Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Driving Fun in the Subaru Legacy
Monday, December 25, 2023
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Saturday, December 23, 2023
Western North Carolina
Well here at my cousins they have opened the Mount Mitchell access. I will be headed there at 0530. I want to be there 1 hour before sunrise.
Thursday, December 21, 2023
A Taste of local fanfare
Here in Prestonsburg, KY I'm at The Brickhouse . What a gem and if your looking for a great food an watering hole this is it.
The beer Shotgun Wedding from the Country Boy Brewing Company found at
https://shop.countryboybrewing.com
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Happy Holidays to all.
I am headed down to western North Carolina for my second ever family Christmas. Here I will be surrounded by my closest cousins on my father’s side.
I will also be taking my digital camera equipment.
I will be down in that region of the Blueridge and Appalachian Mountains from the 21st of December to the 27th.
I'm going to be visiting Mount Mitchell and Tabletop mountain.
From the look of it the opportunities could be amazing. Of course, this all is subject to Mother Nature’s wrath. Lol
Here are some links to help show how beautiful and majestic it is.
I do need to give credit to my friend at work for telling me about this area for Mount Mitchell “ I will be forever grateful”.
https://www.exploreasheville.com/outdoor-adventures/national-state-parks/mount-mitchell/
https://www.romanticasheville.com/mtmitchell.htm
https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2008/09/10/mount-mitchell-a-view-above-the-clouds/29462592007/
This next area is Tabletop Mountain and here are some links to showcase the area.
https://ashevilletrails.com/linville-gorge/table-rock-mountain-trail/
https://www.hikewnc.info/besthikes/linville-gorge/table-rock
https://www.discoverburkecounty.com/all-attractions/table-rock-mountain/
https://sunrise.maplogs.com/table_rock_mountain_upper_creek_nc_usa.119294.html
Yes, this area should yield some nice opportunities to take some photos.
I had to go back to my local camera shop and get a replacement head for my tripod. My local camera shop came through and stepped up to the plate. They gave me 50% off a new head. I'm super excited to try it out on this trip.
I'm taking my laptop with me and will be updating my blog.
Well happy holidays folks and be safe.
Sonder
Sunday, November 26, 2023
4th Annual Turkey Day Spey
Day one I got up on Thanksgiving Day at 0200 and made breakfast and hit the road @ 0430. The first place I would be stopping at was Oak Orchard for part of the day.
The dam had
a good number of cars for it, but the road going down to the road hole was
packed. As it turned out those folks, well many of them were downstream of the
road hole.
I grabbed my
eggbeater gear and headed to the river. The flow was 483 ft3/sec and a
turbidity was 4.2. It was on the clear side of prime.
I got out my
8 gram Drennan loafer and stacked my split shot accordingly. I found the right
depth at about 8 feet. I brough flies and Gulp minnows 2.5” long shad color
“black over white”.
I was
fishing down stream and giving him a wide berth, so he did not feel crowded. He
proceeded to hook a fish. I looked at him and said, “good job”. He asked me if I had a net. I said, well yes,
I do would you like me to net your fish for you. Now, this crap is so nerve
racking. I will help anyone who asks for
it, but when someone asks you to net their fish well its stressful.
I netted his
three steelheads for him and gave him a few helpful fighting fish tips. For example,
put your fighting butt against your forearm while fighting the fish. Never hold
your rod tip up while fighting a fish.
Always use side pressure when fighting a fish to get him off balance and
land him or her faster!
I did hook a
fish and I never really truly never saw it. When I hooked it the fish thrashed
its head about just under the surface and spat the hook.
After trying
to redefine the definition of insanity I picked up my gear and headed out.
I made my
way to the hotel because I was whooped.
Day two
begun lol really late because I wanted to get up at 0900, but my body wanted to
wait until 1030. I headed down to a
river access point on the Niagara River.
I got geared
up for the trek down. There are over 750 stone stairs here. I have tried to
count them a few times and I lose count around there every time. Lol
I was
throwing ¾ oz jigs with a 3” paddle tail swim bait. I would lose two of them
because I was using the countdown method before starting to reel it in.
I got positioned
just up stream so I could fish along a large drop that had a huge eddy in front
of it.
First jig I
lost right off the bat lol I am like this is getting expensive!
After I rerigged
I counted down to 25 and began to reel. Then I felt a thump and then I held my
breath thinking it was a snag. Nope, the
snag started to pull drag.
