A Two Hour Trip

Yesterday I decided at the last minute to go fishing after I realized that there was no way the grass would get mowed with all the intermittent rain showers we were getting. I hung around the house all morning catching up on a few chores that needed doing like cleaning out the chicken coop, all the while waiting for the yard to dry out enough to be able to use the lawn mower without clogging it up. My plans were to do yard work yesterday, and hopefully fish this morning. By lunch time I'd given up on the idea of mowing grass. It was too wet and with more rain showers in the forecast for the evening I knew that it was a lost cause. So what's a fisherman to do with a free afternoon? It didn't take me long to figure out the answer to that one.

Fast Water

I decided to fish one of my usual streams about an hour from the house. It's not the biggest water, and it doesn't hold the biggest fish, but it's close enough to home to make a quick trip feasible. Once in a while this stream surprises me with a nice trout or two, but the scenery and beautiful wild fish always make the trip worthwhile. I also wanted to catch a few fish to continue my goal of catching a trout each month, and since I had yet to go during August I thought this would be a prime opportunity. 

Wild Brown

One more reason I wanted to fish (as if I need a reason to go fly fishing) is to try out some flies I had just tied on some new hooks. I had ordered some barbless competition style hooks, and wanted to see how they compared to the old hooks I've used since I started tying years ago. I don't fish competitively, but these hooks were supposed to be designed to minimize lost fish while still being barbless. I've not fished barbless hooks much at all, other than my one trip to Yellowstone years ago where they were required, but I decided that I'd like to start tying and fishing more barbless flies since I'm going to be releasing the vast majority of fish I catch, especially the wild trout. I have to say that I was very impressed. Several of the fish I caught jumped at least once, and I didn't have any long distance releases. I do believe that I will be using more of these type hooks in the future.

Barbless Size 12 Thunderhead

Driving up into the mountains, I ran into a couple of rain showers but nothing heavy enough to deter me from fishing. Once I left the pavement and headed up the gravel Forest Service road, I could tell that it had rained at least enough to settle the dust. From the road the creek looked like it had more water than usual, especially for August, but not blown out from any recent downpours. Once I got in the water, I confirmed that there was indeed more water in the creek than the last several times I'd fished here. It was just slightly dingy in the deeper pools, but still clear enough to see bottom. Over all, it looked like good fishing conditions. I started the day with a size 12 Thunderhead dry fly tied on the new hooks, and this wound up being all that I needed. The only time I tied on a new fly was when the rhododendron decided to steal one. 

Wild Brown

I worked my way upstream, fishing all the likely looking pools and runs. Some of the usual holding lies were tough to fish due to the volume of water, and getting a drag free drift proved to be a challenge at times. The fish seemed to be holding just at the edges of the faster water, and when I managed a good presentation most of the time they were willing to eat. I never seem to know what to expect at this stream species wise. Some trips I catch mostly rainbows, and other times it is mostly browns. 

The Lone Rainbow

Yesterday was a brown trout day, with only one of the fish I caught being a rainbow. They were all pretty wild fish, with bright red spots and adipose fins. I did raise a fish that just judging from his head would have been quite the trophy from this stream, but unfortunately I didn't connect.  Still, it is encouraging to see signs of bigger fish here, because for quite a while it seemed like this stream only had six inch rainbows. The last year or two the brown trout have made quite a comeback, to the point where they seem to at least equal the rainbows in number. All this is based on my very unscientific observations of course. Either way, it is always nice to see healthy wild fish in a stream, whether I can catch them or not. 

Brown Trout

After two hours or so of fishing, it was time to make my way back down the mountain. It was a short trip compared to most, but it was well worth it. As I sit here typing this and reflecting back on yesterday's trip, the sun is shining and the dew is drying off the grass. I've put it off as long as I can, but now I think it is time to go crank the lawn mower and catch up on yesterday's unfinished business.

- Joseph

This Place

I went fishing yesterday at this place that I would like to tell you about. It was a great day to be in the mountains, and one of the too infrequent trips that I got to make with my Uncle Greg. I know that sometimes I'm a little scarce with the details of where I fish, but this time I wanted to make an exception. This place is just too wonderful not to share. Sit back and let me tell you all about this place.

