February 12 2000
The skies were clear and the temperature at 30 with a little snow still on the cold side of the hills as I embarked on my annual grouse hunting trip with my friend John Brock. John brought his english pointer Toby and his german shorthaired pointer Jubal along for our hunt in Metz. The birds were not holding good as the majority of the flushes we got were wild. We did end up with two points, on the first the bird came out the wrong side of the grapevines, not providing a shot and on the second, Toby was on point but Jubal didn't see him and the bird flushed out. On the day we ended up flushing 8 grouse, getting shots at five and missing all of them. Oh well it was fun and that's all that matters.
January 29 2000
It may be a little late but Happy New Year. Once we got deer season out of the way (1 buck and 2 does for me), it was time to get Bonnie and Chase out for some rabbit hunting. After going last weekend around Metz and not having much luck, I loaded up the dogs and joined Brent with his beagle Sheeva and my friend Rick Crites for a morning hunt at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. It was a chilly morning (about 10 degrees with 6" of snow on the ground) but we warmed up quick once we started moving through the brush. We eventually ran two rabbit but didn't get a shot at either. At least the dogs got some much needed exercise. We'll be back another day.
December 11 1999
It was time once again for my annual bear hunting trip to Randolph county. The hunt actually started hight on point mountain overlooking Webster Springs. We hunted a large valley on coal company property and the only thing the dogs wandered onto was a cold trail, probably from the day before. We hunted the whole day with no luck. This came at the end of a week when the party with which I was hunting had harvested two 250lb+ black bears on monday and tuesday. I hope to get another bear hunt in before the end of the year. Will keep you updated.
November 22 1999
I know it has been a while since I have updated this page, so let me bring you up to speed. I bowhunted the whole season with no success, but I managed to bag a 7 point buck this morning, the first day of bucks only gun season. Hopefully the rest of the hunting seasons will bring more adventures. Keep checking back and I will keep you updated.
July 2,3,4 1999
My girlfriend and I took a trip to seneca rocks for some fishing and relaxation. Friday I went over to the elk river c&r but there was nothing on top of the water, so I was shut out. Saturday evening Brent and I fished the c&r section of the south branch. We both caught several smallmouth, but not a trout rising in sight.
June 25, 1999
Brent and I left this evening to do some flyfishing on the North Branch. There were no bugs on the river, but a hatch came off right at dark, although we were unable to match it. We each had several hits but no fish were hooked.
June 19, 1999
I took a day off from flyfishing today to run in the Fairmont run to read 5k run to raise money to fight literacy. It was my first road race in about 2 years. I finished second in my age group (20-29) in a time of 22:34. Maybe I'll get to the river sometime next week. http://www.wvoutside.com/Events/1999/06/0402c2.html
June 12, 1999
Today I went to the north fork river that separates MD and WV with Dave Brewer for some trout fishing. He was using night crawlers with his spinning rod. He caught six in the 10-12" range. I managed only one one a black wooly bugger.
June 5-6, 1999
Saturday was reserves and Sunday I attended the George Strait country music festival in Pittsburgh along with Stephanie, Stephanie, Brent, Quay, Vicky, Eddie, Chrissy, Pumpkin, Becky, Randy and Sue. We had a great time. Maybe I'll get to the river next weekend.
May 29, 1999
Since I did so well last week, I thought I better head back to the catch and release setion of the elk. I rigged up the fly rod and stepped into the water at about 7:30 and caught a nice 19" 'bow on bottom as well as a 9" brown. On down the river I fished the top with a march brown and hooked 2 more browns, another rainbow and a brookie all in the 12-16" range.
May 22, 1999
Today I went for an early morning fly fishing trip first to the catch and release section of the back fork of the elk and had no luck at all. No fish were rising and I had no sucsess on bottom either so I left and went over to the c&r section of the elk. It had started to rain, but there were trout coming to the top, so I tried a march brown and missed a decent trout. Then I tried a caddis and ended up catching three rainbows in the 9-11 inch range. I finished off the day with a 13" 'bow on a hare's ear nymph.
