Wild, Wonderful, Wet, West Virginia Part II

Thursday the 27^th I left work at 1630 and drove down to the Cheat River Valley. I stayed at the Cheat River Canyon Campground. Its does not have a website, but what it does have are hot showers and flush toilets. The showers are coin operated for 4 quarters you get six minutes of bliss!

Like so many other campgrounds down there the media-demic has made a mess of things for small business owners. The campground is going out of business, but I heard it has been recently purchased and we will have to wait and see what happens.

The camp ground as it is is a campground for the seasoned camper. The showers are set up and antiquate for showers. The stalls are old but clean and separated by partitions. This establishment is awesome for those who are there for hiking, fishing, white water sports, and for those who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of life.

There are plenty of places to eat near by and when I mean near by with-in 20-30 minutes. Their are mom and pop diners “Down Home Diner 300 Tunnelton St, Kingwood, WV 26537” and main stream food venues.

I drove into kingwood for some great home cooking and ate well. They can be found here at https://www.facebook.com/MonroesDeli It will not matter if you want a mouth watering steak or a dollar hoagie like your grandmas house it will be your fault if you leave hungry.

After arriving at the campsite and met the fine folks there I went to set up camp. I was able to camp so close to the river that it lulled me to sleep every night. Now there was at times loud traffic, but it would become just white noise after awhile.

I would wake up and head to Walmart to get my license. I returned to the river at about 0800. Along the Cheat you have amazing access points. The only draw back as you will see is the rocks. I don't mind the rocks they make you get your excersize.

You just have to use extreme caution. As my great grandfather used to tell me there are two types of people who fish rivers. The one person who has fallen and the other who will fall. One of many key factors in rock hoping along the river is it the rock is dark colored you will most likely have a slip trip or fall. I wear my Great Lakes wading boots and they have carbide studs in them. They give me a second chance normally, but again you need to approach every surface with caution.

The Cheat @ the USGS station in Albright was 490 – 512 cf/s and the information can be found here: https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/api/gwis/2.0/service/siteagencyCode=USGS&siteNumber=03070260&open=160537

I have been fishing my entire life and I have been very observant of my surroundings. I have never seen until this day huge small-mouth guarding the areas where the small-mouth hatch has occurred. I was watching these 14-17” small-mouth hens and bulls chase after much smaller smallies. These other smallies I think were eating the fry! I am telling you these not so little Cheat River smallies would come in hot and run off the other small-mouth. I did not fish for these fish who were obviously guarding there fry.

I used my TiCr 6wt and my egg beater. The eggbeater was the best tool for here. I am not saying the fly rod cant be used here. So many times the types of waters I am fishing there is no room for a back-cast. Now this is not every cast that this is an issue. The fly of choice was a black over white sparsely tied on a 1/0 clouser style hook with large dumbbell eyes. The eggbeater lure of choice was a 2” power grub in a milky shad color with a ¼ oz white jig head. The retrieve while it was warm did not matter slow or fast. I brought fish to hand no matter which I used.

What allowed me to hook fish was the structure in the river and how I fished it. Their are people out there who fish featureless waters and wonder why they don't hook fish,

These fish are ambush predators. They hide under submerged logs, rock ledges, and in broken water. It matters greatly how one covers the water column.

The other thing is you have to commit to losing flies or lures in order to have a better chance in hooking fish. It does not matter if its a Bluegill or a Steelhead.

I brought about 20 smallies to hand and sorry for zero fishy photos. At about 11 am the rains came and I knew they would, but I did not think they would set up camp over the Cheat River Valley. The river raised a solid four feet vertically! I also want to point out that the air temps leading up to this storm were in the 70's and the water temp was 75 degrees and ended up at 59 degrees! So needless to say it became extremely tough to bring a fish to hand. I fished until I was wetter than the fish I was trying to bring to hand.

Being down home is always a blessing and the people I meet are always so kind. In your travels always remember in these little villages, boroughs, and hamlets they are struggling. I encourage you to spend some time and money in there places when we (you) can.

I also got a reel treat. I got to fish a family pond filled with 9-12” bull gills! Omg I forgot how fun they are to catch. Wit ha 6wt and a foam gurgler in white it was on. The hook again was 1/0 and they had to want it. On a side note I met new family members I did not know existed until now! Thank you folks and look forward to getting to know you more and better. I send my love and care to you.

Well I have rambled on long enough.

Wonderful, Wet, Wild, Home, West Virginia Part I

Coopers Rock State Park W. Va.

 

I am headed home and will post when I return.

 

Good bye ole friend!

We have fished since 1994 and you will not fish anymore. You be retired, but there bar has been set high by you. These level of expectations I have for my next fishing hat are made up of realistic expectations. We have spilled blood together “my bodily injury”. You have witnessed my epic salmon photos that were over exposed. You have seen me get skunked several times. You have witnessed at times pure dumb luck while fly fishing. I bid you farewell ole friend.

Please a moment of silence!

Drinks, Dinks, and Dives!

 

After work on Thursday I headed to fish one of my favorite Mississippi River tributaries. I would spend some time with my dear friend down in that region. I found for at least me the fishing was good to great. the white bass ranged from 6" to 14" with a few wipers in the mix. I don't have a medium - light spinning rod yet, but these lil rascals would have been more fun on one of them.

I used chartreuse and or hot pink jig heads. these jig heads ranged from 1/8 oz to 1/2 oz. I would switch from white paddle tails 3" long to 3" power bait milky shad power grub.

I did also catch a few nice sheep-head also. the river levels where awesome. The flows were very nice for late May. the bait fish where prolific up and down the rivers we fished over the past two days. I set waded the past two days.

