Thanks for the welcome Zel.
Never fished Merrill Creek. Round Valley and Spruce Run were my haunts, along with various streams.
Don't know if you know any history of RV, but over the years a number of people drowned there; that lake can get nasty in bad weather. Last count I remember from about 30 years ago was 6, whose bodies were never recovered. One did eventually "come up", I think about 20 years ago or so. In the late seventies they had a one man sub there to try to locate the drowning victims, but no luck. The water is too murky/dark down deep. It was once a farming valley. There are still buildings, trees, roads etc. that were flooded over.
I've always loved bass fishing, as well as trout on small streams using ultra light spinng gear. Where I am now in S.C., close to Charleston, there aren't any trout waters, but plenty of places to go for bass. We have two small lakes here in our community; one is more of a large farm pond, the other about 67 acres. Several more large lakes within about a half hour's drive.
The last time I went fishing was in 1988. I just bought a bunch of new "stuff", including two Loomis spinning rods, a Shimano Stradic, two Sage fly rods, a Ross CLA fly reel, lures, line, etc. Tackle I still have from many years ago includes two Shakespear Ugly Stiks, a Fenwick 5ft. ultra light, a Loomis 5ft ultra light, two Daiwa reals, two Shimano ultra light reels, two Fenwick pack rods from my motorcycle days. Still have the first reel I bought 40 years ago, a Mitchell 300.
The "youngest" gear is the Loomis 5ft, and the two Shimanos, all bought in 1988. The other gear goes back 35 years or more.
Now, like everyone else, I'm REALLY antsy waiting for the weather to turn warm and stay that way. We had a really nice week, but it's cooled off again, with rain forecast for almost a week.
