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.

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.

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.

Rain... Rain.. Rain.

 Today I went to the creek for a few minutes and got a good look at the water levels. The creek was rolling fast, and muddier then I've seen in a while. As I was contemplating getting me rod put together, I saw lightning. As I'm sure most of you are, that's my biggest trip killer. Lightning. So, I figured I'd write a little on the blog while watching my Phils play some ball. Hopefully, if the water levels go down, I'll be out fishing with my Dad in the morning and have some pictures.

 Good Fishing.
 Bryce

Where are all the trout?

  My dad and I hit a creek that's sort of new to us Friday. We fish the upper reaches of this creek about once or twice a week when the fishing is good. The lower part was stocked until the late 70's and there for hold a good amount of native born trout. What I love most is that the average trout fisherman wouldn't even think of fishing a stream that hasn't been stocked, which leaves the creek relatively open for Pop and me to roll through catching fish all day.

  Well, we walked in down past an awesome looking swimming hole and the hit was on. I was catching Rock Bass, Red Eyes, Perch, Carp, and some Blue Gils. My biggest fish was a great rock bass I caught on my Ultralight St. Croix. I love catching and playing great big fish on that set up. It takes patience, you can't just rip the fish to you like the bass "pros".

  The water was beautiful and looked very much like it could hold a great deal of trout. I'm sure there in there, but we didn't have any luck. The trout in that creek are a bit finicky this time of year as well. I think if I floated a terrestrial I may have had better luck. But after catching upwards of 20 or so fish, the day was not all nil. Not by a long shot. Right before we decided to walk out, I found a fantastic hole where a nice feeder stream dumped in. There was an abandoned house back there covered in ivy, and a sketchy looking bridge. Too bad for me, Dad wanted to get out, I couldn't even drop a line in. I'll be back to that hole, believe it.

  That brings me to yesterday. We packed up the boat, the cooler, and headed to the lake. We got there, got everything unloaded and I realized I made a very bug mistake. I forgot the drain plug...

  Happy Fishing to you, and good luck.

A classic York County trout stream

  My dad and I played hooky today. He took off work so we could set up a pool, that pool never made it up. Instead he showed up at my house a little after 7 am. It was raining and a miserable day to anyone who isn't a trout fisherman. It took all but a minute to make the decision to go ahead and put my stuff in the bed of his truck.

  I knew it was going to be a great day before we ever even made it to the trout stream. We went to a tiny creek and kicked our own minnows up, red fins are the prize. We kicked a ton up in no time. We even caught a fingerling brookie. It was awesome to see one that small thriving in a small creek like that. We of course tossed him in as soon as we identified it. So, sorry, no pics..

  We got to one of my favorite streams in all of Pa. It was empty, no one except us. Just the way we like it. I got my stuff on, line rigged up, and we were out. It was a long haul in, the grass was taller than we are, but we got there. We started out slow. I caught 3 rock bass right way, my dad trailed with two. Getting up to a nice, deep hole, I threw in a red fin, let it drift, and BAM! I got the first strike. It was a decent brown. The hit was on. A few minutes later, Dad was up a few yards ahead of me, and I knew right away he had a nice one on. Sure enough, it was a great looking Rainbow, the Pink in it was great.

 My dad has a way about him. He jokes the whole time we fish, makes it even more fun. But man can he fish. We fished for a few more hours, I caught 10, and he caught 7. We released all the trout we caught, as is the usual. But we had a great time doing it in a classic Pa stream. The weather was perfect, the water was June water, low and warm. But we still made out. all my Pop kept saying was, "Seventeen trout, June 28th... Wow." What a fantastic day.

Sorry about all the pics, but I figured a fellow trout man would appreciate them.