Pennsylvania and Family

Well my time in my home state has come to an end.(I might be able to sneak out one more time to the Juniata before I leave) It has been the kind of summer break I absolutely cannot complain about. I caught some monster fish and a lot of fish while being home, one of which I don't think I will ever forget. Here are a few pictures of the Pennsylvania waters I cannot get enough of.

 

They have treated me well, and I cannot wait to come back again.

This First trip of the week was a special one. Sometimes the trips are memorable for the fish that I catch. This was much different, my father came along and served me up a large piece of humble pie. we went to the Little J and I chucked streamers, with sporradic dry fly fishing in between. He brought his spinning rod and his minnow rig. I will not give numbers(I do not want to look bad) but lets just say that he found himself with a much larger amount of fish on the other end of the rod than I did. It was great to see my dad kick my butt, Its been years and he knows it :). Normally he was always stuck helping my little brother, or fishing water behind me.( I called my style POWER FISHING, because I never really stop moving along the river. Its just a constant walk while fishing)

After landing a healthy brown halfway through the trip, I decided I had had enough. I thought to myself, this is one of the few times you have to simply "fish" with your father. So with that thought, I broke down the Redington, strapped it to my backpack, and decided to stick with my dad and net his fish and just enjoy the moment.

 The last brown of the day for me.

 This guy was a good 17''. It doesnt look it, but that is just because my dad is a beast.

 You have no idea how great of a day this really turned out to be for me.

This being my dads second ever trip to the Little J, he was not used to trout that actually fight. This is a far cry from fishing for 12 inch stockies and or wild trout that are in the hole the size of a truck bed.  I know he will be fishing it often from now on, because he kept commenting on how hard these trout can fight when they have some water to move around in. This really was one of my more memorable trips of my life. 


The second trip of the week was to the first stream I ever fished. On the way back from the Little J, my dad asked if I had been back to this stretch to try it. Frankly, I had forgotten about it. I hadn't been there for about 8 or 9 years.

Well early next morning, I found myself headed for Rothrock State Forest with my 3 wt. Back when I was a young child, I remember my dad giving me piggyback rides, while he fished for wild brookies. I fished the stream, and pulled out a few brookies, but surprisingly most were wild browns.

This little Freestone stream is absolutely Gorgeous!!!!!!! Most of the holes were the same as they were 8 years ago, which made for a nice walk down memory lane.

The goods from the trip:

 T

The third trip was back to the Little J with my buddy Matt. Matt is a Junior High football coach, and did not have much time to fish, but we made the best of it.We both chucked streamers, and the J gave up some good fish.

Meat Eaters From the LJR

Well I made a nice day trip to the Little Juniata River today to hunt down some nice wild browns. After a later than planned start, my father, brother and I piled into my little fishmobile and made the short trek to the river. We planned on hitting my favorite stretch across from the Grier School, but upon arrival, we saw multiple dudes on the river so we decided to head to the second stretch I wanted to hit. We drove the few miles to the next section and geared up. My dad and my brother rigged up with nymph rigs and started working some runs. They mostly wanted to get out and get some experience casting and what not since they are both new to fly fishing.
I half-hazardly skirted the side of a steep bank, and started heading towards a bridge right upriver from where we parked. On the way there, I thought about what I wanted to throw for the day.......My good friend Shane has been fishing streamers out in Idaho still and has been sending pictures of some real beauties my way for me to drool over. I decided I was going to tie on an articulated Circus Peanut and trail it with a black bugger. With this setup, I knew I wouldn't have a quantity day, but might possibly have one or two good fish by the end of the trip. After 4 hours of fishing, I had only brought 3 to hand. I did however fish about 2 miles, and in that stretch of water I had about 30 or so fish either chase or take. I just wasn't able to connect with many on this trip. Out of the 3 that I landed, the first was a dink and not picture worthy, the second was about 14 inches and the third was an absolute MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Here is a shot of the Second fish. It took the lead streamer.

 And Another...........

 This is the run that the 14 incher came out of.





And now to the Big Guy

What a monster of a Brown........Absolute Monster.

Just Kidding :) That guy was from a little freestone stream I fished last week.

Right before I caught the Big Guy, I came up on a big boulder and cast out to run the meat through the little hole that formed directly behind. On the 4th or 5 strip I had a fish about 18 inches take and after a good fight, he came off as I was getting my net out to land him. I quickly became depressed and planned on giving up after losing what would have been my largest 100% wild brown. Well after convincing myself that the day was not over, I continued to fish and shortly after caught this guy.....

He stretched the tape to 20 inches, beating my old record by 4 inches.....How is that for a day on the LJR? No hatches, No dry flies, just meat eating Browns.





Some pictures from trips since my last post are below......

 I went back and caught the big bow from an earlier post again.......same fly same spot.

Photo Dump

Here are some of the photos that I have taken over the past few outings. I don't have alot of time currently so the write up is going to be short.

 This is my best friend Ethan. This trip was his first in search of wild brookies.

 A nice Juniata County brown

 Me working a nice little stretch. This spot produced a nice wild brook trout.

 Ethans first wild brook trout, and also his first trout on a fly rod.

 I have also been floating the Juniata River alot lately for these guys. This is my buddy Matt with a beautifully colored smallie from our last float.

 This fallfish smacked my clouser while fishing for smallies. I really like the way this photo turned out. It actually is a really good sized fallfish too.

Last week Matt bought a Temple Fork BVK and wanted to try it out so we headed to a local stream to fish for some of these wild browns.

 Gotta love big brood stock planters. Thanks again spring ridge club for the big bows..... :)

Spruce Creek



Toothy Critter update:

Well still no hook ups on the fly, but we have had plenty of action on the flukes. This is the best one of the summer so far. The chain pickerel have been out in full force on a local lake this year.