The great Medalist Repair of 2012 may have been a pflop, but the Pflueger Pfix of 2013 was a pfull success!
Last week while working at the bank, a buddy of mine popped up in the drive-thru window and passed me a reel through the drawer. He said someone gave it to him and I could have it, as it was old and too heavy. As I brought it in, I thought it was a Medalist 1494 AK. Pfalse. It was a South Bend knock off. A poorly made knock off, if I may say so. The material just pfelt really cheap. He said to me, "It seems to be of poor quality, but maybe you can use some of the parts to pfix your Medalist."
He was right! I took it home last night, and sure enough, the reel pfoot is a perfect pfit! I mean, it's just perfect. I'm more than excited to have my pfavorite reel back. Now if I can pfind a replacement spool for my Heddon 310, I'll be set! The Pflueger now has its proper place on my Pfenwick, and my Ocean City has been put into retirement, the Martin 61 that had been on my PFenwick is now sitting comfortably on my Eagle Claw Pfeatherlight. Pfiberglass is ready to go!
Today is Opening Circus in PA (pfirst day of trout season). The truck chasers and slobs are already lined up elbow to elbow for their chance at pfilling their coolers with pfresh-out-of-the-truck "trout". As soon as I pfinish work at noon, my pfather and I are heading out to a local wild stream that pflows into a stocked trout water. We'll park w/ the pfirst day crowd just to check out the circus, and then head up this tiny trib for some solidarity and native brook trout. I do hope the kiddies have pfun though, and the pfirst day has the same effect that it had on me as a kid-putting a love of trout pfishing in their tiny little hearts!
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
The best day of the year so far...and no pictures to prove it!
Saturday was amazing. Of course, I have no pictures to prove it as my camera got fried on my last voyage out, but I have the memories (and a new camera ready for this coming weekend).
Saturday was a warm 44 degrees (under the norms for this time of year, but warmer than it has been lately...as I sit and watch a fresh 4" of snow pile up outside right now...). There's a local Class A that I've only fished twice, only caught one brookie on, and both trips have been in Feb. (this year and Feb. of last year). All I've heard about this stream is "it ain't what it used to be". I was starting to believe it. I arrived at the stream around 2pm on Saturday, took a water temp (holding strong at 48 degrees), and proceeded to chuck my dry dropper into some promising looking holes. Nothing. No misses, no rises, nothing at all. I can't figure this out. How is this stream a Class A!?
I soon found out. About 45 minutes into my voyage, and it was like someone threw on a switch. I came to a nice pool (although, no nicer than the numerous pools that I was taking skunkings in), and sure enough the stimy went under. Set the hook, and thought I got a chub. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a 4" brownie! I thought, this hole has more than one fish, I know it! Next cast, the stimy goes under, and I pull up a beautiful 7" brookie. Third cast, and a nice 7" brownie hits the stimy! Oh...and I "long distance released" 2 other trout. So now I'm getting excited. I move to the next hole. Instead of fishing the pools, I start dropping my rig into the fast currents and letting it drift into the head of the pool. That did the trick. The numbers just started to add up. Brownies and brookies, all with some decent size, were lying in the fast waters, where as the pools themselves were usually void of fish. I expect this behavior from brownies, but brookies usually like slower waters. Still, there they were, in pretty much equal numbers, laying in the fast currents between the pools.
The best catch of the day came from what I'm dubbing as "the toilet hole". I give it this name because there is an old toilet laying on the bank of the stream at this stretch. Given the uh, crappy structure (pun intended), there was a nice riffle flowing between two pools. A beautiful cinder block created some nice pocket water (the joys of fishing a Class A that runs parallel to a road...). I dropped my fly behind the cinder block and moved a really nice fish. I failed to land him. Tried again. He took it again, and I failed to land him again. At this point I'm thinking, "its gotta be a sucker or a large fall fish". Dropped the fly behind the cinder block and the stimy went under again, and this time I landed him. A beautiful 11" wild brownie was brought to hand. I had no idea fish of this size were holding in this little stream. Not a giant by any stretch, but when you're expecting fish in the 5"-7" range, and you bring one up of that size, its a pleasant surprise.
The day ended with me bringing 9 brownies and 6 brookies to hand, only 3 of them were under 6", and I missed a lot more than that. Double digit days are rare on northern Lancaster freestoners, especially in the cold months. I can't wait to get back to this stream on a warmer day and do some more exploring.