This Place

This place is a wonderful place to get away from the heat of a July day. It's not that hard to get to. Just drive a little further up the road, gaining elevation as you wind your way up the mountain. Cross over the Eastern Continental Divide, and under the Blue Ridge Parkway. Once you turn off the highway, follow the Forest Service gravel road as it leads you deeper into the mountains and farther from the black top. At the end, park the truck and walk past the locked gate and up the road until you find a spot to enter the river. As you make your way up the road, take the time to enjoy the rhododendron, bee balm, Turk's cap lily, and other wildflowers blooming along the way. Watch out for the stinging nettle though! Stinging nettle are one of the reasons I started wearing long pants to wet wade many years ago.

Turk's Cap Lily

After a short walk up the road, I entered the river. Greg and I decided to split up and each fish a section of river, then meet up in a couple hours and compare notes and decide if we wanted to move upstream, downstream, or head somewhere else entirely. After plans were made and a rendezvous point picked, Greg walked up river and I found a path down from the road to the river.

Budding Rhododendron

Let me tell you about the river at this place. It is a nice sized trout stream, big enough to hold lots of possibilities, but small enough to be able to read the water and pick out the majority of the good spots to fish. This river has always seemed to be clearer, and a little colder than some of the places I frequent, even in the heat of summer. The air is cooler up here at this place, and I hardly broke a sweat hiking in or out. The stream itself is very rocky, even for a mountain stream. There are impressive boulders strewn along it's length, and the rocks in the stream bed all seem to be tilted at different angles from each other. It can make for some interesting wading at times, especially if you aren't paying close enough attention to where your feet are. 

Wild Rainbow

Now that you've been introduced to the river, allow me to tell you about the fishing at this place. This place is not somewhere I would go if I wanted to catch a trout on every cast or two. This isn't that kind of place. This is the kind of place that you go if you want a nice day in a beautiful spot, and a stream full of wild rainbows, browns, and brook trout if you get high enough into the headwaters. This is the kind of place that can be a challenge to fish, with crystal clear water and spooky trout. It's the kind of place that you can fish all day with a size 12 Adams dry fly (I did yesterday) and expect to have success. It's also the kind of place where the trout seem a little bigger, fight a little harder, and can at times be pickier than some of the other wild streams I fish. 

Fungi

The trout in this place can also be particular, both about presentation and fly selection. I tried one of my go-to summer patterns that I catch a lot of fish on in other places, but these trout were having none of it. That particular pattern has calf tail wings and is a bulkier dry fly. Once I switched to the Adams with it's smaller profile, the fish seemed to approve. This is the kind of place that has plenty of deep pools that would be ideal for a dry-dropper rig or nymph fishing, but I seldom go subsurface here. I know I'm missing opportunities by staying on the surface, especially in the deeper pools, but the surface strikes were frequent enough yesterday to keep me from reaching for the nymph box. I fish it slowly and don't rush, but before I know it the two hours are up and it's time to check back in with Greg and see how his morning has gone. We meet up and compare notes, and decide to walk upstream from where we had been fishing and give it a couple more hours. We've both caught fish and want to continue on upstream.

Swallowtail Butterflies

This time it was my turn to walk upstream, and I tried to make sure and give Greg plenty of room to fish. As I walked, I took the time to observe the environment around me, seeing plenty of bee balm (thank you Greg for identifying it for me), Turk's cap lily, and rhododendron blooming. One of the stranger things about this place is that it seems like I always find some type of funky fungi growing on the trees. This time I saw two different types, and both were on live trees. This place is full of surprises, and it seems like every trip up here reveals something new. As I made my way back down to the river, I came upon a large group of Eastern Black Swallowtail butterflies, with a few Eastern Tiger Swallowtails mixed in. They were beside the river drinking at a small pool of water. I saw both species of butterfly all up and down the river today, along with some smaller butterflies that I couldn't identify. I didn't see any insects hatching on the stream, but from the size of trout that this place produces I feel certain that they are finding something to eat. 

Wild Brown

Once I made it back down to the river, I continued on upstream through a stretch that seemed to be shallower than the previous stretch I'd fished. There were still plenty of small pockets that were deep enough to hold fish, and I did catch a couple as I made my way farther up stream. I had quite a few refusals and short strikes, and a few of the fish I hooked managed to throw the hook after a second or two. The trout in this place seem to be wizards when it comes to escaping, or at least they did yesterday. Once again time seemed to slip by just as quickly as the waters of this place, and before I knew it I was heading back down the road to meet up with Greg and head back home. I didn't catch any of the brook trout that this place sometimes gives up, but I did manage a couple brown trout and several pretty rainbows. Several Adams were donated to various rocks and rhododendron, and now I will be back at the tying desk replacing them, anticipating my next trip to this place.

