Cranberry River 2011

.....and we went again. This is a reoccurring theme for us. We hopped in the car last Sunday July 24th. It was pouring down rain....which put us a bit behind. So we finally got rolling about 3pm or so towards West Virginia....we were hell bent on doing some trout fishing.
..... We didn't get to the top on the Mountain until about 10pm. It had done some raining in this neck of the woods as well.....so we camped at the top of the mountain, next to the car......gonna hike in at daybreak.....that we did.
.....We got down to the river in quick time the next morning, July 25th.....found a shelter along the river and strung up our Hammocks.....made camp in like 20minutes and got our fishing stuff ready and headed out....


.....now summer fishing on the streams can be terrible. The water in usually low, temps are up, and the fish tend to be spooky as hell....and all this was true, the conditions sucked which meant that one or both of us should have gotten skunked....but that was not to be the case....I fished pretty hard that day landed 3 nice trout and lost about 3 others....not bad for that time of year.....Marshall land 5 or 6, and also lost a couple....pretty good day no matter how you looked at it.

.....What saved us was the fact that is was over cast and rainy that day. We did a lot of hiking and fishing...

Lots of wildlife on this trip....turkeys and deer....then on the morning of the 26th, before our hike up the mountain we had a visitor from a black bear who walked through our camp early in the morn....I got that on video....he just passed by and went along on his route to wherever....very nice.

Tight lines....go fish.

Smallie

Sorry it's been such a long time since I have posted anything.....I have all sorts of excuses....blah blah blah. I went out the other day to an area of The Little Miami that I have never fished. Xenia, Ohio.....at the end of 235......with success.....wasn't out long but got a few. Really nice area....check out the video.

Little Miami River

4/30/2011 - We set records here in Ohio for rainfall amounts this month. That being said, do I need to tell anyone that the rivers are still way up. Muddy. The fish? Hell I didn't catch any, but I tried.

Yesterday at 3:30pm I took off out of Fairborn, Ohio and went to see if after two days off no rain had the rivers recovered. The answer is "Hell No". I parked at the Public access point at U.S 35 and New Germany Treibien Roads. This is Eagles Pass canoe launch....whatever. Water was up past the launch and real muddy. The weather although was perfect about 70, sunny, a little breeze, no humidity....perfect. Except, I could not get a fish to grab my line no matter what I threw at 'em.

I lost 3 of my favorite crankbaits. The wouldn't even chase my spinner. White in color that I always have luck on in the spring. Tube Baits? Nope, not even a nibble.....it was one of those days.

I would rather be out walking the river, loosing lures, getting snagged. Than stay at home to mow the yard or something crazy like that......

So there I was, standing in a river, waving a stick, not catching a thing....and loving every moment of it.

Go fish

Fishing In The Snow Part 2.

This is yet another clip from our Fishing Adventure on the Mad River in West Liberty, Ohio. This is a little clip of Marshall "Cranberry" Hamden catching and releasing a nice Brown Trout.

Snow Fishing

I quickly wanted to post a new video. No time to waste have fun watching.

Febuary Mad River Brown Trout

Cold and shitty weather, always a good day to try your luck at some trout fishing. I don't know why, but it seems if you suffer with the cold, rain and snow, then the fishing "Gods" let you get some fish.(read trout!)

That's exactly what was going on this last Saturday, Feb. 5th, 2011. The temps sat between 28 and 32 degrees that day. With a slight drizzle to start the day at 8am. Then sleet, followed by snow, and yes, some good strong wind just to make sure Old Man winter was happy.

We finally got our butts moving and in the car at about 9am with the intent on heading over to the "Great Miami" river to catch something for a mid-winter fish fry. We thought we might be able to get on some sauger, saugeye, or maybe walleye. But to my disappointment, no such luck.....it's kinda hard to cast at a big river, an urban fishery in Downtown Dayton, Ohio when you know that the Mad river is right around the corner. That at first is not a big deal because most rivers around here are about the same, but that's not true about the "Mad", because the "Mad" holds some nice Brown Trout, at least in its upper reaches.

So after some time trying to locate some catchable fish in the "Great Miami", my good fishing pal, Marshall "BMW" Hamden, came up with a great idea and said "Let's get outta this place and find us some trout". Now it is my belief that because it was snowing, a lot, and mighty miserable, my friends brain was able to come up with this magnificent idea. Of course, I agreed, and why wouldn't I? It would have been absolutely adsurd for me to say anything else except " Good Fucking idea". Or something of that effect.

So, we hopped in the "Trout Mobile" and headed north towards West Liberty, and that River that will not release it's hold on us. Of course it really started snowing at this point, the roads became bad the farther north we traveled, of course we had to stop off at "Wally World", to pick up so odds and ends. This is always the way it goes, there always has to be a stop along the way, at least for us. I have always wondered if this was the case for others as well. But we can't seem to ever just get in the car and head to our destination. That would be way to simple. But in the end it never really matters, it is just part of it. Part of the process, of getting were we need to be, I think.

.....we stopped in West Liberty, Ohio, after fishing a few other parts of the river on the way. This is were it started to come together for us. We came to a hole in the river. The only real winter hole we had seen on the river that day. This is were we started to get some action, nothing good but Marshall pulled a small brown up and before he could get it, it came off the line and right back in the water. Now I could see that this was frusterating for him and I did what any good fishing partner would do and I laughed and snickered a bit.....

After this hole we waded our way up the river to Lions Park, where once again we came to a good whole, where he again lost what he thought was another Trout. Now I had been taking it easy and had not been fishing much the last 300 yards or so, but I anounced "Ok, enough messing around let me in there" were upon my first cast in the whole I pulled out a nice Mard River Brown Trout. Which might have been his fish, or maybe not,. Not to matter, there were more in there and he also pulled one from that very hole...

...will finish the story and add more pics in the next article in a day or so. ....Until then, Go FIsh!!

Wishing I was Fishing

Well, this video talks a little about fishing. But, there is no fishing really going on in the video. Just me running my mouth and my son getting crazy on his 4wheeler. We went out and enjoyed the first "Real" snow of the year. This was on Saturday Dec. 4th. 2010. Pretty good day all in all. Check it out.

Maybe Tomorrow

First of all, I am sorry for not posting anything lately. Things have been really hectic for me lately. But not to worry, I might get out tomorrow. The "Mad River" has been calling my name, or maybe it's the brown trout in the river who have been talking crazy nonsense to me.........

We just got our first major snowfall of the year on Saturday and some today. Not much, maybe 3 inches, but it was really pretty. I got out with my son and he got to raise some cane with his 4 wheeler in the snow.......maybe I will show a quick video of him doing that.

I am one of those fishermen who will not put his gear away for the winter. There is no reason to. The fish still bite, trout, bass(small mouth and large mouth),sauger, walleye....crappie,just to name a few. Now I know it's not easy, but a bite in the winter sure beats sitting on the couch waiting for spring. The main thing is you need to get out and try it. It's not the same as fast springtime fishing, but it sure beats doing nothing. Also, it might be the time of year you hit your biggest fish, who knows.

The Trout Mobile

Actually spelled " TRROUT" yep 2 r's. Marshall left to go get new plates for his car and returned with these. He has lost his mind. The video I shot has a few "f" bombs. So if your sensitive to this word, then do not watch these videos. They are funny though.

Out fishing

The water is starting to cool off around here. I have been in the Mad River and the Little Miami a few times in the past 3 weeks. But I have not had a lot of luck. I am kinda hoping things pick up in the next few weeks. The big ones should be getting really active about now, at least i hope. But here are a few pics of the local rivers I just mentioned....