Rainbows in the Neighborhood

The rainbows are back in town. Stocking took place yesterday and I was at the lake in no time this morning (under ten minutes). I caught a fat 16 incher on the second cast of a jig I tied up few weeks ago specifically for that location (there was no one anywhere near my spot). It was 29 degrees and clear with a cold breeze. The water was not as clear as I had hoped, but my hand tied jigs did the trick on the first four and they were all over 15".
A nice cooler full of 14.5-17 inchers - ten pounds of trout here (don't worry this is a put and take lake that cannot sustain trout in most summers because of water temps that get too high, but in winter spring and fall it is just right).

These were FAT fish, with the biggest over 2lbs. The last two here were caught on a spinner within 15 minutes of each other... once again, my second cast produced the biggest fish of the day. 3.5 hours and I limited out.
The four closest guys to me had two trout between them, and all showed up before me. Its a pisser you find yourself in their position, as I know from experience, but its nice being the guy who leaves early after filling his cooler for a weeks worth of dinner.

100th Post for the Monkeybubbas

We've hit 10o posts of Monkeybubba fishing foolishness. Instead of boring you with my last two skunked fishing trips I thought we should post some highlight photos from our mis-adventures (even from the days before the blog, there is no chronological order, all the great days and nights blend together). I hope all the bubbas add their photos to this post. Here's to fishin' with your bros!

Tight Lines.

High water trout on spinners

I was back in GWNF for a few hours on Superbowl Sunday. The recent rain and snow melt had raised the water level over a foot since my last trip, the water was still a milky green, but no longer looked like a mud milkshake.
There was still snow and iced up trees, but that was melting at a pace that caused it to "rain" in the woods although the sky was clear. I tried hand tied and commercial jigs because the water was still cold, but the visibility was only about 24". I looked for a sunny spot around a bend and switched to spinners.
The second hole I fished allowed two jumping rainbows within a few casts of each other. Here is a 12 incher which I took home for dinner. The second fish was a 13 incher I released without removing it from the water. Just above the head riffle I had one come in charging hard, almost right to my feet. I didn't see him until the last minute because of the low visibility, there was no where for me to put my spinner - it dropped to the bottom 14" inches from the tip that was just above the water's surface. I could have tapped the trout on the head, but he eyeballed it for a second, then turned and vaporized into a hole. There was no bringing him back up. I walked a bit further up stream and cast another dozen times, then headed for the road to walk back to the car. I was only there a few hours, but I realized how much I had missed it. I'm also glad to have the camera back.

Record Breaking VA Striper

73 lb Record Striper. Dang.

Mullet Toss

Throw a 1 lb mullet from Alabama across the state line to Florida?
Alabama/Florida Interstate Mullet Toss.
Enough said.