I AM ADDICTED!!!!!!!

Well this past weekend I was able to go with some close friends on my first actual fly fishing trip where we targeted carp. All that I can say after that experience is WOW. I have never had a fish just run uncontrollably on me and take me into my backing that quick, and it wasn't just one of them it was all.
Here are some of the better photos from the day. Some video footage will follow at some point.

 Shane had this hilarious way of unhooking the carp? everyone needs a hug every so often.

 Our first of many triples. About 25-30 carp came to hand between the 3 of us.

 My first Mirror carp (also my first ever carp)

Probably my biggest of the day

Farewell Pennsylvania!!!!!!

Well In two days I will be headed back across the country to Rexburg, Idaho for another semester at BYU. I took a break from packing today to go fish the Little Juniata and Spruce Creek for the last time in a long time.

The morning started out standing at my car in the George Harvey parking lot on Spruce. I wanted to work this stretch thoroughly one last time this year in hopes of catching a few big fish.
After gearing up, I walked down to the lower limits and started fishing my way up. On my first cast, I felt something smack my streamer and when I set the hook, I had nothing. I tossed back out and on the second strip felt my rod bend. I ended up bringing to hand the largest Pennsylvania wild brown that I have ever caught. After A few Pictures I released him to brighten some lucky fishermans day on a future date.

This brown was 14 1/2 inches, Making it my largest PA wild brown to date. Notice the triple blue spots on the gill plate. What a cool, beautiful brown.


After That The fishing died Down for about an hour. I saw a few sporaddic risers, But not enough to warrant a switch in my opinion. The next fish brought to hand was a cookie cutter Bow stocked by Spring Ridge. My thanks to the club, Its always nice to latch into a few pellet hogs. A few more bows came to hand and one more smaller wild brown. All fish were caught on black scuplin patterns.

This was the largest Bow for the day. 19" and actually quite good looking for being a stocker.


Around 2 oclock, I left spruce creek and headed to the gorge on the Little J. I heard lots of reports of grannoms coming off. I was also told by a close friend that sulphurs were also starting to show themselves. I got to the area I wanted to fish and sadly saw there were about a dozen guys spread throughout the area. That explained the Maryland, WV and Virginia plates in the parking lot. Well I saw fish rising EVERYWHERE, so I just moved downstream some and started to fish. There were plenty of grannoms and BWO's hatching and sure enough a good amount of sulphurs. I tied on a size 16 royal stimulator and started missing fish after fish. I just had a super delyed reaction on my hookset. In the hour that I was at the J fishing I brought two to hand and had about another 30 takes. Hopefully I got the rust off my dry fly fishing abilities.

 To add to the last post about colors and trout, there is ABSOLUTELY not a better looking brown trout in my opinion than the ones that come from this Fishery. The browns in the Little J are just stunning. The one thing that saddens me, is knowing that I will yet again miss the good fishing and the famous sulphur hatch for yet another year.

Well on another note, I will be back in Idaho and fishing ALOT, so those following the blog, expect some good reports from that side of the country to follow.

wild browns

A recent post from my good friend Chris over at www.manyafish.blogspot.com got me thinking about colors on trout. Alot of people say that brook trout are the best looking but I feel there is nothing that comes close to a wild brown. I was out fishing today and started out fishing a Lebanon county stream and managed 2 absolutely beautiful browns.

These trout were absolutely beautiful. When I look at these creations, I know there is a higher power. I feel that there isnt a better looking fish. I was glad to catch two from this stream. Browns in each watershed  have distinct characteristics that just make them even more amazing.

The next wild brown came from Manada Creek. This one was special to me as it was the first wild Brown I have caught from the Manada in over a year. I have caught lots of trout from the creek but they have always been holdover stockies lately. I know they are in there but they have eluded me for quite some time.

Here is the beauty from the Manada. Alot lighter coloring on this one than the ones from the other stream.

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

Not sure what to think this winter!!!

Well lucky for me I had the day off work and without a doubt didnt hesitate to head out to one of my favorite Lebanon county streams. The air temp was 60 degrees and the water temp was in the mid 40's which lead to a great day. I spent the day fishing for wild browns and some fingerling stockies. I planned on fishing some dries today but somehow I managed to leave absolutely ALL of my dry flies at home with my fly tying stuff. So I had to go to plan B, which was to fish a pink san juan worm pattern that I had on me. luckily I tied a box with a few dozen in it for the opening day of trout season and had it in my pack already. I also caught some on a size 12 rubberleg flashwing prince nymph. This winter has been the warmest that I have ever seen. Its been great for the fishing, but I hope it doesnt have any negative effects when the heat sets in this summer.

 Well the old pink worm produced this beauty of a brown within the first 10 min of the trip. It is actually the biggest brown I have caught out of this particular stream.

 I brought to hand countless numbers of these small stocked brook trout that were eager to take the pink worm.

It was a very frustrating day for me seeing fish rise all over the place, while being able to do nothing about it. The first thing I did when I returned home was put ALL my boxes back into my pack. This was a first for me I never check my pack because I rarely take the boxes out and set them somewhere, most of the time I pull them out,add to them and put them right back in the pack. I think I might have to start checking from now on.