Bee Balm

There, just as I promised, are all the details about where I fished yesterday. There are also a lot more pictures from yesterday's trip to this place on the NC Outdoor Ramblings Facebook page. As far as the name and location of this place? Sorry, my lips are sealed.

- Joseph

Lessons Learned From A Year of Trout Fishing

At the beginning of 2018, I set myself a goal. You could call this a New Year's Resolution, but I chose instead to consider it a personal challenge. I knew for me, New Year's resolutions tended to last a couple of weeks at most, and I wanted this to be a much more permanent type of goal. My goal, challenge, resolution, or whatever you would like to call it, was to fish more. Specifically, I wanted to spend more time fly fishing for trout (and other species of  course). I decided to set a goal to catch at least one trout a month by fly fishing. As much as I love fishing for all types of fish, I chose trout because I figured that smallmouth bass or other species of fish would be even less likely to bite a fly in the winter than trout.

*The Trout of 2018

I know you may be wondering why someone has to set themselves a goal of fishing more. Please allow me to try to explain my thought process behind the one trout a month challenge. It didn't come about due to a  lack of fishing, but rather from a lack of the things that go along with fishing for me. I came to realize that as much as I love to fish, tie flies, and write about it on this blog, there was a distinct lack of writing and fly tying going on. 

It was nobody's fault but mine, and I wanted especially to start writing blog posts again on a regular basis. The fishing would hopefully provide me some inspiration to write again, along with spending time at the desk tying flies to replace the ones lost on the fishing trips. This quest for a trout a month was going to be the cure for writers block and get the creative juices flowing for both writing and fly tying. At least that's what I thought at the time. 

Snow on the Stream

I had never taken the time to figure out our trout fisheries other than during the warm months from March or April through about November. I would put up the fly rods about the time that deer season came around, and sometimes it was after the end of turkey season in May before my thoughts turned back to fishing. There were occasional trips when the urge hit to go wet a line, but overall the majority of my fishing revolved around the seasons that I'd grown up fishing in, especially summer when school was out and fishing time was easy to come by. I love to hunt, and the purpose of this goal of mine was not to replace hunting with fishing, but rather to see if I could squeeze a little bit of fishing in even during hunting seasons. 

One of the first lessons I learned from this quest was that variety really is the spice of life. During deer season, I did spend most of my outdoor time in a stand deer hunting. The occasional fishing trip helped to break up the days of sitting in a stand, especially when deer activity was slow. A trip to the stream seemed to get me excited to go hunting again, and by the same token several days spent in the woods deer hunting sitting still helped me appreciate the ever changing environment of a mountain stream. The wildlife is different, the scenery is different, and the methods are different, but both activities provide me with a deep connection to the outdoors. Sitting in a stand watching the woods come awake at daylight, or slowly working my way up a mountain stream trying to locate fish without spooking them cause me to slow down and really take in where I am and what is around me.

*Cold Weather Fishing

The next lesson I learned from a year spent trout fishing is how to appreciate how difficult fooling a fish into eating some fur and feathers tied to a hook can be. I've will never consider myself an expert fly fisherman or anything close to an expert, but I've had decent success catching fish over the years. However, most of this has been due to fishing the same times of year with the same few fly patterns and techniques. In the summer, one of my favorite ways to fish is to take an attractor dry fly pattern like a Thunderhead and fish the wild trout waters. Most of the time, this is fairly shallow water with small pools and pockets and sparse, varied insect hatches. Matching the hatch takes a back seat to presentation and stealth. If you can approach a pool without spooking the fish and make a good presentation, most of the time these trout aren't too picky about the fly pattern. This is still my favorite way to catch trout, just because to me nothing beats the thrill of seeing a fish come up and eat a fly. 

The dry fly takes of summer were a long way off when I began my quest. It was January and there was snow on the ground from a few days before. I knew that early in the year my favorite wild trout streams would be very difficult if not impossible to fish because the cold temperatures would have the fish sheltering in the few deep spots available. In order to make my quest attainable, I decided to start the year fishing the delayed harvest section at a local state park. This stream has wild trout farther up in the headwaters and tributaries, but the lower stretch is stocked in October, November, March, April, and May with catch and release regulations in effect from October 1 until the first Saturday in June. It also is a little flatter and slower moving than the upper river, and has quite a few deeper holes that I thought may be a good place to find fish. 

