I wanted to go do some quality fishing before classes started and my life changed. Steelhead season had ended early. The lake run smallmouth bass were gone too. The resident smallmouth bite had not really turned on yet. With no great fishing opportunities around here, my attention turned to Pennsylvania trout.
It was trout season in Pennsylvania and some of the legendary hatches were a couple of weeks early because of the premature warm temperatures we had last spring. I considered making a few trips into Pennsylvania to fish for trout. The sulphers were hatching and I was excited to fish for stream trout on my own for the first time. I set aside a few days to make two trips before class started and began planning all the details. I bought a 7 day license so I could fish Oil Creek for a day and then a couple of days later I could head to Central PA for an overnight to fish Penns Creek and Spring Creek.
Researching stream access before the trip.
Filling the fly box for the trip
The trip to oil creek was good, it was sunny and in the mid-60s. Most of the day was spent nymphing, and at dusk the water started to boil with rising trout which I threw dries to. I had several hookups and landed one rainbow. It was a good trip for my first effort to catch PA trout. Oil creek was a good practice for the week to come when I would fish two of the most famous streams in Pennsylvania.
There were a few days between the Oil Creek trip and when I left for Penns Creek. During that time, the weather got bad. It was very cold, and rained a lot. At first I thought I would have to scrub the trip. The day before I was to leave, it rained hard here, and reportedly rained in Central PA too. The forecast called for more rain in Pennsylvania while I was supposed to be fishing. This was bad. I thought for sure the rain would blow the streams out, if the rain didn’t ruin things the cold was sure to put the fish down and ruin the fishing. I was still mildly hopeful that I would get to go and was at one for the local fly shops to get some last minute essentials when I bumped into a guide friend.
I mentioned to my buddy that I was planning to go fish Penns the next day and I was worried that the rain and cold conditions would ruin the trip. I was thinking maybe I should just scrap the trip. The worst part was that I had no other chance to go because class was scheduled to start two days after I was to return. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to drive four hours for some crappy fishing. I asked him, "what would you do?" He gave me some of the best fishing advice I have ever received. He said, “just go, just go.”
I did as he suggested, I just went fishing. I was glad I took his advice. The weather turned out to be decent. It got sunny and warmed into the mid-50sand it didn’t rain at all the first day. The next morning it was really cold in the high 30s or low 40s, the rain held off until about 2:00pm. I was heading back to the car to leave for home when it started raining. Talk about good timing.
There was no dry fly action because the sudden cold and rain had put the hatch off, but I managed a few fish on both Penns and Spring Creek fishing nymphs. It was a great trip. I was very thankful I took my buddy’s advice to “just go.” The moral of the story is don’t hesitate, just go!
I am so glad I went
As I write this, I am in the last few weeks of spring semester. I will be taking another trip into Pennsylvania when I finish finals. There will be no hesitation this time around. Lesson learned.
