On Sunday, my brother and I wanted to take the boat out one last time before it needed to be winterized. The Susquehanna River had risen about three feet over the past week or so and looked like chocolate milk with who knows what being washed from its banks. We decided to try Blue Marsh Lake since it would be a lot safer and close to one of our favorite creeks, the Tulpehocken (“Tully”). 

After a brief tour of the lake, it was time to catch some trout. We drove five minutes down the road and stopped at the Paper Mill parking lot. The sun was high and the air was warming up. We laughed about how we probably could've wet waded and it was the end of October! The Paper Mill is a popular spot on the Tully and gets consistent pressure, but I had caught a couple of fish there earlier in the week and figured it was our best bet. There were two guys fishing close by. I talked to one of them who was nymphing closest to us. He wasn't having any luck but had seen a guy catch some farther downstream towards the covered bridge. I rigged up a Green Caddis nymph and my brother Matt used a Green Weenie. After about an hour, we saw no signs of fish and decided to give the spot downstream a try.

There were cars everywhere further downstream and it seemed impossible to find a spot to park with my brother's Boston Whaler being pulled behind his Toyota Highlander. We turned around in the parking lot and found room under the Rt. 222 bridge. It was getting late and we began to wonder how long our wives would allow our excursion to continue. We waded upstream a little from the bridge and finally found some action on Woolly Buggers. I missed one while Matt caught two rainbow trout and missed a couple others. My gracious brother told me to take his spot. We kept swinging and stripping buggers. After about 15 minutes, Matt had hooked another one, and just as I saw his trout begin to fight, wham, I had one on too! We both netted them at about the same time. It was pretty awesome! After I got my fish positioned the right way for the picture, we gave them back to the Tully. I was happy to catch one fall trout and doing it simultaneously with my brother made it even more special.

All in all, it was a nice day to be out fishing with my brother. With jobs, families and other commitments, it can be hard to find quality time to spend together, but this will be a day I won't forget. To borrow an idea from the movie Inside Out, we made a great core memory on the Tulpehocken Creek.