Southern X-Sposures

The lack of sun and abundance of gloomy days was slowly killing me, so it was time for a fishing excursion. The debate was where to fish? Most streams with wild populations are producing nice browns, but were also producing crowds. I was tired of sharing my fishing hole with everyone and their brother casting repeatedly in the hopes of pissing off a brown. Although that is fun, it doesn't seem like fishing. After a few brews, I decided to head North and fish a place known to many, but yet unknown to most. I will not divulge anymore info than that. Now that the target destination was picked, it was time to call fellow BRM member Murphy and see if he was up for the trip. He was all over the idea of some winter fishing like a "Fat Chick on a Twinkie". We decided to meet up around daylight at a undisclosed location and hunt the "One".

I am not much for waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning, so I opted to drive the three and half hours the night before and sleep in the truck. As usual Murphy showed up high on Caffeine and Nicotine, ready to hash it out all day. But like most trips the weather was not picture perfect, except for the unseasonably warm weather. The rain started at daylight, fortunately it was a light rain.

We started out at our usual spot, and began to pick the water apart. Now let me note, the stream we were fishing is a 100% wild reproducing stream. Now back to the story, we began picking up fish immediately, most fish were in the 8 to 12 inch range, but they ate like it was there last meal. I worked a double nymph rig, why Murphy played clean-up with a piece of meat. We fished our favorite section until around 11, and we probably caught 40 fish in that section. We managed several browns in the 16 inch range, and one 17 inch bow.

After a epic morning of winter fishing it was off for a gourmet meal at KFC. After we clogged our arteries, it was off to explore a new section of the river. Again the fishing was outstanding, we found some great riffles and pools. As the day progressed, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It couldn't have been better. During our afternoon exploration Murphy stuck a nice 21 inch bow, it wasn't "The One", but the biggest of the trip. There are browns in the mentioned river that push 30 inches, I was lucky enough to tangle with one last year for a brief period. We never netted it, but it was a helluva ride. All in all we caught an estimated 70 plus fish, to include 7 wild browns in the 14 to 16 inch range.

For the rest of the trip pictures go to http://www.bentrodmedia.com/West_Virginia.php Watch the slide show titled "Our last Adventure".

Ryan