So this year has been a bit slow fishing wise. Last year I was between Augusta projects and had quite a bit of free time to fish. This year, not so much, much busier shooting, doing promotions and schlepping my book around. I have managed to get out a few times, maybe 10 days total. I have a few trips planned over the summer and am very excited. There are a couple of small mouth trips coming up and there is a trip to Montana in Aug. I’m guessing a trip or two to Miami.

So far this year I have been bass fishing, trout fishing, redfish fishing and shad fishing. The red fish and shad trips were busts. Meaning no fish caught, but still a great day on the water. Had some great trout days, some great sun fish days and the bass are starting to wake up.

I’ve started doing some urban fishing, searching for hidden ponds ( if you know of any, please tell me ) and seeing if there are any fish in them. So far, I’ve found a few.

I’ve updated the fish count page for the year and included a little description about the way I think about fishing by popular request. So take a look and let’s hope those numbers rise soon! In the meantime here are a few photos from trips so far this year:

This is the Beaver Dam Creek, in TN.

Part of my urban exploration. I call it UBE or Urban Bass Exploration. Yes, I know this is a sunny, but I have caught bass too.

See, here is a 3-4 lb bass taken out of a dirty pond hidden away in a sub-division in S. Charlotte! This pond is full of em!

The Savannah River was beautiful, but the shad were just not there that day.

A nice sized Shellcracker.

A wonderful private secret pond I was privileged to fish.

About the size of my luck this year!

Checking out a small cove.

End of the day on Mountain Island Lake.

My friend Jeff dabbling a little in the Beaver Dam.

Slab of a crappie out of a farm pond.

This is what trout eat. V1.1

This is what trout eat. V1.2

Brown trout!

Another Brownie.

Fat Rainbow trout from the Nantanhala River.

Well the weather is starting to cool off some and that means it is back to trout fishing. Last weekend was spent fishing with a group of great guys, many of whom are becoming fast friends, from the South East Fly Fishing Forum . ( Just a quick word about the forum. It is a great place to meet new people, many people hook up there to go fishing, a great place to learn how to tie flies, many tutorials, and a great place just to look around and read and post about anything that has to do with fly fishing. It is a very low key place and very few idiots on the forum, unlike many public forums. If you have any interest in fly fishing in the southeast or just wanted to learn some more about fly fishing, check out this forum. )

This is my 3d organized trip with this group and they just keep getting better. This trip was set up so that we were camping on a slice of heaven. A few members of the forum live right near there and knew about this campsite that is not a campsite. It is a farmers field that is zoned agricultural and not for business. but it runs along apx 600 yards of the river in not more and no one has access to the river from his land other than people he lets in. It was kinda like fishing private waters. I got in on Thursday nite after stopping for dinner with Scott in Asheville. I was able to find two tress to hang the hammock and was very happy. and warm and comfy! Spent some time around a fire that was anchored by a 3-4 foot log that was 7 foot long! burned the whole weekend. got up on friday and decided to hit the river right in front of the camp site. well actually a bit up stream. Some one else had gone out in front of the campsite and spent an hour getting heckled by the gallery! So I headed upstream, tied on a compardun and size 18 split case and started fishing. I ended up with 5 fish that morning 3 rainbows and 3 browns. A good time. Of course back at camp others told of 40 fish days. I have never had anything close to a day like that. But these guys have been at it much longer than I have. Another nite of lies around the fire, beer and shine. Up Saturday am after sleeping in a warm cocoon (it went down to under 40 at night along the river and we were fogged in every morning) and headed to a place where I had fished before. I pulled out my 4wt and set up a two nymph system with a size 18 split case on top and a size 22 midge behind. I ended up catching 3 fish that morning but spent most of my time untying wind knots and trying to fix tailing loops and re-tying flies. It was just awful. Then of course I stepped into a hole that was over the top of my waders, which quickly filled up with 42 degree water! I guess that is when I decided it was time to get some lunch. Luckily I had dry clothes with me. after hanging everything up to dry and sitting in the hammock and watching the river for an hour in the warm sun, I head out again to another spot about .5 miles downstream. Well it was an awesome spot and I caught 12 more fish in 2 hours! I was very happy. Sat. total was 12 rainbow and 3 brown trout. Saturday night was a subdued group mostly worn out from fishing I think, and the fire was large as were the tales. A good time was had by all. Sunday morning I woke up ready to hit the road, but after sitting by the fire for a few minutes I decided I would fish right in front of the camp for a bit, I mean, I was here to fish right? So I pulled on the waders and walked on out only then to remember that I was going to be fishing right in front of the whole group! Awesome. Too late to turn around, so off I go and I start fishing. Well it turned out to be a great morning I caught 6 fish in under 90 minutes to the cheers and heckles of all the guys ( and gals). Glad I didn’t get skunked or I would be hearing about it for a while. 5 brown and 1 rainbow trout.

All in all it was a great trip. we were all invited to come and camp when ever we wanted by the owner and you can bet I will be heading back. Here are some pix. Oh, almost forgot! I got a new point and shoot after I filled the other one with saltwater at the beach. Cameras don’t like saltwater. I picked up the new Pentax optio W60. It is waterproof to 13 feet and i used it for many of the pix below.

Pretty brown trout

Gary getting it done.

The side of a Rainbow trout in the sunlight.

The camp site shot from the river.

Another pretty brown trout.

What a stripe on this rainbow.

Look, it is yet another pretty brown trout.

The light was just amazing in this little valley.

Sunset looking down river from the campsite.

Looking upriver from the middle of the river.

Brown trout glistening in the light.

Let me fishes go!

Bob teaching us how to cast.

What are they rising to?

Maybe these little guys?

So last weekend was the Southeast Fly Fishing Forum's annual small mouth bass fishing trip known as the Smallie Show. It was a great trip, a great group of guys, friends now, a great location, but bad weather.

 

So, I have been doing a bit of fishing the last couple of weeks. Here are a few trips all wrapped up in one post. All photos taken with the point and shoot, so quality is good to iffy.