There's never a sure thing in fishing...

Two recent trips I've taken with people with extensive local knowledge illustrate this.

Yesterday, friend Lou and I went with Capt. Mike to Mattawoman Creek off the Potomac, a strikingly beautiful area 20 miles downriver from DC.  Capt. Mike is a great guide who seems to know every inch of these fishing grounds, and yet all our efforts produced only one small largemouth bass.  That's the way it is sometimes.

A few weeks before, I met another friend, Greg, at 5:30 am in the parking lot of his boat's marina.  He pulled his truck next to me, lowered the window and told me that a storm was heading to our location on the Chesapeake.  Like Capt. Mike, he knows his area well and times his trips for just the right tide and wind conditions.  We waited out the storm at the marina and at his home a few blocks away, but when the storm passed and the sun came out a few hours later all the conditions were wrong.  Nevertheless, we tried, and, as we anticipated, we caught nothing.  Still, we had a nice time watching the rain and lightning at the marina, putting together a piece of furniture he recently bought for his video system, and then having lunch at his favorite neighborhood pub.

Thanks to Lou for the above picture on Capt. Mike's boat.  That's a good angle for me even though there appears to be metal handlebars growing out of my head. (Actually it's part of the front casting platform.)

The House in Gormania

Pam's grandfather was living in this house when I first visited it about 35 years ago.  The house is located in a small West Virginia town and has stayed in the family with  sister-in-law Kathy and her husband Bernie currently owning it.

When I first entered the house, I was struck by the hand painted artwork of Disney cartoon characters on the dining room wall because I had seen a similar scene long ago.  In the 1950's my Uncle Steve and his family lived in an old house on the outskirts of a tiny town in Upstate New York, and the kitchen wall also contained pictures from the Disney cartoon feature, Bambi. 

My guess is that these paintings were done in the 1940's because the movie was released in 1942.  I don't know if an itinerant artist specializing in these paintings roved small town America in those years, or if kits were sold providing instructions for home-owners to paint them themselves.  To me the pictures have always symbolized a link between my family and my wife's.

South River Boat Ride

Neighbors Paul and Marianne like to water ski which I've done only a couple of times in my life and not in 50 years, but I enjoyed the boat ride and watching them.

To make certain all systems were ok, Paul took the first turn while Marianne drove the boat.

She then went out on the skis.  By this time the skies got dark as a storm moved in.

 

 When it began to thunder, lightning, and rain, we raced back to the dock and pulled the boat.

 

Georgetown street scenes

Enough of the flowers.

To me, this worn sign looks like it was originally for a movie theater.  Pam says she doesn't remember one on that side of Wisconsin Avenue.  It seems to me that I do, but I don't trust my memory for things like that.

 

 

 

Brookside Gardens: Lots in bloom

 

 

Japanese Dogwoods

I wasn't satisfied that yesterday's pictures sufficiently brought out the flowering trees in front, so I took another picture this evening.

Late Spring 2014

 

 

 

Gardens at the University of Maryland

I don't remember the name of this park, but it may well be my favorite.

As opposed to the above which is a little out of the way, this statue is in the heart of campus:

 

This shady rock garden is known as Woods Hall Garden:

 

 

I'm very fond of the Chapel Garden:

 

 

The next three are outside the Rossborough Inn, the oldest building on campus.

This final shot is near the Armory:

 

...and there are many other gardens on campus.  The landscaping crew does a nice job.

 

 

Bluegills are spawning

Their circular spawning beds were quite distinct on the west side of the pond on the far side.  I was a little surprised because it's later than usual, but it probably wasn't their first spawn of the season.  Caught a few then decided to leave them alone.

Farmers' Market

From Spring until late Fall, I routinely go to a number.  Last Sunday, it was the Takoma Market Farmers' Market where I bought some sausage for the grill.  Also put some tomatoes and green peppers on the grill that afternoon because I'm interested in cooking more vegetables outdoors.

Night baseball

Considering how much I like the game, I've been to too few baseball games in recent years, but I hope to correct that this season.  Last night I enjoyed watching the Nats beat the Reds.  The food, beer, and being with friends added a lot.

Prior to this game, Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto had been the most effective in MLB.  Here he is warming up in the bullpen before the game:

He pitched well until the 6th inning when the Nats jumped all over him for 7 runs.

 

The presidents' race is always popular with the fans:

 

 

 

Star-of-Bethlehem

 Genus Ornithogalum, but I prefer the biblical common name.  Although they don't last long,  I look forward to seeing them pop up each Spring.

The sky and the water

Because multiple lines are used for spring trolling in the Chesapeake, you spend a lot time watching the rods for a strike, and your field of vision includes a lot of sky as well as the water.

Here's Capt. Billy Pipkin assisted by my fiend, Capt. Dave, setting up some of the 16 rigs we used yesterday:

We left the dock at Ingram Bay at 6 AM and immediately headed north up the Bay.

We turned into the Potomac and spent most of day opposite Georges Island on the Maryland shore.  We returned to the dock 8 hours later having caught our limit: 

Seven fishermen and seven good fish.

First trip on the Bay this year

After having a couple of trips cancelled because of stormy weather or boat repairs, I finally got out on the Bay today.  As well as myself, Kenny Wells invited Donna and Kirk who are old friends of his:

The weather was nice and some good rockfish fell for Kenny's trolling rigs:

 

Kenny and his 25 foot Parker fish out of Chesapeake Beach. 

 

 

So far this season

More or less in this order, I've caught the following species of fish:

Blue catfish
Striped bass
Brown trout
Bluegill
Crappie
Rainbow trout
Largemouth bass
Hickory shad

The last one came from a trip to Fletchers Boathouse on the Potomac last Friday where I hooked about a half dozen shad in two hours of fishing with a spinning rod and landed all but one.  One of the fish was quite large and may have been an American shad rather than a hickory.  I should be better than I am at distinguishing between these species just as I should have been able to determine whether the crappie was a white or black crappie.  When I'm releasing the fish, my priority is getting it back in the water without harm rather than close examination to determine exact species.

"Did you have a nice time?"

As long as I've fished, the most common question one local fisherman asks another has been, "Have you done any good?"  As I was leaving the Patapsco River downstream from Daniels Friday, I passed another fisherman who was just arriving, and he asked, "Did you have a good time?"

The only other person who often asks that question after I've been fishing is my wife.  It could be that I was sullen long ago after an unsuccessful outing and responded angrily to an innocent inquiry as to whether I caught anything, and she decided asking if I had a good time was safer.

At any rate, it's a better question and yes, I done good.  Caught a nice rainbow trout on a yellow crystal bugger.

Greg in concert

He moves too fast for a slow shutter available light shot.  His band, Burning Shadows, sounded good tonight at the University of Maryland.

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.