What a way to go

Just received my new issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine and in it is a very interesting story of how a fellow died, ok maybe not the best subject but hey it is a good one. Well this guy retired and after that day fished nearly every day after that, he went one day but did not return home of course his wife became worried and called the sheriffs dept. they went looking for him and found him face down in his favorite stream dead with his fly rod close to him and on the end of his leader was a 21" brown trout that was landed and released back into the stream- what a way to go! I remember only one fellow that I know died that way and he was lucky, of course it is not a experience the family would like to happen but all the same far better that wasting away in a dam nursing home. I know that the quick deaths are hard on the family but maybe it's the best way to go, so let's all go fishing everyday till we end up face down in the stream.
  As a side note the recent rain helped but most of the result was short lived, the streams rose well but then came right back down, yes they are cooler but still do not have the volume of water we need- can you imagine the negative effect this will have on  this years spawn, on 11-20-16 we shall see because that is the annual brown trout redd count on Spring Creek.
  Has anyone ever experienced the following, you swear off something like watching a program, reading a web site or reading a magazine but find yourself going back and doing what you told yourself you would not do, what the heck only to get upset or disappointed with what you just saw or read. I have a love hate relationship with Fly Fisherman magazine, just can't let it go but every time I read it I get upset with the me and Joe fish catching shit but I just can not let it go, even on the days when it comes to the house with my favorite "The Drake" I still take time to read it and every time it is time to renew I still do it, am I sick or just to dam nosey?

Just Take a Look And See

Someone sent me a picture of the riffle coming down from Cherry Run into Penns at the head of Johnson's Pool, OMG what a sad tail it tells. The fellow said that he did not want to venture over to the stream for fear of making the fish scurry around and build up lactic acid and go belly up. Yes the night have cooled but there is just no water to develop oxygen cascading over the rocks yet, so stay away. On a good note Spring Creek is still fishing well, beetles after the morning Trico spinner fall, then if it clouds over a nice number of Olives begin to come off! Bald Eagle still has a ton of those 4-6" mini rainbows, you can catch them till your arm hurts, better get them before the big browns get all of them.
  Last week I helped Spring Creek Chapter of TU with the "Duck Pond" clearing, Penn State people cut the trees and brush and we were there to help bring it up the bank and on to Route 26, I was the last guy in line getting the material over the guard rail and on to piles, well the guy giving me all that material was non other than Joe Humphries at 87 years young, man can that guy work. I have been friends with Joe for over 40 years and it is always a pleasure to just get him talking and take in what he has to say, we jut sat on chairs and talked for an hour after our work was done, I only hope that I'm in that kind of shape. He talked about the stocking of all those rainbows in Bald Eagle and said it will be good for our future but did agree that a lot of them become brown trout food. What a nice time, if you every have a chance to work on any project for this TU chapter please do so because you will see how things get done and how planning and social media come together and get results.

You gotta love it, can not make it up

Well the Angler is at it again, for the past month or more telling everyone not to fish but now because he is going to open Sept. 3 it is now ok to fish Penns, what a bunch of crap, it is low and hot. If you have seen it you would know not to even think about fishing it, it will take a load of cool nights and dark days with rain to get it back in order plus the fact the fish will be under strain because of not feeding well, for Christ's sake stay away from Penns unless you want to fish for bass below the village of Penns Creek. Again this year NO White flies below the Sunbury fibradam, in past years you could see the dead spinners piled up on the ends of the river bridges but not any more- what the heck happened to them? Bass fishing below the dam has not been good for the past 4-5 years, we stand there looking for rising bass and see nothing but a few cruising channel cats which are ok to catch but they twist and slime your leader. Looks as if a good old farm pond is still the best option for the later summer.

They do have balls

I can not remember ever having the PA Fish and Boat Comm. closing any section of Penns Creek due to low water and high temp's but they did just do it. A section in Mifflin County below Poe Paddy camping area on Penns, two areas surrounding the Panther Run and Swift Run trib's that feed cold water have at this time a lot of stressed trout trying to get a bit of relief from the low oxygen content and high water temps. Please do not go and take a peek, these fish are stressed enough and do not need to swim around trying to hide from us. Now we either need a really good rain and cold nights or the Commission should close the entire FFF area till the conditions improve. Way to go I take my hat off to you guys for helping to protect the resource. I think that DCNR also had some valuable input into the decision process.