Wild Rainbow

The next few lessons I learned came when I ventured out in the snow in January to try to fool a trout. I was able to find a few fish, and they were in the deeper pools. The surprise came when I couldn't seem to get anything to eat. I tried fly after fly, added weight to get my nymphs deeper, and switched flies several times. During all this, I could see the fish holding close to the bottom. They weren't spooked, but they were definitely not interested in moving to take a fly. Finally, I tied on a heavily weighted golden stonefly nymph and worked on presenting the fly so that it sank to the level of the fish by the time it drifted over their lie.The water was extremely clear, and I chose to just watch the fly rather than use an indicator after a few attempts showed me that the fly wasn't getting deep enough with an indicator on the leader. After several casts and corrections, I manged to get a drag free drift with the fly almost hitting a trout in the nose. To my surprise and delight, the trout opened its mouth and ate the fly. It never moved until I set the hook, and I'm convinced that the only reason it ate at all was because the fly was right in front of it and it didn't have to move to eat it. I took a few things away from this trip. I learned that an indicator is helpful at times when I'm nymph fishing, but it's not always necessary or even the right choice. I learned that trout in extremely cold water in the winter are not going to be likely to move much, if at all, for a fly. Finally, I learned that getting a fly down to where the fish are will increase my success, especially if the trout are lethargic and not willing to move for a fly.

Brook Trout

Over the course of 2018, I continued to fish at least once or twice a month. Another lesson that I should have learned long ago that was reiterated to me was not to procrastinate. There were a few months when continuing the one fish a month challenge came down to the last day or two of the month, and a single fish. There's a fine line between success and failure, and not just in fishing. The times when I waited to fish until the end of the month brought this home to me, especially the time when I had to fish back to back days because I got skunked and had one day left in the month. I didn't mind at all having to fish two days in a row, but it did remind me that if you have a goal, don't take it for granted. 

I experimented with quite a few new fly patterns as well over the course of the year. I distinctly remember fishing once on a delayed harvest stream that had seen a lot of angling pressure. I couldn't get a strike on any of my usual go-to patterns, and finally switched to a much smaller nymph than I would usually fish. Several fish later, I realized that I tend to have a few fly patterns that I use all the time instead of trying to match the fly to the situation. Since that day, if fishing is tough I'm much quicker to try a different pattern, size, color, or type. Some days it has made the difference between success and failure. 

*Wet Wading in Warm Weather

Along with all the fishing lessons I learned, I had a lot of fun. I've been tying more flies and learning to tie new patterns. I've spent more time outdoors doing the things I love, and finally the writer's block seems to have been cured. I had so much fun during 2018 doing the one trout a month quest that I've continued it this year. So far as of the time I'm writing this in July I've managed to keep the streak going. I do think that as long as I'm able and life allows it, I want to keep trying to catch trout all twelve months of the year. It has gone beyond just a challenge to myself to see if I could do it, and turned into an appreciation for the challenge of fly fishing and all that comes with it. I realize that quite a few of the lessons I've learned are things that any good fly fisherman should already know. I'm just one of those hard headed individuals that has to try things themselves in order for it to sink in. I know this has been a long post, and if you've read down this far I would like to say thank you for reading my ramblings. I've been doing a fair amount of fishing and fly tying lately, and I plan to have several new posts up on this blog soon.

- Joseph

* Credit for these photos to my wife Trina

Hello Out There!

Proof I've Been Fishing, Just Not Blogging

Hello there! It's been a while! Looking back, it's been a little over a year and a half since my last ramblings on this blog. Ironically, this was in a post called New Year's Resolutions, where I wrote about my plans to both fish and blog more often. I have been fishing more often, and so far since the time I wrote that post I have managed to catch at least one trout each month while fly fishing. The original intent of my personal challenge of a trout a month had three purposes. I wanted to improve my skills as a fly fisherman, improve my fly tying (replacing the flies that got chewed up by all those trout, or more realistically replacing all the flies that got broken off on rocks, snagged on bushes, or stuck in trees), and also hopefully have lots of trips to write about on this blog.

I feel like that two of my three goals have been met. I feel like I've become a better all around trout fisherman, and I've learned quite a bit about how to catch fish during times that I used to write off as the wrong time of year to fish. I've also found more reasons to spend time at the desk tying flies, and through that I feel like I've learned some new techniques, tips, tricks, and patterns that have made fly tying even more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from an expert at any of this, but it has been fun to learn more about the sport that I enjoy so much.

