Distractions...

I am currently working to finish a note that will hopefully get published in some law review or law journal.  This note, a deceiving description for a forty-five page scholarly work complete with footnotes in proper blue book citation, is consuming every waking moment of my life right now.  In fact, I am writing this blog post in an effort to break through a writer's block so I can continue to progress on the note.  One of the problems I have experienced, other than writer's block, is that my mind keeps wandering off to the stream.  I keep catching myself daydreaming of the next cast be it on my home waters in the hunt for the elusive winter steelhead or somewhere in central Pennsylvania in search of wild and wary brown trout.  This is a huge distraction.  The question is this; is fishing distracting me from the note or is the note taking me away from the river the distraction?  ...I believe the latter is the problem.

Don't bring a knife to a gun fight...

I got out of school early yesterday so I rushed home to grab my gear and then it was on to the river.  I wadered up and reached for my rod tube.  As I pulled the butt end of the rod out of the tube I noticed a problem.  I brought a 5 weight rod, not the 10’ 7 weight rod I use for steelhead fishing.  So there I was, standing in the parking lot wearing waders on a beautiful 50 degree sunny afternoon and I had a 5 weight rod and 7 weight reel.  I was screwed.  The rod, reel, and line would not balance.  If I did try to use this bastardized rig, there was a good chance of breaking the rod because a 5 weight is too light to fish for steelhead.  I was outgunned.

Central PA Trout Excursion

The busy pace of life can wear me down to the point where I feel like I’ve lost myself.  Work, school, and the hustle and bustle of life wears on me to the point I feel like I am living to finish the next assignment or complete the next deal.  Getting out on the water and fishing for a few days makes me feel like me again.  Flinging flies to wary trout is just what the doctor ordered to recharge the batteries.
With only a couple of days left before spring semester started I decided to head to Central PA to fish the limestoners.  I spent two nights and fished for three days.  The first two days were bitter cold, but I had the stream all to myself.  The last day was gorgeous, fifty degrees and sunny.  The sun seemed to make the fish more wary and brought plenty of anglers out to enjoy the nice day.  The flow was up, a little less than double the average flow for this time of year, but clarity was good.  I fished nymphs and streamers.  I saw a couple of blue wing olives fluttering around, but not enough of a hatch to start the fish rising.  To match the olives, I fished an olive soft hackle in sizes eighteen and twenty which took a few fish. 

On the last two trips to PA I caught a trout over twenty inches.  On this trip, the largest fish was about eighteen inches.  The couple of fish I caught on a streamer were really aggressive when they slammed the fly.  Some of the smaller fish I caught were really scrappy jumping, flipping and running hard in an attempt to throw the hook.   Over all the fishing was good and I had a great time.

2011 in review

The New Year is a time to reflect on the past year.  2011 has been a wild ride.  I got married to the love of my life, I was the best man in my best friend’s wedding, I completed my first year of law school and began my second year, and we completed one of the top 20 lease transactions in the metro area.  While 2011 was a wonderful year, some things weren’t so great.  Our company’s long time attorney, and mentor to me, passed away after falling and hitting his head.  A young fishing friend was diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.  I feel fortunate and thankful for my health, for all the wonderful people in my life especially my wife, and for the success I’ve had at school and work. 

This past year saw the most rain on record, streams were constantly blown out, dams came down, and the fishing was lousy as a result of the constant high and muddy water.  Steelhead fishing was marginal.  Smallmouth fishing was lousy.  The Gates Mills Dam came down opening up over 8 miles of new water for steelhead to continue to migrate upstream into the South Chagrin Reservation.  Now I can fish for steelhead within 5 minutes of my house!

The Gates Mills Dam underwater moments before it collapsed.

Despite a busy schedule with school, work, bachelor parties, weddings, and an amazing 2 week Italian Honeymoon I managed to spend as much time as I could on the water.  I made several trips to fish in Pennsylvania.  I fished for trout on the Little J, Spruce Creek, and Spring Creek, brook trout in small mountain streams, and steelhead on Elk Creek.  I caught steelhead swinging large 4” streamers and indicator fishing too.  I caught trout on dry flies, nymphs and streamers.  I caught largemouth and smallmouth on poppers and streamers, and carp too.  I caught several large trout, two that were notably 20” or more, a 20” brown from Spring Creek in January and a 21” rainbow from Spruce Creek in May.  I think the highlight of my year was an 8” brook trout.  Despite its small size, the brook trout was a native and wild fish with spectacular colors of orange, white, blue, red, green and yellow.  It was truly the most beautiful fish I have ever caught. 

20" Brown

21" Rainbow

Beautiful Mountain Brook Trout

Between Mother Nature and my schedule I didn’t get to fish as much as I would have liked.  I made the best of it when I could get out by seeking out places that were fishing when the streams around me were not.  When the streams near me were frozen solid, I hit limestoners in Central PA that had water temps in the low 40s and were fishing well.  I fished ponds for bass and blue gill because the rivers were blown out.  In May when Penns Creek was blown out, I hit the Little J instead.  The J was high, borderline unfishable, but it fished.  This year was all about adapting to high water conditions or seeking out alternative places to fish so that I could fish when I had the time.

At the end of 2011 I had planned to fish for Steelhead after exams but the steelhead streams blew out the day of my last exam.  I got out once when the streams dropped into shape before they blew out again, but the water was cold and I got skunked.  I also planned a trip to Central PA for winter break, but so far the streams there have been blown out too.

A Beautiful day to get skunked... 50 degrees on December 26th?

I had a good start to 2012.   Applying the lessons I learned last year, I sought out a new stream today because everything around here was blown.  There is a small stream stocked by a local TU chapter that I had heard about but never fished.  I jumped in the car made and the drive to check out this new stream.  It was a nice place; the stream is urban but runs through a wooded park.  I think I’ll fish there again.  I forgot to take a stream shot, but I did get a couple of photos of the one trout I caught.  It was tough going, I battled high winds to get a good drift and I lost of ton of flies to the numerous log jams in this stream.  I think I spent more time re-rigging than I did fishing.

First fish of 2012 in the bag!

Raibow on a white streamer

     

2012 has great promise on the fishing front.  I have made plans to go the Yellowstone area and fish in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana this coming summer  I continue to monitor Central PA and hope to have a window to head out for a couple of days later this week.