10/8 and 9--Rock Bass, Sunnies, and one decent-sized smallmouth

After teaching Friday morning, I took Ben and his friend Josh out to Mike's place. They each got one good bite on worms, but didn't set the hooks. It seemed like there more than usual tangles, but who knows why we didn't get any hookups. I wanted to clear the skunk, so we hit one side of the ELex, which was churned up and muddy, and then the other, which finally got us a half dozen or so rock bass and red-breast sunfish a piece.

Rockbridge Gothic. Boy with fish.

Look at how much heavier the flow over the dam is.
And also note the picnic bench, which was on the bank 20 yards up, washed into the flow regulators [or whatever those things are]. Also, for the record, I caught two fish while standing and/or walking across that log, on my way back from retrieving baits that Ben had hooked into the rock just past that second regulator.

That nght, after such a frustrating morning (and with five poles and my full box still in the car) I hit the pool just above the S-bend on the 'Lower Maury' and managed a few sunnies, plus one 13" [?] smallie. No pictures. I may have to head a little closer to the S-bend, because there were some serious fish moving in the air just as I packed up.

Saturday, Ben and I got a tip from someone at the soccer game (6-2, go Owls) about a 'honey hole' just behind the Tennis Center at WLU. I don't think we ever got onto it, but we rummaged around and found some fishy looking spots, plus a lurvely nature walk. Have to get back there soon--apparently, there is a spot that is thick with largemouth down there.

10.05 at the East Lex Bridge--minimal size, good numbers

In about an hour after work I pulled out 6 sunnies, 5 bass, and 2 'unhookers,' which is what I'm calling those 'fallfish' after both of them managed to shake themselves off a hook when I pulled them out of the water last night. 9 of those were on a Mepps #2 spinner, 6 of them one cast after another. I stood on a rock and said, "One sunny, one bass...Two sunnies, one bass...two sunnies, one bass, and one unidentifiable unhooker...." Then I got greedy and got FFS (fancy fishing syndrome) and put yet another Mepps into the creek bed when I tried to go downstream and also let my lure drift some. Last two fish were on a Square-A Bomber.

Biggest bass went 8".

We went to the 'Trout and Bass in Rockbridge County' lecture by Doug Bugas last night at VMI. Good stuff. The VDIFWR or whoever they are have a nice new poster out, and this Doug fella also says that this is a freshwater fishing paradise. Muskies in the James, apparently...

A week's worth

Last Friday, Ben, Evan, and I hit the dam at the E. Lex Bridge. On the north side I got about 5 sunnies, but the boys couldn't catch a thing, so we went across the river. On that side we caught about 10-15 redbreast sunfish apiece. My MacBook and the camera conspired, so that I don't have those pictures.

Saturday--Robertson. Worked the weedline, drifted the middle of the lake, nothing. We did see a beaver.

Sunday--no fishing.

Monday--Mike's place. Fish#1 was Evan with a monster hybrid sunny. Fish two was mine, a sizable largemouth. Ben caught the next two largemouth, and they were nice too. One last sunny, and I had to go back to work.

Tuesday at Mike's--Evan opened again, and got a nice largemouth:

I caught three more of those, one pretty runty,

plus a sunny. Shut-out for Ben, but he pouted for maybe a minute and then laughed the whole way home.

W, Th, and F it rained on and off, first time in months, with varying degrees of intensity.

Saturday morning, we tried to fish the Maury off Stuartsburg, and the river had risen 2'. We fished the E. Lex above the dam, and got about 1/2 a bite. We went below the dam, where the water was pouring over the dam so hard the foam built up a foot high in places. We went back up above the dam, 100 yards up the road, and still nothin'. Best news to report is tomorrow we're going to the Gander Mountain in Roanoke--hope they sell parts.