everythingthatswims

Float-n-Fly trout magnet is at it again! There was a little pond at the Christmas tree farm we went to...I couldn't resist

Yeah those are supposed to be subtitles (it says that it's a brookie below the photo). What did you catch?

I eat 11"-13", no size limit on most of the lakes I fish, just 5 fish possession limit.

What?

Get some neoprene stocking foot waders. Keeps you WARM without needing a bunch of layers, and you can step in the water at the ramp if need-be. Also great if you bank fish, slipping and getting one foot wet won't ruin the day, and if you need to wade you can.

Went out in the dumping snow this morning and managed to catch some gorgeous trout! I landed about a dozen wild rainbows, two stocked rainbows, and an almost 15" wild brown. My little brothers had their fare share of wild and stocked rainbows too, as well as a native brook trout. Most of the wild rainbows were like this one Here is the brookie https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106371515902969758858/albums/6086446097966260577/6086446555702908418 Photo of the brown was taken with a camera so I couldn't upload it, but here is a link

Rebel teeny wee-r and 1.5" rebel floater are good cranks from shore when fish are shallow. Pre-spawn crappie and bass tear them up

Smallies in VA are mostly in rivers (I have only caught one in a lake, that isn't supposed to have smallies), they tend to cooperate better than largemouth and will eat at all times of the day with the correct presentation (just DON'T let them see you). They like to relate to rocks with current whereas largemouth hang out in laydowns or in the slowest moving pocket of water they can find. Smallmouth will also eat much smaller baits on a regular basis in warm water.

No it's a black, whites have a slightly different shaped head and their spots are arranged in vertical bars that are very distinct. I always thought the only black crappies I caught were the dark ones in spring (really these were just spawning males) both whites and black turn dark (males) on beds.

I like little x-raps for them too, long pauses. With cranks just a steady retrieve at different speeds until you find what they want. I have not caught many crappies at all on cranks except in the summer. Best thing to do is get a pack of 1.5" charlie brewer slider grubs in junebug, black, or watermelon with a chartreuse tail, and rig them on a 1/32-1/16oz jighead, reel it a slowwwwwww as you can. Or rig float-n-fly style with a small straight tailed plastic of some sort, just pull it 2 feet, let it fall, repeat...<---This will catch lots of bass too in cold water.

The closer you get to the discharge, the warmer it gets, go to the source and try topwater

I have them crush jerk baits and s-wavers all the time, but I have never kept one pinned for more than 5 seconds. If you want to crush them just use little pieces of cut bait with no weight, sight fish and let them swallow it!

STUDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!! Whatcha catch her on?

Sounds like the black spots are an indicator for good fish health, considering all of the photos of fish with black spots are stout chunky bass, and everyone says they catch fish with black spots in healthy bodies of water....I saw a fish this summer that would have gone 6lbs, looked like a freaking leopard it had so many black spots. I WANT THAT BASS

Trout fishing in SW VA on a killer stream known as Whitetop Laurel. We usually stay with family in Abingdon every year and get to fish it 2-3 times during thanksgiving break. Tons of wild and stocked rainbows, a few wild and stocked brookies, and a good number of wild browns. Not many streams where the "Triple Crown" is a common occurrence but we do it often there! Although the weather forecast is putting the trip in jeopardy If we can't go I will start a botched trip tradition of fishing the hot side on Lake Anna

That's a really cool idea with the measurements, I say you get a couple photos from people to test and see how close you get!

That would interfere with measurements

Both of these fish came from the north fork of the Rivanna this spring after torrential flooding. Brookie was 12" and ate a 5" senko

Stick with one proven cold water bait and fish slow. Odds are, worm color and shape aren't keeping the fish from biting.

Fish is closer to the camera than his eyes

Mount Rogers does have a bunch of wild rainbows I have had days catching over 30 in Whitetop Laurel, most are 11" and under, but last year I caught one that was 17", headed to Abingdon on Wednesday weather permitting...I was part of an electrofishing survey a couple summers ago with a Trout Unlimited camp, we shocked a couple 3-4" rainbows in the Rose behind the "packing shed". My guess is that some stocked rainbows reproduced in the stocked section up near the SNP where it stays cooler in the summer, then the fish washed down the Rose and into the Robinson (caught him below the confluence). I know someone who caught a stocked rainbow below the dam of the Rivanna res. this spring...Explain that!

So you think the spots fade in the summer?

What makes it look like a stocked fish???? Department doesn't stock fingerlings at this creek.

"They" say all kinds of stuff about what causes the spots...The fish I caught did come from a very healthy population of fish though.

Evidently, the stocked trout successfully reproduced last spring, I was very surprised, the stream gets pretty warm and low in the summer. Gorgeous fish! Also landed about 40 stocked rainbows between my little brother, his friend, and myself. It was a wide open bite and everyone else must have been deer hunting.