You Can Help

The other week as I was having lunch below Coburn at the walk over old rail bridge I noticed that a very large percentage of trees are dead, maybe a victim of the Emerald Ash Borrower? We are loosing a valuable source of shade for our beloved Penn Creek, well what could you do to help, plant a few trees is one the biggest things we could all do, here is a list of the species that will work well;
Near the stream- Silver Maple, Swamp Oak and River Birch
Away from the stream- Red Maple, Hackberry, Honey Locust and Sweet Gum
According to the experts if you had to pick one you would pick River Birch, we can either buy some of them or just find a good stand and take a few small trees and plant them in good locations. Just pick a spot that has a dead Ash tree and hope that it will withstand a high water event. This is a project that every fisherman and woman should try and do, our resource is loosing valuable cover from the Emerald Ash insect and from what I can see the only two things that our benefiting from it is fire wood guys and wood peckers.
   Speaking about high water, last week my backyard rain guage had 3" in it from the Thursday/Friday rain, blown out is not accurate, really really blown out is a much better description of the state of our streams and the Susquehanna River. Penns went from 250 cfs to 5200 cfs in a few short hours, Spring Creek is still over 200 cfs, maybe they might be fishable by this weekend? We still have a ton of Gray Fox, March Browns and Sulphurs to go before the big event. If you want to go, the one that I might try by Thursday would be Fishing Creek in Larmar but with no in stream gauges it is a guessing game at best, maybe we might want to take up golf! No way!
  The other night I watched a new movie "The River" from Gate's AuSable Fly Shop, if you have ever fished the river or wanted to do so you really should watch it, a moving and insightful presentation about the resource and the history of the river. Years ago I was aquainted with a few guys from Michigan and Jim Temple who told me stories of how good and hard the fishing was, well being from the East I scoffed at them and really did understand just what they were saying. Move forward 25 years and after fishing the AuSable and getting my butt kicked a few time I began to understand just how good these guys were and how good the fly tyers were that supplied the shops (most all of them were local tyers and really took great pride in their flies). I began to understand just how difficult it was to get a good float in the river and if you caught a fish over 12" in the day light in Summer it was a big deal, this river system is late evening and night fishing at it's best, that my friends makes good flyfishermen and women. This river makes you think about your presentation and just how you'll float a fly to the rising trout, no blind casting here, very specific targets and always thinking how to fool the fish. Take a dose of really great warm sharing people and it is one of the best places in the world to spend time, stay at Gates Lodge and leave your motel room door open with the screen and fall asleep to the sounds of the river. Buy the movie and you'll get an appreciation for the people and resource, make sure you don't miss the short spots about Bob Summers and The Brothers Brown!

Really?!

Dear Cousin Brucie you make a threat on your site for everyone to see, sure will make it really easy to bring charges against you if we do in fact meet, stupid. Ever wonder why I never have a unkind word for George Daniel @ TCO , Steve Sw. at Fly Fishers Paradise or Jerry @ FTH, it's because they tell the truth and always have kind words for their customers, they give good advice and never insult their customers the way that you do and have, grow up! There are many places that customers can go to buy materials and supplies it's your job to treat them with respect and the truth not BS them or insult them. I have had encounters with some of your customers and have been amazed at what you have told them, surly not the facts. Grow up and look in the mirror. We have been together and you have avoided me every time we have been in a room, TU meeting, Sportsman's Club Fly Swap and TU fly tying class. I will never write another word about you and your business again and you do the same for me. Oh if I do use some colorful words remember the reader assigns off color meaning to them.

Fact or Ficton

If you read the two guys who post about Penns "The Crook and Cousin Brucie" every thing in the world is coming off and you just have to visit their shops and buy their special flies or take their guides out if you wan to catch fish, bull shit! This has been a long cold winter and I think that our streams are having a hard time waking up, hatches are delayed and the trout are just not looking up like they have in the past warm years. I talked to a friend who was at Penns last week and spent most of the day and early evening at the Station 22 pool and riffle coming into it, yes their were caddis Hendrickson and Red Quill spinners on the water in good numbers but only a very few dinks came up to eat, if you know the area there is always a few really good fish on the bank in front of the Fish Comm. cabin but not so much this night, but cousin Brucie was going on about the 100 trout his buddy took, really?
  I fished Penns after spending a few hours on Big Fishing creek just sitting on the bank waiting for anything to come up, a big fat "0", no one wanted to eat on top because there was just not flies to temp them. I drove to Penns below Coburn and talked to few guys who told me that The Crook told them it was just wonderful that morning, of course that's before they got there? The talk was that the parking lot might be closed and most guys just wanted to check it out, well if they soon don't clean it up it might be closed. I took a bag and began to clean all the trash up around the parking area all the while 3 guys just looked at me as if I was nuts, well if the owner does close it just might your inaction have something to do with it, look it's in your best interest to keep the areas free of trash, OK you didn't put it there but you sure can take it with you to keep an area open, to the guy in the Mercedes from Maryland you are a lazy ass.
  Now to the fishing yes there was Caddis, Hendrickson's and Crane flies on the water with the Crane's the dominate species but nothing in mass to get the trout up and in rhythm, Wed was overcast all afternoon so it was not the sun or wind or rain. When I found a fish rise all you had to do was wait till he came again and most time he would eat one of the flies #16 bubble back caddis, #14 2xl Hendrickson emerger or a #18 Yellow Crane fly, never any pattern only change the fly 30 times. Most of the fish were typical of the area but there was a few stocked browns mixed in (the left pectoral fin was damaged on them) I tried for the two really good corner fish but made two bad floats on them and they both swirled under the emerger never to come back again. Did take one good fish of about 17" in a weird place but most of the good fish spots no one was looking up. The entire time I fished there was a constant parade of cars and truck coming and going on the road never stopping but just driving? I'm not saying the two guys are wrong but lets just tell the facts it's nice to be on the stream and if your in the right spot you might see the blanket hatches they talk about but if your not what they don't understand is that there customers will remember how much bull shit they were feed and go somewhere else where the truth is spoken or where they don't look weird.

Will we become like BASS?

Ok I like a little competition but this shit is getting old quick, I loved reading the Caddis Chron's but he is going on about his son fishing in the competitions and I've stopped reading that shit. Next we'll see babes in bikini's and big Dodge trucks at the official weigh in stations and some dude that looks like Ray Scott talking about how wonderful the fishing was and what baits they used! They will line up and run to the holes they want to fish, first come first fished, ok it's not that way now but wait till someone finds out how to make money from it. I have seen this on Penns and they left shit in the tree, hey no one but you guys like this and we don't want to see your crap in the trees and on the bank. Just go out an enjoy the day watching nature and hearing the birds sing, maybe catch a few fish and hopefully share it with someone who likes the same, not some ass hole who has to catch more than you or run ahead of you to get to the secret spot- why? If these guys think that it will help them in life I go news for them, no one cares in the working world how many trout you can catch.
  It's still Hendrickson spinners at night and we will see Gray Fox and March Brown's any day if it ever warms up, just go sit on the bank and enjoy.