Spruce Creek

Well I decided to head home to visit my family this weekend and also wanted to meet up with my good friend Matt and do a little fishing. We started out this morning at the Little Juniata, and for a reason I cant put a finger on we decided to leave the "J" and fish the George Harvey section of Spruce Creek. I managed  6  and unfortunately Matt couldn't hook up with any. I normally catch a few real good wild browns when fishing Spruce but only managed one. The rest of the fish caught were rainbows courtesy of the Spring Ridge Club. The first bow that I caught was 11 inches or so and the next was about 14. The following three were all over 16 with the largest topping out at 18". The fish were caught on a mix of a golden stone fly and a black crystal cone head bugger.

Today was my best trip to Spruce Creek. My previous Record was 3. I felt that 6 fish in the 1/2 mile stretch that is open to public was a superb day. Every time I fish Spruce it grows on me. The scenery is beautiful and Its one of the few streams around where you never know what fish will be in each run. Will they be rainbows from Spring Ridge Club or will they be wild Spruce Creek Browns? Or will they be both? 

Here is the only wild brown for the day. Classic spruce coloring.

 First fish of the day.

 17" Rainbow

 Matt retying after losing his golden stone to a tree.

 The biggest of the day. 18" rainbow

This Weeks Trips

Well this week started out with me fishing the Quttipahilla on Tuesday afternoon. I managed to hook up with one rainbow and also a pretty sizable Brown for this particular stream. Both came on size 8 brown crystal buggers. The brown thought he was a bow and tried out his aviation skills, he had to have came out of the water a good 3 feet multiple times. Overall I would rate the trip as average. I saw a good amount of fish but getting takers was a challenge.

 Then today I was had the day off and planned on heading over to the Manada to do some fishing in the DHALO section but found out my friend and fishing buddy Matt was taking the day off work to take advantage of the 70 deg forcast for the day, so we decided to hit a few mountain freestones that hold some native brookies.

The first one on the schedule was an un-named tributary to another trib that we planned on fishing later in the day. We fished a decent section of it and decided to call it quits as there were any fish in the trib that we could tell. This was the first trip for either of us to this area and wanted to add or cross this one off the list of trout waters.

Here is a photo of the first trib.

After that we moved to the days second freestone and fished a long section of it. We both worked hard trying to catch fish without spooking them. This tributary had a good amount of trout on it and we each brought to hand a few beauties.

 Matt caught this one early in the trip and got his skunk out of the way. I on the other hand, had to fish a little longer for mine.

 All the work that went into today, and afterwards coming home exhausted was worth just catching one of these beauties.

Matt working one of the pools on this shelf towards the end of the upper section that we fished.


After finishing up on this little freestone, Matt wanted to take me to a new freestone and see if we could catch a few more brookies. He said this stream has a high gradient and it would be tough going but the view would be worth it. We didnt bring any to hand but had a few on and saw a few others. A trophy trout in this particular freestone would push 6 or 7 inches.

 Me trying to coax a brookie into biting. NO LUCK!!! theres always the next pool

Matt had a big 4" brookie on 2 times here. On the hike out we got a good chuckle out of the fact that we both said a four inch brookie is a big fish.

Overall this week was pretty awesome. Its been too long since I have been on a Pennsylvania mountain freestone fishing the way I grew up. I also enjoyed yet another successful trip with Matt. The
70 Degrees in March isn't going to make me complain either.

Gear review

Well I decided to do a gear review on what has been my favorite rod this year. Towards the beginning of 2011 I snapped one of my better rods and needed a rod to replace it. I made the Drive to Cabelas with the hope of finding a rod under $100 that i liked. Being in college limits how much I can spend on gear. Especially after buying waders and wading shoes, a new chest/backpack combo while also satisfying my love for bass fishing with a bunch of new baitcast combos, I knew I needed to stay on the cheaper side. I ended up buying a Three Forks rod manufactured by Cabelas. I bought the 8'6'' 5 wt and absolutely love it.

For me this Rod has been great. I have used it for a full year and its been a solid dependable rod. Cabelas specs on it classify it as a medium fast action which I feel is spot on. the rod has a really good backbone and is alot lighter than some other rods in its class. The wraps and reel seat are nothing special but are much better than the plastic versions on some rods in the same price range. It isnt as light as my Redingtons, but again it isn't heavy by any means. I have no problem casting the majority of flies with it. I do wish that I would have gotten a 9' version now that I fish Idaho more often. The 8'6'' was perfect for Pennsylvania but I do wish I had that extra 6 inches out west. The epoxy used to attach the reel seat isn't the best and I did have it come out on a really warm day but after I but it back in with epoxy it hasn't given me any issues. This is a common issue with these rods. I have two friends that have them and experienced the same issue.
I do not have any affiliation with Cabelas and am not getting paid for this in any way. I just love their products and service and am very impressed with this fly rod.

I also was just down to the Cabelas in Hamburg and picked up one of their new WR2 fly reels, I have been switching my current reel from my Redington SV to the Three Forks and back and wanted to get a reel for the Three Forks. I was very impressed with this reel and fell in love with it. Its an all aluminum reel with a rulon disc drag. all for $30. The color of it is pretty sweet also. The amount of reel for the price was a selling point for me as i just bought a new car and am really strapped for cash currently. I will report back about the reel after I use it for a few months.

Also went to the Local Bass Pro Shops in Harrisburg for the Spring Fishing Classic and stocked up on $60 double taper fly line for a one day only price of $9.99