SE PA Opening Day 2014

I find that most fly fishermen don't like opening day and stay away from the circus.  But it's family tradition for me and I wouldn't give it up for the world.  I am not one of those fly fishermen that think I am better then spinner/bait fishermen.  As long as you fish by the rules, and have etiquette you are cool with me.

Got up around 4am and at the diner by 4:30.  Met up with Brett, Tyler, Pete and some of Tyler's family.  We all had breakfast and headed up to the stream.  Got there around 6am.  Of course it was packed, but we got a spot and messed around till 8am, then it was on.   Fish were caught right away.  It was a good day and once the rain started it was even better.  The crowds cleared out and we were able to move around the stream all day.

While fishing a woman asked if it was okay if she took our picture.  I said sure.  She was with three children.  Pete hooked a fish and let her son reel it in.  The kid was hooked and tried to catch one by himself.

After a little while we moved on and fished a little more down stream.  Then the woman came back with coffee for us.  Which was extremely nice.  Pete let her son use his fishing rod again and taught him a little about fishing.   I spoke with her a little and she has a web site WhatsGoingOnInTheLehighValley which is why she was taking pictures of us.  I forgot my camera and wasn't going to take my phone out in the rain.  So all pictures on the post are credited to her and her site.

We ended the day with decent numbers. I got 11, Brett got 13, Tyler was somewhere in the 20's, and Pete got 9.  I got fish on olive hare's ear, stone flies, egg patterns, wooly buggers, and pheasant tails.

Scouting

Just a 1/2hr trip scouting for the weekend.  Got this little guy on a pheasant tail. 

Hope to get into some trout soon. 

Bushkill

Hit the Bushkill today with Brett and Tyler. 

I was fly fishing all day and got most fish on beadhead hares ear and stoneflies.

It was a nice day.  Cloudy and spotty rain. 

Most fish were little smallies and pan fish. 

Brett got the only trout of the day. 

All in all another awesome day on the water. 

 

Bradford

My sister invited my brother, me and our girlfriends, to her husband's hunting cabin in Bradford County. It just so happens to be right across the street from a trout stream.

We got up there a little late. Got everything unpacked and started to play drinking games.  Holy crap that was not a good idea.   Fun but hurt!

Woke up the next morning. Had breakfast, got the fishing equipment together, and walked across the street with my brother-in-law and brother. We got to the steam and it was low and slow. Seemed more like pond fishing then stream fishing.  I was fly fishing and used the time to practice casting and enjoy being outside.  While the other two were spinner fishing and catching some smallies and chubs.  We did see what looked like a 24 inch palomino swimming in a deep hole. But he just kept swimming around ignoring us. 

The trek out was bad.  Filled with 7ft thistles, wolf and garden spiders, and  5ft ditches.  A walk that should have taken 5mins turned into 20. 

Got back and met up with the girls.  They were heading to a local swimming hole while we tried on more spot. 

This was under a bridge and still same luck.  I was still fly fishing but the other two were using bait. My brother did catch a decent smallie. And after a while we left to meet the girls at the swimming hole. 

The swimming hole was BEAUTIFUL!  A spring fed creek with little swimming holes in between the rocks. The clearest water i have swam in. 

My girlfriend explored and came back with a pic of a nice stonefly casing. 

Hung out for a couple hours then headed back to the cabin. Made dinner on the fire and sat around it afterwards. 

An awesome weekend.  Thanks to Tyler and Stacey for inviting us up! Had a great time!