This was a large laker I could tell it as staying still but dove up n back down.
I would reel
down on him and then lose line, and this went on for I don’t know 3 minutes. Finally,
I got him in the slack water and out of the current.
I saw the
end of my power pro where I tied on my leader material. Then I saw it roll and thought o dear lord! I thought
I would just tail it. I put on my landing hand and then after raising its head
up barely with my eggbeater bent over as far as she could go just short of exploding,
I attempted to tail it.
I went to place my thumb and middle finger around its wrist. At this exact moment a few things happened. Number one, I could not wrap my thumb and middle finger around its wrist. Number two, the fish felt it and kicked its tail broke my 18# leader and then vanished. This would be when I packed up my gear to start heading home.
Day Three I walked about a half mile to the river and attempted to figure out how to traverse its high banks. After some scouting, I found a suitable entry point. I scrambled down the bank with the help of some tree roots and rocks safely down to the river bottom.
She had a
deep emerald, green look about her. She
was flowing at 234 cf/s and in this area, you needed to be mindful of your
footing the amount of sand in her here can be treacherous. Her river bottom is forever shifting and
moving. This leaves a lot of air trapped in the small gravel and sand. It’s not
compacted, and the surface will erode under your feet because of the river
current.
I brought
with me on this outing two – two handed rods.
One rod is my ole faithful Scott rod (2H1157/4) strung up with a SA
Freightliner 440 grain. This set up also had an Airflo polyleader 10’
Salmon/Steelhead. This was finished off with 2 feet of 12# floro and then 1
foot of 10# floro. The reel that I have chosen for this rod is a Reddington
Grande in a 9 -10 – 11.
The second
rod was my custom Rainshadow blank IF-1086-4 (10’-8”). This custom rod is
loaded up with an SA 20-foot 375 grain Skagit short. I also had a T14 tip of 63
grains that was 4.5 feet long.
Patterns of
choice to start with where natural colored tube flies. I strung up the rods and decided to make
coffee while I waited for my friend and his wife.
Using my
Aeropress I made what is to me the perfect cup of coffee. I realized today that
I need to change my set-up for boiling water. Carrying a pot and a measuring
cup well is a lot of work. It takes up too much space in my Osprey Atmos 35.
I just purchased a Seatosummit Xpot Kettle for boiling water. See link Sea To Summt
I then got a
text from my friend and he and his wife needed to tend to a family matter. I
was on my own and I was cool with that.
This was a new to me section of river.
This was a
small, braided area with some good holding water in the side channel and on the
main river channel.
I covered
the best I could the water column on the river.
I did not change patterns only because I know these color combinations
are normally very effective.
The blue
bird skies were annoying, but hey you must deal with cards you were dealt!
It depends
on what mother nature has instore for us here in the Great Lakes to see if this
was my one and only trip for 2023.
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Saturday, November 11, 2023
You are valued and always remembered
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Turkey Day Spey Countdown With A Side Of Covid
The countdown
is down to 17 days. I am still nervous about the water levels and water conditions.
I know its fishing and we are at the mercy of mother nature. Since I have covid
currently I am being hyper aware of all the weather patterns right now.
To that
point I may have to fish a tributary to the Great Lakes that I said I will never
fish unless it’s from the Canadian side.
I know I can get away from ppl on her, but this means fishing my eggbeater
and not Spey fishing. This truly breaks
my heart, but you either learn to adapt or you don’t. It’s a tough lesson, but
one that needs to be learned.
I have been
following the reports about other tributaries on Lake Ontario and they seem to
be promising. These are also the same tributaries that see barbaric amount of
fishing pressure.
Life can be
entertaining to say the least. Last Thursday
I was feeling like roadkill. I took a home test for Covid and it came back with
positive results. Since I work in a public building, I needed to be responsible
and not selfish and self-quarantine.
I got some Covid
medication sent in by my doc and have been on it since Thursday evening. It took three days for my fever to break.
The body
aches were barbaric and the coughing well that really has not gone away yet. I
am sure I will need to be on additional meds having my immune system
compromised by my sarcoidosis. All the
coughing has been productive.
I will still
be going fishing over Thanksgiving break. It will be interesting to see after one week of work how my energy levels
are. Based on what I learn about my energy levels and the medications that I
will need to be on because of the cough I have going on, we will have to wait
and see.
