Fishing Journal 2020, 2021, 2022
It got unseasonably warm here for the last couple of days. I remembered in the middle of the night that Mossy Creek was there waiting for me. What I forgot was that it had rained the last couple of days.
It felt good to be up in the country again but the stream was cloudy, more so in the lower part where the @$%# horses that aren't supposed to go in the stream do.
I tried a golden CreelX to no avail. Then I ran into one of the guides, Bob C, and he recommended a white woolly bugger. I caught two, or I should say two caught themselves. The fly would settle when I was paying attention to the walking and that's when they hit. One was in the upper part near the water measuring station and one was below toward the end of the property.
I came home with both the flies I used- an unusual feat.
Good to get the year started.
April 8
It has been downhill since then. I haven't been able to get back to Mossy. Shad season's three outings got canceled due to coronavirus.
On the pond so far I caught one bass one day, one bluegill another day, and then hit the big time yesterday- 6 fish, 3 species- largemouth, bluegill, and silver crappie. In about 20 minutes.
May 18
Catching up-
I have been to Mossy twice, once with Gordon and once by myself.
I went to Mossy on Friday, the 15th. The water was clear (maybe too clear) and the temperature was warm with not too much wind. I saw lots of fish, including the one I lost last trip with my golden CreelX still in his mouth. While it was an unsuccessful day as far as catching fish, I had the best time watching for about 45 minutes to an hour a pair of fish rise head and shoulders out of the water feeding on the surface. They were upstream from the bridge about 100 yards. I tried a stimulator, an elk hair caddis, an emergent elk hair caddis, an Adams, a hare's ear nymph, a copper john, a woolly bugger, and even a crawfish, all to no avail.
My fishing salvation has been Lickinhole. I went once with Ravenna, once with Gordon, Thomas, Graham, and Theron, and twice by myself- once walking the shore and once with my guide boat. Lots of hungry bass, bream, crappie, and one shell cracker. Saw the same wild turkey on two occasions and the largest snapping turtle I have ever seen. Black woolly on the fly rod and a Mepps look alike without the fur on the spinning rod. Fell in love with my guide boat again, but it always seems to be pointing away from where I want to cast so my back is killing me today.
West Andros out for this year due to the virus.
June 15
Ravenna and I went to Lickinhole again. No fish but we saw lots of nature including a bald eagle chasing a heron with a bass in its mouth.
Escatawba- threw everything I had at fish but no interest. There is a 24 inch rainbow there but he is smart.
Skipped fishing on the property at Greenbrier. Tried to find Second Creek but google is flaky in WV. I found some place I think was Second Creek. There were no signs. I caught one rainbow. Very pretty spot where it flows into the Greenbrier River.Perfect crisp fall day, clear water. Caught about 25 rainbows, some in the 15 inch class and some in the 10-12 inch class, plus this brown on my last cast in 3 hours of fishing. All on dries, either a small Adams, or a small Elk Hair Caddis. We only fished three places along the stretch John manages. The fish were visible milling around and then charging the fly. It struck me as very similar to bone fishing for trout.
2021 Fishing Journal-
March 21- M and J's anniversary.
I went Mossy on a cold crisp, clear day. the creek was a little cloudy. I had lots of fish make passes at my gold Creelx but no real strikes. I caught a rainbow stocked last year on a golden retriever. Tried fishing a sleepy streamer but no luck. After lunch I took off to JMG's pond closer to home to try for some of his stocked trout. I caught three with a black woolly bugger. So three months into the year I got my first fish. Hope it picks up from here.
March 31- Supposed to be shad fishing day one but rained out- muddy river
April 6- Shad day two with Jay and Tom Mc. River was at about 8 feet at Westham, about 2 feet of visibility, cool start then up to 75 ish. We got to our spot at dead low tide and fished the rising tide all morning. I caught one on my first cast, with the spinning rod. Soon we all shifted to fly rod. We probably caught 75 between three of us. A banner day. I did not try Tenkara again but I will if I go again.
April 11- Today was the day for the Virginia Springtime Trifecta- a shad, a bass, and a rainbow within 24 hours. It was a beautiful clear day in the 70s. It rained last night but the water hadn't gotten cloudy yet. The Westham gauge read about 7 feet.
I went for the hardest first, the shad, especially without a boat. I found a good parking place on 14th Street and felt the stars were aligned. I got there an hour and a half ahead of low tide figuring I could fish down to low and then as it started back up with enough time for the other two legs of the prize.
The guys in the boats straight out from where I was casting were nailing the hickory shad. On shore at the beginning I had about 50-75 feet of shore line all to myself. I tried slab daddy, gold spoon and shad dart. The results- one foul hooked gizzard shad, two white perch, and probably two good shad bites.
Time to move on.The Trifecta was a Nadafecta, but I still had a chance at a Virginia Springtime Grand Slam- bass, rainbow, bream, and crappie, admittedly a lesser prize. The good thing is this and the Trifecta have become much more accessible since JMG has stocked his Goochland pond with rainbows.
