Thanks for the info Biggie.
Things have been crazy lately, but luckily I got out for a day of fishing a few weekends ago. I recruited my father in law, his brother, my brother in law and a friend of mine to head to Oak Orchard to chase after some early season kings. We headed out Friday night and planned to hit Erie, Pa on the way and luck into some steel and break up the drive a bit. As I quote "the movie" "there are 2 things you're never late for, fishing and church". Well the cars pulled up at my house about 45 minutes late and by the time we got up to Erie to scout out the streams it was nearly dark. There wasn't much water in the streams anyway and we spotted about 2 total fish on 2 of the mile streams. They've improved since, but Erie still needs a bunch of rain to get things moving.
We woke at 5:15 on Saturday and headed to the Archer's lot. I love and hate fishing new streams. It's great to see new places but you're basically shooting from the hip on where to go. There were about a dozen guys in the run right by the parking lot so we decided to head downstream. Bad idea. Stream got big, and the few small runs down there had guys already in them. Ohh, btw, my father in law and his brother have next to no fly fishing experience, so I lent them rods and reels, and 1 pair of waders and boots (to be continued...) So I made sure they tagged along so I can see their faces when they finally hook into one of these monster kings.
I decided to head up to the circus that I kept hearing about by the dam. We worked our way upstream and I slowly started seeing a few fish here and there. It was still early but the fish were pretty few and far between. I saw the dam and found a nice pod of fish. I got a nice hook up within the first half hour I was there. He dogged me in the current for about 5 minutes and then decided to have his way with me. He ran me downstream, into my backing and broke me off.
The next few hours were very uneventful. We grabbed lunch, I continued to fish and we all crowded around a solid 100 yard stretch to drift over some fish. I finally found a nice king sitting just below the surface in a run and he hit about the 4th swing on a streamer. Took a solid 15 minutes or more to land him, but finally got one in. It was the only fish of the trip for the 5 of us and 1 guy didn't get a hookup.
My wife enjoyed the fish I brought home last year so I told her I'd bring more home this year. She's got a pretty good recipe with a onion and avocado salsa on top.
We headed back to the car around 7pm and drove home after getting some grub and the fish filleted. When we got home I went to collect my gear and we were missing a few things. My neoprene waders and boots I lent out, 1 hip boot, and 1 vest. Needless to say I wasn't happy, but things happen. Made some calls and never found anything. The good news, is that my father in law and his brother are hooked and are already planning another trip up there soon. My wife is due in 2.5 weeks with our son so I won't be doing much fishing at all this Fall, but that's OK by me.
Ryan