Appalachian Trail Adventures Part I

I spent a few day hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I started in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I started a day later than what I wanted to due to rain.
I met a lot of interesting people on the trail. Some of their stories you can't make up. I think the trail characters add to the charm and allure of the AT in general.
The trail has shelters spaced out about a days hike apart. They are 3 sided structures usually with a picnic table, fire ring, water source and a privy. Accomodations are spartan to say the least. But after all nobody expects 4 star accomodations in the woods.
After leaving Harpers Ferry I walked along the Potomac river on the old C & O canal towpath. The path runs 185 miles from Georgetown, DC to Cumberland, MD. The towpath is where mules use to pull barges up and down the river in days before the railroad. A lot of joggers and bikers use the path to exercise. It is a pretty walk along the river, but a little boring. I was glad to finish this portion of the trail and get into the 'woods'. The rest of the journey will follow in additional entries.

Unusual building style in Harpers Ferry
Hillside

A view of the Potomac river thru the trees.

View down river
Jefferson rock

More 2008 fish pics

St Mary's lake crappie

Spring break fish
St mary's pickerel

Calvert pond crappie

Early 2008 fish pics

Some various fish picture from 2008

Mayport Florida sea trout, caught a lot of them 1 day

Double header

Maryland early season trout limit
Andrea's Calvert pond bass

Recent fishing pictures

It's been awhile since I've updated these pages. So here's some recent fishing pictures.

Watch those teeth!

This guy had a full belly. Notice the bulging stomach area. He still went after the lure anyway.

Another picture of the same fish.

The pickerel seem to bite fairly regular at the local lake in the spring and fall.

Decent sized crappie.


We even took some fish trolling out to our spots. We'd trail a lure behind the boat and go slow. We'd catch a few fish out in the deeper pockets of water.

I saved the best for last. This hungry jumped on a lure half his size. This spring we've had a bunch of bass between 5 & 7 inches caught on lures. You go to set the hook when you feel the bite and launch the fish out of the water.

Monday on the water

Got out on the water today by myself. Fished the golf course pond. Caught plenty of small bass, regular sized bass and chunky bluegills. The smallest measured bass went 5 inches. They were twice the size of the lure. Hard to believe that they could manage to eat a fish half their size. Again the Mepps was the big producer. I even caught a few with an ultralight pole. They are great sport on light tackle. They really put a bend in the pole. I used the fish finder. It showed the deepest parts to be just over 19 feet deep. I was surprised to see that just a few feet off the bank the water was 5 feet deep. No real shallow parts on this lake. That may be why fishing just off the bank is productive here.

Spring is marching forward. The trees are taking shape. There was a pollen scum on the pond and it was evident on rocks and roots bordering the water. I saw a snake make it's way across the water. A beaver also decide to show up. The back part of the pond looks like someone has removed the floating timber and branches. That spot has been productive in the past. Year before that they removed 2 fallen trees that held lots of fish. Not sure of the reason they did that, but it doesn't help the fish when they need a place to hide.

It's hard to get a good picture when you are by yourself.

These bluegills are nice and chunky.

Will the sun ever shine again?

It is still very dreary with tons of cloud cover. I haven't seen the sun in a few days. Hopefully soon it will warm up and we'll be done with winter for good.

I took the portabote out after work. I went to Sewell pond hoping to try for some bass in the farther reaches in the back of the pond. Most bank anglers can't get in there easily, so I figured with the boat they'd be easy pickings. When I got back there I noticed that the weeds had grown quite a bit from the bottom. It only left about 2 feet of water that was fishable. Most of my casts with a mepps came back covered with weeds. After a few minutes of that I switched to plan B. I ditched the spinning pole for the fly pole. I motored over to deeper water. As I moved I could see the weeds moving lower and lower. I didn't anchor, I just let the wind push the boat across the pond. I raised the trolling motor up just until the prop was barely in the water. After a few casts I was landing crappies. They weren't the biggest in the pond, I've caught some very large crappie out of that pond. But after not catching anything they were welcomed.

I managed 13 fish, a mix of crappie and bluegills. Mostly crappie. I used a zug bug nymph that has been on the pole a while. The fly is starting to look worse for the wear. This spring it has been my go to panfish fly. It produces quite often when nothing else is working.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to target some other species. The local fishing reports are starting to mention that the shad are showing up in decent numbers. Before long spring will be in full bloom and most everything with fins will be active and feeding.

Still Windy, when will it end?

Headed to AAFB for some more fishing. Today we christened the new porta-bote. It was a decent maiden voyage with 22 fish boat. Had 1 nice healthy yellow perch and the rest were fiesty pickerel. Best measured 22 1/2 inches. Lots of fish in the 18 - 20 inch range.


Wind blew the boat all over the pond. I had a nice wind burnt face. I had to reposition the boat all day. Dropped the anchor a whole lot of times.

There were a lots of takeoffs and landings. Even some touch & go practicing. It got noisy a few times.

A tanker coming in for a landing.

Nice fat perch. I didn't even know there were any in this lake.

Look how happy DC gets with her first pickerel of the year.