Thursday, June 25, 2015
Back to the Breeches! The Yellow Breeches are a special place. A mix of limestone spring from the village aptly named Boiling springs, combined with freestone characteristics, the waters produce as many trout per mile as anywhere in lower Pennsylvania. It was one of the first places I went to learn how to fly fish only to freeze my butt off with CC and came up skunked over 20 years ago. It was the first place where I felt like a fly fisherman the following summer by adapting my presentation to the desires of our quarry. It was the first place I took my children to learn how to fly fish. It was Michael's favorite place to fish and where I can still see his ear to ear grin after landing his first brown trout under the shade of a Sycamore tree that continues to stand watch over the stream.
With temperatures forecast to be in the mid to upper 70s, it didn't take much time to decide to make the jaunt up to The Allenberry Resort with Little Joe to wet some flies and see how many brown and rainbow trout we could bring to the net. Adding to the anticipation, CC informed me that it was "fly fishing camp" week for local kids. This meant that there could be additional bevy of stocked fish in the stream!
Little Joe (a.k.a 2nd Lt Salt Life) headed to the stream ahead of the old man as I wrapped up a work call. By the time I arrived he reported to have landed 1 rainbow. The water was more cloudy than I had hoped and was higher than expected. Recent thunderstorms were the culprit. Undeterred, I stuck with my game plan and offered a high visibility beetle with a black midge dropper. It is a go to combination in the summer months. I soon began to doubt my choice when I failed to spot any rising fish or any bugs coming off of the stream save the occasional caddis.
With an overcast sky and not a single strike after 20 minutes, I decided to shift to a black bead headed wooly bugger. I sent the fly downstream and retrieved the line in very short strips. Utilizing a tactic from Belize, I sent the rod tip under the surface of the water to keep the fly down near the gravel as I stripped line. Within minutes I had a strike, then another, and another. Within an hour I landed several fish. Joe was holding his own but came to join in on the frequency of the bite within the 100 yard stretch that I was working. We were averaging a fish every 4 - 6 casts. Together we landed over 20 fish. The best being a beautiful 17+ inch brown with bright colors and a hooked jaw.
It was a very nice day on the water with my son, plenty of fish to release, and a worn out wooly bugger.
With temperatures forecast to be in the mid to upper 70s, it didn't take much time to decide to make the jaunt up to The Allenberry Resort with Little Joe to wet some flies and see how many brown and rainbow trout we could bring to the net. Adding to the anticipation, CC informed me that it was "fly fishing camp" week for local kids. This meant that there could be additional bevy of stocked fish in the stream!
Little Joe (a.k.a 2nd Lt Salt Life) headed to the stream ahead of the old man as I wrapped up a work call. By the time I arrived he reported to have landed 1 rainbow. The water was more cloudy than I had hoped and was higher than expected. Recent thunderstorms were the culprit. Undeterred, I stuck with my game plan and offered a high visibility beetle with a black midge dropper. It is a go to combination in the summer months. I soon began to doubt my choice when I failed to spot any rising fish or any bugs coming off of the stream save the occasional caddis.
With an overcast sky and not a single strike after 20 minutes, I decided to shift to a black bead headed wooly bugger. I sent the fly downstream and retrieved the line in very short strips. Utilizing a tactic from Belize, I sent the rod tip under the surface of the water to keep the fly down near the gravel as I stripped line. Within minutes I had a strike, then another, and another. Within an hour I landed several fish. Joe was holding his own but came to join in on the frequency of the bite within the 100 yard stretch that I was working. We were averaging a fish every 4 - 6 casts. Together we landed over 20 fish. The best being a beautiful 17+ inch brown with bright colors and a hooked jaw.
It was a very nice day on the water with my son, plenty of fish to release, and a worn out wooly bugger.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Apologies for the delay. Headed up to NE Pennsylvania to do a little fishing with Dad this past weekend.
Fly fishing often conjures up images of serene wooded settings, where all an angler hears in the gurgling of the stream. Sometimes, though, you gotta go where the trout are. So Friday evening we headed to the back of the Hampton Inn in Stroudsburg to fish Pocono Creek. And instead of nature, we were serendaded by the traffic rolling along I-80,which ran next to the stream. No matter. Stroudsburg might not be the schwerpunkt of Pocono's trout fishing, but the three streams that run through the city (Pocono, McMichael, and Broadhead Creeks) offer lots of public access, a large population of stocked, holdover and wild fish, and little pressure after the first couple of weeks of the season.
Got on the water around 7:30 PM. Started out with a wooly bugger that a trout slammed on the first cast, but soon after switched to a sulfur parachute before it got too dark to see. Over the course of the next hour and a half we picked up another nine Brownies, all with the deep colors of fish that had escaped the frying pan of the early season. All of the fish caught in a 100 yard stretch of the stream.
Early the next morning we tried the Broadhead at the baseball park off Appenzeller Road. A few fish coming up to emergers, but what was emerging I had no clue. So we flailed away at the water, picking up two Rainbows on a wooly bugger and green-bodied caddis.
Took a short break in the early afternoon to fish spinners in Charlie Cole's (friend of Dad) farm pond in lower Mt. Bethel. Early on the bluegill and crappies were on the bite. Dad had to leave, brother Kelly and his son Jeremy showed up, and as the water warmed up we picked up quite a few bass, one that easily went 5 pounds when it jumped, spit out Kelly's spinner, and no kidding laughed at us as he dove back into the water.
