Posts Tagged With: trout fishing

Floating, Fishing and Resting in the West Virginia Mountains.

Posted on October 1, 2018 by jolynnpowers

No matter what time of year I love to be near the water in West Virginia. I find spending even just a day at the river floating, fishing, swimming or just watching the current brings peace to my soul like nothing else. So I tried to share that restful feeling with my family this summer when we spent 4 days exploring several rivers and streams in the Mountains of Randolph County.

We started our trip with a couple of days on the Shivers Fork River teaching my son and granddaughter about tubing and the freedom of just swimming in the wide river.

Christopher and Paige float down the Shavers Fork river near Elkins

Paige and Christopher Powers float along the bank of the Shavers Fork River near Elkins, WV

The Shavers Fork is a favorite for tubers, paddlers and fisherman. The river is wide and often not very deep on a hot summer afternoon. My older son spent the same day fishing for rock bass and caught several as Kayaks floated by. The afternoons were spent either in the water or on a sandy bank roasting marshmallows for Smores. The smell of the camp fire would linger for hours in the damp air next to our rental cabin.

The following mornings were about fishing… and lots of it. My family loves to fish just about any where but most often in a trout stream. We traveled from Elkins to the Harman area to fish on the Laurel Fork and hike out of the Laurel Fork campground. It was a perfect day to be on the river, few people, warm weather and fish. The boys caught 3 in a matter of an hour that were all eating size and were taken home for a fish fry later.

the Powers Men fishing off of Laural Fork river near Rich mountain

Tom Powers Christopher Powers and Cody Powers all fishing together on the Laurel Fork .

This creek is small and very cold, but is stocked a few times a year with brook trout and brown trout. This time the Paige and Christopher caught only craw crabs and creek chubs but they laughed and played the morning away.

Paige and Christopher fishing in the Laural Fork near Rich Mountain

Paige Powers showing off her fishing skills

After the weather warmed the river I was pretty hot so I took off to do some hiking on the trails that leave the Laurel Fork Camp Ground. It was a perfect afternoon for finding mushrooms growing along the trail. I shared with Paige names of the plants we found and we talked about the beaver dam next to the trail.

From the Laurel Fork camp ground we traveled to Canaan Valley in Davis, WV where we took a long lunch at a local family restaurant Big Johns Family Fixin’s .We ate on the deck that looked over a fish pound. The kids fed the catfish as they boiled the water looking for small bites of fish chow that was bought for a quarter. The day ended with more time on the Shavers Fork and dinner on the deck of the cabin.

Our final morning we headed to the Glady Fork and the Allegheny trail head to fish before heading home. The sun was just cresting the hills around us and I just could not help but take photos of how beautiful the morning was and how much fun it was to just spend a few days with my family enjoying the water and time together.

Paige Powers, Jamie Powers and Cody Powers near Glady Fork and Allegheny Trail parking area heading out to do some fishing.

morning sun coming up over the Allegheny Trail Head Bridge

West Virginia Barn along Rt#33 in the morning sun.

wildflowers Monongahela National Forest Elkins WV

wild flowers after the rain Randolph County West Virginia

Categories: Allegheny Trail Head, Appalachian Mountains, cabins, Camping, Canaan Valley Wild Life Refuge, Elkins West Virginia, Glady Fork River, Randolph County, Shavers Fork River, trout, Tubing, Uncategorized | Tags: Allegheny Trail Head, Elkins WV, floating, Laurel Fork, Randolph county West Virginia, Shavers Fork River, trout fishing, Tubing | 3 Comments

Celebrate Easter with Trout and Ramps .

Posted on March 26, 2016 by jolynnpowers

It is official spring has come to the Mountain State. Trout and Ramp Season has begone and I am getting excited for the first skillet full of the wild food that is traditional in West Virginia. My husband’s family have enjoyed fresh trout and ramps for generations. As far back as the family story can remember. The family enjoyed the freedom of the Mountains where tiny speckled fish and ramps are always a part of the celebration spring.

Brook Trout by Mat Hardy from Trout Unlimited

Often my husband and his father would take off in the middle of April for a trout fishing trip with hopes of also gathering a burlap sack of ramps. The farther from civilization they drove the smaller the trout got and the larger the ramps grew. So off on some deserted logging road on a mountain top, where a small stream started, my father-in-law and husband would be found fishing. The tiny native trout with copper skin and bright orange spots are fighters like anything that lives so far into the mountains.Making an almost freezing morning exciting as the two would wade the stream looking for ramps along the way.

Field of wild growing ramps

When the noon day sun would finally reach the steam at the bottom of the holler they were fishing the two would break for lunch. The two eating pepperoni rolls off the tail gate of an old truck, they would talk about if the fishing was good enough to spend more time in the water or if it was time to trade the fishing poles for a ramp hoes. Neither father or son would want to leave the peacefulness of the rushing spring water but they knew more treasures waited for them on the mountainsides.