The third goal was to up the frequency of posts on this blog. I'm ashamed to say that's one goal that didn't even come close to being accomplished. I really enjoy blogging, and I have missed the time spent writing and reflecting on my outdoor experiences. I've been doing quite a bit of fishing lately, along with tying flies, and I'm hoping to spend some time writing about it all. With the caveat that I've been known to say this before and not follow through, I am planning to spend some time blogging and see if I can't get some new things on here soon. If you happen to read this, thank you for taking the time to stop by. Hopefully things will pick up around here, but either way it's good to be back.

- Joseph

A Few Favorite Dry Flies

When I wrote the post Anticipation a few days ago, I didn't realize that I would be writing a second blog post along the same lines. This time however, it's not deer season that I'm anticipating, but rather cold, clear mountain streams and pretty wild trout. It's been a while, (way too long), since I've made a trip up to the mountains to fish some of my favorite wild trout streams. I've decided that there is only one remedy for this, and that's to go trout fishing.

The summer seems to be flying by, and as a school teacher that's the last thing I want to happen. I love what I do, but I also enjoy summer vacation and I'm never quite ready for it to end. In anticipation of a fishing trip, I sat down at my fly tying desk the other day and worked on tying up several summertime essentials to restock my fly box. I was running low on several dry fly patterns that I love to use, and it had been too long since I took the time to tie any flies.

The act of fly tying is similar to checking trail cameras for me. Both activities are fun in their own right, but also serve to remind me of good times to come. Here are a few of the fly patterns I tied the other day, along with the recipes for them. None of these flies are original designs of mine, but they are the dry flies that I use most frequently. These are all flies that I've had good luck with here in North Carolina, and hopefully they will work for you too.

Thunderhead

Thunderhead - This is usually one of the first flies I try during the summer, and often the only one I use during a trip. This fly is a sentimental favorite, because it is the pattern that I caught my first trout on a dry fly on, a pretty little wild brown that hooked me as much as I hooked it.

Hook: TMC 100 or Mustad 94840; 12-16
Thread: 6/0 Black
Tail: Brown Hackle Fibers
Body: Superfine Gray Dubbing
Wing: White Calf Tail
Hackle: Brown and Grizzly Mixed

Rio Grande Trude

Rio Grande Trude - If a Thunderhead isn't working, this is usually my second choice, and sometimes my first. I've had especially good luck with this fly on brook trout.

Hook: TMC 100 or Mustad 94840; 12-16

Thread: 6/0 Black

Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet

Body: Superfine Black Dubbing

Wing: White Calf Tail

Hackle: Brown

Deer Hair Caddis

Deer Hair Caddis - I've used these a lot over the years. I like to fish this fly in rougher or faster water, since it seems to float well in these conditions. This is just a basic Elk Hair Caddis tied with deer body hair. Both elk and deer hair seem to work about equally well for me for this fly.

Hook: TMC 100 or Mustad 94840; 10-18
Thread: 6/0 Brown
Body: Superfine Tan Dubbing (Sometimes I use hare's mask, olive, or cinnamon dubbing)
Wing: Deer Body Hair
Hackle: Palmered Brown Hackle

Tennessee Wulff

Tennessee Wulff - This is another pattern that I like to use in faster water. I've always heard our wild trout in NC like flies with some yellow on them, and while I don't have any scientific evidence to back this claim up, they do seem to like this fly. Since we have sparse hatches in most of our wild freestone streams, attractor patterns like this will usually do the trick.

Hook: TMC 100 or Mustad 94840; 10-16

Thread: 6/0 Black

Tail: Brown Bucktail

Body: Peacock Herl with a Yellow Floss Band

Wing: White Calf Tail

Hackle: Brown

These are just a few of the patterns that I like to tie and carry in my fly box, but unless there's a visible hatch or I'm fishing a technical stream like the Davidson, one of these four patterns are usually tied on my tippet if I'm dry fly fishing. I can't think of many things more exciting than seeing a wild trout take a dry fly, and I'm planing on giving a few trout the opportunity to see these flies very soon. If you get a chance to give any of these a try, I hope they work as well for you as they have for me.

- Joseph 

Reflections on a Year of Ramblings

Today marks the one year anniversary of NC Outdoor Ramblings. To be completely honest, I'm amazed that it has been a year already since I started this blog. This first year has definitely been a learning experience for me about the world of blogging, and I wanted to take just a few minutes to reflect on the previous year.

