Some Days Are Just Good

I met up with a friend the other day to fish Spring Creek. The plan was to hit the Trico's, but when we got over there it was sprinkling on and off, so we figured it probably wouldn't happen. I had a feeling it would be a good day fishing due to the overcast skies and the slight milky color Spring gets when a little bit of water is add to it.

We started the day nymphing, and it took about twenty minutes to figure out which flies to use but once I did the fish were on. The fly combo of the day was a tan San Juan Worm and a Green Weenie. Now, I know a lot of you guy cringe at fishing these types of flies, but they produce results, and results are what I got. It wasn't long before I had picked up a few fish, but nothing over 13"-14".

Then, I started to notice Trico's hanging out over the water. I kept a close eye on them, because if I can I would rather fish a dry fly any day. Soon I began to notice risers. They would turn on and then turn off, so I threw on a Trico spinner. I missed one right away, and the excitement began to percolate, but something just wasn't right.... I was laying out some perfectly drag free drifts with no takes. You know what I mean, the ones where you know if a fish is there it's going to take, you've just seen it so many times you can tell when it's the right drift. Well, it wasn't happening, I tried every Trico pattern I had with the same results, so I figured they must be taking something else that I just couldn't see. Maybe it was a BWO, maybe it was a midge. I never did find out.

After about an hour of frustration, I decided to put the nymphs back on. First cast... fish, within another two minutes... fish. I took the hint and left the nymphs on. We fished for a little while and it began to rain and my friend decided that he was going to take off. I figured I was catching fish and had a rain jacket, and a few hours before I needed to go anywhere, so I stayed. It wasn't long before it began to pour. I thought the fishing was pretty good before this, but it was on fire after. For the next two hours it was; cast, lift, release. Before I knew it, I know that I had brought about 40 fish to hand, and all before 1:00. It turned out to be a great day. One that I won't soon forget.

Vacation

The View As We Ate One Night

My family and I went on vacation this week. All I can say is wow, what a great time!!

We stopped in Baltimore and went to a game at Camden Yards. What a nice ballpark, next to PNC so far it's the nicest I've been to.

Then it was on to Ocean City with the family and great friends. I had a great time, but it's the beach how couldn't I?

I have more pictures but sharing from the I-pad is really tough so this is the one you get.

A Good Day Nymphing

Water was up and colder than normal despite the heat of the past week. A friend and I got together to fish for the first time since spring. We had a good day. Things started slow but really picked up later in the morning. At one point it seemed like every cast I was hooked into a fish, not landing them all, but you can't have it all.

Fighting The One That Got Away

 I hooked into one fish (above picture) that would have been 2' I think, I worked it for a while but never quite got it in. As disappointing as that is, I can't complain. It was a good day.

The Fist Nice One Brought To Hand

I Love Browns

Biggest Fish Brought To Hand

Spring To Summer

I get sooooo busy during the Spring and Summer, that I never have time to post. But you know what..... I love it. I've fished more new streams this year than I have any year so far. I've also had AMAZING, and I do mean AMAZING, days on Penns, Pine, Spring, and Big Fishing Creek since I last posted. Not to mention all the great fishing on some smaller streams. I've caught great hatches of Sulphurs, March Browns, Light Cahill, Caddis, Green Drakes, as well as others. The warm water fishing hasn't been as good this year due to high water but, I'm not complaining.

Thickest Caddis Hatch EVER

The Beauty Of Central PA

This Was At The Circus

Obligatory Fish Porn

Quill Gordon Summit

The Quill Gordon Summit is a small get together that some of us from the paflyfish forum put together for fishing in Potter County PA. Potter County is one of the most beautiful areas in the state, and offers some excellent fishing, but even better scenery. They call it god's country, and with the beauty of this area, it's hard to argue.

When I got there on Thursday there was snow on the ground from the night before, and that should have given us an indication on how the fishing would be that morning. It was slow, but we fished a few beautiful streams, streams that I have wanted to fish for a while now. Fish were caught by all of us, and there can be no complaints about that, just not in the numbers that we had hoped.



That night, more guys showed up, and it was decided that the next day some would head to a smaller stream while I decide to go with my friend Dave (wetfly01) to fish Pine Creek. I tend to have pretty good luck on Pine Creek, and I was excited to hit the big water and punch out long casts without worrying about my back cast being caught in the trees. I mean who doesn't love to cast to rising fish, while testing the limits of your cast.

When we first got to the stream we found the water level to be at a perfect level, with a slight green tint. The first hour and a half neither of us moved a fish. So we decided to move down the stream slightly. Another half hour had gone by and no fish. I was begining to worry. Then, it was like someone turned on a switch, well I actually think it was the Caddis coming through the water column, and the fact that I switched to wetfly following Dave's lead. Within an hour I had landed more fish than I could keep track of.

Things started to slow down just a bit, so we decided to break for lunch around 3:00. As we're eating lunch and drinking a beer, the action was heating up again. This time it was Hendrickson's that were popping, and unlike earlier the fish were starting to rise.

The Hendrickson hatch was fairly strong at times and the fish rose to take both the wet, and dry fly the whole time. This alone would have made for an epic day, but the action still wasn't over....

Last year, when we put this trip together, the thinking was that we would be able to fish the elusive Quill Gordon hatch. This fly seems to be disappearing from all but the northern streams. Look, I'm not an entemologist and most times I just match size and color. But this is different, it's what we named the trip after. So when this fly started to show itself on a day that was already amazing without it, it was almost to good to be true. It was as though it were meant to be.

This hatch was not as strong as the Hendrickson hatch, and that proved to be a good thing, making the rising fish easier to target. Giving my fly less competition for fish that were still hungry, or maybe just too greedy to pass up a tender morsel of a meal made for a great finish to the day.

I don't count fish. I tend to lose track too easily. I think because I become so engaged in the moment that it all just blends together, but I know on this day I caught over 30 fish. Dave out fished me, so I'm assuming that together we caught over 80 fish. That is a good day, no, a great day. One that I will remember for quite some time.

That night, we drove back to the cabin where we were all staying. We ate well, drank beer, and told stories of the day, and more of other days. This, moreso than the fishing, is why I enjoy these get togethers. It's the camaraderie of our hobby that causes us to gather, but the quality of the people that makes us do it again and again.

The next day we went back to Pine expecting a good day, and we recieved the exact opposite. There were plenty of bugs but the fishing was tough. I only managed two, and both of those came from nymphing the same riffle. I only saw one rising fish throughout the day, and it wasn't until almost dark that I saw others. I did get  to see some good sights, and got a good sunburn.

I expect that I'll be back again next year, although not for the fishing, but for the people. People are much more interesting than fish.

This week I turn my focus to brewing, so stayed tuned.