First IPA

, a photo by coty_soult on Flickr.

I brewed my first IPA. Here it is...... Still green. Posting from the iPad sucks as far as sharing images. So I have to break this into a few different posts.

Update: After letting it sit an extra week, I tried it again last night and it was much better. I still have half a keg of it on tap so I'll know better after new years eve.

Too Long

Well it has been too long since my last post. I'm not sure if it's because I've been too lazy or just haven't had time, or a little of both but I'm going to try to get back into this.

I'm not going to write too much because there is too much to cover, so I'm just going to post some pic's, and give a brief summary. Since my last post I've:

Gone on a family vacation

Photo My Daughter Took

My Daughter and I Cruising Through OCMD

Done lots of fishing both warm and cold water

Nice Smallie Taken On Top

Beautiful Brookie In Fall Colors

Went to Montana and Wyoming where I fished, hiked, and camped. That trip was amazing, and deserves a few words.

We drove nonstop (never do that again) to get to The Bighorn River. There is nothing like this in the East, maybe the world. I had the most amazing fishing of my life there. I only took a dryfly off of my line twice and that was just to try something different. Caught the biggest fish of my life here within half an hour of being there. Then, it was, that a game of top that. Truly amazing....

The Take Out

Facing Down A Nice Bow

Fell For The Caddis

We left The Big Horn and headed to meet a friend in Yellowstone. On the way we stopped at a small brewery in Red Lodge. Good beer. I even brought some home.

Good Stuff

Last stop was Slough Creek. All I can say is wow. Just Wow!

We hiked into the third meadow (which is a pretty good hike), and on the way saw a grizzly mom and cub in this field.

First Meadow

Set up camp....

My Tent

And set to fishing....

Third Meadow

Nothing Like This  Back Home

The Original Native.

After that we headed home. What a great trip.

I'll try to update more frequently, but I can't promise anything.

The Backup Plan

When exploring new streams it's always good to have a backup plan. This can come in handy for numerous reasons; access, stream size, water conditions.....ect. It's rare that I use the backup plan but when it happens that you need it, it's invaluable. It can mean the difference between a good, bad, and amazing day. Especially when you're running low on time.


I left my house with a limited time to fish on this excursion, but I used some resources to come up with a good plan on where I wanted to fish. When I reached my destination I couldn't find access to the stream. I could see it, and it looked incredibly inviting, but all of the access points were posted. This was extremely disappointing because I had high hopes for this fishery. I know that there's access to this stream in certain places, but in order to get there you have to drive the whole way around the mountain. Luckily I had come prepared with a backup plan. So I decided that that was what I was going to try.

The stream that I went to is a stocked and wild/native stream within a couple of miles of the first stream I tried. I've never fished this stream before, and there isn't much written on it, but it turned out to be a real gem. I am sure, without a doubt, and I know I said this before but, this stream would be a class A stream if it were not stocked. It had good holding water, cold temperatures, and plenty of aquatic insect life.

When I arrived I saw another fisherman (spin fisherman) above me, so I had to work down stream, which I typically don't like do but in some case it works out well. Like in this case, where the sun was upstream from me and low on the horizon, making it almost impossible to see upstream, even with good sunglasses. So it worked out for the best. Something I noticed right away way the immense amount of spider webs crossing  the stream, I took this as a good indication of bug activity.

Wild Brown Surprise

Genetic Issues

Working my way down stream I picked up my first fish, and I couldn't believe it, it was a small brown, about 4 or 5 inches. I know to most of you this isn't a big deal, but in the immediate area that I live in, there doesn't seem to be that many wild browns, a lot of native streams, but very few brown trout streams. It just seems that there is a line between my house and State College that is drawn for wild browns. Once you get out of that limestone influence, and into the higher acidity water of my area, it seems to turn to all brookies. Now this stream may have a limestone influence, and I'll have to do some additional research in order to prove it.

The next fish I picked up was also a wild brown but had a strange genetic anomaly, it's whole face was missing. I wast starting to think that this was purely a brown trout stream, and whatever is being stocked in it when a small brookie attacked my offering. It was starting to get dark and I was pretty happy with the couple hours of fishing that I put in. I hopped back in my truck when there was a small amount of daylight left and decided to drive up to where I had seen a bridge, and see if I could pick up any more just below the bridge.

Stocked Bow For Trifecta

Lone Brookie

When I got close to the water below the bridge I notice a few risers. I decided to target the one closest to me. I put a good cast out and got a drag free drift and just as I  suspected the fish jumped out of the water to take the fly, but either he missed or I set to quickly. Now, usually when this happens I don't get a second chance, but I always have to try. So I laid the fly in the same spot and wham, the fish hit and I got the set right this time. To my surprise it was a rainbow and I had hit the trifecta for the second time this year, only this time two out of three were wild, where last time all three were stocked. I know this is just a matter of luck but it made me happy and keeps things interesting. I caught one more brown (the best of the day) and called it a night, because the bats were starting to swoop at my head. What a good night of fishing.

