Spring Break Trip

Location: St. Mary's Wilderness, meet on the Blue Ridge Parkway (south of Afton Mountain/I 64) I will specify a specific milepost/parking area when I get the info from Aaron
When: Saturday, March 15 at 9 or 10 am (is one of those times better?) through ????? I want to stay until at least tuesday, but you can leave earlier
Who is going: Leave a comment on this post
Can I ride with someone: leave a comment on this post, fix up a riding partner that will match with your dates
What do I need: Use the planning from last year's trip (this is just last years list and it talks about cranberry, but we are going to St. Mary's)
Do I need a fishing license to fish: yes, email me and I can give you the website to buy a VA license, but if you aren't fishing, no license required
Can I borrow a rod/reel from John: yes but first come first serve
Lures: email me I will tell you what to get, there are restrictions for this area as far as what you are allowed to use: single hooks only, all fish under 9 inches must be released (thats a pretty big brookie, not those huge stocked rainbows from last years trip)
Cool - I can't wait to see you guys!

Windblown Trout

40 degrees and 20 mph winds with 30 mile per hours gusts. Anyone wanna go meat fishing? I tore them up on Friday after nothing for a couple of hours I landed 6 trout.

Here is the lunker - 17.5", 2 lbs 11 oz.

I went Saturday too, and I only caught 3, but the wind was blowing a gale, 40 mph. Carazy weekend!

2nd Annual Spring Backpacking and Trout Fishing Trip

Sugar Tree branch, St. Mary's Wilderness
(photo courtesy of Aaron Coleman)

Due to unpredictable WV mountain weather in mid-March, it seems that St. Marys Wilderness will be this year's trip (The weather here could get a little nasty too)- Right now we have a few veterans from last year's trip returning - Aaron, Mike Brandt, and possibly Sean (me too of course), as well as Shad and Matt Grimes joining us for the madness. Wild native brook trout, ridiculous shenanigans, a steep ass hike, and dramatic scenery await. I'm pumped!

More Local Trout...

Two fat rainbows and a golden trout.

I went out two days after the last post and in a couple of hours I landed these guys on spinners and hooked into 4 more (including a hog that fought harder than any trout I've hooked into yet). I was feeling very confident in my fishing abilities. Well I've gone there or the other local stream 4 times since then with only two wimpy bites, the fishing has been off. I hope to rectify this tomorrow afternoon and/or saturday morning. I'll keep you posted.

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.