hours and had a couple cold Dales Pale Ale waiting for us at the truck.  I look forward to this hatch again next year.

The train trestles add to the character

Tom took this picture at lunch while I was casting to a rising trout.  The big trout was right where you expect him to be ... right in front of the big flat rock (@ 11 o'clock).  I made a nice cast and started feeding fly line until the cdc & elk hair caddis drifted carelessly into his feeding lane.  Without hesitating he sucked it down.  At this point, I had what felt like about 30 feet of slack line I need to bring tight, and needless to say, he was gone...

Escape to the Little Juniata

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Funny thing happens when you aren't able to fish as much as you always have in years past....you appreciate it more.  You appreciate just taking the first step in the water and making that first cast.  Of course, it always nice when you catch and fish and you can tell yourself, 'you still got it'  haha.  But its a pretty nice place to be in when all you care about is just being right there and enjoying.

Water was ~700 CFS.  Greenish perfect tint.  Caught couple on heavy nymphs.  stones, vladi.

An ode to Spring and Blue Wing Olives

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"Several years ago, I set aside a certain category for those things that reach so deeply and so successfully into first principles, that one's trust in them is absolute. Among them are brown trout, the Grateful Dead, and Blue Wing Olives."

Ted Leeson, The Habits of Rivers, 1994

There is nothing more therapeutic to get one through the cabin fever months than to tie up some blue wings at the vice and daydream about watching a wild brown sip new duns on a cloudy afternoon.

Here's the latest batch that will find a home on the end of my tippet this spring.

Nymphs:

Hot spot

BH Flashback

Mercury Baetis

As close as it gets...

Emergers / Duns

BWO Emerger

BWO RS2

BWO CDC Dun

BWO Cripple

BWO SS Biot Emerger

BWO SS Sparkle Emerger

Spinners

Rusty Hackle Spinner

Spinner

Pheasants in February

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Glad the game commission finally let pheasants in until February.  Makes for some fun, but tough late season hunts.  Cooper and I went out after a good snow storm hit and trudged through the foot and a half of snow.  The birds were sitting pretty tight with all the snow, so we worked pretty slow.  Here is the last rooster of the day and a nice retrieve over a fence, a creek bottom, and through some deep snow.

New Year's Eve Western PA Grouse hunt

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Went up to the mountains after a fresh snow for a New Year's Eve grouse hunt.   We had three guys and three dogs - a German Shorthair pointer and two labs.  We worked for about 3 hours around this ridge and put about 8 birds up and took 2.  Not bad stats in the world of grouse.  I shot one and which was the first in a couple years.  Hopefully it wont be that long again because we had an absolute blast.

Working the thickets

Cooper retrieving my the day's first grouse.

Winter Ducks

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This was most likely going to be the last hunt before Cooper's minor  eye 'surgery' and I wanted to get him out (and get me out) of the house.  Plus there was a storm rolling in and I had a good setup for an evening hunt.  I had a feeling.

Winter Storm Hercules was coming in hot and as people panicked to get home, we went duck hunting.  It turned out to be the best hunt of the year, as ducks were piling into the decoys as soon as we setup.  The first duck was memorable - I shot him on my 3rd shot and he landed a football field away.  He ended up literally crawling onto the ice and leaving us with no option to get him.  30 minutes later and a half inch of snow on him, he rose from the dead and start waddling to the far side of the lake.  Just goes to show you how tough these birds are. 

Other side of the frozen lake. Just looks cold

We circled the 1 mile lake and then I sent Cooper in on a search.  Ten minutes later, he came back with the duck that couldn't fly.  He's just an amazing retriever and this was one of his finest.

Fine retrieve

 We hunted another hour and about 30 ducks came in sets of 2-5.  It was perfect hunting and ended up with a limit of mallards. 

The drive home was insanely treacherous, but we made it back and ended the season on a high note.

Buffleheads

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Setup on an unnamed location for a morning hunt for the first hunt of the year at this spot.  Saw some geese and some high flying mallards. ended up taking a male Bufflehead diving duck which was the first one I have ever shot.  By far, one of the coolest looking birds I have ever seen.  Love the cool mohawk that this bird sports.  Saw some more Buffleheads, but just wanted this one. 

