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Post by joesp1897 on Mar 23, 2007 10:13:05 GMT -5
Any of you trout fish? I am planning a day trip up to the Cranberry River next weekend to try and catch a few. I haven't tried fly fishing yet, but there is a guy that I work with that is going to teach me in some streams around here in southern WV.
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Post by Trad on Mar 25, 2007 8:08:22 GMT -5
I do. Cranberry is one of my favorite places to go. I fish the C&R below Woodbine and when I have the time I love to hike in and fish Dogway for brook.
Yesterday, I went to the South Fork of the Cherry because the water is a little warmer than up in Cranberry and I figured the fish would be more active this early. Everybody and their brothers had the same thought and it was pretty crowded. It had just been stocked but with all the people beating the water the fishing wasn't that good, but I caught a few and it was nice just to get out on the water and enjoy the weather.
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Post by CaptNate on Mar 25, 2007 11:31:59 GMT -5
I do...
Time constraints limit me from getting up north much anymore for freshwater trout fishing though. But every early spring I was usually on a stream/river searching for rainbow's...usually wearing gloves, winter jacket, and a wool hat.
Even though they are part of the drum family, sea trout are a steady part of my fishing here. Yet a lot of people don't really get into it. The vibrant fish colors, the lures/flies used to catch them, and the colder conditions they like, remind me of those times up north.
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Post by RanDaddy on Mar 25, 2007 23:19:12 GMT -5
I love fishing for any species. My father-in-law and I went up to Cranberry two years ago and had a blast. We both caught our limits in a couple of hours. Great day! Down here, there are limited places to trout fish that are not so crowded that you are fishing on top of one another. If I go to a lake or stream that is real crowded, I'll just go home.
I look forward actually to when the bluegill are biting. That may not seem like too much 'sport', but my father-in-law and I will go to a local lake and catch about 40-45 palm-sized bluegill, filet them out, and have an old fashioned fish fry in my back yard that evening. Bluegill are some of the tastiest fish there are!
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Post by Trad on Mar 26, 2007 6:50:46 GMT -5
I sometimes flyfish for bluegills. It can be a lot of fun. I use a 4 weight and really light leader and tippet and even a bluegill can provide a little "sport." In the summer if you don't have time to go to the mountains just hitting a local pond can be good practice.
In the last copuple of years I've also started flyfishing for smallmouths on some of the bigger rivers (New, lower Greenbrier, etc.) and that can be a blast. You can flyfish for just about anything even if trout/salmon purists might not consider it. I know people who flyfish for muskies and even carp. One of these days, I'll probably try it.
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Post by joesp1897 on Mar 26, 2007 7:50:53 GMT -5
This is one of the reasons I would like to get into fly fishing. I have been wanting to do this so I could run over to Plum Orchard and try it out. It would be a good change from using small spinners or a bobber to fish for blue gills.
BTW, the reason I mention Plum Orchard, I caught the biggest blue gill in my life last year there. It was a good 9 or 10 inches long and weighed probably a 1 and a half.
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Post by sdot on Mar 26, 2007 8:43:06 GMT -5
Every time I have been to Cranberry I have been surrounded and hated it. I stopped getting the stamp for state parks or whatever and I hit the less frequented streams. Big Laurel is about 10 minutes away from Cranberry and there is never anyone there.
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Post by HuffNfeffeR on Mar 26, 2007 14:38:26 GMT -5
I grew up trout fishing at cranberry, williams river, mill creek and even battle Run (summersville tailwaters) in the fall. They used to stock those Brood trout there in the fall and I would skip class and fish for the day there and catch these monsters.
Cranberry would be busier than hell even back then (through the 80's). Mill Creek and Shavers Fork were always much more fishable. But through high school and college, me and a few friends would go out to dogway bridge and fish for a few days and eat fish and potatoes for like three days. There were never as many who took the time to go the 7 miles out to the bridge. But I have caught my limit at the gate before we even made our way to Dogway Bridge.
That said, I have not been fishing at all for almost 9 years.
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Post by Energy Vampire on Mar 26, 2007 14:59:17 GMT -5
south fork of cherry is good and less crowded
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Post by CaptNate on Mar 26, 2007 20:06:42 GMT -5
You can flyfish for just about anything even if trout/salmon purists might not consider it. I know people who flyfish for muskies and even carp. One of these days, I'll probably try it. You can absolutely fly fish for nearly any fish species. Even bottom fish, just chum em to the surface and put out a fly. Sharks, billfish, bottom fish, freshwater, inshore, etc. Carp have become popular fish to pursue with flyrods. Find what they are eating, tie something like it. They are very spooky though, but fight hard!
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Post by RanDaddy on Mar 26, 2007 20:43:31 GMT -5
This is one of the reasons I would like to get into fly fishing. I have been wanting to do this so I could run over to Plum Orchard and try it out. It would be a good change from using small spinners or a bobber to fish for blue gills. BTW, the reason I mention Plum Orchard, I caught the biggest blue gill in my life last year there. It was a good 9 or 10 inches long and weighed probably a 1 and a half. My father-in-law has been wanting to go to Plum Orchard for a couple of years now. We have always heard how good and how big the bluegill were up there. Now, you have whetted my appetite!
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Post by joesp1897 on Mar 27, 2007 5:57:46 GMT -5
Going back to that Bluegill that I caught, it covered my hand that was spread out EASILY, and not to mention that I am not that small of a man, I am 6'-5".
I usually go to the left side of the lake, there are little docks up on that side that get you out past the water lillies during the summer months.
