I had a small window of time to fish on Saturday, maybe a half-day. I didn’t have time during the week to spool my smallmouth reel with new line so I decided I’d stick with targeting trout. There were heavy rains on Wednesday but the USGS webpages were showing that many of the streams in central Pennsylvania would be at optimal late summer flows through the weekend. I decided that I was up for a challenge and early Saturday morning I was driving in the dark on my way up 322 towards Centre County to fish Penns Creek (“Penns”). If you’ve read this blog since the beginning you’ll know that Penns has always been a thorn in my side. Our history goes back almost 20 years. I think the fact that Penns is a stream that has never given me large numbers of fish is what keeps me coming back. It has a mysterious side to it and as I’ve always described it, this “Jekyll and Hyde” body of water has a way of humbling a fly fisherman. When it is kind, the rewards can really be something.
Read moreDodging Harvey To Find The Chittenango
Late last Friday night I made a last minute decision to head north and cross another New York trout stream off of my “streams I want to fish” list. I decided on New York because it was Labor Day weekend and the remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey were racing towards southeastern Pennsylvania. I knew Saturday was going to be gray skies and a rain jacket at home. In New York it would be sunny skies and a t-shirt. The stream I targeted was the Chittenango Creek, located in Madison County, just south of Oneida Lake. I learned about this body of water back in May when I was fly fishing Ninemile Creek. The Chittenango was rumored to have a healthy population of wild and stocked brown trout and I’d been wanting to get there for weeks.
Read moreThe Lady, Elk River And West Virginia Mountains
Will someone please stop these thunderstorms on the weekend! It seems as if this summer is shaping up to be one of the wettest on record, but actually, it is not. In fact, this summer doesn’t even rank in one of the top ten wettest summers in the past thirty years. Perhaps it’s just that the rain keeps making an appearance on Saturdays and Sundays. This past week I was disappointed to find just that, a weekend with another high percentage chance of thunderstorms in Pennsylvania. I decided I was going to take a road trip and find better weather. I also decided that this would be the weekend I’d ask my girlfriend to be a part of my fly fishing adventures. Some guys might read that and say I’m crazy, but I’ve always wanted to share all the amazing places I go with someone.
Read moreThree For One, Fly Fishing The Tunkhannock, Pohopoco And Little Schuylkill
On Friday, the AccuWeather app on my iPhone was sending me flash flood notifications for southeastern Pennsylvania. I knew this was going to eliminate any chance of fishing for smallmouth bass anywhere in the Susquehanna Valley on Saturday. I looked at the weather map and all the precipitation was moving south of Rt. 80. I started thinking about fishing options for Saturday and Friday night decided in the morning I’d continue my Keystone Select video series on the South Branch Tunkhannock Creek in Wyoming County.
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