So, folks
stay tuned!
Sonder
Friday, October 20, 2023
2023 Fall Foliage Ramblings
I have noticed within the last 4 days the leaf color around
here is at a near peak level.
The cooler nights and the shorter days I believe have
triggered most of the leaves turning color.
The one observation that I made was there are some lessor trees that are
just now turning color.
I really wanted to go swing some flies over in New
York. Then I looked at the long-term
forecast.
The sustained winds were going to be 20 mph and using a fly
rod would not work well. I was planning on walking the Catt but high up in the
river system. I went to a local access
point and saw here turning grey from a deep emerald green. She does this from high winds and rain when they
come into contact with her high walls in the gorge area. This was the area I was going to see. I decided to skip it because of personal
safety reasons. For example, you have to
make several river crossings in the gorge. With the river coming up I did not
want to get stranded or worse. The
gradient of the river here is also steep and it's not a safe place to be in a high-water
situation.
After figuring out what to do I decided on traveling through
New York into the Alleghany National Forest through the other section in
Pennsylvania.
What a real treat this was.
The splendor of the leaf color was so intense it looked fake. If it had not been overcast and foggy the
colors would have been as bright as the sun.
After getting off of I-90 I headed southeast on route 438 and headed into
Gowanda, New York. There I was already surrounded by mother nature’s
splendor. I headed into town to look at Cattaraugus
Creek. She was low and I was happy I did not want to fish. I
headed south out of town via Broadway Road aka Township Road 4.
If you look at Google Maps and go to the road view, you will
see that this route is in the middle of farm country and is very rural. Then I made may down NY-353 and this route
was more of the great mother nature’s splendor.
The colors again were muted by the fog and rain, but still amazingly
beautiful.
I came to a nice small town called Village of Cattaraugus,
New York here is a link to lean more https://www.cattaraugusny.org/history.html
There are small shops and boutiques here. They have a small
diner one could have a meal at.
I drove out of town and took the Cattaraugus Little Valley
Road aka NY-353. This road is not heavily traveled and being in a valley you
are surrounded by some hills. The road
is at an elevation of 1400 and the hills are at 2000 feet. The hillsides are
blanketed with some amazing views. I was
traveling through an old valley and had an amazing view on both sides of me. For being only 4 hours from home at this
point it was way worth the drive. Here
are some coordinate pairs to help you find a few of the points I am talking
about. To use these coordinates if you
copy them and paste them into Google Maps they will show you what I saw. Here are some tips to get this to work.
1. Go to Google Maps
2. Copy Coordinates
3. Paste coodinates into Google Maps search
4. Hit enter
5. Click on satellite photo
6. Zoom to the marker it put on the road and then
left click on the road
7. A little dialogue box will open up on the bottom
of Google
8.
Left click the photo and then you will be down
to the street view.
Here are the Coordinates:
N42° 15.488' W78° 49.159' Town of Little Valley Street View Link
N42° 13.600' W78° 45.740' Town of Little Valley on NY-353 Street View Link
N42° 10.861' W78° 44.854' Salamanca, New York on NY-353 Street View Link
I then pressed onto Salamanca, New York. This area would be the Allegheny State Park – Red House area. This vista is located here N42° 08.801' W78° 43.403'.
Along the route to the next place, you are paralleling the
Allegheny River. She is broad and the colors along her banks are amazing. The fog was heaving over the Allegheny
Reservoir and this photo shows just that. It was located here N42° 05.461' W78°
51.992' Street View Link.
My next stop was at Quaker Lake New York found. This photo
was taken here N42° 03.183' W78° 52.549' Street View Link.
A few years ago, I camped around Falconer, New York and I came to visit
this lake. I stood next to this one person, and I saw on a stringer a rainbow
trout that was over 22” long. So, I know
there are some big fishies in there.
I continued to travel on PA-321 aka Sugar Run Road. These coordinates
on the above-mentioned road where the views are amazing.
N41° 57.490' W78° 52.311' Street View Link This is a random location I was
at.
N41° 53.406' W78° 53.179' Street View Link This is where I made my coffee and where the two following photos came from.
Lastly here is another coordinate
pair that will show you just have dense the trees are and how one could really
enjoy mother nature’s color fest N41° 52.574' W78° 50.544' .
I traveled onto PA-59 and the surrounding views were all just as stunning as all the others. The timber was all mature trees and full of vibrant colors.