To start with, I began the blog June 28, 2012 on a whim after having a conversation with my wife. I had been reading several outdoor blogs, and really enjoyed them and the unique perspective that each one brought to my favorite subjects - hunting and fishing. I was talking to my wife and mentioned to her that I thought being an outdoor writer would be an interesting career, never mentioning to her the fact that I had been playing with the idea of starting a blog. I always knew that a career in writing probably wasn't in the cards for me, and I never had any aspirations of making money off of my writing. I just enjoy being able to tell a story about the outdoors. My wife actually was the one who suggested that I start a blog, and that's when I admitted to her that I had been playing around with the idea for a while. Her suggestion was the final push I needed, and NC Outdoor Ramblings was off and running.

Initially, I struggled with the theme for this blog. It seems like the majority of the blogs that I read on a regular basis are fly fishing blogs, and for a while I thought about making my blog only fly fishing related. A few things kept me from doing a strictly fly fishing blog. One of the first reasons was that I knew in the winter time, I would struggle to find things to write about as I was likely to be out hunting instead of fishing. I figured that I didn't fish enough or tie enough flies through the winter months to have enough fresh content for the blog. Another reason I decided to stay away from a strictly fly fishing blog is I wanted to have the opportunity to write about my experiences with everything outdoors, not just fly fishing. I figured that if I made the blog name relate to fly fishing, people might be surprised to find lots of hunting stories or posts about the garden on here.

Finally, I decided to make this a blog about the outdoors in general, and I figured that would include fly fishing, hunting, and gardening - three of my favorite outdoor activities. This way, posts about an occasional hiking trip or neat pictures from the backyard or garden would have a home on the blog. Looking back over the posts from the past year, I can see a definite theme to them based on the seasons. In the spring through late summer, the posts were mainly about the garden and fishing trips, and along about September the focus switched to hunting until around the end of February. This pretty well sums up the way a typical year in the outdoors goes for me, although there are always the exceptions of late fall/winter gardening or fishing trips.

Starting off, I had no idea if anyone would ever be reading this blog, or if it would wind up being just an online journal of my (attempts at) writing. Over the past year, I feel fortunate to have made some connections with other bloggers in the outdoor blogging community, both through the Outdoor Blogger Network and through comments left here on the blog. The online world continues to amaze me, because I never would have thought about "meeting" other outdoors people in this way a few years ago. I've discovered some great blogs by writers who put me to shame, and I've hopefully been able to improve my own writing just a little in the process.

As I start my second year of writing this blog, I am looking forward to continuing to share my outdoor experiences. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by here to read, leave a comment, followed the blog or added this blog to a blog roll, liked the Facebook page, or followed me on Twitter. Hopefully this time next year, I will have lots of new experiences to reflect back on.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Adventures in Popper Making

The other day, while my wife and I were rambling around the Smokies, we made a stop in Townsend, Tennessee at the local fly shop where I intended to pick up some more material to tie streamers with. Of course, being a fly shop, I had to look around a little bit at all the different tying materials. I can honestly say I'm not much of a shopper at all, but put me in an outdoor store or a fly shop and it might take me a while to get out. In the course of looking around, I ran across a display of popper tying supplies. Tying my own bass and bream poppers is something that I have been meaning to learn how to do, and I figured there was no time like the present. Before it was all said and done, I had picked up enough material to tie several different colors of poppers.

My 2nd Attempt - After the Pink Popper Incident

Once we got home from Tennessee, I was anxious to give popper making a try. Up until this point, I had been buying all the poppers I fished with, and just about the only flies that I had ever tied to use in warm water had been the Triple Threat streamers that I used for smallmouth fishing. After doing a little Internet research and looking at the directions that came with the popper bodies I bought, I set out to give popper making a shot.

Yellow Popper

Right away, I was treated to some new experiences, such as the fingernail polish aisle in Wal-Mart. I had read on the Internet that clear fingernail polish with glitter worked well as a sealer for the finished poppers, and that Sharpie markers were handy to use to color the bodies. Armed with that knowledge, it was off to gather materials. I took my wife along with me for two reasons - number one, I wasn't sure I could even find the aisle with the fingernail polish, and two I figured that if she was with me it wouldn't raise as many eyebrows. She thought the whole thing was hilarious, and kept threatening to tell everyone that I was in Wal-Mart shopping for nail polish. Once that ordeal was over, it was off to the vise to give tying poppers a try.

