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.

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.