Top WVAngler Moments of 2015

7.  Finally had the opportunity to help out PPKTU during the Seneca Rocks cleanup.  It's always good being able to give back and clean up our streams!  The Seneca Rocks stretch may lack in fish but it's one of the coolest spots to fish with the rocks as your backdrop! 

6.  It is always a good time when you get to fish new waters and meet fellow WVAnglers on the stream.  Ran into fellow WVAnglers on trout stream, steelhead waters, the mighty Ohio, and even musky waters.  Got the opportunity to meet Casey, Caleb, Mike, Zach, Jonathan, and several others on the water.  Always great running into new fishing buddies!

5.  It is always great being a part of the Eric Workman Memorial Musky Tournament.  The tournament is always a special time that honors a true hero that gave his life protecting others.  This year was another record year for the tournament.

4.  2015 was another good year spent with good diversity with several different fish species on the fly rod.   In total 15 different species on the fly including musky, gar, smallmouth bass, and black crappie.  Had the opportunity to fish several new bodies of water including the New finally and ot a good taste of is smallies.  Also got lucky enough to be able to land one of my personal best brook trout.

3.  2015 had some great fishing moments and a lot of citation fish but one of the most memorable was a personal best Brook trout.  While helping out during the Seneca Rocks cleanup I was able to get in some time on the water.  The area had been slammed with rain so the streams were running pretty high and full, so what better time to break out the streamer box.  With and average size of 10 inches the biggest fish of the day that whacked a woolybugger was a true gem!!

2.  2015 also brought a new fishing buddy into the year.  My wife and I were blessed to be able to welcome our second daughter Isabella Rose into the world in January.

1.  In 2015 I was very lucky to be able to fill in for Scott Hunter of Vedavoo and help man the Vedavoo booth with Joel at the Lancaster Fly Fishing Show.  It was an awesome experience and truly great being able to represent such an awesomely made in the USA product.  Check out their awesome packs and gear a Vedavoo.com

Brookies, Buggers, and Boulders

I finally got a Saturday off and was able to lend a hand at the annual stream cleanup put on by PPKTU at Seneca Rocks.  With several TU chapters , Boy Scouts from Morgantown, and some WVAnglers we were able to clean up a pile of trash!  By the time we were done and a few pepperoni rolls were consumed it was time to find some trout.  With recent rains the water was moving and there was a lot of it, pure whitewater in spots.  It was conditions that some don't look for but personally I was excited.  Conditions like these meant that it was a god time to breat out some streamers and wooly buggers, today was destined to be a day of Brookies, Buggers, and Boulders.  I knew if I could find a few seams and some slack water created by those big mountain boulders there would be some good sized fish willing to take a bugger!  Things started off slow but I was soon rewarded by a nicely colored Brookie.  With the skunk off it was time to get serious and go after some big fish.  The sun put a little bit of heat in the air made it perfect for wet wading and also perfect for a nice little blanket Caddis hatch.  The fish were on with the conditions and with the Caddis hatching they started getting aggressive and slamming the bugger or pheasant tail.  They stayed pretty aggressive to the bugger all day and fish were picked up in every good holding spot.  Some people get different joys out of fishing, some go nuts over a fish rising to a dry fly for me there is nothing better than a fish slamming a streamer especially if your fishing a light weight rod.  This day my old Orvis Silver Lable 3 wt was the rod of choice it's one of my first rods and still holds a special place in the collection especially when you take it out onto stream for an epic day.  Most people see heavy rains and streams flowing full and fast shy away me I just grab a fly box full of streamers and hold on sometimes you strike out but other times your rewarded with huge fish!  This was one of those days where the average Brookie was around the 9-10 inch range a day you can call a blessing and a success!

 

WV Birthplace of Rivers National Monument

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend The Fly Fishing Show in Lancaster, PA.  The Harrisburg/Carlisle area is not far away and with it comes such history and treasures from years past.  Sharing the Vedavoo booth with a fellow PA Native Joel LaMarco I heard tons of stories of these fabled waters.  They had a booth for the PA Fly Fishing Museum which has collections at a few places including Boiling Springs.  Even growing up fishing the Elk I often heard elkfisher talk of this area and its waters.  Attending the show it just showed how they want to preserve this rich heritage and the true pride they do have for it. 

Heritage is an important thing and without preserving it at times it gets lost or forgotten by future generations.  The Birthplace of Rivers National Monument would preserve traditional land uses like hunting and fishing for the future.  The land would be preserved for generations to come without fear of it being developed by any means. The protections created would protect the area for all to enjoy.  This is a special area as it is the headwaters of six rivers the Cranberry, Greenbrier, Williams, Cherry, Gauley, and the Elk.  This plan is not to change the area but it only will do the same thing a museum does it will preserve this pristine area for future generations.  When most people think of fishing they think of these streams whether it would be taking a backpack trip into he cranberry, fishing for Browns on the Williams, wild bows on the Elk, or catching native Brook trout in the Monongahela National Forest.  These are areas where most can say they first cast a fly or went trout fishing with dad.  By becoming WV's first National Monument it would allow our grand children and their children this same opportunity.  People will always have that opportunity to hike, camp, backpack, bike, and fish here for many many years.  Sometimes we get afraid of change but this monument would not change this for outdoorsman it would only insure others have that same opportunity.  Hopefully this heritage can be preserved and this national monument becomes a reality and we can preserve the birthplace of WV waters!

http://www.birthplaceofrivers.org