Troëgs Makes some of the best beer in the world, so when I saw the Perpetual IPA on sale I jumped allover it. I love IPA's and given the chance that's what I'll drink. When I first tried this beer, I had one as soon as I got home with the six pack, I was a little disappointed. But then when I tried it again, it really grew on me. It may have to do with the fact that I had four the next time but.... It has a great hop aroma and, the flavor has just enough floral taste to hide the 7.5% alcohol content. It's lighter than most IPA, and the head was a bit weak but I would give this beer a 7 out of 10. It's not the best score but I would certainly drink this beer again given the chance, and it may be much better coming out of the keg.

Another Good Day

For some time now I've wanted to fish a small stream in my area that produces native trout, yet is stocked. Honestly, I believe that if they didn't stock it it would be on the class A list. But they do stock it, and in some ways I understand why. The pressure from the people who have camps along this stream would be immense, and the average fish size in the stream would almost certainly be small compared to the stocked fish. This is a debate for another day and another place. I did catch a mix of stocked and native fish and they all eagerly took a dry fly.That makes for a great day of fishing.

The gradient on this stream was perfect, drop, pool, drop, pool. People who fish bigger water would be surprised at where you can pull fish from. Small current seams along rocks are always candidates for trout habitat in these small streams. Fish in these streams also attack your fly with a ferocity that is seldom seem on the larger streams.  


I only spent a few hours here but I could most certainly spend much more time exploring this water and the waters that feed this stream.Within three hours I was well over double digits. A little below where I was fishing there is a class A brook trout stream that converges with this one. I wanted to fish that stream while I was there also but there was just not enough time. That will have to be left for another day, and another adventure.

A Trip North

The northern counties of Pennsylvania offer some of the best wilderness in the state. As a matter of fact I would argue that it is the best wilderness in the state. I love going to this area, and I’ve been traveling up here for years. Every time, I see something new that has me in awe and thankful that I’m within close driving range of this majestic area. So, when someone mentioned taking a long weekend to journey there for some fishing, I jumped at the chance. 

The trip started with a friend and I fishing in the Quehanna wild area. The Idea was to hit a secret spot that someone had informed me of, to catch “huge” brookies(well huge for mountain brookies anyways). When we got to the spot the water was low and gin clear. We did see a few fish rising but couldn’t get a take. Moving up stream, we got into a few dinks, so that part of the trip wasn’t a complete bust. 

We arrived to the campground and decided that we were just going to get camp set up and hang out the rest of the evening. The cabin was nice but small. I don’t think you would really want to spend much time in there and we didn’t. 

The next morning we met up with a few guys and we were off to a small stream in the area that had a brook trout enhancement project. I’ve never heard of this before but it doesn’t surprise me that it exists. Brook trout are a beautiful fish and should be protected. It was rough fishing, due to the blue bird skies and gin clear water. I was also still trying to recover from the night before. As we reached the stream my discomfort grew, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fish at all, but once I got my rod out and strung it up the fog in my head began to lift. It took awhile but walking around the stream, sweating, and focusing on fish helped me feel better.  I got the skunk, as did most of my fishing partners.

After being thoroughly humbled on that small stream we packed up and headed back to camp. Getting back, we devoured a sandwich, and tried to come up with a plan for the evening. As we did so, another one of the guys showed up and got his camp set up while we remained indecisive. Most of the stream in this area are small and could only handle so many people at a time. We made a decision on a stream, went to the stream changed our minds, then went to another. 

The stream we picked looked promising enough, but again the blue skies and the clear water kept the skunk smell on me, and it was beginning to grow stronger. I don’t get skunked very often, and driving a good distance with the expectance of catching “piles” of fish and then catching nothing can be infuriating. Luckily I had good company, and amazing scenery to lighten the burden of my fishing incompetence.

That night the decision was made that we not only needed bigger water to fish, but we needed some fish that were willing to take what we were offering, and although you can’t always predict this, fishing for stocked fish can certainly help. At this point our party had grown to seven and the smaller streams of the North Country could no longer handle our group of rambunctious and eager fly fishers. It was off to Pine Creek for  the next day with hopes of cloudy skies and rising fish. 

It didn’t take very long the next morning to realize that part of our wish had come true, as we awoke to cloudy skies, and by the time we hit the water, it was raining. If you fish you know this is a good thing. The rain eases the minds of weary trout, and breaks up the surface of the water so we are not as easily seen. Pine Creek is a gem of a stream, and if not for the water warming in the summer, it could be one of the best streams on the east coast. It has ample food, good structure, and is just the right size to throw out those long casts that everyone dreams of.  We made the right choice.

After the morning session of fishing, we all met back at the parking lot for lunch. At this point the pressure was off because everyone had landed a fish. We moved further downstream as the rain continued and that’s when the March Browns started to show. Fishing on top was good for the next couple of hours and I managed to pick up quite a few good sized fish. I also did something that I have never done before…. I hit the trifecta (brook, brown, and rainbow) and not only did it in same day but from the same stream. The evening was not as productive because the rain had picked up and the temperature dropped pretty rapidly. At that point though, it didn’t matter. We got our good day of fishing in, and everyone could now relax a little easier. 

That night we hung out indoors, there was good conversation, good beer, and excellent food. It’s amazing how much better a weekend can seem if you get just one good day of fishing in. The weekend would have been good regardless, but it sure did help.