Try this instead of trout fishing

Took my granddaughter fishing on Monday morning at the pond within the grounds of Tussy Mt. ski area near Boalsburg. We used wax worms and a simple bobber set up, she landed 23 sunfish in a few hours, lost a lot more of them and had "2" really big bass on (they took the small sunfish we had on) one of them released the sunny at the dock then tried to eat it again and again after we released it, he never did eat it, the second big bass was somehow hooked and after a really good fight near the dock he broke the line at the swivel! All the time my granddaughter was gaining more and more confidence and began to hold the fish in her hand before releasing them back into the water. We had an audience of about 25 kids from the State College "Y" watching and yelling every time she landed another fish. This is simple fishing just a short spin cast rod, wax worms and a few bobbers but the key is the hooks, we used Eagle Claw circle hooks size #12 - the fish tend to hook them selves BUT be sure to take a pair of forcepts to remove the hooks- we did not have a pair and had to leave when we gave our last hook to a fish that took it far to deep! Only one fish was hurt and we both had a wonderful time, with a fly rod someone could have a great time catching sunnies and bass all day long, try it and you will see how much fun it can be all the while doing your best rain dance to bring the trout streams back to life. One of the most important items to take along for kids is a lot of snack materials and drinks, they tend to think more about that than fishing at times, male it short and make sure they catch something.

Why they do it and what they miss.

Received an e mail the other day from Devon at "The Tactical Fly Fisher" and as I was reading it I became pissed about the content. A blog from a young kid that is into competitive fly fishing and all about his exploits in Central PA- of course it was The Little "J" and Spring Creek, talking about numbers of fish caught and how he did in the three day event, well what the hell are they doing to our resource in the mean time. Do any of these nuts ever take time to listen to the birds or even notice when an animal comes down to the water as they are fishing- no I bet not. How the hell does this prepare them for life, does an employer give a shit if this kid wins any thing while fishing, I bet the HR person is really impressed about how he traveled from NJ to PA and fished for three days and came in second- that is some great skill sets to bring to the work force. I have been in the parking lot at McCoy's dam when these idiots show up and watched them rush to get their spots and begin to fish all the while never bothering to ask if anyone there wanted to fish any specific water, it is all about them. I have seen the strips of bright plastic they put on trees or stream side vegetation just to show their "beats", have also seen them forget to take them down after the end of their competition, what a bunch of crap. I guess it might be because I am old but what the hell does this bring to our overall enjoyment of being outdoors. I love the idea of fishing with someone and doing it the as a partner, taking turns either catching a fish or missing (screwing ) one up then  your partner gets his or her turn, this really brings enjoyment to the entire day all the while giving both of you great lessons learned form the experience. I have little enjoyment in just going fishing with someone and then never seeing them until you have the urge to leave and then having to go find them, what shared experience did you have that day, maybe someone to talk to going to or going home, big deal that is what a radio is for! Maybe listening to them lie about how many they caught and knowing they are not telling the truth, same shit just a different day.
  If you ever see these nuts setting up for a competition get back in your car and drive as far away as you can and do not return for a while, as much as I hate this shit I will tell you these guys can fish and catch a shit load of fish, I guess that is what pisses me off the most, they are much better than I am at this age and they can wade a lot better also!

They are on!

Just returned from a Trico fishing adventure and they are on, maybe not really good but the fish were up- 30+ fish rising in sight and boy do they fight when hooked. Used a #20 double winged spinner a #24 male spinner and a #22 olive dun and all took fish maybe not on the 1st. float but they ate if it was a good drift. It was a mixture of nice rainbows and browns, the brown boys had big shoulders and fought like dogs. I used Trout Hunter 6.5x tippet and had no trouble fooling any fish that came to look and take but there were some that just did not like the first float and refused to come look again. About 10:15 the spinner fall petered out and of course the "tan caddis" come on not strong but good enough to bring some fish up, so a #16 bubble back tan caddis was tied on and brought results till I lost a hell of a good fish- my double surgens knot just shit the bed! Took 4 more and then called it a day when the plastic hatch started to happen. I will go now about every 3 days on various locations till the fish get picky then I'll wait and beetle the heck out of them!
  Go if you can.