Green Bug

The next thing I learned very quickly about tying poppers is that it takes Zap-A-Gap about .000002 seconds to bond my fingers to the foam popper bodies. After a few sticky situations, I started to get the hang of gluing the bodies on and keeping my fingers off. I also managed to eventually get my fingers all unstuck from each other and functioning again, but it was touch-and-go for a while.

Blue and White Popper

One last thing I figured out on my first attempt was that if I didn't give the marker enough time to dry, my white popper with a red face would turn into a pink popper with a red face with the first application of nail polish. I know that I've got long way to go with the learning curve on popper making, but it's fun taking on a new challenge. Now if I can just get my fingers unglued from this keyboard!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

The Spring in Pictures

Once again, my good intentions have run afoul of reality. Last time I posted, I mentioned that I intended to pick up the pace a little bit on this blog and try to do better than one post a month. Unfortunately, it hasn't exactly worked out that way. This spring has been a very busy time, and there are a bunch of blog posts that I meant to write, but somehow they never got done. Rather than write up a bunch of separate blog posts about things that have already happened, I figured that since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'd let the pictures from this spring do most of the talking for me. School is out for students on Monday, and for us teachers on Wednesday this coming week, so hopefully the fishing and blogging will both increase, but this time I've learned my lesson. I'm not making any promises. 

Anyway, on to the pictures! I've tried to put these in chronological order, more or less.

Rainbow Trout Triple Threat

I've done a little bit of fly tying off and on, but it seems to really have slacked off with the start of warm weather. I'm a little afraid that I'm going to be tying a half dozen here and a half dozen there before fishing trips this summer just to keep up with what I need.

The Front Yard Oak Tree

Early this spring, we had to have the big water oak in our front yard cut down. It had been lightning struck not long after we moved in to the house, and it made it another year or two but was starting to die and large limbs were falling out. I hated to cut this big tree, because my grandparents planted it around sixty years ago when they built our house. I hated to see it go, but at least the wood will help warm the house this coming winter.

Opening Day Tom

One of the blog posts that I fully intended to write that never got completed was about opening day of turkey season. I was lucky enough to harvest a nice tom around 2:00pm on opening day, and it was one of the more exciting hunts I've ever had for turkeys. 

Trent's Turkey

My hunting partner (and brother-in-law) Trent also had success on opening day, harvesting a nice tom late that afternoon.

The garden not long after planting

In between the craziness that is turkey season around our house, we managed to get our garden planted. This year we're trying potatoes for the first time, and it shouldn't be long before its time to dig them and see how we did. We also planted corn, squash, zucchini, sweet onions, cabbage, jalapenos, cayenne pepper, bell pepper, banana pepper, cauliflower, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon, and the sweet potatoes will be planted as soon as the ground dries out enough to plow one more time.

Trina with a bream

My wife Trina has gone fishing with me a few times so far this spring, and I'm ashamed to say tends to out fish me most of the time.

Monster Bream

Lots of rain and lack of time have conspired to keep me off of the trout and smallmouth streams these last few months, and what fishing I've done has mainly been at a small pond that is tough to fly fish because of it's size and location in the middle of the woods. I'm not going to complain about the rain, but it does seem like the rivers have been blown out any time I get a chance to go here lately. I'm itching to break out the long rod and chase some trout, and I'm hoping to make that happen one day soon. In the meantime, I'll take my fishing wherever and however I can.

Backyard Visitor

This deer has been an infrequent visitor to our backyard for the last three years. It's always amazing to see her, and it never ceases to amaze me what can be seen just outside our windows.

Dragonfly

This dragonfly thought my wife's fishing rod would make a good spot to rest on a warm afternoon at the pond.

The Garden

This is a more recent picture of the garden, and hopefully shows some progress. I can almost taste those fresh tomato sandwiches and fried squash! It won't be too much longer now!

Blueberries

And one last picture from our little backyard orchard. I would've liked to post a picture of our cherry tree hanging full of ripe cherries, but unfortunately the birds beat me to them this year. The apples, pears, and peaches are all coming along, and the new blueberry bushes I set out earlier this spring are putting on some new growth.