Saturday was a warm 44 degrees (under the norms for this time of year, but warmer than it has been lately...as I sit and watch a fresh 4" of snow pile up outside right now...). There's a local Class A that I've only fished twice, only caught one brookie on, and both trips have been in Feb. (this year and Feb. of last year). All I've heard about this stream is "it ain't what it used to be". I was starting to believe it. I arrived at the stream around 2pm on Saturday, took a water temp (holding strong at 48 degrees), and proceeded to chuck my dry dropper into some promising looking holes. Nothing. No misses, no rises, nothing at all. I can't figure this out. How is this stream a Class A!?
I soon found out. About 45 minutes into my voyage, and it was like someone threw on a switch. I came to a nice pool (although, no nicer than the numerous pools that I was taking skunkings in), and sure enough the stimy went under. Set the hook, and thought I got a chub. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a 4" brownie! I thought, this hole has more than one fish, I know it! Next cast, the stimy goes under, and I pull up a beautiful 7" brookie. Third cast, and a nice 7" brownie hits the stimy! Oh...and I "long distance released" 2 other trout. So now I'm getting excited. I move to the next hole. Instead of fishing the pools, I start dropping my rig into the fast currents and letting it drift into the head of the pool. That did the trick. The numbers just started to add up. Brownies and brookies, all with some decent size, were lying in the fast waters, where as the pools themselves were usually void of fish. I expect this behavior from brownies, but brookies usually like slower waters. Still, there they were, in pretty much equal numbers, laying in the fast currents between the pools.
The best catch of the day came from what I'm dubbing as "the toilet hole". I give it this name because there is an old toilet laying on the bank of the stream at this stretch. Given the uh, crappy structure (pun intended), there was a nice riffle flowing between two pools. A beautiful cinder block created some nice pocket water (the joys of fishing a Class A that runs parallel to a road...). I dropped my fly behind the cinder block and moved a really nice fish. I failed to land him. Tried again. He took it again, and I failed to land him again. At this point I'm thinking, "its gotta be a sucker or a large fall fish". Dropped the fly behind the cinder block and the stimy went under again, and this time I landed him. A beautiful 11" wild brownie was brought to hand. I had no idea fish of this size were holding in this little stream. Not a giant by any stretch, but when you're expecting fish in the 5"-7" range, and you bring one up of that size, its a pleasant surprise.
The day ended with me bringing 9 brownies and 6 brookies to hand, only 3 of them were under 6", and I missed a lot more than that. Double digit days are rare on northern Lancaster freestoners, especially in the cold months. I can't wait to get back to this stream on a warmer day and do some more exploring.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Great weekend
This past weekend was awesome. The weather was perfect for March. I spent Saturday on a Natural Repo stream w/ a friend who I haven't fished with in quite some time. This stream is in the southern part of Lancaster County, so it was a good hour long drive for me. Worth it though. We were hoping that the brookies would be rising in the warm weather. No such luck. We caught a few on top, but most of what we caught were on our dropper. Lots of hiking involved in this stream, which is part of what makes the experience. There were some pretty nice sized BWOs coming off though. I mean, some of them had to be pushin' a size 16. That surprised me. Most of the BWOs we see in our area are 18 and smaller. It was a sizable, healthy hatch. I just wish it would have brought more fish up.
Sunday afternoon I headed out for another 3+ hours to a local freestoner. The nice weather brought a lot of hikers out. I never saw anyone fishing this stream when I've fished it, but this past Sunday there certainly a lot of hikers around the waters. This is apparently one of Lancaster's favorite make-out spots as well...there were a few awkward moments. Most of the brookies I caught here were very small and again, not rising despite the warm weather. I did take a stream temp, it was pushing 47-48 degrees, so I was surprised I wasn't raising more fish. It's still early though. The warm days can be tricky, you forget it's still March. I am concerned about the general size of the fish I'm turning up on this stream so far this year, though. I'm hoping that once the warmer weather kicks in, the bigger boys start showing up. A lot of dinks so far. At one point, this stream held a lot of larger brookies, but after the floods of 2010, that seemed to change.
No pics because on Saturday as we were leaving, I left my camera on top of my car. As I came to a stop sign it flew off. Didn't shatter, but it won't power on now. Fail.
