Insect Order Plecoptera

Commonly called stoneflies, these aquatic insects spend most of their lives underwater in what's called the nymph stage.  To undergo their metamorphosis to the adult stage, they make their way out of the water onto rocks or trees where they sprout wings.  For mating, the males make a drumming noise (the beat goes on) by pressing their abdomens against the leaf or ground or whatever they're standing on in order to attract a female.

However, sometimes they find themselves perched not on a rock or a leaf but a fisherman who is standing in a stream near the shore in search of trout.  Such was my situation on Friday on the Little Patuxent.  The momentary annoyance about having a bug crawling on my chin was offset by the realization that this stonefly hatch would be of interest to hungry trout, and sure enough I soon spotted a rising fish feeding on them. 

I've caught trout on this and other streams in early Spring in exactly these circumstances, but not this trip.  I tried three or four casts to the spot before the fish stopped rising and I had to head for the car to travel home to get ready to go out on the town with my wife.   Even though I didn't catch anything, it was worthwhile to witness again this natural cycle.

Last snow of the season?

Hope so.  Hell, it's supposed to be Spring.

A black wooly bugger

That's what I used to catch two trout on the upper Patuxent yesterday.  Started the day going downstream from Howard's Chapel Road, but got caught in the rain without my rain gear.  Walked back to the car to get the rain gear and eat lunch and decided to drive further upstream to Hipsley Mill Road.  Both fish were brown trout, one six and the other nine inches long.

Water level was 2.5 at the Unity measuring station.

The confluence of two streams

The Little Patuxent is on the left and the Middle Patuxent on the right.  I took this picture on a hike Thursday.  On my doctor's recommendation, I try to walk at least a half hour daily.  Because of bad weather I've missed some days recently, so I got in a lot of walking that day to make up for the missed days.

First fishing trip of 2014

On Saturday, Col. Andy, otherwise known as Ski, and I booked a trip with our friend Capt. Mike Starrett for some cold weather fishing on the Potomac River just downstream from the Nation's Capital.

The main catch were blue catfish:

 

But we also caught a few rockfish:

 

Here's the big guy,  Andy, pulling in the best fish of the day, a 40 pound catfish:

 

 

 

We got in the trip just in time because it snowed again  Sunday night.

Positive end to a frustrating basketball season

Watched Maryland end 61 years in the ACC with a win over Virginia who was ranked number five in the nation.

Before the game, some of the big names in Terp basketball history were available to sign autographs, but we didn't feel like standing in the long line.  However, I did sneak through to get a shot of Gary Williams:

 

I was happy for the victory and also that the students finally got an excuse to storm the court when the overtime ended because they had been waiting for a big win all season.  I didn't wait around to get a picture though, because we were eager to eat.

 

 

We're all expecting more wins like this next year.

 

 

 

Tiefest 2014

Coming to the end of a long, hard winter, I'm looking forward to warmer weather and fishing.  One annual break from cabin fever is the local fly fishermen get-together, Tiefest.

Fly fishing legend Lefty Kreh is always a big draw.  I've watched his casting demonstrations many times but never tire of them and always learn something.

He often remarks that women are much easier to teach than men.  "I can teach a woman to cast in about a third the time it takes to teach a man," he says.  Then he adds, "As long as it's a woman I'm not married to."  At 89 years old, he's truly amazing.

 Lefty's especially eager to introduce children into the joys of fishing:

Another celebrity in the fly fishing world is Bob Clouser who invented the famous Clouser Minow:

 

Most artificial flies are tied not as exact imitations of natural foods but as impressionistic depictions that fool the fish because of their life-like appearance and behavior in the water.  These salt water flies depict baitfish:

 

 

I'm tired of snow pictures...

...I say as I post some more.

 

This main purpose of this blog has always been as a journal of what I do (and sometimes what I think), and snow has been dominant in my life for the past few months. Ironically, last year I realized that in documenting the looks of the house and yard in various seasons I was lacking in snow scenes.  In response, I made certain to get out and take some photos the next time it snowed because it may be our only snow off the winter.   Well, we had a few other minor snows that winter, and each of them was diligently recorded.

 

This year has been quite different.  I've lost track of the number of snows and have felt no such responsibility to photograph them since the blog no longer lacks snow scenes.  Nevertheless, snow has been what I see, so inevitably snow has been what I photograph lately.