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.

The Cuyahoga River

She was in decent shape but no fish were brought to hand and thats ok.

My flies are tied for fall Y'all!

 

A friend and I fly fished in Lake Erie

I can see your eyebrows raised already asking yourself “how can you fly fish Lake Erie?”.

My friend who took me out on Lake Eries is one of the fishiest friends that I have. We fished forty miles on Lake Erie.

My friend’s boat has a lot of bells and whistles. This includes side scan radar that I have never seen used before. The morning started out as a chilly 47 degrees.  The winds were at 4-9 knots and the chop on the lake were at 1 foot.

Our targeting species on this day was to be freshwater drum.  These guys and gals are a hoot on a fly rod. They fight hard and at times they pull drag. The rod setups for open water Lake Erie can vary from 6 weights to 8 weights.  The lines you will need to throw are 250 full sinking lines and a sinking leader that sinks 5 inches / second.  A word of warning is you need to have a decent set of casting skills for this style of fishing. To know how to perform a double haul is going to be key in reaching fish most of the time. Another point about this type of fishing is the more stamina you have for casting 10 straight hours the better shot your going to have at hooking a fish.

The flies we used all had heavy lead dumbbell eyes on them. The tippets we used were 15-pound test fluorocarbon. In this trip we fished areas that he knew could possibly hold fish.

Depending on the wind, waves, and depth of water you will need to switch it up to see which set up is allowing you to keep your fly the deepest in the water column for the longest amount of time.

Other than trolling and one time in the ocean I have yet to fly fish out of a boat all day. My good friend’s boat has more bells and whistles along with being armed to the gills in tech. He had 22” screens with radar this sonar that and then I was floored by the side scan radar he had on the boat.

We departed the marina and headed out. He got up on the plane and cut through the 1-foot swells like a knife. He has been a boat captain for over 30 years, and I could tell him by his tactics.

We arrived at the first rock out cropping aka jetty and would fish both sides. The water was 64 degrees here in this area.  With my very buddy jigging fly I through it five feet from shore.

I felt its ticking off the ballast and then when I thought I was done a fish doubled over my TiCr 6-weight fly rod.  At this moment I did not know it would be a nearly seventeen-inch largemouth bass.  I was ecstatic as my six-weight doubled over in pain.

My fingers created a brake while fighting the fish. Its bull dogged me and turned out to be a decent fish. My fishing partner would be gracious enough to net my fish.  This fish would remove my skunk, but I had no idea what was in store for me ½ mile away.

I learned that in Lake Erie you have structure, humps, troughs, ledges, rocks, and weed beds.  What I did not know that will also hold fish is where the clay (silt) meets sand or other material.

For an example he went to a spot that had a gentle slope to it that was loaded with small cobble and small stones aka river rock. This would intersect the clay (silt) in the lakebed.

This would also hold fish and using the crab crawl technique with the retrieving of the fly it’s an extremely deadly practice to hook fish.

When I arrived at the next spot, he was giving me directions on the areas where I needed to cast. I covered the first 100 square foot area he told me then we pushed out into 10 fow (feet of water).

Here is where with the height of th4e waves and the 8 knot winds we switched over to a 250-grain full sinking line. I used his Scott rod for this. I could have used my TFO TiCr 6 weight, and it would have been fine.

All the flies of choice were olive, buggy, some rattles, and tied on jigging hooks. These flies were also max 3-inches long. Some of them had rubber legs and some did not. The only time we switched patterns was where we found a large pod of feeding white bass (WB). When we fished for WB it was a chartreuse clouser over white.

Let’s get back to the freshwater drum adventure.  These fish pull hard and the large ones over 10 pounds you will need to put on the reel IMHO. We hooked between the two of us, I am guessing 30.

After hooking several in the area my friend took us too, I was looking to get a break. He knew I was a little worn down from all the hook ups we had. He said, “hey want to try and find some White Bass?”.

I of course said yes to give my harm and hands a break! So, we headed off to another part of the area.

We arrived on the opposite side of a jetty to find birds sitting on top of the water. I told my friend there is a lot of bait here. He said, “how do you know that?”. I said the gulls are not resting on the jetty that is fairly close, and they have decided to rest and float low around where we are. This is just like saltwater when you see active birds it’s a potential sign that something is about to happen.

Then the White Bass (WB) started to smash bait all around us.  It was a WB blitz!  These 10-to-14-inch WB with a few larger ones sprinkled in had their feed bag on.

Like most WB fishing when you find them it’s a good time. One after another WB was caught, and it was a welcome relief for me. I have not had a day on the water like this in a long time and never in a boat.

I told my friend over and over have grateful I was to have this opportunity to do this with my friend because of his generosity.  It was a blessed day all day.

Then my friend said “hey, want to take a trip and see some of the other islands?”.  I of course said yes, and we put everything away and took a boat ride.

We made a pit stop and fished for one area that he had known about.  With the 250-grain sinking line we drifted as slow as we could with his trolling motor to stay in out casting lane.

The water looked so amazing this far north and as I started to not think about fishing, I hooked a moped.

With the head shaking and then followed by coming out of the water there he was. A Dark olive green with darker olive stripped smallmouth. He wasn’t a big smallmouth, and it did not need to be. I just wanted the opportunity to hook an open water smallmouth.

My friend was johnny on the spot with the net.  We hooted and hollored and picked up stakes and pressed on.

We visited North Bass Island and that’s a pretty place. We saw a few gars and I attempted to sight fish to one. Instead of putting the fly into his swimming lane I put it on its head lol. Needless to say, that opportunity was blown I laughed, and we pressed onto a spot in the middle of no wheresville!

My friend spot locked us into the spot, and we hooked a few more freshwater drum and decided to start on our return leg back to the dock.

My friend would end up driving his boat 40 miles to put us onto fish.  The boat traffic was heavy for a Monday, but we also saw a lot of boats far north fishing. 

We arrived at the dock baked and ready to go home. 

We unloaded our gear and loaded up our vehicles. I thanked my gracious host over and over because he did not have to do all this today. He could have made it a short day, but as good friends do, he made it into a trip of a lifetime for me.

I hope you enjoyed the adventure as much as I did. I hope you also liked the artwork.

To my dear friend thank you for me this was a trip of a life time thank you.

Be well,

Sonder