Elusive 20 inch wild brown

[StarvinMarvin]

Joe pa knew

 

[FarmerDave]

jifigz wrote:

midnightangler wrote:
If you like catching big wild trout, the clarion river is pretty great.

Maybe further up near Ridgeway wherever that rainwater action is, but certainly not where I was fishing it. Now an abundance of smallmouth bass for sure.

True, but the Cooksburg area, all the way up to a least Maple Creek, all the way down to the upper end of the Piney reservoir was my stomping grounds when I was in my teens through very early 20s, and I can tell you that there were some big trout in that stretch as well.

A couple of the biggest trout I ever saw were near the Gravel Lick bridge. Not wild trout though. One was actually a lightning trout.;-) And I do know that some big trout were found in that stretch one year while electro-fishing.

The vast majority of the trout that I did catch were not wild though. But if you knew where and when to fish it, trout could be found.

Plus, the river has probably improved since then.

Pcray mentioned Edinboro as a good place to go to college if fishing, especially Steelhead is to be considered. I'd think one of the Erie schools might be better.

Penn State has a campus up there that I have heard is good. But I honestly don't know.

 

[RLeep2]

I can't fathom anybody deliberately going to Edinboro in order to be close to the steelhead creeks. But I suppose such people exist..

The warmwater opportunities here (from my front yard, I can easily throw a rock underhand and have it land in the borough of Edinboro, where it has, btw, a 90% chance of hitting somebody from the greater Pittsburgh SMSA...) are pretty good.

Actually though, unless you have a good size boat and a need to go troll (rhymes with droll..) Lake Erie, a better warmwater town/school bet would be Meadville/Allegheny. Of course the down side of Meadville is that your rock will only have a 45% of hitting somebody from Pittsburgh. Might get somebody from Cleveland though and that's almost as good...

j/k

 

[troutbert]

PocketWater wrote:
Another small school that would be in a good location would be Juniata College.

Yah. Good fishing, good small college.

Penn State has good fishing, if you want the big school experience.

Bucknell would also be a good fishing, good small college choice.

 

[FarmerDave]

RLeep2 wrote:
I can't fathom anybody deliberately going to Edinboro in order to be close to the steelhead creeks. But I suppose such people exist..

The warmwater opportunities here (from my front yard, I can easily throw a rock underhand and have it land in the borough of Edinboro, where it has, btw, a 90% chance of hitting somebody from the greater Pittsburgh SMSA...) are pretty good.

Actually though, unless you have a good size boat and a need to go troll (rhymes with droll..) Lake Erie, a better warmwater town/school bet would be Meadville/Allegheny. Of course the down side of Meadville is that your rock will only have a 45% of hitting somebody from Pittsburgh. Might get somebody from Cleveland though and that's almost as good...

j/k

I like that one, RLP, but I can think of a few other downsides to Meadville, but there is definitely some good warm water fishing close by.

My little sister (who is neither a Mupear nor an FOB) did her undergrad at Allegheny college (that's Meadville for those that don't know) and then went to Cleveland for her post grad and then to Pittsburgh for her first job. She throws like a girl, but covered all the bases.;-)

I live about a half hour from Meadville, and ...

Well, I don't see a reason why anyone would want to actually move there except maybe for the cheap housing. But I understand Allegheny is a very good college for certain majors.

And don't drink the tap water in Meadville. It really sucks.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I think you should focus on a college that provides good majors that will get you somewhere in life and not one that is close to a good fishing location. Remember education first, job second, than fishing and in that order.

Just a reminder that you will not get $15.00 per hour flipping trout on a river!

 

[pcray1231]

I think you should focus on a college that provides good majors that will get you somewhere in life.... Remember education first, job second, than fishing and in that order.

See now, there you go getting all serious and stuff. I thought the order of priority was fishing, girls, football, education?

J/K. My honest advice is to choose major first. Choose college 2nd. Overall school rankings are pretty useless, IMO. Even the worst schools truly excel in a few majors, and even the best truly suck in a few majors. You gotta know what subject matter you wanna go into before you can judge whether a school is good or bad for your chosen path.