Here is just another example of some solitude and enjoying
the outdoors. N41° 51.445' W78° 51.909' Street View Link Corydon Township, PA Route PA-59. I was in route to Jakes Rocks Overlook. At this
overlook I would be over looking the Allegheny Reservoir. The potential for an amazing moment is there
and fortunately mother nature had other plans for me. The route to this overlook is on forest roads
and use need to be ready for your phone not to work. Here is a photo of the view.
I then ran out of coffee and needed to find a coffee shop. I
only brought enough coffee to make two cups and I was out. I traveled along the Allegheny River below
the Kinzua Dam. The views along PA-59 are still stunning as far as colors go. Like
in a all-river towns they are struggling to survive and one should remember
that. These folks make it work with what they have and many of them lead simple
lives and want to be just left alone.
I traveled onto PA-6 and headed to the Tidioute overlook
located at N41° 40.518' W79° 23.567'
Tidioute overlook Rte. 337 Rd, Tidioute, PA 16351.
While the colors where amazing I began my slow journey home.
Continuing on PA-6 going through Oil City, Pennsylvania. I found a coffee shop,
but it was closed “of course it was 1130 am on a Saturday”.
Then I traveled to the town of Franklin. As a side note every time I have traveled through
this town it always has had a festival going on. Here is their website for events. https://franklinpa.gov/events
There motto is “Always Eventful” and I found a nice coffee
shop also called the “Iron Furnace Coffee”.
They do not have a website that I could find, but they have plenty of
great reviews out there on the web.
I was super excited to have my coffee and turn up the music on
Rick Tobey album “Chickenhead Bluesway”.
I pointed the Subaru west and headed out of the woods into the world of
people “ewe”.
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Allegheny National Forest (ANF) Camping Trip
My chateau
I packed my two waterproof bags and headed out to the
ANF. The next few days weather report was started out at 80’s – 50’s
in the day and tapering to the low 40’s at night. Mother nature
would also have her undergarments in a wad on the daily.
This bear scat was new esitmated him/her to be 2 years old and always be bear aware!
When Rob talked about this trip, he always said he had fun,
and it was a good time. Rob is an avid outdoorsman and our friendship goes
back almost 30 years. The folks he went camping with were at the
same level of outdoorsmanship and more.
Rob would play one of the coxswains on the trip. With the amount of gear, we brought and foodstuffs well it was a necessity to get all the forementioned gear to the camp site. The ANF has plenty of camping. Here is a link to begin your research. https://www.fs.usda.gov/allegheny and he is a link to show you the draw down of the lake for winter pool. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/03012520/#parameterCode=62615&period=P7D&showMedian=true
I really fit right in with these fine distinguished gentlemen and even Lips (inside joke)!
When you plan a large outing, you sometimes have people who
don’t work well with others and or who don’t pull their weight in
camp. I was the new guy, and everyone helped, and everyone went out
of their way to help each other.
I did not matter the size of the task from drying Lips’s
boots, cooking, gathering wood, tending the fire, or walking up the mountain
for water everyone helped every day.
We also ate food o my goodness did we eat lol. If you went
to bed hungry it was just your fault and no one else’s.
Again folks, Thank you I had a great time.
Rob and I took a 1.7 mile hike. The elevation at Basecamp was 1348 and we had to acsend to 1589 (max elevation reached was 1616.6) with a pitch of up to 42 % slope to climb out the lake bottom.
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Headed to the Allegheny National Forest
Mid-week I
will be headed to camp in the Allegheny National Forest. I am mostly packed up
except for a few objects. I will be
going out of my comfort zone. I normally shy away from doing anything with
large groups of people. I will be camping with a long-time friend so I will not
be that uncomfortable.
I have
uploaded a few hiking routes loaded up into my Garmin 64sx. I don’t know if I
will be able to take starlight photos, but we will see. I will have most likely some great opportunities
to take nature photos. This will of course be all weather dependent.
Monday, September 25, 2023
2023 Turkey Day Spey Reservations have been made!
The 4th Annual Turkey Day Spey will be from November 23rd through 26th. I will be staying in Ohio, but up in the northeast corner of the state. I will be fishing in NY for one or two days driving back in forth. I will pray for rain. Between now and then I will be camping in the Allegheny National Park for a few days.
Be well friends,
Sonder
