Spent yesterday evening on a small Native Brook Trout creek with a fly rod and a camera. I was after trout and flowers and got a couple of each. The trout are native brookies and the stream is a catch and release, fly fishing only creek that empties close by into the New River. It is part of the New River Gorge National River and it's elevation is about 1070 feet, 2000 feet lower than my home 25 miles away.
The walk in was interesting in itself, this picture is me, walking on a steep hillside with the creek on the right. Yes, that is a serious dropoff.
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| Native Brook Trout are beautiful fish, especially in the fall with their breeding colors. This one was in the eleven inch range, which is very nice for this species. Photo is a little blurry, but you can see the yellow belly, bright red fins with white edges. |
This was one of the largest
Puttyroots I have seen; notice the small white spider on the left. He had web all over this plant. I had just endured about twenty minutes of a downpour hunkered down under a sycamore tree and was soaked.
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| Puttyroot |
The following wildflower is a native and apparently not very common. It is listed as endangered in Pennsylvania and threatened in Tennessee. Trying to identify it was a bear. I had suggestions of Skullcap, Dragon head and others. It is Meehans Mint and I have found it at Brush Creek as well as on the trout creek the other day. It is also popular in home gardens for extreme shady spots and is commonly sold by native nurseries. I've added two photo's from Brush Creek as well.
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| Meehan's Mint |
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| Meehan's Mint on Brush Creek |
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| Meehan's Mint on Brush Creek |
Wow,Charles! You have had a very busy couple of weeks! Your finds are just spectacular, and I know you are getting a lot of pleasure being out in the woods with these beauties. Keep 'em coming... ;-)
ReplyDeleteJim Fowler, Greenville, SC