Lackawanna River Outing

[djs12354]

Spent some time on the Lackawanna River up here in NEPA late this afternoon till about 7:30 with my brother, Pete (not a PAFF member) and our friend Dan (Moonbeam).

I'm working on my nymphing skills, or should I say, lack thereof, but was really hoping for some dry fly action. (I've become addicted to the on top action).

After a stroll from one section of the river to another, we noticed a very noisy riser in the center of the river. We quickly switched to dries and started working the fish. Dan quickly stung one good and the other seemed to quiet for a minute or two. But while Dan was working with Pete, the fish started flipping us the fin again.

I couldn't stand it and told Dan I was going to drift over him and see if I could get his attention. Didn't seem to do very much to attract him until Dan came down and we got into our "Lefty/Righty" mode. (Dan tosses lefty and I go righty, so we can work a rhythm on a stream that lets us both work a hole without too much trouble. I did mis-time a cast and as I apologized to Dan, the strike came!

It was a horse and a half! I had let Pete use my five-weight, so I had been tossing with my seven-weight (first time I really fished with it). That fish ran up and down the hole and was STRONG! I took my time and worked carefully because I was only using 6X tippet (hit the end of the spool of 5X) Sadly, as we were bringing it to the net, is surged one last time and brook off! Even with that, I had a great time!

Moved further down the river and started to work another hole, but that story is for Dan to tell......it's another big fish story!

Dave

 

[delta_dog]

Ouch Dave ! 6x on a 7wt is a big no no. The reason you lost that fish wasn't the tippet's fault it was the rods fault. If the rod can't give the tippet will usually ending in an......Ahhhh Man!

 

[Volksnurse]

+1 on the tippet lesson learned, but great story Dave!!

 

[moonbeam]

Ah, but the rest of the big fish story although Dave weaves a better yarn than me. I was armed with 5wt and 5x tippet on another Light Cahill. After moving to one of my favorite runs I spotted 3 rising Browns within my presentation reach! Third drift and slam . . . big fish on. This novice remembered to apply lessons learned; get the line on the reel quickly and let the light drag sing while keeping the rod tip high, as these Lack Browns like to dive for the the rocks.

It must have been at least 1/4 hour before Dave was able to lend his net to scoop this big one ready for camera then quick release, healthy for another day. Another great memory and fish story about my largest Brown so fare caught on a dry fly!

(OK Dave, now how do I attach the pictures??)

 

[djs12354]

(OK Dave, now how do I attach the pictures??)

You mean like these? Additional charges apply, ya know.....

Re the 6X tippet----I had run dry on the 5X and did not run back to the car for the spare spool. I'll be picking some up today to re-stock the vest.

Tippet didn't break, it was know failure that did me in. While it may not be apparent, I have some experience ,from being in Pulaski, fighting big fish. I was doing okay with this one until it got close to Dan and made a big surge when it saw the net.

Since I would have let it go anyway, all it did was speed the release.

Needless to say, we'll be heading back to the Lackawanna some evening soon.

Dave

 

[SkyBlue]

That's a nice fish Dan, trigger, reel, drag...land. Great job!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Nice post and nice fish!

I usually do well about 30 minutes before dark and on with Cahills on the Lack.

 

[djs12354]

SkyBlue wrote:
That's a nice fish Dan, trigger, reel, drag...land. Great job!

Had my head down when Dan's fish struck so I don't know if it took like the one I had on, but the take on mine required no hook-set! That was the hardest take I've experienced so far!