Friday morning I went out swimming before work, went to a spot where I hadn't been this summer. Only found a fishing lure and a piece of line with 2 big split shot sinkers and a big hook.

I did find a pretty nice school of yellow suckers, and a decent smallmouth bass. As Big Donnie would say: He was a plump 15, pushing 16 inches. It'd be fun to catch on light tackle, that's the biggest bass I've found so far.

Also pinched a spotted sucker between 2 fingers, then it tore outta there.

It had rained the evening before, I had almost 1/2 inch, I could see in the water 8 feet.

My neighbor was planning on going down what what we call: The Trough yesterday. That's a 7 mile run of pretty much slow and lazy water. Taking their kayaks. They were still loading up at Noon, figure it'd be 1:00 before they got unloaded and on the water.

I warned them, our rivers are very low! Even showed them 2 recent pictures that I'd posted on facebook. I'd never consider trying to float the river now, we just don't have the water.

Big Donnie and I are to go fishing in a week or 2. Think I'll take him to the Slipping in Hole. Water should be 8, 10 or eleven feet deep, good spot for catfish and there might be a decent bass or 2 in the hole.

Should be able to drift down the creek about a mile, and motor right back to the truck.

My neighbor stopped by yesterday and gave me a float/fishing report. He said between the 3 of them, they did catch 1 decent bass. The way he showed me it would have been 15 or 16 inches. No catfish. They got off of the water at 8pm, so that's about 1 MPH.

Really, they didn't have much time to fish. There are some big pretty holes along that stretch of river, honestly, they are big enough to really fish them good, it'd take all day.

About the pool ball that I found, we had a really bad flood here in 1985. It was the highest water levels in recorded history. I forget, it was what they guessed a 1 in a 500 year or 1 in a 1,000 year event!

Here in the valley, folks had anywhere from 14 to 20 inches of rain in about 48 hours! That's a lot of water!

Anyway, I've asked a dozen or more of my friends of places that had pool tables. If the #6 poolball came frome someplace local, that was open to the public. We can think of 3 places, all pretty much beer joints. The P. I. (Potomac Inn, in Grant Co.) South Branch Tavern, or Colt's, both were here in town.

We'll never know where it came from for sure. But 2 of those buildings were washed away, right down to the foundation. Along with 100's of other buildings. There were 15 or 20 folks killed in the 85 flood, local folks.

Interesting to think about, but we'll never know for sure.

Interesting stuff. The odds of finding that pool ball were pretty low.

You never know what you'll find in the river.

I really wish it'd been the 8-ball. That'd be even more fun.

I'll keep on looking, every chance I get.

Here's a link to the 1985 floods: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods

Damage was heaviest in Virginia and West Virginia. In the former state, the rainfall peaked at 19.77 in (502 mm) just northeast of Montebello. The rains increased levels along many rivers to record heights across Virginia, including the James River which crested at 42.15 ft (12.85 m) at a station called Holcomb Rock, the highest level in the state. In Roanoke, the Roanoke River rose 18.57 ft (5.66 m) in ten hours to a peak of 23.35 ft (7.12 m), considered a 1 in 200 year event. In the city, many residents had to be rescued after they were trapped, and three people drowned by driving into flooded waters. Considered the worst flood on record in the city, Roanoke sustained $225 million in damage, with 3,100 damaged homes and businesses. There was also flooding in Richmond after the James River crested at the second-highest level on record. Throughout Virginia, damage was estimated at $753 million, making it the state's costliest flood at the time, and there were 22 deaths.

We could ride out to the upper town park now, ans show you the South Branch of the Potomac River. Water is crystal clear, slow easy and gentle looking stream. With a good cast, we could hit the rocks on the west side. It's maybe 50 feet wide?

Back in November, 1985, the river was a mile wide at the same spot. And anything but gentle, slow and easy.

Forgot. I was out yesterday morning, mowing the yard at the hunting camp. First time part of it has been mowed this summer, the grass (hay) was blowing out like dust. We are that dry!

Not sure what the temperature was?, but I'll tell you it's too hot to be using a push mower! Stopped at the river on the way home, the river is chilly at first, but it feels nice. The South Fork, it's probably in the 60's now?

" it's too hot to be using a push mower!"

Good thing it wasn't snowing. It would have been too hot to shovel!

Zero percent chance of snow. Sad to say, not much better chance of rain, it the 10-day forecast. High temps of Hot, with lows down to 60*.

Talked to a farmer yesterday, he said he had to start feeding hay. On the first of August, that's not good. Our pasture fields are just burnt up.

In one of the other threads, I mentioned that I metal detect now and then. Detecting is similar to swimming and searching for junk. The mailman told me that a man found a $10 US gold coin, forget, it was like an 1825? Almost mint condition.

He said the high book price and that thing was 240K. He said it was found here in WV. Guys that found it weren't detecting, they were digging a foundation or something? And it just rolled out.

There is good stuff out there, it takes time, lots of time.

Here is a big fish story:

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/01/wayne-county-pond-yields-a-new-state-record-channel-catfish/

Neat story either way, but it's a shame he didn't hand off the rod to the kids. That would have been even better.

The rod might have been pulled out of the childs' hands or the child pulled in!

Oh, with a little bit of coaching, the kids could have caught that fish.

I just read the story again, 3 kids to play with. When one get's tired, switch off to the next one.

That might be a little bit tricky. You come around this side, and you sneak over this way.

Let all 3 kids take a turn. Put the state record in all of their names.

They are just kids and it's just a fish.

If one of the kids goes in the pond, catch them by the back leg and yank he or she out.

Years ago I set a trot line across the South Branch of the Potomac, caught a few pretty nice channel catfish. I didn't want them, nobody else wanted them, so I put them in the pond on the farm.

Those fish were all big enough for a "Trophy Fish Citation" from the DNR. They've been caught multiple times. I've seen pictures of them, but I've never seen them in person, since the day I put them in the pond.

They've broken fishing lines a few times. Ka-Ping

Yesterday, I had intentions of taking the dog for a run, and finish cutting the logs out of the mountain road. Checked the weather forcast, calling for a high of 95* F. Figured I'd just leave the dog home and go swimming.

We've been really really dry, we've been down in the 40's a couple of nights, but hot during the days.

Long story short, I spent over 2 hours in the creek. Honestly, that's about all it is now! I mean the South Branch of the Potomac River.

Didn't find anything, someone's ball cap. One man going down in his kayak, fishing, did see him catch a little sunfish or bass? A lady went past, taking her dogs to play in the water. Didn't know her, we waved, but looked like the dogs were having fun.

I did see 3 smallmouth bass that would have been right at 14 inches. I went to a different spot, 2 of the bass were together.

Anyway, it's the first of September (almost), probably my last swim for this year?

Wanted to say, visibility in the water yesterday, was a good 15 feet. Pretty day to swim.