brown trout (640x542)

Comment

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on January 19, 2014 at 12:51pm

Very nice detail in your work Rick.....nice piece......

Comment by Rick Goohs on January 19, 2014 at 12:03pm

Thanks Jeff;

  If I knew it was going to come out as well as it did, I would have redrawn it so I had room for the whole tail.  I painted this with Jo Sanja acrylic gouache but applied as watercolor.  The base coat is iridescent gold, blue and pearl then washes of Pacific Blue, Raw Sienna and Raw Umber.

   Please feel free to critique, I'm never too old to learn ways to improve my work.

Comment by Jeff Soto on January 19, 2014 at 11:18am

I think this is really good!  Now as a fellow wildlife artist, I can appreciate all the time you spent making individual scales!  I also like how you gave the Brown Trout that bluish color on it's head and body.  This is something that fish artists often times overlook.  What medium(s) did you use?  If you'd like, I can send you a message to give you a little helpful critique.  Keep up the nice artwork Rick.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on January 19, 2014 at 10:01am

For the most part, I'm  a Lake Murray man. Add to this that I don't like to travel more than 25 minutes or so to fish and, well.... other opportunities probably exist - but Im ignorant of them.

Sadly, I the Saluda below the dam is fairly rock strewn and steep banked. The confluence area around Columbia - where the Saluda and Broad river meet - has always been so. Below Lake Murray are a number of old fords and rocky shoals, well noted in their day. Geologically, we are right on the Piedmont fall-line, where the Upstate 'highlands' and the lower sections meet. It also happens to be the debris field where the glaciers stopped in the last Ice Age, which explains all the boulders and rocks you see everywhere.

Don says you can fish from the banks at Saluda Shoals; it is also first come first served. He wades out and gets into the rocky mid water areas to avoid the crowd on shore. That may not be an option for you, if you have limited mobility. But you can fish for stockers from the banks. GO midweek and get there early, perhaps?

As far as I know (which is precious little), much of the fishing that goes on is done from kayaks, small canoes, etc. Again, the options are limited for access and take outs. I know many folks put in up at the Shoals and drift fish, down into and below the Columbia area. They then take out - somewhere.

Im not much help, since I havent lived here long nor experienced it for myself.

As for streams, etc., close to home, I cannot offer too much. I have fished the South Edisto River extensively in the area around Aiken State Park. There is access there, and Ive caught some decent red breast. Monticello and Paar reservoirs above Columbia must surely have outlet flows. Whether you can fish these banks, I don't know. Harbison State Forest has some fishing access, I believe.

As for red-eye, hmmmmm. May be more of an Upstate thing....

Comment by Rick Goohs on January 19, 2014 at 8:11am

Thanks Dave.  If it involves crawling over big boulders or steep banks I'm out.  I would like to find some smaller streams to fish closer to where we are.  I have a Redeye Bass on my Bucket list.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on January 19, 2014 at 7:44am

Rick - they DO stock them in the Saluda. They recently do so , in fact (within the last month) and will again before Spring. I've been told they do it as many as three times in a season.

The challenge is getting there. Access is fairly restricted, with only a couple entry points to the river below the dam. I've got to say Ive never visited them. The only one I can name is Saluda Shoals Park, across the dam from Lexington. There is another on the opposite side, but I couldn't tell you where.

Access isnt much better further down. Again, I know people get there - I just don't know where. If it interests you, small mouth bass are also stocked in the river. If you are keen to visit and try your hand, contact Donald Schmotzer here on BBG. He knows more about it than I do.

Comment by Mathew Blakeway on January 19, 2014 at 5:59am

That's beautiful, you've got some skills!

Comment by Rick Goohs on January 19, 2014 at 4:59am

David;

  Don't they stock these in the Saluda River below Lake Murray?

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on January 18, 2014 at 8:16pm

Trout? What are those?

Haha, just kidding. Nice, as always, neighbor.

Comment by Keith Ritter on January 18, 2014 at 7:29pm

Very Impressive artwork. Always wished I could do that.