Johnsfolly

I never frown on any fish. Nice rainbow!

During the winter I always look to coldwater fishing to start the year off right. In Missouri that usually meant a run down to the Current, Eleven Point, Little Piney rivers or even hit the C&R at Bennett's or Montauk. Even the urban trout program would be an outlet to be catching something and after Feb 1 would mean a few fresh fish dinners. Living in Columbia that would mean any where from 100 to 180 miles one way just to get to fish. Even with the drive I would most likely get into a bunch of active fish, mostly trout, but also sculpin, shadow bass, pickerel, rock bass, and others that live in those cooler waters all year round. Here in Maryland I have the same thought process. Look for cold water action, either ice fishing or trout stream or river fishing. I don't know if this is a typical year, but it has been warm (40's) throughout the winter thus far. So there are no safe ice fishing opportunities yet. Through Jan so far there has been at least one heavy rain event every week of the month. Mostly they have occurred on Friday or Saturday, which blows out the trout streams. So I have been watching You Tube videos from the Gunpowder river, a tailwater river that I fished last year on one of my early trips out to MD before we moved here (it rained then as well). I hadn't fished by the dam, instead fished at a lower access and caught a couple of stream bred brown trout on that trip. I also dug into the fishing regulations and found that in MD artificial baits do include soft plastic baits that are unsecented. the guys in the You Tube videos were using small crappie jigs and catching browns. The Gunpowder is a C&R river in it's upper stretches up to the dam. So this week the rain came on Thurs and pushed the gage height on the Gunpowder up by 4 feet, but it was dropping just as fast. Yesterday I packed my gear and went up there to fish. As i pulled in at 7:30 (its 100 miles from my house), the sun was coming up and there was fog lifting off of the river below the dam. There was one other car at the top of the dam. I got my gear together and rigged a tandem bait rig with a pearl bobby garland shad on a 1/32 oz jig head and a green pumpkin slider with a chartreuse paddle tail also on a 1/32 oz jig head and headed down the 220 steps to the observation level and then down the steep bank to the river below the dam. Water was still running about a12 to 18 inches higher than normal. The area that you can fish this pool is not very big and two guys were already there. So I started fishing closer to the tail end of the pool. I could see a few rock piles and structure out ahead of me and made several casts with the crappie tandem rig. No bites, but I found quite a bit of unseen structure that I got hung into. I ended up breaking off the tandem rig when I got into a fallen tree top. I switched to a 1/8 oz silver Johnson slimfisher spoon. With the water flow I put a split shot about 12 inches above the spoon. That still didn't get me deep enough. I put on another about 4 inches closer to the bait and cast out into an eddy near the other bank. It didn't take long and I had my first fish of the day and year on the line, a feisty brown trout. Not very big by Missouri standards, but an average sized brown for this river. I put on another split shot and cast into that same eddy and caught another brown. The guys next to me had not caught a fish all morning on the plastic worms and crappie jigs, They got bites, but no fish. After my second brown the one guy put on a spoon as well. As I was landing my third brown trout out of that eddy (again after I put on another split shot) I saw them heading back up the hill to the cars. I moved into their spot closer to the deeper water by the dam. I switched reels to my 6# nanofil reel and a small floating jerkbait. Nothing. I made the switch to one of Duane's (@duckydoty) rainbow trout jerkbaits (the bottom one from the photo). I made several casts and then got hung in old fishing line. The line cut me off and I was heartbroken. I did switch back to the 4# Pline reel and put back on the spoon. I caught three more browns, including this one which was the last fish of the day. I had a bittersweet trip. Happy to have finally caught some fish, but bummed about losing one of Duane's baits. Then the precarious hike climb back to the observation level and the 220 steps to the car. I will definitely be back to this river more often in the upcoming weeks.

Sounds like great hunts. It seemed like a tough season with few birds. Congrats for sticking it out to the end! Nice ducks!

Very nice! Congrats on your rainbow.

Congrats Brett! You guys looked quite happy with the trip and the time you got to spend together. Great memories!

Sounds like a great time once you had the pattern. Congrats on your PB!

I have caught trout down there using white and olive (one below caught on white) microjigs and weighted egg patterns without floats/indicators on spinning gear and 2# line.

I was a huge fan of the Fishing Hole. Though I tend to watch more hunting shows than fishing shows lately, I do like Zona since he can be hilarious. I remember one show were he was convinced that they were using. 3D camera. Cracked me up everytime they would push a bass up into the view to get the 3D effect. Even my wife was laughing.

Scrambled eggs this morning. Made from the first batch of Folly farm fresh eggs since we brought our girls out to Maryland 😁.

Love dried cranberries as is and in many things including salads. Also a big fan of dried and fresh figs, especially mission figs. Don't have my own tree like some .

We do have dried cranberries in our mix. I like the orange from the juice and zest and the coconut in the MDC recipe that BH follows.

So am I!

Homemade granola! It's what's for breakfast . It's a good start, but still has some work to be as good as @BilletHead version.

Great Cuttie buddy! I would have loved to have been fishing with you, but as Marty said we will live through your reports until we can get out after them ourselves.

@ness I had leftovers from Sunday's braised short ribs and Brussel sprouts for lunch yesterday. It was still delicious a second time around !

Jared welcome to the forum. Lots of great folks and centuries of experience in all of the reports and posts on this forum! Many modest guys as well. Don't be afraid to PM these guys and get out and meet them and fish together. Can't wait to be reading your posts and seeing your trophy photos😁.

He's the primary reason that I dislike Walmart in Columbia so much. He owns about a third of the land in that city and would raise property lease rates of his competitors. He would strong arm the city council folks to raise taxes to pay for roadwork to his stores.

Chiefs won SB IV against Minnesota in 1970.

Raptors are protected throughout the country. You would need special permits to possess or use raptors or parts of raptors, e.g. talons, beaks, feathers, etc.

All the birds in that diorama are carved from wood.

With all 4 Doty's, I feel bad for those trout . Lots of them will get to see the sun and have a near death experience before getting released!

Duane they keep getting better! Those look fantastic!

Its caled portion control😁. Try to make enough just for one meal. Or just have the leftovers for lunch. @fishinwrench spaghetti is great the next day!

IF Tony Romo was the defensive coordinator. He was spot on at calling logical plays for the Pats to execute based upon the KC defensive schemes.

Last night was braised beef short ribs. I dusted the ribs with a mixture of flour, ground cumin, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Browned all sides in the dutch oven with olive oil. Made a braising liquid that included a mushroom liquer (beef stock and dried hen of the woods mushrooms), a Yeungling black and Tan stout beer, and beef stock. Added three bay leafs, a bowl full of peeled garlic and chopped onion. Covered the Dutch oven and into a 325 deg oven for 2 and a half hours. I added carrots and continued cooking. Livie cleaned and halved some Brussel sprouts that got mixed with minced shallots, olive oil and bacon pieces. Increased the oven temp to 350 and put in the Brussel sprouts. Cooked them covered for about 25 mins then uncovered for 15 to 20 mins. The meat fell off the bone and the garlic cloves were creamy with that roasted garlic nutiness. Served these with the beef and mashed potatoes.