Took the opportunity to celebrate Mary's birthday with a trip to the Lodge at Glendorn in Bradford, about an hour from the cabin. The Orvis-endorsed lodge (www.glendorn.org), was first built as a private retreat in 1927, then opened to the public in 1995. Sitting on 1500 acres adjacent to the Allegheny National Forest, the lodge provides the 5-star experience that you'd expect from an Orvis lodge.
We checked into the lodge on Tuesday. After lunch, we set out to wet a line. The resort has both stream and pond/lake fishing. That afternoon we opted to fish Fuller Brook, a fairly narrow stream which runs through the resort. With typical August flows, the stream was pretty low, with only a few spots holding fish. On the up side,though, temps have been unseasonably cool the past few weeks, with highs only in the upper 60s-low 70s, and nigh time lows down into the low 50s.
The head guide directed us to the "42 Inch Hole," about a mile from the main lodge near the entrance to the resort.
As you can see, not a big hole. But it held at least 18-20 trout, most of them 18 inches or better! We spent a couple of hours throwing a variety of patterns; hoppers, hopper/droppers, ants, beetles, you name it. Although stocked, the fish were somewhat picky, but we were able to land some pretty decent Rainbows.
With the fish tired of seeing our offerings, we headed downstream and fished another section that held some really big fish, as well as offering the chance for a little refreshment:
Returning to the lodge for cocktails, we chatted with the head guide, who revealed the reason why the bite was so slow. He had had two clients there in the morning, and had hammered the trout (including a huge Brownie) in the sections that we had fished later on. No matter; we'd had enough hookups and brought enough big fish to the net to make the cocktail hour and ensuing five course dinner all the more enjoyable.
Mary had a spa treatment on Wednesday morning, so instead of having strange people rub my body, I decided instead to light out for one of the catch and release ponds for a couple of hours. The smallest, named Jill Pond, was about 150 yards across and about 80 years wide. Again, hopper/dropper patterns did the trick, and I brought two 18-plus inch Rainbows to the net. The one fish that I failed to land (or see for that matter) literally took my flies across the pond. I'd never seen the backing on my 3-wt until then, and simply could not turn the fish before it spit out my fly. Had to be a beast.
Knowing that the 42 Inch Hole hadn't been fished in the morning, Mary and I hustled out there after lunch to beat the guides and their clients. Sure enough, the fish had no memory of the previous day's shenanigans, as we beat up the Rainbows, and even landed the big Brownie that had been caught the day before:
Figuring that we'd worn out the hole, as well as ourselves from fighting big trout, we headed back to Jill Pond. Things were a bit slower than in the morning, with only one fish brought to the net. By the late afternoon the fish started rising, but to what we simply couldn't tell. Mary broke the code, tying on a 16 black mosquito and having several good takes, while I sat and watched and enjoyed the afternoon:
Then it was back to the lodge for another superb meal. The only down side was that Mary's birthday only comes once a year. But I think that we might have to celebrate the next one early, especially since the hunting season on the resort opens up in October.
Tight lines,
Mikey D Fishing