2013 South Dakota Pheasant Hunting



Cooper and I went on a pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota with our friends Brad and Christine and their German Shorthair Pointer, Roxie.  We leased a 1200 acre farm and rented a house in Hoven, South Dakota to hunt wild pheasants for four days.  I had been out to South Dakota a few years ago with my wife and Cooper and we had an absolute blast.  She couldn't make the trip this time, but I wanted to get Cooper out (at least) one more time while he was in his prime.
 
 We had an awesome trip, but the hunting was definitely tough.  The overall bird numbers were down in South Dakota this year and this farm gets hunted by a different group of hunters each week.  We saw a lot of hens and much fewer roosters and the birds were highly educated and wily this late in the season.  We saw many birds that just seemed to flush just outside of shotgun range and the birds that came up in range were fast and tough.  Every bird we got was earned through some long tough miles and relentless dog work. 
 
I cant wait to come back out here one day with the kids and a few more dogs!
 
 
 
 
Brad / Roxy and me / Cooper 
 

Cooper making the first retrieve of the trip



Old windmill on the prairie


Roxie on a nice retrieve


First afternoon on public land.  Great start!
One proud Lab after a hard day's work


 
My wild pheasant and portabella crock pot recipe
 
Living room of the rental house

Best part of the day!

Cooper and Roxie with fine retrieves
A pointer and a retriever can work together well!
 

Cooper and I with a beautiful wild Ringneck using Dad's old Beretta 12 gauge
Beer of the trip = Bells Midwestern Pale Ale
Brad and Christine with a gigantic cottontail rabbit



Random old port-a-potty at the reclaimed
gravel pit yard.  Strange, but convenient!

SouthDakotaWild.com


Just another breath taking SD sunset. 
 
Cooper being Cooper.  Captain Nitwit!

Small game bonanza - 11/25

 
Trip Summary from Pittsburgh - South Dakota
 - Lynchburg, VA.  3,230 miles!
I found the worlds BEST sunflower seeds. 


 

Sunset over the old farmstead in Hoven, SD after the last day's hunt while sitting on the tail gate drinking a cold one.


 


Pheasant Season Kick Off

I've been trying to get Cooper into shape for our South Dakota hunt coming up in November.  I've probably taken him out about 6 times now to just exercise him.  We hit a lot of the game lands in Washington County which are always hit and miss.  A couple hunts we never even got a bird, but that's State Game Land hunting for you.  We did manage a few birds and more importantly got him into (better) shape.
 
                         


Sauerkraut 2013

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Sauerkraut season is on for 2013.  The Somerset farmer we typically buy from lost his crop due to the floods this year, but my buddy was able to find us some cabbage for the year.  We'll see how this batch turns out for New Year's.

Cooper and Molly's pheasant hunt

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I went pheasant hunting with a buddy who used his parents red-lab, Molly, to work pheasants.  This was the first time the dogs met and after a short conversation, we realized both dogs were bred by the same Sire.  Really, I see no similarities????

Molly on left and Cooper on right in both pics

We had a really nice morning hunt and the dogs worked well.  It was really cool to even see some of the similarities in the hunting style.  Pretty neat they were able to hunt together.

Twins 1st Fall Camping Trip - Penns Creek

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We've been wanting to take the twins camping as babies and finally decided to take them on a whim to one of my favorite places on the planet - Penns Creek. 

penns1.JPG

It was a lot to throw together late Friday night for a one night camping trip, but I'm really glad we pulled it off once before they turned 1 (in less than a week!)

I could write a whole page on the page on how special Penns Creek is to us, so needless to say, it was extremely important to bring Jack and Clara and get them right in the water!

We got there Saturday afternoon, set camp up and a little hike in their new baby backpacks - a major upgrade to those Bjorn chest things.  The twins did just great and love everything about camping including romping around in the tent with Mama and chilling outside and trying to eat leaves and play with pine needles that fell into their pack and play.