That evening Dad and I returned to the Pocono. It seems from personal experience that fly fishers go through three stages of development. The first is just trying to catch a fish. Once that technique is somewhat mastered, then fishing becomes all about numbers. But finally, (and while you never really stop counting), fly fishing reaches the stage where success is measured by figuring out what the fish are eating. It's like Zen, I guess, except that you spend a lot on mony getting there....
We had done pretty well the night before, but it seemed to me that the fish were going after emergers. So I started out with a bunny emerger. Dad initially stuck to his green-bodied caddis. On my second cast a Rainbow hit the fly and proceeded to take me to the backing. Although I was surprised to see that he was only about 14 inches, he had a lot of fight. And for the next hour the action was pretty steady. It was chuck the fly across the stream, and feel the drag as the fly swung down the current. If a trout didn't hit on the swing, then a couple of short strips at the bottom of the swing enticed a trout to strike. Dad finally relented and tied on an emerger and got in the fun.
A great weekend, made more so by the opportunity to fish with an 82 year old geezer who knows how to catch trout. Happy Father's Day Pop.
-MikeyDFishing
Fly fishing often conjures up images of serene wooded settings, where all an angler hears in the gurgling of the stream. Sometimes, though, you gotta go where the trout are. So Friday evening we headed to the back of the Hampton Inn in Stroudsburg to fish Pocono Creek. And instead of nature, we were serendaded by the traffic rolling along I-80,which ran next to the stream. No matter. Stroudsburg might not be the schwerpunkt of Pocono's trout fishing, but the three streams that run through the city (Pocono, McMichael, and Broadhead Creeks) offer lots of public access, a large population of stocked, holdover and wild fish, and little pressure after the first couple of weeks of the season.
Got on the water around 7:30 PM. Started out with a wooly bugger that a trout slammed on the first cast, but soon after switched to a sulfur parachute before it got too dark to see. Over the course of the next hour and a half we picked up another nine Brownies, all with the deep colors of fish that had escaped the frying pan of the early season. All of the fish caught in a 100 yard stretch of the stream.
Early the next morning we tried the Broadhead at the baseball park off Appenzeller Road. A few fish coming up to emergers, but what was emerging I had no clue. So we flailed away at the water, picking up two Rainbows on a wooly bugger and green-bodied caddis.
Took a short break in the early afternoon to fish spinners in Charlie Cole's (friend of Dad) farm pond in lower Mt. Bethel. Early on the bluegill and crappies were on the bite. Dad had to leave, brother Kelly and his son Jeremy showed up, and as the water warmed up we picked up quite a few bass, one that easily went 5 pounds when it jumped, spit out Kelly's spinner, and no kidding laughed at us as he dove back into the water.
That evening Dad and I returned to the Pocono. It seems from personal experience that fly fishers go through three stages of development. The first is just trying to catch a fish. Once that technique is somewhat mastered, then fishing becomes all about numbers. But finally, (and while you never really stop counting), fly fishing reaches the stage where success is measured by figuring out what the fish are eating. It's like Zen, I guess, except that you spend a lot on mony getting there....
We had done pretty well the night before, but it seemed to me that the fish were going after emergers. So I started out with a bunny emerger. Dad initially stuck to his green-bodied caddis. On my second cast a Rainbow hit the fly and proceeded to take me to the backing. Although I was surprised to see that he was only about 14 inches, he had a lot of fight. And for the next hour the action was pretty steady. It was chuck the fly across the stream, and feel the drag as the fly swung down the current. If a trout didn't hit on the swing, then a couple of short strips at the bottom of the swing enticed a trout to strike. Dad finally relented and tied on an emerger and got in the fun.
A great weekend, made more so by the opportunity to fish with an 82 year old geezer who knows how to catch trout. Happy Father's Day Pop.
-MikeyDFishing
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Fishing With 2nd Lt "Salt Life"
Took the afternoon off to hit the bay with Little Joe. On the water by 1330. Lines in the water by 1345. Anchored at Tolley Point, about a mile or so from the mouth of the Severn. Water was calm. Air temps in the low 80s. Schools of baitfish all around. Fished until 1630. Bottom fished cut Alewive. Several takes, two hookups, one 23 inch-plus Rockfish in the cooler.
Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. Fishing is only going to get hotter. With the temps and low precipitation, stripers should be figuring out soon that the bait fish are schooling on the surface. Bluefish soon to follow. Time to break out the long rods!
Off to the Poconos on Friday. Trout to Rockfish and back to trout. That's Mikey D Fishing.
Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. Fishing is only going to get hotter. With the temps and low precipitation, stripers should be figuring out soon that the bait fish are schooling on the surface. Bluefish soon to follow. Time to break out the long rods!
Off to the Poconos on Friday. Trout to Rockfish and back to trout. That's Mikey D Fishing.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Welcome to Mikey D Fishing
Having launched the "Mikey D Fishing", a 21' Carolina Skiff in April, we are prowling the middle Chesapeake for stripers. We have primarily chummed with solid success landing several fish in the 22" - 26" class. This past weekend, CC and I headed to Potter County, aka "God's Country" to get our trout fix on the spinner and on the fly. The pictures tell the tale better than words with four species (Golden, Brook, Rainbow, Brown) pulled from Fishing Creek just steps from the Felker cabin. It doesn't get much better than that other than lunch provided by the bounty of Fishing creek!
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