Over the past two weeks I’ve started to focus all my fly fishing energy on warm water, specifically for smallmouth bass. I’ve been on the Juniata River twice, I headed east to fish the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, and most recently I did some exploring on the Conestoga River in southern Lancaster, County. While all of these bass fisheries are slightly different in size and habitat, there was one similarity—the number and size of the bass. I was impressed with the number of smallmouth that each one of these bodies of water held. Fishing in the heat of the afternoon isn’t going to net you a large number of fish, but get there early or stay for the last two hours before dark and you are in for some action (with the right pattern of course).
Read moreJuniata River Channel Cats On Buggers
Yesterday I decided to do some warm water fly fishing for smallmouth bass on the Juniata River. A majority of my smallmouth bass fishing experience on the Juniata has been in the parts of the river that flow from Newport, south to the Duncannon junction with the Susquehanna River. I wanted to explore some new water further north. I downloaded the Juniata River Water Trail Map that the PA Fish & Boat Commission released and found an access point at Mifflintown. On Google Maps it looked like there was some good structure in this part of the river so I figured I’d give wet wading a shot. I arrived at the Central Juniata Park around 3:00pm. This is a great access point right off of Rt. 35 on the western side of the river. When I arrived I rigged up my 9’-7wt Winston Nexus that I use for bass fishing. When fishing for smallmouth in rivers I use a sinking line with a 9’-3X leader straight to the fly.
Read moreFly Fishing Beaver Creek
Late last week I really had the itch to catch some trout. I was coming off an unsuccessful weekend of chasing trout on the West Branch of the Delaware River where the bug hatches were scarce and fishing involved trying to coax a wild trout to take a #22 Sulphur Emerger. Welcome to summer fly fishing for trout. I had been reading about a stretch of stocked private water out in western Pennsylvania called Beaver Creek. I called the stream manager and he said that the water temps were cold, water flows were good, and there were still some bugs on the water. I told him I’d be there on Saturday.
Read moreStill Learning On Big Spring Creek
On Sunday morning I met up with my friend John at 6:30am and we drove west to Cumberland County to fish the limestone spring fed waters of Big Spring Creek. John is relatively new to the sport of fly fishing and this was his first time fishing Big Spring. I figured I’d introduce him to the good stuff! We arrived at “The Ditch” parking lot a little before 8:00am. The sun was still low and rising on the horizon and there was a slight fog hanging over the creek. I tied on a new 9-foot leader and 6X tippet. I stood and watched the creek for a bit and didn’t see any bug activity on the surface. I decided to tie on my Big Spring standby, the #16 Hunchback Scud, which imitates the freshwater crustacean known as the scud, common in the Big Spring Creek. John headed upstream and I stayed on the lower portion of “The Ditch” closer to the parking lot. There is a concrete wall there that you can sneak up on and observe trout that are cruising on the bottom. I saw maybe a half-dozen wild brook trout moving about in the gin clear water and there were a few wild rainbows mixed in as well.
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