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Swattie87
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- May 3, 2011
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Haven't done a lot of trip write-ups recently, but this one was definitely worthy...
For several years now I've ventured into the northern PA wilderness with our own local salmonoid in search of well...salmonoids, and a few nights "unplugged" from the real world of office life, emails, and cell phones. As has usually been the case, we turned up more than just Trout, and had a really nice trip complete with all the bears and rattles.
We had originally planned an early trip this year, for mid April. However blown out conditions caused us to postpone that trip and by the time our schedules fell in synch it was mid-June. Coincidentally, it seems like it hardly rained in the area since mid-April according to the tell-tall USGS gauge further downstream in the watershed of our adventure. Luckily the area caught a few Tstorms in the past week or so, and flows were brought up to about the seasonal average. Salmonoid's brother joined us this year and after a rendezvous at 8:00 AM in the lot at the trailhead, we were off for the 5 mile hike to our destination. After arriving and setting up camp, we hiked downstream a mile or so and fished back up to camp. Fishing was just mediocre for this stream, but fair numbers of legal sized Brookies were brought to hand. The highlight was a 14" Brown that took the same size 12 Ausable Wulff I was throwing in search of the Brookies. I had a really good day fishing attractor dries for wild Browns in fast, broken water runs earlier in the year, and had mentally committed to fishing this style for this trip...worst case scenario, I would just turn up the Brookies. I only caught one Brown during the trip, but it was well worth it. A gusty thunderstorm came in just as we were preparing dinner, but served nicely to cool things off for sleeping in the evening.
Saturday saw slower fishing than Friday, partly due to a mistake in judgement on our part. We opted to fish upstream from camp and found the water running out very quickly, and the fish very spooky. (After the hike out today, and seeing the nice water conditions lower in the watershed, we realized our mistake.) On the other hand, we possibly wouldn't have gotten to see our third rattler in three years had we gone downstream, as salmonoid came across a relatively small, but strikingly dark colored one on a streamside slab rock while fishing lead. (Note the large spider to the left of the snake as well.) That evening, while doing the dishes, Salmonoid noticed several YOY Trout sitting the shallows. They were surprisingly not very spooky, or scared of light, and several allowed for close-up photos. Pretty neat. We had a bit of a Tiger? debate on the one pictured below, but eventually settled on it most likely being a Brookie.
Salmonoid was up to his usual night fishing antics, but I'll let him recount those. The hike out this morning made the trip complete with a bear sighting, as a single adult crossed the "trail" about 50 yards ahead of me. Other than a lot of wet, stinky laundry, it was a very rewarding and refreshing long weekend in the woods with good company.
For several years now I've ventured into the northern PA wilderness with our own local salmonoid in search of well...salmonoids, and a few nights "unplugged" from the real world of office life, emails, and cell phones. As has usually been the case, we turned up more than just Trout, and had a really nice trip complete with all the bears and rattles.
We had originally planned an early trip this year, for mid April. However blown out conditions caused us to postpone that trip and by the time our schedules fell in synch it was mid-June. Coincidentally, it seems like it hardly rained in the area since mid-April according to the tell-tall USGS gauge further downstream in the watershed of our adventure. Luckily the area caught a few Tstorms in the past week or so, and flows were brought up to about the seasonal average. Salmonoid's brother joined us this year and after a rendezvous at 8:00 AM in the lot at the trailhead, we were off for the 5 mile hike to our destination. After arriving and setting up camp, we hiked downstream a mile or so and fished back up to camp. Fishing was just mediocre for this stream, but fair numbers of legal sized Brookies were brought to hand. The highlight was a 14" Brown that took the same size 12 Ausable Wulff I was throwing in search of the Brookies. I had a really good day fishing attractor dries for wild Browns in fast, broken water runs earlier in the year, and had mentally committed to fishing this style for this trip...worst case scenario, I would just turn up the Brookies. I only caught one Brown during the trip, but it was well worth it. A gusty thunderstorm came in just as we were preparing dinner, but served nicely to cool things off for sleeping in the evening.
Saturday saw slower fishing than Friday, partly due to a mistake in judgement on our part. We opted to fish upstream from camp and found the water running out very quickly, and the fish very spooky. (After the hike out today, and seeing the nice water conditions lower in the watershed, we realized our mistake.) On the other hand, we possibly wouldn't have gotten to see our third rattler in three years had we gone downstream, as salmonoid came across a relatively small, but strikingly dark colored one on a streamside slab rock while fishing lead. (Note the large spider to the left of the snake as well.) That evening, while doing the dishes, Salmonoid noticed several YOY Trout sitting the shallows. They were surprisingly not very spooky, or scared of light, and several allowed for close-up photos. Pretty neat. We had a bit of a Tiger? debate on the one pictured below, but eventually settled on it most likely being a Brookie.
Salmonoid was up to his usual night fishing antics, but I'll let him recount those. The hike out this morning made the trip complete with a bear sighting, as a single adult crossed the "trail" about 50 yards ahead of me. Other than a lot of wet, stinky laundry, it was a very rewarding and refreshing long weekend in the woods with good company.