May 14, 15, 16 1999
Time for a backpacking trip into the cranberry backcountry to fly fish the cranberry river. Brent, his dad Bub and I started out at summit lake and took fisherman's trail down to the river and then hiked out the trail to dogway fork where we camped and fished the catch and release section as well as the catch and keep section of the cranberry. We also spent some time on the fly fishing only section of the dogway fork. Several fish were caught and Brent reeled in a nice 15-1/2" 'bow that was released back into the cranberry. We had great weather and even got to spend some time with an abandoned bear cub that we found along the river. It was a great trip.
May 13 1999
May 8 1999
I spent part of this warm spring morning in the catch and release section of the elk river. There was no fish rising whatsoever, and the underwater action was slow at best. I hooked one 'bow on a streamer and after losing the streamer I had no luck the rest of the morning. Better luck next time.
April 15 1999
After returning from an out of state activation with the army reserves, I finally got on the river. Dr. Frank Oliverio, Brent and I took a fly fishing trip to the Smoke Hole catch and release section of the South Branch. We started out with wooly-boogers and streamers, having instant luck with both. Around 1 o'clock, a hatch began to slowly come off and we started catching fish on caddisfly imitations. The overcast, chilly day seemed to work in our favor as we accounted for right around 20 trout, all being released back into the water to be caught and enjoyed once again.
March 20 1999
Finally a day to get out and do some trout fishing. I wasn't able to make it to the mountains this day so Brent and I decided to make the trip to majestic Huey Lake in Mannington. We trolled in my jon boat and caught quite a few fish but as always we had decided to throw them all back. The highlight of the morning was the 5 lb., 23" rainbow I caught. Since we weren't planning to keep any, we didn't have a net with us, so when I got the fish to the boat, Brent had to go in with two hands to get it safely in the boat. I'm glad he was there to help because I would have been in trouble...it probably would have gotten away. After taking some pictures and getting the citation paperwork out of the way it was time to make the trip to Charleston to watch my beloved North Marion Huskies win the AAA state basketball championship. What a day it was. WAY TO GO DAWGS!
February 27 1999
The last day of hunting season in West Virginia found me in familiar country as I returned to hunt the same patch of brush I had hunted the week before in Metz. The morning was cool with a temperature at 40. Bonnie and Chase ran two rabbits with me passing on a shot at one...deciding to let it go since it had survived through the season. It was a pretty sucessful rabbit season, but now it's time to start doing some serious fly fishing. I'll keep you posted.
February 20 1999
With a fresh skiff of snow and temperatures holding steady at 30 degrees, I took my two beagles, chase and bonnie to a favorite hunting spot in Metz, WV. It was a good day to hunt and the dogs ran 4 rabbits over a two hour period. The grouse drought continues as there were no grouse jumped again today.
February 13 1999
My friend Brent and I once again ventured to Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park in search of cottontails. The temperatures were hovering right around 20 degrees with about 3" of snow on the ground. We jumped one rabbit, which immediately went into a hole about 80 yards from where the dogs jumped it. Other than that the day was pretty much uneventful.
February 2 1999
My first offical skiing trip. Some friends (Brent, Steve, Doogie, Mike, Mike Jr. and Jonathan) and I went to Wisp ski resort in McHenry MD. Even though I had never been skiing (and still haven't) I decided to do it right and rented a snow board. Lets just say it was an interesting adventure. It took me the whole day but by the end of the day I think I was doing pretty good for a beginner. Some of the others tried 'boarding but they are all good skiiers and decided to stick to their craft. Even with all of the bumps and bruises it was a good time.
January 30 1999
This day found my friends Brent, Mark and I on a rabbit hunt at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park in Weston WV. The weather was pretty good (clear and highs in the upper 40's). We hunted some land on the western portion of the lake and make good use of my two beagles Bonnie and Chase and Brent's beagle Shiva. In the three and a half hours we hunted we ended up running around eight or nine cottontails with Mark adding one of them to his game bag. All said it was a pretty good day in the field.