1000

I just noticed, I hit 1,000 page views today, only took 2 years and some of it was probably from spam sites, but cool shit. Back to fishing though.

Went back out to Mingo today hoping that the crowds had died down a lot, they didn't die down to much. I landed 8, 5 on flies and 3 on salmon eggs again. I did feel pretty good today as I helped a young kid catch a few trout. He was using minnows as bait and killing them, just not seeing ti happen so he missed a good bit of fish. As I stood on the bank I was watching a fish eye up his bait, he grabbed it and I started yelling for him to set the hook. Sadly he didn't realize I was talking to him and didn't get it.... Second time around he did. He said it was his first fish of the year, he dad said thanks. I helped him catch another on and hid brother a second, it felt really good doing so. I ended up sitting on the bank for a few minutes watching as the three brother bickered back and forth and laughed because I do the same with mine. I ended up leaving the hole to move to a different one were I managed three to make my 8. They kid and his brothers landed 6 or 7 in total, it was nice to help out though. Well I hit 148, only 2 more to go, doesn't seem like a problem. That drivers license really helps with getting the number, maybe next year 250? Maybe I should just wait till next year to decide. No fishing tomorrow, probably none Tuesday and again none on Wednesday  stupid classes, oh well. At least Thursday I have a whole day to go out and fish, and a few hours Friday evening.

Well it has come and gone once again.

Had a pretty good day yesterday and it was full of laughs. Got to the creek at around 5 and there was already a bunch of guys. My buddies got there at 6:30 and got stuck on the outer edge of the pool. Started out chucking Trout Slayers, then salmon eggs and that was about it. I caught 27 at this point and decided to start fly fishing. Started out with some fairly normal flies, only picked up a few though. Then switched to eggs again without a bobber or weight and would just let the egg slide down and I would pop it up when it hit the bottom, fish killed it. I also used a leach pattern that caught me around 7 or 8 fish. Then we found a few small redworms on the muddy bank, I laughed and put one on and sure enough a fish hit it, this thing was barely an inch long but it worked pretty good. I ended the day with 71, my buddy will with 27 and my buddy Alex with somewhere around 8 or 9, but he left really early, needed to go home and finish a project for one of his courses.

Well that makes 140 fish, heading back out in a little, hopefully I will get the ten I need. Also I may be putting a video up shortly, friend needs to send it to me, but it is of me catching a fish and releasing it. Gopros are pretty cool, I need to get me on

Monday and Today

Headed back out to Pike Run when I got out of classes, 1 trout on Monday and a trout and a smallie today. I had a decent amount of hits but sometimes a size 18 is pretty hard to get hooked into the fish's mouth. Water was very low and clear, but couldn't see any fish. Eyes have been a little jacked up so I had to wear my classes and couldn't use my polarized sunglasses, oh well. Probably all the fishing I will get to do, looks like the weather is going to get crappy. If we get all the rain we are supposed to, opening day is going to be very interesting for sure.

Little Green Copper Johns

Went back out to Pike Run again, landed six this time around. I got snagged numerous times on the opposite side of the bank, I was losing my mind by the time I left. For some reason I couldn't judge distance and cast for the life of me. Picked 5 of them up on a small size 14 or 16 green copper john and 1 on a rainbow warrior, I think that is what it's called? I could be making that up though. I also landed a minnow, looked like your average minnow you buy from the bait shop, but around 5 or 6 inches. Good day to get back out, nice and warm compared to what I was fishing in the last few times.

67 now, I'd like to get 75 before opening day, not to far off.

Fish I have caught

I was just trying to think of all the fish I have caught and figured I would list them, spinning vs fly fishing. I am going to leave panfish and suckers/chubs out of this, kind of pointless, but I would love for my fly fishing to eventually match up, if not pass up my spinning catches.

Spinning
Catfish (Flathead, Channel, and Bullhead)
Smallmouth
Largemouth
White Bass
Muskie
Trout Stocked (Brook, Rainbow, Brown, and the Pali)
Carp
Walleye
Sauger
Erie Steelhead

Fly
Smallmouth
White Bass
Trout Stocked (Brook, Rainbow, and Brown)
Trout Wild (Brook)
Erie Steelhead

Truth be told, I didn't realize until I just typed this up that, not even counting the catfish, I am going to have one hell of a time catching up. I would like to get Largemouth and Carp out of the way this summer, but for the others? Well those are going to suck, I won't lie. I think most, if not all of the catfish I catch on the fly rod will be pure luck, it seams they mostly are. But I have no idea where I will chase Walleye, Sauger, and Muskie on the fly, hmm guess I will have to figure that out in the future.

19 and a smallie

Went fishing a few more times, didn't write about any of them, nothing amazing happened though. First trip landed 2 more trout uping my count to 58. Then went to the river a few times with nothing to show, not even a hit.

I did go out to Pike run again today and did pretty well. I landed three trout and a smallmouth. The one trout hit 19 inches, my second best on the fly rod, the other being a steelhead. I caught 2 more average trout after that, and then out of the blue landed a 12 to 13 inch smallmouth. Surprised me, but I was excited, new fish on the fly for me, so I won't complain about the size. I will probably be getting back out Thursday, not sure where I will be going but I would like to get out again. Opening day will be here soon opening up my possible streams a lot, pretty excited for that, but the best part of the post, I finally got some pictures, only 2 but enjoy.

The three trout today make a total of 61, slowly but surely getting there.

The Countdown

So my last few fishing trips have been good/bad. I have caught at least 2 fish on all of them, but each time I have gone fishing, my count has gone down by one. If this is truly whats happening I have 1 more outing until I can't catch a single trout anymore. Looks like my fly fishing career is almost over.

Went back out to Pike run today, landed 2, and missed A LOT more, just wasn't paying attention for the most part. Water was good, nice and green so the fish didn't spook to easily. Landed one pretty early and then switched spots, saw a Pali and that was it. Tried and tried and tried some more to catch him but I couldn't. It finally got dark enough and I couldn't see him so I just started casting a Wooly bugger hoping to catch one, I did, should have just done that from the beginning and ignored that freak of a fish. Well I am going back out tomorrow and the first thing I am going to do is try to catch the stupid fish again, its like a bad addiction, it just wont be satisfied till I get him in.

I don't think I wrote my last one or two trips, but I have a total of 56 now.