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I had planned to fish multiple days this weekend but it didn't work out and I only fished on Saturday. Due to low water, I did a lot of driving between streams.
My original intent was make the extremely long walk into a favorite stream, which doesn't have a lot of trout, but it is always beautiful, and occasionally yields some big trout. However, due to the warm, humid weather, I decided against that. I drove to a nearby stream in the same watershed, which was lower than I would have liked, so I departed for a medium sized freestoner which is stocked but also has a good population of wild brown trout.
Unfortunately, when I arrived, there was a vehicle already there so I left without wetting a line.
I drove to yet another stream and it was even lower, but I decided to fish it anyway. I tried it for 45 minutes and caught three wild brown trout, including this monster, which taxed my medium light action rod. It made me wish I had used braided line.
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I'm sure it was attracted by the flash of my spinner.
The nicest trout of the three was this 11 1/4 incher.
He came from this pool, which was by far the nicest spot I encountered while I was on that stream.
I returned to the first stream I had looked at, figuring it wasn't so low after all.
I waded in a short distance above the mouth. The action was fast to start but quickly slowed. The first five trout I caught were wild browns.
The brown trout brigade was interrupted by this colorful wild rainbow.
A little while later, an 8 inch native brook trout became the third wild species I had caught. Since so few streams have all three wild species in PA, it's always a special treat.
My next trout was the largest trout of the day to that point, a 12 1/2 inch wild brown.
As I moved upstream, I encountered scenic stretches that I knew well.
I caught more trout of all three species, including this native brookie.
I fished upstream a considerable distance before deciding to climb the bank to the logging road that paralleled the stream. As I started up the bank, I heard a noise I had never heard before. It was a high pitched call that the animal made over and over. Not knowing what it was, I stopped to see if the animal would show itself. After a couple of minutes, a black bear stood up on its hind legs and looked at me. It was about 50-60 yards away.
I returned to the creek bottom and walked downstream, still hearing the high pitched sounds for a short distance. After about a 1/4 mile of walking the creek, I climbed the bank to the logging road, keeping an eye out for the bear. I didn't see or hear it anymore. I wondered if the sound it was making was a call to its young.
At that point I had caught 24 trout in stream #2; 10 wild browns, 7 wild rainbows, and 7 native brook trout. The biggest trout was a 12 1/2 inch brown.
I made the long walk back to my car and took a break before walking down to the main creek.
The first fish I caught was a small fallfish.
A large brown followed my spinner twice without hitting. I fished upstream for 1 1/2 hours and only caught five trout; 3 wild browns, 1 wild rainbow, and 1 native brookie, so on the day I was able to catch three wild species from two different streams. The largest trout of the day was a 14 inch brown, which came from stream #3.
Overall, I caught 32 trout in 6 1/2 hours, all on spinners.
I had planned to fish today, but I stayed up last night to watch the Penguins win game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, so when the alarm rang early this morning, I turned it off and went back to sleep. Maybe I will fish tomorrow.
My original intent was make the extremely long walk into a favorite stream, which doesn't have a lot of trout, but it is always beautiful, and occasionally yields some big trout. However, due to the warm, humid weather, I decided against that. I drove to a nearby stream in the same watershed, which was lower than I would have liked, so I departed for a medium sized freestoner which is stocked but also has a good population of wild brown trout.
Unfortunately, when I arrived, there was a vehicle already there so I left without wetting a line.
I drove to yet another stream and it was even lower, but I decided to fish it anyway. I tried it for 45 minutes and caught three wild brown trout, including this monster, which taxed my medium light action rod. It made me wish I had used braided line.
I'm sure it was attracted by the flash of my spinner.
The nicest trout of the three was this 11 1/4 incher.
He came from this pool, which was by far the nicest spot I encountered while I was on that stream.
I returned to the first stream I had looked at, figuring it wasn't so low after all.
I waded in a short distance above the mouth. The action was fast to start but quickly slowed. The first five trout I caught were wild browns.
The brown trout brigade was interrupted by this colorful wild rainbow.
A little while later, an 8 inch native brook trout became the third wild species I had caught. Since so few streams have all three wild species in PA, it's always a special treat.
My next trout was the largest trout of the day to that point, a 12 1/2 inch wild brown.
As I moved upstream, I encountered scenic stretches that I knew well.
I caught more trout of all three species, including this native brookie.
I fished upstream a considerable distance before deciding to climb the bank to the logging road that paralleled the stream. As I started up the bank, I heard a noise I had never heard before. It was a high pitched call that the animal made over and over. Not knowing what it was, I stopped to see if the animal would show itself. After a couple of minutes, a black bear stood up on its hind legs and looked at me. It was about 50-60 yards away.
I returned to the creek bottom and walked downstream, still hearing the high pitched sounds for a short distance. After about a 1/4 mile of walking the creek, I climbed the bank to the logging road, keeping an eye out for the bear. I didn't see or hear it anymore. I wondered if the sound it was making was a call to its young.
At that point I had caught 24 trout in stream #2; 10 wild browns, 7 wild rainbows, and 7 native brook trout. The biggest trout was a 12 1/2 inch brown.
I made the long walk back to my car and took a break before walking down to the main creek.
The first fish I caught was a small fallfish.
A large brown followed my spinner twice without hitting. I fished upstream for 1 1/2 hours and only caught five trout; 3 wild browns, 1 wild rainbow, and 1 native brookie, so on the day I was able to catch three wild species from two different streams. The largest trout of the day was a 14 inch brown, which came from stream #3.
Overall, I caught 32 trout in 6 1/2 hours, all on spinners.
I had planned to fish today, but I stayed up last night to watch the Penguins win game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, so when the alarm rang early this morning, I turned it off and went back to sleep. Maybe I will fish tomorrow.