Baby friendly camp site

Saturday night was not exactly how I drew up in my head.  Part of the reason we decided on going was the 0% chance of rain and stellar October weather we had.  I should know that in this valley anything goes...so as I was getting the campfire going, a major thunderstorm rolled in.  Picture Spencer in the tent with two hysterical babies while I ran around organizing camp in the pitch dark with a head lamp, grilling steaks and potatoes in the downpour while getting soaked to the bone. It was a pretty stressful hour, but the thunderstorm rolled out and the babies finally fell asleep.  Mom made her S'Mores and I drank an IPA - we had survived.

Sunday was an amazingly beautiful fall day.  At one point on the stream I found myself completely lost in just watching the leaves fall and was filled with so much joy.  I've been going to Penns for years now, but this was my first time in the fall and first time with the twins. 

Tressel bridge just wide enough for a double stroller

Fly fishing with Jack on my back

Passed out after a long hike and fishing trip

Me and my little girl

Lion's Mane mushroom

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My Aunt found a strange looking mushroom in our neighborhood about a week ago while strolling the twins.  I went to inspect it and thought I recognized it from some pictures I'd seen on mushroom sites.  It was about 25 feet up a tree in a neighbors front yard, but we got permission to cut it down. 

It was, by far, the coolest looking mushroom I had ever seen.  It had tentacles, was shaggy like a lions mane and looked like it was from another planet.  With further inspection and research I was 100% sure this was Lion's Mane (it is an unmistakable mushroom.)  In my research I found a ton of information on the recent scientific studies on the health benefits that seemed endless. 

The primary benefit I read was the ability to regenerate nerves by stimulating the body's Nerve Growth Factor.  Studies have shown Lion's Mane to improve cognitive focus, memory and slow the effects of dementia. There was also a lot of history this being used in Japanese and Chinese cultures as treatment for some of the world's most difficult diseases for centuries. At one time, Chinese tradition only allowed Lion's Mane to be eaten by Emperors. They used Lion's Mane to help relieve issues involving the digestive tract such as duodenal ulcers and stomach ulcers. The mushrooms were also given to those with cancers of the esophagus, the duodenum, and of the stomach.

All that sounded great, but I was really just hoping this improved my memory and I would stop loosing iPhones, keys, etc. 

So the million dollar question...how did it taste?  I sautéed some in salted butter until they were slightly browned...  and it tasted exactly like lobster.  It

 was unbelievably delicious!

I woke up today, so I didn't poyson myself by eeting the wrong mooshroom (which was a grayt way to start the dae.) I also phelt weigh smurter then I did yestertoday.  This stuff is greight!

Musky Flies

Finally pulled myself away from those annoying pheasant tails and midges and tied some bad ass musky flies.  My mom thought I tied up some toys for the twins...until she saw the 4/0 hook hanging in the bucktail...hahah. 

I can't wait to throw some meat for river monsters.


Summer Update

Not much to report out....just the dog days of summer, get chores done before hunting season and spending time with the twins.  Caught some monster wild trout and bass...haha..Very much looking forward to the fall.





Tricos on Mossy Creek, Virginia



























Mossy Creek is a very special stream.  Picture a pristine gin clear stream in a lush meadow of wild flowers and the smell of fresh mint.  With the rolling hills and the Blue Ridge mountains hanging in the backdrop, I feel like I'm fishing in the Shire.  It's probably good I didn't discover fly fishing until my last year at JMU because with streams like this in the area, I may not have graduated.


 
Mossy is by far one of the toughest limestone streams I've ever fished.  Right up there with the Letort, Big Spring, and DePuys.  Tough back cast, thick underwater vegetation, gin clear water, hundreds of micro currents and not to mention highly pressured public water and very discriminating trout.  If you actually hook a trout on a dry and keep him out of the stream bed moss on 6X, that's a good day in my book. 





