Accotink Creek

Where:

Accotink Creek - next to I-495 aka "The Beltway"

For

Rainbow Trout

What We Caught

Nothing. Boooooo. It was still great to get out and go fishing - even with the big rigs blasting by.

What We Learned

• People stare at you on the metro when you have fly gear.
• Delayed Harvest is an interesting theory. The jury is still out.
  
• When the construction is all done, the park will be a very nice to escape for a few hours. Here is an shot from a little ways upstream.
  

This access path doesn't look like much, but the park will be very nice with the construction is done.

Departure in 24 Hours

Thursday’s Agenda

7:00 AM Depart Winston-Salem, NC
9:30 AM Collect Brother, Brother’s Gear and Brother’s Dog in Chapel Hill, NC
10:30 AM Pit stop for hooks, line and sinkers at Neuse Sport Shop, Kinston, NC
1:00 PM Pit stop for bait at Styron Fish Company in Davis, NC
2:00 PM Ferry reservation to Cape Lookout
3:00 PM Wet line, Open beverage, Commence relaxation

Fishing Report

Where:

Conway River - near Shenandoah National Park (VA)

For

Brook and Brown Trout

What We Caught

A few nice Brook Trout

What We Learned

• There is not a lot of access to the Conway. It is a nice little stream and was beautiful on a fall day - but next time we may choose to go to other streams in the area due to the access problem.

• The brookies were attacking dry flys as well as the nymphs. There was very little insect activity so this was a little surprising.

Time to start Tying

I decided I would start paying triple for my flies and started tying again. Any requests?

Wooly Boogers.

Green Weenies.

Clouser Minnows

Gearing Up

Fishing Report

Where:

Silver Creek & Big Wood River - Ketchum / Sun Valley, ID

Where

Silver Creek & Big Wood River (Ketchum / Sun Valley, ID)

For
Rainbow and Brown Trout

What We Caught

Stopped counting the 12"-17" inchers. Three hogs around 18" - 22"

What We Learned
That fishing a spring creak full of veteran hogs is extremely hard and fishing a freestone river packed with HUNGRY trout fattening up for winter is so easy it feels wrong.

Sick fishing - period. If you make it out to Sun Valley, don't spend all your time getting frustrated by the fish that know your Crippled Callibaetis is on 6X and not 7X and isn't really crippled. Mosey on over to the Big Wood where the fish think you are bringing thanksgiving dinner. When your arms get tired of the arduous chore of catching sizable fish, go back over to Silver Creek and test your skills again. Fish, repeat & thank God for making such amazing places.

Field Report

Where

Henderson, NC

What

Opening Day 2010

What We Bagged

Not a Damn Thing

Correction: Andrew got one.

What We Learned

That dove don't fly the day after a hurricane comes through, I guess.

Fishing Report Update

Where:

New River, Giles Co., VA

I finally dug the camera out of the travel bag. New River was windy so the camera didn't make it out much. I did manage to snap a few of the boat with the expert fish sniffer.

Fishing Report

Where

New River, Giles Co., VA

For

Smallmouth

What We Caught

Some Redeyes and and a whole bunch of 10"-14" inch smallmouth.

What We Learned

That Muskie eat Smallmouth, and that the locals are not happy about this fact. Seriously, this section of the New is flat full of fish. Simply trolling a fly behind the canoe while paddling triggered more than a couple of hookups. The fish themselves are really cool -- a longer, leaner, darker green version of smallie that the New has here in NC. But the word on the street is that the muskies the Virgina DNR is busy dumping into the river are destroying the fishery. There are still plenty of big fish in the river -- my brother landed a 3+ lb. monster on a solo trip two weeks prior -- but we never so much as saw a fish over 14". Why? Well, all those muskie gotta eat something.

Oh, and Hurricane Earl was coming through, a paddling three miles downstream with a 40 mph headwind flat sucks.

Heading Home

Fishing Report

Where:
A Buddy's Farm Pond, Davidson County, NC

For:
Stripers. Really.

What We Caught:
Warmouth, largemouth bass and stripers. Lots of stripers.

What We Learned:
Two things. First, in a fight between a 2+ pound striper and a microlight with 4 lb test, you generally better to take the striper. Second, that nothing will scare the crap out of a four-year-old quite like an angry striper jerking a cane pole out of his hands and into the water.

Fishing Report

Where

A Buddy's Farm Pond, Davidson Co., NC

For

Bream

What We Learned

It wasn't so much what I learned as what I saw - my son really and truly catching his first fish, all by himself. And for once I had the camera pointed in the right direction. Pretty cool, even if I do say so myself?

Fishing Report

Where:
The Trout Cabin, Graham Co., NC

For:
Big, Hulking Fat Rainbows

What We Learned:

This is what a feeding frenzy looks like ...

Cheating? I dunno, kind of hard to argue with the results though ...

My Brother's Dog

This is Zoe. She is a hunting machine.

Funny Story. When my brother got her, he wasn't exactly planning on getting a dog. As I understand it, he'd just graduated from Ole Miss and was in the process of buying a house. About the same time the Old Man decided he needed a hunting dog and put a deposit down on a puppy. Only no one, including our Mom, knew about this. The Old Man has a history of having done this, and while he hasn't yet learned not to, he has at least learned that he needs to give her a heads up before the new pup arrives. So anyway, he's in process of delivering the news and, well, he loses. So he offers the dog to my brother. Well, not the dog - the non-refundable deposit. My brother still has to decide if he wants a puppy, drop everything and get down to the kennel (I think it was near Augusta, GA), pick her up, and get her back home, all withing less than 24 hours. Thankfully, he did.

She's hunted in more states than most people have been to:

• Tennessee

(This is a really cool shot our other brother took with a high speed camera.)

• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Alabama
• Mississippi
• Arkansas
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Kansas
• Saskatchewan

Time to go home.

Hey Dad, where's home today?

Fishing Report

Where:
Ocean Crest Pier, Oak Island, NC

For:
Sea trout, supposedly, but in reality, anything that would bite!

What We Caught:
A couple of whiting, some undersized blues, a couple of flukes and a whole bunch of sand sharks. And a single trout.

What We Learned:
First and foremost, that the Fourth of July sea trout run isn't quite so "clockwork" as the locals would have you believe. But, thanks to some retired old salts on a tidal creek, we did learn how to throw a six foot casting net, something that will stay with us into the future.

A Couple of Our Favorite Pictures