[FrankTroutAngler]

To Fish Or Not To Fish

The forecast for the weekend of May 14th and 15th, 2016, didn't look too good. A major cold front was expected to push through central Pennsylvania on Saturday, with a couple hour period of cold rain around noon. Then on Saturday night it was expected to drop to the freezing mark, with a high in the 40's and even possible snow flurries on Sunday. On top of this, both days were forecast to be very windy.

It didn't look promising for trout fishing -- and this was mid-May when the fishing should be top-notch. To fish or not to fish, this was the question. I decided to go out on Saturday to give it a try and base my decision for Sunday on Saturday's results.

My alarm sounded at 4:00 a.m. and by 4:30 I had the Trout Mobile pointed to a favored stream. I chose a stream that I felt would be minimally affected by the chilly night. Brook pimpernel lined the left bank at this spot.



The air temperature was 45-degrees and the water temperature was a nice 54-degrees. On about my third cast a nice brown trout hit but got off at my feet, something that seems to happen quite often with the first trout of the morning. It took fifteen minutes to land my first trout.



The action was good but there were times when it seemed like no trout were out feeding. I attribute this to other anglers fishing with spinners and educating the trout.



Luckily, these two trout-disturbers chose not to get in front of me after I waded fast to cut off their angle to the creek.



I fished 5.50 hours in this first section and caught 74 wild brown trout. It began to sprinkle just as I arrived back at my SUV.



Steady rain moved in during my second stop on the same stream. Fresh boot tracks told me the reason why I caught no trout in fifteen minutes.

The skunk cabbage looked pretty, though.



From there I decided to head to a small stream I hadn't fished yet this year. By the time I arrived the rain had subsided and the stream had "that look" like it was going to be really good fishing.



My very first cast yielded a nice brown.



I smiled, sensing something special was imminent. No signs of another angler were to be seen, either.

The trout were out everywhere. Thirty-six wild browns were landed in the first hour.



Great action continued until I flushed a great blue heron upstream a few hours later. In 3.75 hours I caught 102 wild browns.



My total for the day was 176 trout in 9.50 hours.

The decision was easy. I'd be going fishing on Sunday!

I got up at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday since my chosen stream required a hike of over one mile to get to. Due to the 42-degree air, rain, wind, and expected high in the mid-40's, I wore longjohns and my down vest. This might be a first for mid-May.



I decided to pack my spare tackle box full of my homemade not-yet-copied Pink Tread Silver spinners.



And, like the turkeys on the surrounding ridges, the trout really gobbled them up.



At 10:15 a.m. the air temperature had dropped to 40-degrees as yet another rainstorm blew through. But this didn't deter me from continuing onward or the salmonids from viciously attacking.



A snowstorm arrived about the same time I ran into a bunch of other anglers. I had logged 96 trout in 6.50 hours at this time.



It was time to move to another section of the same stream.



An alder tree branch hung out over the water.



I fished two hours and caught 38 more wild browns from the chilly depths.



Overall I tallied 134 trout in 8.50 hours.

For the weekend I caught and released 310 trout in 18.00 hours.

I was glad I had decided to fish.

- Frank Nale -

 

[nomad_archer]

Wow! Looks like you had a heck of a day.

 

[Trout Traveler]

Wow! Two more fantastic outings Frank!

How big was the biggest trout?

 

[bjb2799]

Impressive results and pictures.

What's your secret for getting the trout to "behave" for the pictures where the trout is in the water flashing theirs sides with the spinner in their mouth? I've tried and tried without much success at all.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

How big was the biggest trout?

The biggest trout on Saturday was 13" and on Sunday it was a 14"er.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

What's your secret for getting the trout to "behave" for the pictures where the trout is in the water flashing theirs sides with the spinner in their mouth? I've tried and tried without much success at all.

As the trout is moving about in the water you have to anticipate when it will be at the correct angle to take a photo.

Another method is to set my camera so that it automatically takes a whole series of photos with one press of the shutter button, almost like a movie.

It also helps to have a fairly bright day so that the shutter speed is fairly fast.

 

[troutdoorsman]

There must be a lot of competition out your way. From what I can tell my fishing has never been negatively affected by other spin fisherman. The local trout fisherman here use worms or dynamite and that's it. This is one of the reasons why I don't often travel to limestone water. It is a significant drive and not worth the risk since I am not familiar enough to have viable backup options.

 

[troutspinner]

I decided to pack my spare tackle box full of my homemade not-yet-copied Pink Tread Silver spinners.

I guess I better nip this one in the bud before it starts. Me thinks you've been perusing my website and found my striper spinners.

 

[wampire]

Spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners.

 

[Trout Traveler]

But what about spinners

?

 

[troutspinner]

Spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners.

Exactly! I just done want someone to have hurt feelings.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

I decided to pack my spare tackle box full of my homemade not-yet-copied Pink Tread Silver spinners.

I guess I better nip this one in the bud before it starts. Me thinks you've been perusing my website and found my striper spinners.

Actually, today was the first time I went to your website. I saw only gold spinners with white beads with various choices for blade color. Lots of testimonials, too.

Your striper spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners.

 

[troutspinner]

Good then, we agree! You'll never see an all silver trout spinner by me, except maybe for decorations. Lol.

 

[wampire]

They are all bead spinners with slight variations on blades. That's like playing around with hackle color on the same style fly or changing dubbing color on a nymph.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Good then, we agree!

