A welcomed trip to the Wilds of Pennsylvania Days 1 - 2 & 4 - 5

In my limited travels to Pennsylvania for hiking and or fishing I have always held it in high regard for its natural splendor. All the old timers’ stories I have ever heard and the stories I have ever read. Some of my friends who have passed away talking about the old days it was nice to be back.

I would be tent camping from 17^th - 22^nd at Hemlock Campground in Potter County. You can find them here https://www.hemlockcampgrounds.com.

The campground has all the basic amenities a little camp store, amazing hot showers, and two little fishing ponds that are catch and release.

There is a town with other places of business where you can find pretty much anything but remember you are in the country and it’s remote.  The town I am talking about is Austin, but the Potter County Pub in Austin for food and drinks is a good choice for food.

I will not name streams that I fished while I was there out of respect for others.

How I found out of the region was from a book by Dave Wolf that I had purchased in 1999 called “Flyfisher’s Guide to Pennsylvania” a wilderness adventures flyfishing guidebook.

For those who know me and to read I have a book I know your laughing (lol).

I arrived in the region by mostly State Park roads to have that feeling of isolation and adventure.

The forest roads were in great shape because of the efforts of others.

I arrived at camp around noon and the campground allowed me to set up my campsite early.

I could hear the creek clearly from the site. I knew she would be running a little hard because of the rains and the dam releases.

I canceled the smallmouth trip on the shorelines of the Great Lakes because of all the rain and the colder temps.  Because I canceled my trip and my fishing buddy had family matters to attend to is how I ended up in Potter County.

I would choose to swing some flies this evening. I had brought with me my lighter switch rod a Deer Creek series 11’ 5wt – 4pc. I lined it with a 375-grain compact short Skagit head. The leader set up was not the best. I had a 10’ sinking leader (1.5”/second) with 2 feet of 8# floro followed by 2 feet of 4# floro.  The leader I should have used was the 8 foot version and kept the rest the same.

I realize that my equipment was on the heavy side for this style of fishing, but it’s all I have. I was hoping I could find areas to swing flies, and I really did not care if I hooked a fish. This was an adventure and if fate would grant me success with hooking a fish it was meant to be.

I tied up dace/minnow streamers in sizes 12’s and 10’s. The 12’s went fast in trees and got torn up by fish. I also brought my soft hackle box.  These soft hackles worked in Maine and Montana so why not Pennsylvania.  They are tied on 12’s with tungsten and brass beads.

Day 01

I walked out into the valley from camp and I felt so relaxed. Feeling the high grass brush up against my waders to welcome me to the area.

As I got closer to the water I was getting increasingly excited. I saw the riffles and would witness mayflys hatching.  This area is so pristine and clean. Because the stream lacked exposed dirt, clay, and sediment in general it was a deep green color.

I took my first step into the creek that is a tributary to the Susquehanna River and looked at a small pool of standing water. I saw minnows there. The minnow’s maximum of 1.5” long.

As soon as I saw the minnows and their size of them, I knew I would start with the dace patterns in size 12.

I looked downstream and could see a beautiful pool that had multiple current breaks and slicks. A slick to me is flat water aka this is created when two currents come up and meet and make the water flat.

A slick is also normally a feeding lane for trout. I also tried to read the water and look for color transitions between colors. The colors were in this case between the deep emerald green and clear. I would be attempting to fish from deep to shallow trying to find a trout that would take my fly.

There was also a large BFR “big fugging rock” in the river and I thought that should have a trout or two around it on the downstream side.

I decided to go upstream first to try my luck. After a few casts and no love, I moved down to the riffle.  Here in this riffle you can see the main current if still a few feet from the far bank, and the near bank has a pool. The pool in this case has a lot of eddys on the surface of the water.

I looked at this as a nice holding pool for a trout and great to swing a fly through.

After snap t casting over and over I had a hook up. It would turn out to be a feisty rainbow.

This dude had not learned from its lessons. It had damage to its mouth from previously caught. The fly was right in front of it mouth and normally I believe this means took it from behind and nailed it.

I called it a day because another fisherman showed up and moved on.

Day 02

I got to the creeks edge at about 10 and had it to myself. I was swinging my flies in and out of the shadows in hopes a fish would be enticed to take the fly.

I thought my fly would be near some submerged tree roots. I thought I could do two things, retrieve my line or take two steps down stream and see if anyone is home and maybe lose a fly. I have always said if you’re not losing flies you’re not going to catch fish.

So here we are I stepped down stream and as soon as my left foot took the second step it happened.

The take was harder than I anticipated and go the fish on the feel as soon as possible. I kept reeling which seemed like forever. As the trout was brought up stream and to the net aka trout corral.

I needed the trout and thought it was brown trout at first but saw its markings were different than anything I had personally seen before. The hook was right in the front of its mouth and after I removed the hook it decided to relax at the bottom of the net. It was one of the prettiest trout releases I have ever witnessed.

I have just caught and released my first tiger trout.

I then decided to go downstream and find the water I had chosen from some aerial imagery I had marked on my GPS.

The scenery here was as close to Montana as you could get without being there.  I was hoping to see maybe a few Elk, but that was not to happen.

I crossed the pristine creek and began to give it as much attention as I could in the search for a trout.

I saw a few other fly anglers upstream about 500 yards.

 After nearly three miles of water covered and because of the heat I headed back to camp.

Because I want to keep this post about fly fishing I will skip Day 03.

Day 04

I had chosen a different body of water to fish today and to also fish my single hander today. The creek I had chosen was a little bigger than the other and immediately below a dam.

With the hot as the sun temps, I had placed bets trout would be stacked up below the dam close by.

I would still be fishing streamers here and when I arrived, I found the parking lot empty. I thought that was strange since the outfall at the dam was the lowest it has been in weeks!

I took a little hike up and across the top of the dam to fish the other side of the dam.

I arrived at the other side, and I did bring a full sinking line it would be a lot to try and double haul with the high bank behind me.

I stuck with the 6wt line with a heavy short head made for long cast with heavy flies.

I swung my flies in the same manner down and across the creek. The deep inky green currents were strong.

It was not long before a rainbow trout took the streamer. I also want to point out I had chosen n number 8 streamer here and it was 1.75” long and sparse. What I am trying to make is bigger water sometimes calls for slightly larger flies.

I decided to start heading back to camp and call it a beautiful day on the creek!

Day 05

I took much of the day off to reflect and fish later. I would stick close to camp and just walk up into the creek valley in search of different waters to fish.

I have learned to read water from my great grandad, and I will always cherish that. I am always amazed when finding water to fish and pulling it apart with the knowledge I gained from Pap.