Way to long

  It's been way to long. Wayyy too long. But, I've got plenty of fishing and hunting in me and plenty to write about. Camping trips, beers around fires, and boats sinking quickly.  My partner in trout crime, Dad, caught some real monsters. We didn't get any deer yet this year, hunting archery and rifle here in Pennsylvania and Maryland. We should stick to the streams.

 Being December, my fall fishing exploits are all but over with. We had a great fall. I should have posted more, but going back to school really took up a lot of time to type. Dad and I hit the streams strong though, catching some great trout along the way. One trip in particular, to our favorite spot, led to what could quite possibly be our best day of trouting ever. Using some minnows we kicked before we got to the stream, Dad and I caught what seamed like lunker after lunker brownie. Til finally we were out of minnows and beers.

 I also missed the catch of my life. We were camping at a state parl not to far from here and decided to fish a stream we haven't fished in years. It was a slow day. The water was murky and running fast. It had snowed a few inches a day prior. With little luck I made my way upstream. In waders full of cold water. My waders decided they had seen enough after three long seasons. The shock came as I was fishing an undercut bank. What felt like a light hit turned out to be a monster Rainbow. He fought for some time. As I got him out of the water, I was holding onto him to take pictures, this was the biggest trout I had ever caught. While reaching for my camera, and stringer (he would have been making his way to the taxidermist.) I dropped him... Right into the moving water below. I was in a cut of water below the bank. It was to high to ground the trout. Most disappointing trout story of my life. Needless to say I said a few swear words around the campfire that night.

 I'll start off with some pictures and add some more soon. I'll be in Florida over the holidays and I'm taking my gear down, hopefully I'll have some pics of some monster southern fish for you.

Boredom

 I'm waiting for fall. The summer is great, the bass fishing is fun, but I'm ready for late September, October, and November. I'm ready for the fall trout season. It's by far my favorite. Less people on the creeks, the leaves changing colors, the trout are a bit harder to catch, it all makes for a great time. I've been in love with fall trout fishing since I was a kid. While everyone else is out trying to get a buck, or a turkey, I'm on the creek, alone. What a great feeling. The days of spring with crowded streams, and the summer days of small mouth are coming to an end. And I absolutely love it.

 It's been over a month since I posted, and I feel bad, but I haven't done any fishing really. My boat sprung a leak, and I started back school again. But I'll be going in the coming weeks and posting more and more.

 Thanks for reading.

 Oh, I did find some time to explore a local stream, take a look at the pics below. The first set is the river from the Lancaster side, the last four are of the stream I wandered with my fishing gear.

Cigars, Fish, and Beer

  Today I finally got out on the water.  I was going nuts. If you've read this blog before you know that all I want to do is fish. All the time. Today my wife wanted to go hiking, so I added I'd like to fish. She hiked the lake while I fished the spillway below the dam. All I used was my St. Croix ultralight set up and a white rooster tail. Not much action. I caught what seemed like a hundred sunnies and blue gills. But with that came a decent sized bass and a Crappie. All in all for being 90 degrees it was nice being on the creek. The water was bath warm so I knew it would be nearly impossible to catch any trout. Along the way I had a beer or two and enjoyed a nice cigar. My old man was going to meet me, but he had some other plans/

  Well. Thursday the wife and I are heading up north to see my Mom and hang out at her bar, The Black Forest Inn, in Lycoming County Pa. It's the chili cook off weekend and it's always a blast. Friday we're waking up super early and we're walking a few mountain streams along my families hunting camp with our fly gear. More updates later. Good Fishing.

No fishing this week

 It's to damn hot to fish man. I'd love to go out, but it's pushing high 90s all week and I am not into that. Instead I'm going to stock a cooler and sit at the in laws pool all week. But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to talk fishing. This week I finally condensed all my fly gear and spinning gear into one pack. I bought a Simms Head Water Hip/Chest pack. Haven't had it on the water yet though. I'm yearning to get out there. Maybe I will breakdown and go tomorrow. The wife and I took an awesome hike along the AT and a few other trails in Caledonia State Park over in Franklin county. The dogs and the wife loved it, all I could keep doing the whole time was looking at the trout stream next to us and thinking what a shame it was it was so low. Well, until next time. Good Fishing to ya, I'll post more when I get back out. Hopefully sooner than later.

Pretty Much Skunked

 Had a great day in York County yesterday. Spent a nice time back in the woods with my wife and the dogs. We were following the trails around Lake Williams. alot of people were picking raspberries, including my Pop (For Wine). Not to many people fishing the lake though. It made me wonder, are people not teaching their children to fish anymore? It just seemed like everyone who was fishing were all adults.

 After the hike the wife and I dropped the dogs off at home, and to my surprise, she said she wanted to go trout fishing. So I grabbed the gear and we headed off to one of my favorite streams in York, the Codorus. It was running a bit low, but my wife, using my ultralight gear, caught five fish. All no bigger than 10 inches, and non trout, but it sparked her intrest and she wants to go again today. I on the other hand, was using my fly gear. I think I made the right choice getting a 7 foot 3 wt, the creeks I fish are pretty thick. But I had worse luck then the wife. I only caught two, neither a trout. I tried everything, a zebra midge, a san juan worm, an olive bugger, and a few dries. So after a few hours of getting schooled, we headed home.

 No sooner were we home for ten minutes, my dad calls. He wanted to fish my other favorite creek. Muddy Creek. I couldn't say no. So soon enough we were on our way to muddy after kicking up a good amount of minnows. We get to the creek, look at the water, and we knew it was going to be tough. This was the lowest I've seen the creek ever. Once we set up I went down to the water and put my hand in, it was warmer then hell.

 We got skunked. We were out there for hours, fishing every tiny pocket of cold water, deep water, dark water, you name it water, and nothing. I fought a small wild brown for a second, then he out smarted me and got off the hook. (Isn't this why we keep coming back?) On our way out, I dropped my phone in the creek. The worst part, I just ordered a waterproof case the day before. Everything is good though, I don;t know how the phone survived the plunge. But I couldn't take pics of the wild brown I did catch on our way out. Your just going to have to take my word for it.

 Good Fishing.