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Post by Trad on Mar 27, 2007 6:52:57 GMT -5
I've been to Plum Orchard too. There is a little cove on the right (as you face the lake from the boat launch) where you can fish the edge of the lily pads and we caught both gills and bass along there.
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Post by eastbeast927 on Mar 27, 2007 9:45:07 GMT -5
I haven't trout fished since I left Pa. I loved it, though.
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Post by HuffNfeffeR on Mar 27, 2007 9:47:51 GMT -5
In Pa, isn't Trout Fishing a "Season"? I used to do some business on the norther tier of Pa, along the NY border, and I seem to remember life stopping in the Spring when "Trout Season" came in.
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Post by eastbeast927 on Mar 27, 2007 9:53:37 GMT -5
Yeah, it comes in in mid-April. Many states have trout seasons, including WV, I believe...at least they used to. That way they can stock the fish and let them get aclimated to the surroundings. In PA, people follow the stock trucks around, and as soon as they leave, they begin to fish and most of the fish only know that they get fed by people, so they have no idea that this food has hooks in it. They won't even five them a day to find some place to hide.
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Post by joesp1897 on Mar 27, 2007 10:27:36 GMT -5
They do that here also, it kills me to see these guys just jump out of there trucks and start fishing for these fish. It kills me when I am all ready and a hole fishing and these people just come right up next to you and fish and try to crowd you out. There is all most no sport in it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2007 14:23:50 GMT -5
I enjoy going to the Bowden fish hatchery. Stick your hand in and you got fish. Much easier than this fly fishing thing.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2007 20:00:05 GMT -5
....out in Oklahoma Molly...they call that "noodling"...and for flatheads instead of trout!
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Post by Jerry Seinfield on Aug 25, 2007 14:23:37 GMT -5
....out in Oklahoma Molly...they call that "noodling"...and for flatheads instead of trout! We noodle in WV too. Only its at the drive-in and its for clams.
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Post by joesp1897 on Mar 25, 2010 7:40:41 GMT -5
I am heading up to the Williams River this weekend and I was wondering if anyone else has been up there yet or recently. I saw on the Mon State Park website that part of the road is washed out in places. If we can't fish there we will probably hit the Cherry, or drive over to the Elk.
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Post by sdot on Mar 29, 2010 17:50:08 GMT -5
I'm going to take a couple days next week and head down for some fishin with my dad. We'll probably go up to Big Laurel as its been our fav spot for a few years.
Has anyone done the catch and release part of Cranberry? I figure is might not be as crowded down there...
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Post by Energy Vampire on Mar 29, 2010 20:00:51 GMT -5
I'm going to take a couple days next week and head down for some fishin with my dad. We'll probably go up to Big Laurel as its been our fav spot for a few years. Has anyone done the catch and release part of Cranberry? I figure is might not be as crowded down there... catch and release is for faggots
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Post by marylandeer on Mar 29, 2010 23:41:30 GMT -5
I'm going to take a couple days next week and head down for some fishin with my dad. We'll probably go up to Big Laurel as its been our fav spot for a few years. Has anyone done the catch and release part of Cranberry? I figure is might not be as crowded down there... Where are you from?
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Post by sdot on Mar 30, 2010 15:48:11 GMT -5
My parents live in Canvas
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Post by prestonco on Apr 6, 2010 22:25:55 GMT -5
Has anyone done the catch and release part of Cranberry? I figure is might not be as crowded down there... You'll be fine, whenever I go there's usually some dickhead fly fishing in a hole....I just cast into him until he gets pissed off and leaves.
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Post by Trad on May 3, 2010 11:43:56 GMT -5
I went to the Summersville tailwaters on Saturday. It was a bit crowded but the fishing was good. I almost caught probably the second best trout I ever have. It looked a good 24" and probably 7 lbs (my biggest was a 26" fatty at I estimate (using a size calculator not a scale) at 10 lb.
This one got away. Really pissed me off. I saw it rising in a pool surrounded by these huge boulders. I nearly killed myself climbing, descending and then wading on this tiny ledge to get into a position where I could cast to it (losing my net in the process). Then I made one of my rare great casts --- 55-60 feet and soft and accurate and hooked it. I screwed up though by misreading where it was going and it got slack in the line and it broke me off. Damn.
I've also been largemouth fishing more than usual just because there are closer places for it and I've been lacking time . It's way different tossing heavy bugs and poppers than tiny flies and I'm not very good at it, but we were at Woodrum for the the first time in years and one day the fish were going absolutely nuts. They weren't spawning yet but for some reason they were super aggressive. Fish were hitting practically anything we threw and sometimes two or three would chase a retrieve. We each caught about 50. None of them were very big -- mostly 10-14 inches --- but for sheer numbers I've never seen anything like it.
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Post by joesp1897 on May 3, 2010 12:02:17 GMT -5
I also went to Summersville tailwaters this weekend, but I went on Sunday afternoon. I caught 6. They were all a pretty descent sized trout. They all were in the 18-20 inch range. I wasn't fly fishing though.
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Post by Trad on May 3, 2010 15:33:29 GMT -5
Most of the ones I caught were more like 12-14" with one 18". They were all skinny though. I did see a couple of other people catch bigger ones. I also saw some really big goldens holding in the fast water but I didn't see anyone catch any of them.
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Post by HuffNfeffeR on May 3, 2010 15:51:27 GMT -5
Those big goldens are finicky. I have tempted them with everything I had...and it always seems as if after I Finau-ly five up, someone walks up and catches them on the one rooster tail I dont own.
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