Not that it really matters, but what exactly do you think we are agreeing on? You posted your photo of your extra-long silver spinners after I posted a photo of my not-yet-copied Pink Tread Silver spinners, saying that you "better nip this one in the bud before it starts." The inference was that you wanted to show that you have already made spinners that look like my Pink Tread Silver spinners before I could accuse you of copying my Pink Tread Silver spinners.

I then stated that your extra-long silver spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners. If we are agreeing that your extra-long silver spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners, then why did you post a photo of your extra-long silver spinners? What logic were you using? If you were posting your photo to show how different our spinners are, then how is that "nipping it in the bud before it starts?" What would you be nipping?

For the record, as I stated before in the "Frank what gives with this guy selling your lures" thread, there is nothing proprietary about my spinners and anyone can copy my White Bead Gold or Pink Tread Silver spinners, though Cabela's no longer sells the white/pink blades.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners.

Actually, no they aren't. I've been making spinners for over 35 years and I have learned a lot from my experimentation with various parts and spinner designs.

Some spinner designs are mechanically unsound.

Some hooks have definite disadvantages.

Some wire is too thin which causes bent shafts.

Some blades don't spin consistently.

Some blade designs are nearly impossible to feel during the retrieve.

Some beads shatter if they hit a rock.

Some clevises wear out sooner than others.

Some designs result in higher hooking mortality.

Some spinners are too lightweight to cast well.

And I'm sure I could think of many other things.

A lot of people have no clue about what works best and what doesn't work well. I've found quite a few homemade spinners while fishing and most of them have severe limitations. Yes, they probably all catch trout, but my question is, "How many?"

 

[troutspinner]

Good then, we agree!

Not that it really matters, but what exactly do you think we are agreeing on? You posted your photo of your extra-long silver spinners after I posted a photo of my not-yet-copied Pink Tread Silver spinners, saying that you "better nip this one in the bud before it starts." The inference was that you wanted to show that you have already made spinners that look like my Pink Tread Silver spinners before I could accuse you of copying my Pink Tread Silver spinners.

I then stated that your extra-long silver spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners. If we are agreeing that your extra-long silver spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners, then why did you post a photo of your extra-long silver spinners? What logic were you using? If you were posting your photo to show how different our spinners are, then how is that "nipping it in the bud before it starts?" What would you be nipping?

For the record, as I stated before in the "Frank what gives with this guy selling your lures" thread, there is nothing proprietary about my spinners and anyone can copy my White Bead Gold or Pink Tread Silver spinners, though Cabela's no longer sells the white/pink blades.

We agree that your backers will not falsely accuse me of copying your design again when I release my spinners intended for salt.

 

[troutspinner]

Spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners.

Actually, no they aren't. I've been making spinners for over 35 years and I have learned a lot from my experimentation with various parts and spinner designs.

Some spinner designs are mechanically unsound.

Some hooks have definite disadvantages.

Some wire is too thin which causes bent shafts.

Some blades don't spin consistently.

Some blade designs are nearly impossible to feel during the retrieve.

Some beads shatter if they hit a rock.

Some clevises wear out sooner than others.

Some designs result in higher hooking mortality.

Some spinners are too lightweight to cast well.

And I'm sure I could think of many other things.

A lot of people have no clue about what works best and what doesn't work well. I've found quite a few homemade spinners while fishing and most of them have severe limitations. Yes, they probably all catch trout, but my question is, "How many?"

While I agree categorically with every reason you've stated as I've experimented with hundreds of different combinations over the years....I believe the posters intent was to say that a spinner is just that, a spinner of the thousands out there available on the market.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Good then, we agree!

Not that it really matters, but what exactly do you think we are agreeing on? You posted your photo of your extra-long silver spinners after I posted a photo of my not-yet-copied Pink Tread Silver spinners, saying that you "better nip this one in the bud before it starts." The inference was that you wanted to show that you have already made spinners that look like my Pink Tread Silver spinners before I could accuse you of copying my Pink Tread Silver spinners.

I then stated that your extra-long silver spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners. If we are agreeing that your extra-long silver spinners look nothing like my Pink Tread Silver spinners, then why did you post a photo of your extra-long silver spinners? What logic were you using? If you were posting your photo to show how different our spinners are, then how is that "nipping it in the bud before it starts?" What would you be nipping?

For the record, as I stated before in the "Frank what gives with this guy selling your lures" thread, there is nothing proprietary about my spinners and anyone can copy my White Bead Gold or Pink Tread Silver spinners, though Cabela's no longer sells the white/pink blades.

We agree that your backers will not falsely accuse me of copying your design again when I release my spinners intended for salt.

Your logic escapes me (because there is none). I guess you could have concluded that if it's cloudy tomorrow it will be sunny.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners are spinners.

Actually, no they aren't. I've been making spinners for over 35 years and I have learned a lot from my experimentation with various parts and spinner designs.

Some spinner designs are mechanically unsound.

Some hooks have definite disadvantages.

Some wire is too thin which causes bent shafts.

Some blades don't spin consistently.

Some blade designs are nearly impossible to feel during the retrieve.

Some beads shatter if they hit a rock.

Some clevises wear out sooner than others.

Some designs result in higher hooking mortality.

Some spinners are too lightweight to cast well.

And I'm sure I could think of many other things.

A lot of people have no clue about what works best and what doesn't work well. I've found quite a few homemade spinners while fishing and most of them have severe limitations. Yes, they probably all catch trout, but my question is, "How many?"

While I agree categorically with every reason you've stated as I've experimented with hundreds of different combinations over the years....I believe the posters intent was to say that a spinner is just that, a spinner of the thousands out there available on the market.

Then that's what he should have written.