 

[FarmerDave]

PennypackFlyer wrote:
I think you should focus on a college that provides good majors that will get you somewhere in life and not one that is close to a good fishing location. Remember education first, job second, than fishing and in that order.

Just a reminder that you will not get $15.00 per hour flipping trout on a river!

 

[FarmerDave]

pcray1231 wrote:

I think you should focus on a college that provides good majors that will get you somewhere in life.... Remember education first, job second, than fishing and in that order.

See now, there you go getting all serious and stuff. I thought the order of priority was fishing, girls, football, education?

J/K. My honest advice is to choose major first. Choose college 2nd. Overall school rankings are pretty useless, IMO. Even the worst schools truly excel in a few majors, and even the best truly suck in a few majors. You gotta know what subject matter you wanna go into before you can judge whether a school is good or bad for your chosen path.

I agree with Pat, but wouldn't have chosen wording other than "pretty useless." There are college rankings by major as well. They can be useful. For example, and Engineering degree from Pitt or Penn State probably carried more bargaining party than one from ... a school ranked badly or not at all in engineering.

I chose Pitt because they were highly ranked in my major of choice among colleges and universities that I felt I could reasonably afford. I still should have chosen Penn State who was ranked similarly and cost about the same. But I was offered some scholarship money from Pitt, so there was that.

The problem was that I was the fist in my family to go to college, and the guidance counselor at my HS was as worthless as the ... nevermind. BTW, I think he graduated from Clarion.;-) Anyway, I didn't know what I was doing.

I really wanted to go to the naval academy, but by the time I mentioned it to the guidance councilor it was too late. I really didn't like that guy.

May he rest in peace.

Anyway, I only applied at a couple branch campuses. One for Pitt, one for Penn State. Both chosen for proximity to home which was a mistake. I should have applied other places as well. But once I got acceptance letters from those two, I stopped.

All you young people out there, start looking early and often and pick a useful major. At least I got that part right. And don't settle like I did. Try to generate options.

 

[sarce]

Just a reminder that you will not get $15.00 per hour flipping trout on a river!

Now there's an idea! Streamside fresh grilled trout stand.

Can make use of all the belly-up trout killed by being caught in 70 degree water on 7X tippet, and/or from poor photo-taking practices (grip-and-grin-and-grill)

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Don't forget those that leave a long tippet sticking out of the fishes mouth because they can't get the hook out.

 

[pcray1231]

The problem was that I was the fist in my family to go to college.

My brother beat me to college. But he was the first.

But, see, I picked my school for all the wrong reasons. I went to IUP (yes, yes, I Used to Party, I know). Because, well, my brother was there, and my girlfriend was there, and I had friends going there. And it was cheap, as the deal my parents made both me and my brother was that they'd pay for our first year of college and then we were on our own.

It worked out, though. I spent the first semester undecided and then decided on Physics Ed. Highly ranked? Nope. Tiny. I graduated in a class of 2 in my major (I came in 2nd in my class, if you were wondering, as little mis sunshine Kelly was straight A's). But I kind of liked the small department. Student/teacher ratio was like 1/3, lol. Mostly the teachers taught general ed courses to non majors, so the actual physics degree classes were a small afterthought. But I got to know the professors well and formed good relationships. And, it was cheap.

During summers I worked in the local steel mill to keep my loan debt low. Same place my dad, 2 grandfathers, 3 uncles, etc. worked. And I said then and there that it was WHY I was going to college to be a teacher, to stay away from the steel mills, lol.

From there I taught high school for one year. Planned on getting a masters in summers/evenings, but I was teaching in Coudersport, and there ain't much opportunity up there for evening classes. Further, I got engaged during that year. My now-wife (who I met at IUP) was now at Penn State working on her phD. I visited frequently. Got to know some of the professors. One offered me a chance to help teach college classes, get my masters in a science, rather than education, and get paid to do it, while getting to move to live with my now-wife. So I did it.