So off to Goochland. I used a white Golden retriever and caught bass, bream, rainbow but the crappie eluded me. One last place to go- to the dock at the cabin at the other Goochland pond. There I hit the jackpot on bass, multiple bream, and multiple crappies.
So I got the Grand Slam but not the Trifecta. The biggest accomplishment of the day though was that I did not lose a single fly or lure all day long.
April 28- May 7, on the SB in Florida
On the first fishing day we went to numerous wrecks off Key West. Cobia, Cuda, Yellowtail, lemon shark, and even a Remora.
After staying at anchor at Fort Jefferson, we went tuna fishing off the shrimp boats. Then on the way back to KW we tried to find some mahi and did.
That night we watched tarpon and snapper off the back of the boat when this weird thing came along- a Spanish dancer but I am not sure where it fits into the biological order of things-
We then went up the whole chain of keys to Key Largo and then on to Miami the next day.
For the next fishing adventure I went back into the lakes and canals for some exotic fishing with the fly rod.
I saw tilapia, caught some peacock bass (main target), and a Mayan Cichlid. The one remaining I did not see was a Clown Knifefish. Lots of iguanas in the yards and about 12 species of birds.
July 10-17 Stillwater River Outpost
I haven’t been doing much fishing this year- sidetracked by other things. So this trip was very timely, and also special because I got Gordon, Graham, and Michael on board along with Jay, Tom, and Bill S from Winchester. I invited Doug Clarke early on but did not hear from him. Then a few weeks before the trip Mike H told me Doug was in the mix too.
Gordon, Graham and I came out a day early to try to find someplace different to fish on our own. We were lucky and Mike let us spend the extra night at the ranch. Saturday night we went to Absarokee for dinner but the line was too long at one place, another place was closed, and so we went to the Taste of Home on the corner at the light. I caught a lot of flak from some folks transitioning from the 5 Spot Bar to the Chrome Bar about my parallel parking job, but they were too far gone to do any better.
We tried Fishtail Creek, the Rosebud River and a couple of stops on the upper Stillwater above the Outpost without much luck.
It was blazing hot along the Stillwater and the water levels were falling fast so our choices of floats with Mike were few. We had a rotation of guides beyond the core of Mike and now Kevin, his son. The others were Mike Mowat who took some of the guys on three successive days up to his family private water close to the Stillwater Platinum mine, Chad, Seth, Kirk, and Mark. Tony was also on the property with some clients, a husband and wife from Delaware, who booked him for the week.
I was in charge of the fishing pairings which was complicated because of guides, floats, and mixing the anglers. While there were good and slow days, everyone got their fair share of fish. Michael and Graham, who are two least experienced, did very well.
As for me, I caught about 10, 15, 20, 5, and then 18. I would say about 30% were whitefish and about 40-50 % on the nymph. Tenkara was banned due to low water and the difficulty of managing the boats.
July 26- Shenandoah from Elkton to the town of same name
Perfect day, a little hot, upper 80s, rain stayed away except a drizzle for a half hour, very clean river, clear water, very cooperative fish. About 8 on Tenkara, rest on popper and hellgrammite. Maybe 25 each plus 4 other species. Great company with hardworking Brian and gleaming Jay. His photo says it all:
August 15-
Here was my day yesterday- Early AM I go to check my rowing shell on my dock. It is sitting wrong, bow way high due to rain in the foot well and inside the hull. I pop the plug and the water shoots out to about 12 inches. As I am draining the shell, a wasp gets inside my glasses and stings me on the bridge of my nose. I found the nest and got even. Then I go to Mossy where it is way overgrown along the banks, with a lot of poison ivy on the higher part of the bank. The pfal fish are biting. I raise one 22 inch brown but he won't even go for my beautiful gold CreelX.
I head to the Mossy Creek store and spend way too much money but now have a great 6 wt that I can use for speckled trout, shad, and trout.
Back at home, around 8 pm, the sky unzips. We probably got 4 inches of rain in half an hour. The pond overflows. I went to the dock to check the boat and my yard is like Niagara Falls with rain and flood from the pond going into the river. I chased away two coyotes on the bank in the dark- creepy.
And then there is another earthquake in Haiti and the situation in Kabul to bring me back and make me think I am glad I have all my first world problems instead of some others.
October and November
Fishing in Goochland with T- very good success with the large mouth bass for about an hour and a half.
Week later, fishing in Goochland with Ravenna and Gordon. More largemouth.
First of November, a brilliant day at Buffalo Creek with many rainbows on adams and pheasant tail. Then another great day the same weekend at Mossy. First fish on my new 6 weight. Casting is so easy.
November 13- Ali and I at the Goochland ponds. Super windy. 2 bass, 1 sunfish, 1 man, and 1 roof top.