All things considered, its been a busy but rewarding spring around here so far. I've missed writing on the blog, and hopefully there will be some interesting things to blog about in the near future. I feel fortunate to be able to do all of these things, and I still find it amazing that other people occasionally stop by here to read my ramblings. If I can stay off the river and out of the garden long enough to sit in front of the computer, there should be some new blog posts up soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Rambling Toward 2013

I figured that I would jump on the year-end post bandwagon and reflect back on my first six months as a blogger. I started this blog on June 28 with a post titled Here Goes Nothing!, and in that post I outlined my reasons for starting NC Outdoor Ramblings. Six months and 32 posts later, I'm still here rambling about my outdoor adventures. As I sit here on the last day of 2012, I'm humbled that people actually take the time to read my Internet ramblings. According to Google Analytics, this blog has had 452 unique visitors since I started it six months ago. I feel like I've made some connections in the outdoor blogging community, and have found some wonderful blogs that I enjoy reading by writers who are much more talented than I am, both through comments left on this blog and through the Outdoor Blogger Network.

For my year-end post, I thought I would write up a year-in-review of some of my favorite posts from this past year, starting with this past summer when I started the blog.

Broad River Bream

My first post of any substance when I began the blog was Warm Water Fly Fishing, a post about my new found love of warm water fly fishing, and why I enjoyed it.

Davidson River Brown

There were lots of posts about fly fishing for trout, including Summer's Last Cast.

From the garden

There were also a few about our vegetable garden and orchard, such as A Tasty Legacy.

Blue/Purple/White Triple Threat Streamer

There was a post or two on fly tying, including one about my favorite smallmouth fly the Triple Threat.

Bumblebee

Some of my writings weren't about hunting, fishing, or gardening, but nature in general, including my Backyard Ramblings.

2012 8pt Buck

Then as hunting season went into full swing, I found out that Patience Pays Off.

NW PA Snow

Last week, my wife and I were in Pennsylvania to visit her family and celebrate Christmas. Mother Nature helped out with a white Christmas and about 12" of snow! I had thought about trying to do a little trout fishing while we were there, as Oil Creek is close by and quickly becoming one of my favorite places to fish outside of NC. However, the below freezing temperatures changed my mind. As I move into 2013 as a blogger, I plan to continue to write about my outdoor experiences. I already have some posts written, and some of those will see the light next year. Deer season is over, and fishing will probably be slow for a few more months, but there are flies to tie, and small game seasons are still open through the end of February. Hopefully there will be some squirrel and rabbit hunting in the near future for me.

As we end this year and begin a new one, I hope that everyone has a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings this past year!

-Joseph

Fly Tying - Triple Threat Streamer

On my post about smallmouth fishing the other day, I mentioned that most of my bass were caught on a Triple Threat streamer. This has been one of the most consistent smallmouth flies for me, and I have had good success using these for trout as well.

I first heard of Triple Threats a little over a year ago while I was fishing around the Titusville, Pennsylvania area. My wife's family is from this area, and we try to visit a few times a year. One thing that I always look forward to is getting to fish Oil Creek and some of the surrounding streams in the area. Last year in May we went up for my wife's aunt and uncle's 25th anniversary party and stayed a few days. I took my fly rod with the hopes of catching one of the hatches that Oil Creek is famous for. However, when we arrived there had been several days of wet weather and Oil Creek was too high and muddy to fish. I went to the local fly shop, Oil Creek Outfitters, to ask if there were any other options since I wasn't familiar with many streams in the area. Mike Laskowski, the owner of Oil Creek Outfitters, gave me some advice on where to fish in some smaller streams that weren't as affected by the high water. He also was kind enough to show me how to tie the Triple Threat streamer, a fly pattern that he had originated. He explained that he named the fly the Triple Threat because it was effective on trout, bass, and steelhead. I feel like this fly will be effective on almost any fish that preys on small minnows.

PA brown trout on a Triple Threat - my introduction to this fly

What few fish I was able to catch on that trip were caught on these streamers, and I have had success with bass and trout both since then. I haven't personally caught any steelhead on these or anything else, but a trip to the Lake Erie tributaries is definitely on my list for the future!

Crappie like them too!

I wanted to give the background on this fly before I posted the recipe in order to give credit where it is due. I didn't want anyone to get the impression that this is an original design of mine, although it sure has helped me catch fish! If you're a fly tier give this one a try, I think you'll like it.

I apologize if the pictures aren't the best, this is one of my first attempts at photographing flies. Hopefully it will get better!

Triple Threat

Recipe and Instructions below the jump