I ventured to this stream early for arguably the most famous hatch - the morning tricos.  After a long sleepless night with the twins and a two hour drive, I arrived later than I wanted.  When I got onto the stream around 9:30 am - the tricos were pretty much done.  I was a little bummed, but I made my way up the stream head hunting for the last few rising fish.  Without any rise forms, you'll never see a fish on this stream.  They just seem to materialize out of the moss and go right back.  But I did eventually find one really good fish working the surface intermittently and he was my guy.  I watched him at the tail out of this pool for about 10 minutes before thinking about making a cast.


I wasn't sure what he was taking, but I figured after eating trico spinners all morning, he wouldn't pass up my CDC spent wing.  After getting my game plan together, I slowly crawled into a downstream position and prepared my upstream cast.  The key was making the cast right into the exact micro current the trout was lying in, but not too far upstream as to line the trout with my fly line.  With a 12' leader, that meant putting it 4-6' above the fish.  I made a couple casts to the side of the trout and on the third cast put the fly only a foot above the fish.  As it passed over his head, he slowly tipped up on his tail and inhaled the fly!  Wow!  My heart was about to beat through my chest.  So cool.  After keeping him out of the grasses, I was able to do the limbo under the electric cow fence and land this 17" wild spring creek brown. 



I continued fishing, but never saw another fish rise.  It was a little early for hoppers, beetles, etc and I just didn't feel like nymphing.  I ended up hiking more and exploring with my day already being made on that first and only fish. 

Awesome wild brown with red dipped tail and adipose fin...wearing a size 24 Trico spinner


I took this underwater pic of that trout resting under the mossy bank with my iPhone

 



Yough Tailrace float

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Spence, Cooper and I hit an afternoon float on the upper tailrace section of the Yough.  We had been hit by some heavy rains and I knew even if the CFS was good, the middle would be chocolate milk.  I was excited to see the dam release at 1200 CFS when I checked in the morning, but they abruptly turned it down to 600 CFS and every wade fisherman in the tri-county area was there.  Needless to say we avoided the main runs and hit some new ones.  The fishing was pretty slow, but we managed to boat some cookie cutter  12" bows.  No middle Yough fatties, but a good option to fish when everything else wasn't fishing.

Cooper staying cool with some water retrieves

Clear Yough water meets the muddy Cassleman below Confluence while a train rolls on

Browns on the Yough

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Spencer's sister, Meg, was in town and we decided to do a Yough River float while Grandma watched the twins for the day.  Meg had fished with us before in Montana,...but was she ready for the Madison of the East ...the famed Yough??

Meg on a foggy Yough morning

We put in at the dam and the release was at 600 CFS and 750 CFS at Confluence which = low and skinny and going to be a bumpy ride.  We didn't spend too much time up top and made our way into the long middle Yough float on this 85 degree day in June.   Most of the day was spent just cruising and enjoying the sun.  Somehow these girls possess the innate ability to sit back, relax and not be casting and fishing the entire length of the float.  I cant comprehend it, but I can appreciate it. 

I have yet to see a prettier river

Picking a line

With summer flows, the fishing seemed to be better early in the day and later in the evenings.  There weren't many bugs out today and nymphing was the ticket.  This time last year, the dry fly fishing was just nuts on this river and this year, its been rather slow comparatively.  Of course you'll see the killer whales rising to no-see-ums in a Henry's Fork style flat pool, but those fish are TOUGH!  I want the trout that explodes for an Elk Hair Caddis or sucks down a big Slate Drake just for the hell of it.  Where are those dumb Yough trout??

Watch that spikey dorsal fin!

I will say, these southern gals can fish!  Everyone caught fish on this trip ... everyone, but me.  haha.  Granted, I did the rowing, but I did fish a few runs when we anchored up and I still threw a goose egg.  But I was so super stoked that both Meg and Spence caught fish, that I didn't even care.  Meg even caught Mr. Bronzeback which left her with a puncture in her hand from his spikey top fin.  Hey, at least it wasn't a hook in her head this time (still sorry bout that one.)

We finished out the day with a couple cold beers after the trip (and out of the park.)   We could have used a bit more turkey on the lunch sandwiches, but we survived.  It was a great day and super fun float.