2022 Fishing Journal
March 19, 2022- Wow, it took a long time to catch the first fish of the year this year. I went up to Mossy Creek arriving about 9:00. I fished a bit on the upper section with a Golden Retriever and a bobber without luck. I took a break and then started the upper section again when the sun was higher. I switched over to using a reddish sculpin pattern. For some reason I stayed on the east bank. Way up high on that bank, I tempted an 18-20 inch rainbow out of the weed. Then further downstream, just below the "ransom strip", I tempted another one out of the weed. This one was about the same size. When I got this fish to shore I reached for my hook remover, the fish wiggled and the hook remover fell into the creek. It floated as it was supposed to but about 4 inches under water. As I reached to grab it, my fish broke the leader and took off with my sculpin. A little later, using a creelx, I had another one chasing the fly. Usually I don't have much luck with the fish coming back a second time but this one must have been starved. On the third pass he bit and I got him too. This one was more in the 12-14 inch range. Good start for the year and for Mossy.
April 3, 2022- Lickinhole pond- Gordon and I went up to LH to take my guideboat. Then we fished a while. The wind was blowing, the water was not clear and even had some algae. Gordon caught a few bass and a crappie. I caught bass, bream and a pumpkin seed bream( a first). Pretty good start for only an hour or so of fishing.
April 5, 2022- Shad. This trip started off with about a two mile train blocking the road leading to where we were supposed to meet our guide. We went under the train (scary, bumped my head) and walked to the landing. I caught 4 shad on my first 5 casts with the spinning rod. Then nothing else on either spinning or fly. J and the guide were catching a few on both rigs but the turbidity of the water was the problem. For the last hour or so we moved and fished for herring using the S rig. I caught singles, doubles, triples and even at least two quadruples. J did about the same. The herring bailed us out from having a bad day.
May, 2022
Andros with C and little B- May 12-May 18, 2022
We left home Thursday the 12th. It was in the 50s and gray. When we landed in Nassau, because of R’s great work, all the Covid paperwork was in place and customs was a breeze. There were lots of people at the FBO with the same idea-find and enjoy some sun and relaxing.
The seaplane trip was with Coco, Ricardo and Zack since the usual plane was in repairs. As usual it was a short flight of wondering what life must be like among the pines, then scrub, and then the apparently mostly stagnant lagoons until we reached the green and blue of the seaside.
I went fishing to work out the kinks and made every mistake that was possible- short cast, too much splash, bad aim, hit the fish on the head, pulled the hook, fish in the mangroves, too hard a long strip. Each day I repeated the same mistakes but perhaps fewer of each kind as the trip went on.
The weather was on and off with showers, severe thunderstorms, even a well formed waterspout, and one day mostly rained out. One night the storm was so intense with about 40 mph winds that the anchor dragged.
As for birds, nothing unusual. Great egrets, green herons, red winged blackbirds, reddish egrets, osprey, pelican, maybe a bald eagle, roseate spoonbills. At dinner on the last night an immature herring gull came on board and walked around on the deck eating deer flies.
One very unusual thing- D spotted a wild pink orchid in the mangroves on a dead branch.
Final count day by day- 3; 13; 37; 14; 5; 33. Total= 105.
July 10-16 Stillwater
The group this year- Winchester 3 some, RPG, Mike S and me. Biggest factor was the Yellowstone and Stillwater flood a few weeks ago. Houses out, bridges gone, landings closed. Water was still running high and fast, very little bug life seen except hoppers, all the Yellowstone fishermen came over to Stillwater. We even tried the Boulder one day to get away from them but they were there two. So.....fishing wasn't great but we had a great time together. Group really fit well. Two others were there a couple of days and the wife must have read a book on how to get conversations started. One night there was a great "name that tune" challenge going.
Note the famous last words name of this beer.
July 25 Floating the Shenandoah 8 miles from the town of same name
B, J, and B did the float. J and I each caught probably 20 assorted fish- bream, pfal fish, but mostly small mouth bass. Size was generally smallish but great fun none the less. I broke my Tenkara in two or three places but still managed to catch a couple on the stub. We got chased off the river early by threatening storms. On the way back there were blue skies on the south side of I64 and serious lightning on the north side for about 20 miles.
August Lake Huron near Sault Ste. Marie- 8 smallmouth on Tenkara at the stern of our cruise ship.
September- I took Ali up to Goochland and the bass were biting hard.We caught 12 in about an hour.
October- G and I went to West Andros. Half day 1- as usual, many mistakes and two bonefish. The water was marled up due to Hurricane Ian and the wind continuing to blow water into the flats= plenty of water in the mangroves for the fish to be inaccessible. Next day- worse- 1. Next day, a little better- 8. Next day- 15. Each day the water got a little better in clarity. Fun fishing with G, D and Shawn. We saw the resident white ibises, roseate spoonbills, but this time with Shawn I saw flamingoes!
October 25- Lexington. Sat for an hour on I64 outside Zion but got there about 10.
So beautiful and such nice and very cooperative fish, clear water and the fish eating ants and caddis in a bit of a feeding frenzy. First fish was about 20 inches and built like a linebacker. Total about 20 in 4 hours. 14-20 inch size.
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