My friend and I had lunch at "The Turf Club" in the Cincinnati area. The food and the beer was awesome and the atmosphere was good also. It is a lil pricy to eat there, but you wont regret it if your in the area.

I spent quality time with two dear friends of mine and they are my family. It was great to see you two again. We shared so many laughs thank you.

I also don't know what's changed in the last 10 years, but their are ppl out there fishing who need a lesson in fishing etiquette.

I have fished NY in the heat of salmon season. I have fished the old mud-hole at elk creek access in the height of pellet-head season.

I have never had an incident with another human. to those ppl who do not care how they fish and care how their actions affect others. Gentleman you will continue to get slapped in the face by karma.

enjoy the photos folks

A New York state of mind!

 I headed east to fish two large Lake Erie tributaries.   the over night lows were supposed to be 40 degrees and higher.  with our over night lows around here's hair above freezing this would be a huge bonus.  

I sat out to begin my trek at 1400, but soon realized that I had to go home because my Garmin was missing a map set.  it was missing the map set because we will just say I deleted it darn it lol. 

Finally after two hours of mucking around I sent out east to NY.  The traffic was in full rush hour swing.   I went 76 to 11 to stay the heck out of the way with rush hour around 271 / 90 "no thank you".  

I gassed up in Ohio before heading into PA.  For all of who have driven across that 50 min wide piece of state know those fuel prices are well lol awful.   

after driving through the stupid 55 mph zone and when the rest of the highway is 65 I headed to Jamestown NY.   I picked up my my license at Chautauqua bait shop and headed to camp.  

Top of the rise camp ground is mostly and RV camp ground.  The folks are so polite and quiet at night it's awesome.   It's located in Falconer New York and they have tent sights but they are spread out in the compound.  The bath house is top notch with a free washer n dryer!  I set up camp and kicked around the grounds abit talking to my neighbors.   I prepped for the day the fly gear for the first Lake Erie trib.  

I brought my custom 6wt switch loaded with a weight forward taper of 160 grains.  I brought my skagit set up of 350 grains and a 250 grain full sinking line.   

When I warm water fish I normally only carry a box of leeches and clousers.    I tied them on a 2/0 clouser style hook.  Yes they are much larger than the norm. The color that I have most confidence in is white over black. I tye the black to have a ratio of 1/4 of the amount white I have tied in.   

I slept like a rock and was greeted by the sound of a large barred owl who seem to know when my alarm was going to go off.    

I jumped into the car and headed east - northeast to the tributary.    I arrived into town and saw her emerald colored water with decent flow.  One other gentleman was fishing river left and I was headed to river right.

I fish a 6' leader set up of 3' of 20 pound test 1' of 12 pound test and then 3feet of 4-6 pound test mono.  These fish are feeding with reckless abandon and do not care if your stealthy. Your bait pattern imitation is more important than your balanced leader set up! 

The over night low this first night was 37 degrees. Lake Erie Western basin at 10 FOW (feet of water)  is 50 degrees, Central Basin 50 degrees, and the Eastern Basin is 52 degrees. Lake Ontario in the same FOW in the Western Basin is 41 Degrees, Central Basin is 50 degrees, and the Eastern Basin is 52 degrees also.  I have found through my experience that smallies are far more active in 55 degree water. 

 This Eastern tributary has seen its fair amount of river bed changes. The 10-12 feet deep ledge pools have been filled in with cobbles, gravel, and large pieces of shale. She was void of weed growth on the river bottom and this was a huge plus for me. The river had 30”-36” of solid viability. 

I fished every hole that I could find dragging my clouser through. Sometimes someone was home and sometimes not “more not this trip, but I was perfect at peace with that”.  I know that these lil machines will hold where the slack water meets the current seam to ambush their prey. This paid off several times on this river today. 

I watched several quill back carp suckers traverse up through riffles moving up from there estuary homes.  The bloke across the way hooked a few fish as well, but I hooked half dozen of fish out of this hole it was time to move on. 

I drove about 7 river miles down stream to my nest river section. This area has been abused by ppl who don't respect the landowners and over the locals have come to know me they tell me their stories and it would make you cringe.  

I was tempting fate with my switch rod between my legs while I fumbled for a cliff bar after making a half attempted cast. My fly jerked violently and the large bronze football appeared across the river with my fly in its mouth. I kept my bug rod lowered but when I raised it after he/she re-entered the water the fish became unbuttoned!  I yelled “yes you got me, but thank you”!

I fished that stretch for only and hour. If I don't turn a fish in any given stretch within 30-60 min it is time to make a big move.

I would be drinking water all day since I carry 80oz in my pack. I went back up stream and go meet my new friend who I was fishing across from this morning.  I found him sitting on the bank and he face was flush red “ heat exhaustion”. I said partner you ok and he said I feel like I gotta throw up. I dropped my gear ran to my car to get a few bottles of water. 

When I came back I said here drink this and you gonna think I am nuts when I say this. Take this towel after I put it in the river and place it around your next because you need to cool your core temperature down.  He was wearing rubber hip waders “he never moved and the sun was beating him down on the white/blue shale shelf. He was cooking like in an oven. (I stayed with him for like an hour and then I left when I thought he was doing better)”.

So after that I would go seek out some place to purchase some burbon. That was an adventure and I will not be going back to that particular liquor store. 

The lake you see in the photos is Lake Flavia. This lake is teaming with 18-20”  and bigger large mouth bass. It was too cold and windy as you can see by the cirrus clouds, but with all the wind their was still cumulus clouds that did not make sense. I could have been watching a front come in on me who knows. 

The second tribuatry was void of fish for me and all the boats I spoke with, but I got some great photos.

Enjoy the photos folks