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. 

Summer and Fall 2011 Recap

I haven’t posted in a long time.  Weather and the hustle and bustle of life have kept me from the stream lately.  I haven’t been able to fish much, leaving very little to post about.  When I have gotten out the fishing has been ok at best so I didn’t feel a pressing need to write about it.

2011 posted the most precipitation on record and we still have over a month to go.  All the rain and flooding changed the rivers and made for few days with decent fishing conditions.

The summer smallmouth fishing was tough.  When the rivers were fishable, I found the stream bed was gouged to clay in areas that used to have good fish holding habitat rendering the spot barren of fish.  I’m not sure if the fish got washed down stream or if some were killed by all the flooding, but it seemed like numbers were down sharply from years past.

I made a trip to Spring Creek on Columbus Day since the conditions around here were supper low and clear.  The fishing was ok, but not as good as Spring can be.  I caught a few trout, none of any size.  I did manage to bring a few fish to the surface prospecting with a caddis pattern.  I fished the newly opened canyon section of the creek which was nice.  The highlight of the trip was a chance to fish a handmade bamboo rod.  As I was walking deeper into the canyon I met an old timer who had made this beautiful bamboo rod.  When I complimented him on his rod, he offered to allow me to fish it.  I reluctantly accepted.  I had never cast a bamboo rod before.  I’ve wanted to try a bamboo rod out and not that I’ve had the chance I really want to get one someday.   

Dawn on the drive to State College

I only got out a couple of times in search of steelhead, and have yet to catch one this fall.  I hear the fishing has been good, but school has consumed me and I have not had a chance to get out when conditions were prime.  The two times I have been out, the water was low and clear and fish were not present.

In summary, between getting married, work and school I have been very busy.  My schedule coupled with very few days when the rivers have been fishing has led to limited time on the water and less than ideal conditions; the end result is crappy fishing.  I still cherished every moment I’ve had on the water.  I often daydream of the next chance I’ll have to be on the water, I envision the perfect cast to the perfect lie and subtle take before the violent fight, then photographing a trophy fish before releasing it.  Until the next time…

Warm water fly fishing

Summertime fly fishing is great.  Warm weather means wet wading with minimal gear.  I've been fishing for smallies and carp on the streams near my house and have spent some time at the local bass pond sticking large mouth when the rivers are blown.  Here are a bunch of pics from the last several times I've been out. 

Dodged the bullet or the rain anyway

For months I have been planning a spring trout trip after I finished exams and before my wedding. I finished exams mid-May and the wedding is the first week in June. I had a two week window to make this trip. This spring has been extraordinarily rainy. April set a new record amount of rain. My last week of exams was beautiful, sunny and dry. The day of my last exam the rain started and didn’t stop for over a week. There were severe storm warnings, thunderstorms that spawned rain and hail, and a string of tornadoes that hit across the Midwest. First steelhead season had been washed away, now it looked like trout season was about to be ruined by the rain too. Penns Creek, Fishing Creek, and Spring Creek were all blown out. Somehow, the Little Juniata River had been spared. The little J was high, but it was fishable. It was the only stream in Central Pennsylvania that was not completely blown out. I decided I was going to go to the town of Spruce Creek to fish the Little J. The night before I left it stormed here and moved across PA. The western PA streams were blown out by this storm. As luck would have it, the Little J had been spared, the rain fell West and East of the J. I packed the car and headed out.


The Little J.

I arrived in Spruce Creek by mid-afternoon. I hit the local fly shop stocked up flies, got some directions and then headed to the river. I nymphed during the afternoon and caught a couple of browns and a rainbow. As dusk settled in, I set up in a nice pool for the sulfur hatch. As the bugs started to do their dance, the fish began to notice and began rising. Slow and sporadic at first, by dark fall the whole pool was boiling with rising fish.  The sulfur hatch was off because of the rain and was not the blizzard hatch that usually occurs on the Little J.  I tried several flies and cast to every fish within reach and could not get a fish to take. The guy at the fly shop said this river could break your heart, it crushed mine.


On the board, first fish in the bag on the 3rd cast!

Big fish of the day out of a seem at the junction pool

...and a rainbow

The next morning I headed to Spruce Creek and fished the Penn State property named after George Harvey. Spruce Creek is a pretty small stream and has even smaller braids in this area. I brought the 9’ 5 weight, I would have been better off with the 8.5’ or the 7.5’ rod. Oh well, I had to pass by some fishy looking water because it was too tight for the 9 footer. The water was cloudy and high. I caught a small rainbow to start things off. I continued to work upstream to where a braid came back in to the main channel. I fished a big black stonefly and small tan caddis pupa. I hooked a monster rainbow in the deep cut at the junction. This fish taped out at 21”. This was the largest inland trout I have ever caught. It was the size of a small steelhead. The fish only fit half way in my net. It was about noon and I decided this was as good as Spruce was going to get for me on this day. I headed back to the fly shop to restock the fly box and then headed back to the J.

George Harvey section of Spruce Creek

Pretty tight, shouldn't have brought the 9 footer

didn't fit in the net

Beast of a fish

21 beautiful inches of rainbow trout 

Penn State Forestry shed

 Sulphurs were on the water

I fished the same area on the J that I fished the day before. I didn’t catch anything all afternoon. The sun was high, it was hot, and the bugs were not as active as they had been the day before. It was a long and frustrating afternoon. As the sun started to move behind the trees creating some shade on the water I began to get into a few fish in the shadows. I worked back to the same pool I fished the night before for the hatch. I could just not manage to get a fish to take a dry fly. It was so frustrating.

A Couple of nice fish

I drove to State College that night because I had heard that Spring Creek had come down enough that guys were catching fish. I planned to fish Spring first thing and then move onto a brook trout stream up in the mountains as I made my way home. I have never fished for brook trout and really wanted to catch a native trout.

Spring Creek was high, fast, and cloudy. The only clear water was on the edges. I fished every soft spot on the edges that looked fishy. I hooked into a good sized fish early and lost it. Later I caught a couple of browns and then snagged up in a tree. I broke the leader free and it got all tangled up. I chopped off the bottom of the leader and tied on some 2x and a big black streamer. I pounded the banks and caught a good sized fish on the streamer. This was exciting for me because it was my first inland trout on a streamer. I packed it in and headed for the brook trout stream.

Flowers on Spring Creek

Spring Creek was still high and cloudy

Dink brown

A little better...

Hammered the streamer

First trout on a streamer

 

The drive up into the mountains was beautiful, but the roads were not marked well and it took some guess work to get there. I managed to find my way to a beautiful small stream at the bottom of a high mountain valley. The landscape was picturesque with pines hemlocks and rhododendrons. I couldn’t rig the rod fast enough. I was so excited! This was a small stream the width of a parking space. I fished the 7.5’ 5 weight with a 7.5’ leader to manage the tight quarters and all the overhanging brush. I tied on a big bushy dry fly and cast upstream in the pool above me. There was a small rise and a brook trout leaped out of water. I had caught a brookie on the first cast on a dry!! This was so exciting for me because it was double first, first brook trout and first fish landed on a dry fly. I caught another small brookie before I had to head for home in order to get the rent a car back on time.

 Heading up the mountain

 Mountain stream

Beautiful native brook trout 

I had a fantastic trip. I avoided the rain for the most part. The only rain I encountered was a slight drizzle on the first night as I was packing up the car and a brief but heavy downpour on the trip home. I caught the PA triple, brown trout, rainbow trout, and brook trout. I caught my first trout on a streamer and my first trout on a dry fly. I caught fish in every body of water I fished in some tough high water conditions. I fished hard and had a great time.