PFBC Voluntary Permits

[nymphingmaniac]

Great post! It reminds me of my same EXACT situation when I first started fishing Mill Creek back in the early 70's, when it was a stocked stream. Me and my one buddy used to ride our bikes down (we lived very close) to the "crick" to fish on a regular basis, for years, until we could drive. Then, we learned about wild trout and started fishing for them pretty much exclusively.

It's ironic, that it hasn't been stocked for a good many years now, but I caught one of my PB wild trout from there just two years ago. I love looking back on the good ole days. And yes, had it not been for stocked trout, I'd never be where I am today as a trout fisherman, even though I only pursue wild trout now.

I've shown this pic before, but I wanted to share it again here, because it shows my fishing buddy (he's on the right, I'm on the left) that I mentioned. He passed four years ago at 63. I miss him badly. He caught the wild brown in the pic.

like the two of you, I biked down to the two streams I fished. One stocked, the other a tributary of that stream that had fish migrate up into and also had brook trout, I assume they wild, but I didn't pay attention to those things. My first fish on a fly was a BT from that brook.

 

[Bamboozle]

Great post! It reminds me of my same EXACT situation when I first started fishing Mill Creek back in the early 70's, when it was a stocked stream. Me and my one buddy used to ride our bikes down (we lived very close) to the "crick" to fish on a regular basis, for years, until we could drive. Then, we learned about wild trout and started fishing for them pretty much exclusively.

It's ironic, that it hasn't been stocked for a good many years now, but I caught one of my PB wild trout from there just two years ago. I love looking back on the good ole days. And yes, had it not been for stocked trout, I'd never be where I am today as a trout fisherman, even though I only pursue wild trout now.

I've shown this pic before, but I wanted to share it again here, because it shows my fishing buddy (he's on the right, I'm on the left) that I mentioned. He passed four years ago at 63. I miss him badly. He caught the wild brown in the pic.

Nice picture!!

I started fishing in junior high (that will date me 😉). This may sound weird but by that age, I no longer owned or rode a bike so I didn't have one at my disposal for fishing. As young suburban kids we WALKED everywhere, used public transportation or hitchhiked.

What cracks me up to this day is remembering getting on a SEPTA bus at 6:00 am wearing my loaded vest with my reel tucked safely inside, my dorky fishing hat, hip boots rolled down to my knees and carrying my trusty 4 piece Eagle Claw Trailmaster rod.

At the end of the bus line, I'd start hitchhiking in the same get up another 20+ miles to get my "destination stream" that in those days was French Creek in Chester County. However, somehow I was clueless or just turned my nose up at the prospect of fishing stocked Darby Creek that was within walking distance of my home...

...dumb kid!! 😳

You'll appreciate this "travel" story too...

One weekend, a gang of us decided to go camping & fishing on the backwaters of Springton Reservoir which was not permitted, even in those days. We tried hitchhiking on West Chester Pike but no one would give four kids with a ton of gear a ride and we shunned the bus because it meant walking a LONG distance with gear to our "campsite..."

So we hailed a cab passing by and my friend talked the cabbie into turning off the meter 3/4 of the way to the Gradyville Road Road bridge to save us a few bucks on the cab fare. 👍

I don't remember, but I hope we gave him a good tip! 😉

 

[wildtrout2]

Thanks. That pic was taken roughly back in 1973. Four of us were fishing Adams Creek in Pike County that day, when my buddy caught that wild brown under the small (3'-4') club built (Adams used to be maintained by a club back then) falls, near the picnic area close to to Rt. 209 The fishing was so good on that stream, that all of us would easily catch 10 or 15 wild browns and native brookies. Since we didn't realize the importance of C&R back then, we'd keep our limits, but the fishing remained very good for a number of years afterwards.

It's funny, that same buddy caught a real small wild tiger trout there too, on a different trip. It was the first one any of us had ever seen, although we had heard of them. To this day, it remains one of only two I've ever actually seen. The second is the one I caught back in 2010.

 

[Bamboozle]

Thanks. That pic was taken roughly back in 1973. Four of us were fishing Adams Creek in Pike County that day...

MANY years after 1973 and on many occasions, I spent a fair amount of time on Tom's Creek but I never fished Adams Creek.

 

[wildtrout2]

MANY years after 1973 and on many occasions, I spent a fair amount of time on Tom's Creek but I never fished Adams Creek.

Yep, Tom's is right down the road, fished it several times back then, but we always referred to it as Egypt Creek, maybe because it's in Egypt Mills? It was also a really productive stream for both wild browns and natives. Now, I've read it's almost all wild browns?

I just might fish it again next season, just for old times sake.