February 02, 2012

Well an unexected gift showed up at the house today.  It was a beutiful Bamboo fly rod built by R. Isaac of Maine.  This is the gentleman who created my prior bamboo rod that was broken by my father while fishing for wild brown trout.  Mark Beshel, my college buddy decided it would make for a great gift.  He was spot on.  So, the sun was out and the second my rugrat was on the bus -- I was down the road to fish some Class A waters in search of brown trout willing to take a dry fly on my new Bamboo fly rod.  It didn't take long to accomplish this task.  Although, the sun went away and the wind picked up the second I got to the stream.  No bother, this stream is too beautiful to upset.  I also landed a few fallfish on my DSS streamer pattern.  Now, this fly is tied on a Togen Size 2 Black Nickel Salmon hook.  I had a few trout pick up the fly, but I couldn't get the hook set.  So I changed to a trout sized bugger and landed a nice fish.  I will shortly create the DSS streamer on hook that is not so bulky.  The search is on, but for now I am going to go with a Mustad low water steelhead hook.   

Pretty sure there will be no Ice Fishing this year.  Not sure what Mother Nature is up to, but she is being wickedly unpredictable this winter.    Get out on the water and land some fish.  I'd bet the house that the crappie bite  at Ontelaunee Lake is on fire.  Also, Fly Tying courses being offered.  Click on the Fly Tying Classes title to the right.  As always, it's good 2Bonthewater.

January 22, 2012

Is the ice safe?  Absolutely not. Did I still go out onto the ice and catch some fish?  Yes I did.  No matter what, frozen water is  not considered safe.  Today, the ice was 2.5 inches.  NOT SAFE.  Every second on the ice my mind was focused on what to do if I went for a swim.   I mean every second.  With that in mind, I highly doubt there is any safe ice in SE PA.  We still need to wait for a nice cold spell to hit us.  So, clean up your ice fishing gear.....sit back and relax.  Soon the ice will be a few inches thick and it will be game on.  I really miss not having a Showdown Digital Fish Finder.  I really don't like fishing blind.  

January 08, 2012

Chased some wild trout today for about 2 hours. It wasn't that cold--38 degrees, but the wife thought I was nuts. Even nuttier is that I wanted to catch a fish on a dry fly !! My plan worked out nicely. I landed only one trout today, on a Rusty Cricket. The take was pretty cool. While moving upstream and tossing buggers around a few boulders, I missed two fish. The one was about 14 inches. That was the only action I had. Most of my time was spent just chilling out and listening to the water move. There were a few Little Black Stoneflies in the air along with a few midges.

January 06, 2012

After having a check-up at the doctors office, I decided to fish the Little Schuylkill River on the way home. I thought I'd be the only one out and about. I was wrong !! Three other fisherman had the same idea. I ventured downstream and left the best water to the Old Top who showed up 5 minutes after I did. On the way down the road another fisherman showed up. I was throwing fly combos to no avail. Then big streamers, then midges-- nothing doing. As I made my way back to the best water, fisherman number 2 decided to make a dash to the head of the pool--thanks big guy ! I made a few attempts to fish some midges deep and again my offerings went without a nibble. I figured, the only chance I had at landing a trout on this side of the river was with my spinning rod, stickbaits or the pink worm. Just then another angler showed up. So, now we have 4 anglers in a very small area, not what I had imagined for my day of fishing. I made a few casts with the stickbait but I couldn't get it down to the bottom. So, can you guess what I did? Pink Worm. Fish on. Landed. Time to go home !!! I saw one other trout landed by the fisherman tossing a stickbait. A very pretty fallfish was landed by the smoking fly fisherman. I didn't see Old Top land a fish, but I can guarantee that during the time I was downstream fishing, this dude landed a fish or two. The water was up and was super cold. There are fish there, but Old Top stated most of the fish get taken out by poachers. Old Top stated that he fishes the Tully a lot. I said, I really don't like the Tully, Old Top stated that,  "you don't know what you're missing, especially in July when the Tricos are on".

January 05, 2012

Ice fishing might not happen this year !!!  Well, I certainly hope that isn't the case.  There is absolutely no safe ice anywhere in SE PA.  We have been getting some cold nights that would help start the ice making process, but then we have warm days and some rain.  At best, we have skim ice in a few places.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Best guess would be late January to early February as to when we might get some safe ice.  But, the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if we couldn't get on the ice until around the middle of February.  We need about 2 weeks of serious cold weather to come our way.