Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Family Camping at Kiptopeakse State Park on VA's Eastern Shore, June 2011

Once again, we made the trip to Kipopeake State PArk to camp on VA's Eastern Shore. This year we were joined by the Wolfes, Heysels, Dempseys, and Hanssons.

Trip to NY's Catskill Mountains with the Bill Wills Chapter of Trout Unlimited May 2011

This is our annual trout fishing trip to the fabled waters of the Beaverkill, Willowemeamoc, and Delaware Rivers and the smaller tributaries around White Lake, Roscoe, and Hancock. Rumor had it that this might be Bill Will's last trip with the Virginia Beach TU crew so many people made a special effort to participate this year.

Joe Lovas and I left Virginia Beach at 5 am and drove to New York on Wednesday, May 31, 2011, and got into Roscoe at around 3:30 pm. Joe got his license at the Little Store, we bought some flies at Catskill Flies, and cahtted up the owner for some intel. We got an early dinner, and then Joe took me to a spot on the Eastern Branch of the Delaware where a friend of a friend owned some property on a nice run. The water was high and slow so the fishing was tough, but I managed to coax two brown trout to the net before a quick release. We drove to Bill's place in White Lake in the country's pitch black, keeping an eye out for deer and bears. We made it to Kevin's Ice Cream Cone probably 10 minutes before closing time for a celebratory chocolate=dipped softie. We made a quick stop at the lodge to see who was up and brag a little about the evening's catch. Made the short hop down the road to Bill's place and he was waiting up for these two vagabonds. We had a short visit before hitting the hay.

Thursday morning we lounged around the cabin, starred at the lake's beauty, and watched the hummingbirds feed. Frank Nugent, Bill's constant companion, made a great breakfast while we gabbed and caught up. We made plans to go to Walmart to get some supplies and materials (epoxy, freshwater popper hooks, and a paint brush) so that Bill could learn me how to make his classic White Lake "Jug Bugs".

After lunch, Joe and I headed