Tom fishing in a stream in Pendleton County, West Virginia

The team would drag themselves up the steep banks of the mountains with a short-handled hoe, looking for clumps of green in the otherwise brown forest floor. If ramps were spotted, one would yell out to the other in the other wise silent woods and the digging would start. Gathering just enough of the bulbs for the family and leaving many to spread out the seeds of future plants.By late afternoon the two would shimmy back down the mossy covered banks to the truck. Fresh fish would be in the cooler chilling, topped with a sack of muddy ramps. The two would ride the bumpy road back home for a fest of fresh spring foods.These foods were almost impossible to get any other time of the year and the deep joy of finally being free from the winter always made the meals more pleasant.

Often the first dinner that we fix of ramps is meatless. Not for any reason other than it seems fitting that such an early spring meal would have also been meatless for generations of homesteaders of this land. They would have enjoyed a meal of fresh ramps with brown beans, cornbread and maybe if their storage was good fried potatoes. Our ancestors would have celebrated that fresh greens had to grown again and life had returned to the hills they called home. Ramps brown beans and fried potatoes cornbread

So as my family celebrates Easter weekend, I am not only thinking of my Savior and his miraculous life, I am thinking of countless generations of West Virginians who have come before me. I am thinking of the blessings and bounty of another spring and of how to share its traditions and stories with the next generation. How a fish and a sticky bulb were not a trendy food but a way of life for the mountain people of Appalachia and how I can keep the spirit of thankfulness alive.

Happy Easter my friends enjoy Spring !

Categories: Appalachian Mountains, Corn bread, country cooking, Country life, Easter, fishing, Homestead, ramps, Ramps, trout | Tags: appalachian mountains, Corn bread, Easter, foraged food, ramps, Trout, trout fishing, West Virginia | 5 Comments

Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel Surgery Success

Posted on March 5, 2016 by jolynnpowers

4 weeks into my husband’s Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel recovery we still have 4 more weeks to go. I feel a little overwhelmed these days. I am working away from home for the first time in a couple of years and this is the same few weeks that my husband was able to have surgery on his right hand and elbow. So between the new job, Christopher’s school work and having a husband who has no use of his right hand, I have been working over time.

It seems as if everything always happens at once in my life. There’s never a middle ground. Last fall I found I had hours with nothing to do and no motivation to do anything after the death of the mother in law that I helped to take care of. I felt empty and lost without her, even though I had my own sons and husband to care for. In December I vowed to myself that I would continue to serve others in some way. I applied to serve with AmeriCorps so that I could do community service in a larger way and found The Elkins Main Street program a great place to work. But little did I know, that my husband’s surgery we planned for May or June would be jumped forward to the middle of Feb. It was a good surprise,having the surgery so early in the year, but put my planning and organisation skills to the test. Finding babysitters and arranging my schedule to attend meetings and still finding time to cook a few family meals was always on my mind, while he was in and out of the hospital.

So in less than 10 days I went from having a hardworking husband to having a new patient to look after. I can tell you that losing the use of your primary hand is inconvenient and limiting in so many ways…. Just think, you can not button your clothes, open a jar, or eating normally. It slows eating times to a crawl(unless your wife loves you enough to cut up your meat). There is pain and discomfort after surgery too. It makes the first few days even more challenging, I finally got to sleep in my bed a couple of nights ago. The arm that has the surgery gets wrapped from fingertip to upper arm in a wad of cotton and ace bandages and needs elevated at night.In the end it is just easier for the “Arm” to have my side of the bed. So sleeping was not something I was doing regularly, as I moved from bed to couch and back again trying to find a good spot to rest where I could still hear the alarm clock.

Tom Powers after one week check up and removal of half the bandages and packing Feb 2016

This is the second time my husband has had these surgeries. It has been 3 years since Tom had the same procedures done to his left arm and hand. We both agree with his Dr,these procedures are necessary because of my husband’s recurring work with things that cause hard concussions. In his case, years of working construction and hammering horse hooves and anvils has taken its toll. The surgeries will make it possible for him to go back to work and continue to do what he loves with a little more care and management to keep these injuries from happening again.

Tom is healing and he will be able to return to work in the middle of April. This time he is not allowed to run a Jackhammer … EVER! I am sure he will be more protective of his hands and arms in the future because no one enjoys having an injury that never heals. Funny, how everything has worked out for the best so far, I have been able to support Tom when he needed it, work has been more than understanding about the time I have had to miss and Christopher has enjoyed having the extra time with his dad. We are all also looking forward to getting our routines back to normal soon. We all are looking forward to spring turkey hunting and trout fishing with a father/husband who is feeling well again. We all are ready for the longer sunny days outside and I am ready to have a normal routine again.