Then when I got out, I realized the money was much better in private industry, and took a job in a steel mill. lol. But, umm, I guess I'm salary and technical due to my degree. Which means my hours are better and I spend half my time in an air conditioned office, but make far less money than the uneducated guys out on the floor. Funny how things work out.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

When I went to college everyone told me what I wanted to be, and after 1 .5 years of being a campus cafeteria bum I moved on. Started working in Landscaping which was a fun but difficult field to work in (long hours little pay). So I decided to join the Navy. Spend 20 years in earned my BS in general business and now I'm here helping students.

Working towards my second pension now.

 

[NewSal]

pcray1231 wrote:

The problem was that I was the fist in my family to go to college.

My brother beat me to college. But he was the first.

But, see, I picked my school for all the wrong reasons. I went to IUP (yes, yes, I Used to Party, I know). Because, well, my brother was there, and my girlfriend was there, and I had friends going there. And it was cheap, as the deal my parents made both me and my brother was that they'd pay for our first year of college and then we were on our own.

It worked out, though. I spent the first semester undecided and then decided on Physics Ed. Highly ranked? Nope. Tiny. I graduated in a class of 2 in my major (I came in 2nd in my class, if you were wondering, as little mis sunshine Kelly was straight A's). But I kind of liked the small department. Student/teacher ratio was like 1/3, lol. Mostly the teachers taught general ed courses to non majors, so the actual physics degree classes were a small afterthought. But I got to know the professors well and formed good relationships. And, it was cheap.

During summers I worked in the local steel mill to keep my loan debt low. Same place my dad, 2 grandfathers, 3 uncles, etc. worked. And I said then and there that it was WHY I was going to college to be a teacher, to stay away from the steel mills, lol.

From there I taught high school for one year. Planned on getting a masters in summers/evenings, but I was teaching in Coudersport, and there ain't much opportunity up there for evening classes. Further, I got engaged during that year. My now-wife (who I met at IUP) was now at Penn State working on her phD. I visited frequently. Got to know some of the professors. One offered me a chance to help teach college classes, get my masters in a science, rather than education, and get paid to do it, while getting to move to live with my now-wife. So I did it.

Then when I got out, I realized the money was much better in private industry, and took a job in a steel mill. lol. But, umm, I guess I'm salary and technical due to my degree. Which means my hours are better and I spend half my time in an air conditioned office, but make far less money than the uneducated guys out on the floor. Funny how things work out.

What is your job title at the mill ?

 

[HopBack]

Then when I got out, I realized the money was much better in private industry, and took a job in a steel mill. lol. But, umm, I guess I'm salary and technical due to my degree. Which means my hours are better and I spend half my time in an air conditioned office, but make far less money than the uneducated guys out on the floor. Funny how things work out.

I worked there as a shift manager a few years back. What a hell hole. Place hasn't seen updates since the 60s. I don't know how you do it your a better man than me!

 

[pcray1231]

Sal. The short version would be Metallurgist.

In corporate speak there are add ons to that title which describe my rank among metallurgists, the job description of the group I'm in, and the department I report through.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

PCRAY: Is that short for some one who sits at a metal desk and twiddles a pencil between their fingers all day?

I'm still trying to figure out how being the first in the family to attend college is a problem? It must be something about the instructors not being forwarned.

And of course you drive to work in one of those Bentawhatevers!

 

[PSUturf91]

Not to change the college subject, but I would like to say that I managed to break the 20 inch mark last night with a 21.5 inch brown out of Penns! So Pumped!

Does anyone know why I'm not able to upload my pictures on here?

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Ya half to go to college for that!

 

[pcray1231]

I'm still trying to figure out how being the first in the family to attend college is a problem?

It's about understanding how the system works. The transition from HS to college to the workplace. What's useful and what's not. If there are no parents/family to provide that perspective, and the guidance counselor is useless (most are), then it's feeling your way as you go vs. having a map for how it all works.