crawfish hunters

fern and lyla had a great time hunting for crawfish in the creek

nc trout final day

went out early yesterday caught two nice brookies before the rain started. had a blast in north carolina this year.

nc trout day 5

took a day off from fishing yesterday. went out this morning and it was pretty crowded. found a few small streams out of the way and caught a few nice trout including the second brown trout of the trip.

nc trout day 3

got to the river around 9 yesterday morning. caught about 15 trout today and all were brook trout. fished dry flies early, which produced small fish, then switched to a weighted san juan worm to get down into the deeper holes. caught all my best fish that way. a couple of friends drove their motorcycles over from chattanooga and met me around noon. a few mins after they arrived the skies opened up. we waited about 3 hours for the lightening to let up but it never did. it was good to get to fish with them even though it was only for a little while.

nc trout day 2

day two produced some nice trout. a mixed bag of rainbows, browns and brooks. plenty of flies in the air and on the water and the trout are willing to take a dry fly which is always fun. most were caught on an elks hair caddis dry fly. the best trout of the day was on a san juan blood worm. the weather up here is so nice and the kids are having fun playing in the creek next to the cabin.

north carolina trout

got to the cabin this afternoon. made it out for about an hour to fish. managed two brookies. had a few more risers but they did not take. first one was caught on an olive woolly bugger and the second on an elk hair caddisfly. weather is awesome. cant wait to get back out on the water tomorrow.

goodbye bailey heidegger kirby

we had to let our sweet bailey boy go this morning. the whole family is having a tough time but it was the best decision. bailey was a great family dog and we loved him very much! this photo is from a little less than a year ago.

birthday decoys

im posting these a bit late but better late than never. these are the decoys i had carved and received for my birthday. bender did a great job. cant wait to float them next season!

birthday surprise

my wife and my mother were helping clean out my grandmothers house today because she has to move into a nursing home. my grandmother told us if there was anything in the house that we wanted we should take it because the rest would be going to goodwill. the only item i decided to take was a duck lamp. i didnt care for the lamp too much but figured i could take the duck off and put it on a shelf in my hunting/fishing room. when i unscrewed the duck i noticed it was a wooden decoy made by "hornick bros. stoney point decoys" and signed by raymond e. hornick in 1982. i did some research on the web and found some like it that have sold for around $50-$75. not a huge deal or major collectors item but it made my night or rather birthday morning since i took it off the lamp after midnight. i ran a bath and it floats great. i will add it to my spread next season when i hunt lakes with feral mallards. ive been wanting a drake mallard for this very purpose. hunting over a decoy that has been sitting in my grandparents living room for the last 20+ years is much more special to me than a used plastic that i had planned to buy on ebay for a few dollars.

fishing with bob

bob and i went out to try and catch a few specs this morning. didnt do much but we had fun.

broadmoor with a bang

dani was nice enough to invite me on to her permit for broadmoor. had the mayor hunting with us and thats always a good thing when picking a spot tried to shoot all drakes but ended up with a rut double hen. joe had the same thing but his was banded. hes always got to one up you :P i love broadmoor!!! didnt see dani after the hunt but she shot 4 bwt and a drake ringer. andy shot a limit of bwt. thanks again joe for putting us in a good spot and thanks so much to dani for allowing me to end my season with a bang!