Sunday afternoon I headed out for another 3+ hours to a local freestoner. The nice weather brought a lot of hikers out. I never saw anyone fishing this stream when I've fished it, but this past Sunday there certainly a lot of hikers around the waters. This is apparently one of Lancaster's favorite make-out spots as well...there were a few awkward moments. Most of the brookies I caught here were very small and again, not rising despite the warm weather. I did take a stream temp, it was pushing 47-48 degrees, so I was surprised I wasn't raising more fish. It's still early though. The warm days can be tricky, you forget it's still March. I am concerned about the general size of the fish I'm turning up on this stream so far this year, though. I'm hoping that once the warmer weather kicks in, the bigger boys start showing up. A lot of dinks so far. At one point, this stream held a lot of larger brookies, but after the floods of 2010, that seemed to change.
No pics because on Saturday as we were leaving, I left my camera on top of my car. As I came to a stop sign it flew off. Didn't shatter, but it won't power on now. Fail.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The storm that never was
By all indications, yesterday should have been Southcentral PA's biggest snowstorm of the year. Even the ever reliable footsforecast.org had Lancaster County under the 5-10" range, with up to a foot in the southern portion of the county. The kid in me was excited at the prospect for a late season snow storm. The hours at work are getting long and if the stormed timed itself right, getting a day off work was a great possibility.
As I woke up to find it 40 degrees and raining, I was a tad bummed. Then I saw the weekend forecast, calling for 50+ degree days on both Saturday and Sunday. The small stream brookie whistle was wetted last Saturday, and my thoughts quickly turned towards another outing this weekend. No snow=no melt. No melt=higher water temps on Saturday. Higher water temps=more active trout.
As I woke up to find it 40 degrees and raining, I was a tad bummed. Then I saw the weekend forecast, calling for 50+ degree days on both Saturday and Sunday. The small stream brookie whistle was wetted last Saturday, and my thoughts quickly turned towards another outing this weekend. No snow=no melt. No melt=higher water temps on Saturday. Higher water temps=more active trout.
Monday, March 4, 2013
March is off to a great start
Finally Spring is on its way! Saturday was my first free Saturday for quite some time, and given the recent warm temps, I thought it'd be a great day to hit up a freestone brookie stream. Temps in Lancaster were in the 50s for the first half of the week, and even though Saturday barely broke 40 degrees, the water temps were holding. I took a stream temp when I first arrived on the stream and it was reading 42 degrees. Air temp at the time was 39.
I was fishing a dry dropper. I used a stimulator for my surface fly and a San Juan Worm (pink w/ a bead) for my dropper. It didn't take long to hook into my first brookie. The first pool I casted into, I hooked up with a little beauty! The first hole is right where I park, and I like to see if I can get anything out of it because its quite a difficult hole to approach. It's frog water, and wading up into casting distance can be a challenge. If you're not careful, you will send wakes the whole way up the hole and ruin the entire stretch. If you can approach it w/out spooking the fish though, the hole has many brookies piled up in it. After getting my first brookie, I hopped out of the stream, walked back the patch about a half mile and here the stream splits into two streams. I first worked my way up the left stream. There were several dead stretches but eventually I got up into a series of plunge pools and large boulders. This is my favorite kind of fishing. I hiked up above the large boulders to where the stream is all but a trickle and worked my way back down. I found the best approach is to climb up on the boulders and hide behind them, then drop my fly down into the plunges and pools, and drag them back towards me. Here, the brookies were just going nuts. Lots of strikes on both the dry fly and the dropper. You know Spring is right around the corner when the brookies start coming up for the dries.
Eventually I made it back down to where the stream splits, and I worked my way up the right stream in much the same fashion. There's a stretch with large boulders and plunges, and I hiked above them and worked my way back down. I had an amazing 10"+ brookie on at one point but lost him as I was getting my camera out! It was good to know that fish like that are still in this stream though, as this stream took some serious hits during the floods of 2010.
I landed a dozen fish and hooked into a dozen more. It was a great few hours for a cold March day. I'm glad to be off and running with my brook trout count for 2013! Oh I almost forgot...these are the first fish caught on my Eagle Claw Featherlight. Glad to break in the rod with such beautiful fish.
I was fishing a dry dropper. I used a stimulator for my surface fly and a San Juan Worm (pink w/ a bead) for my dropper. It didn't take long to hook into my first brookie. The first pool I casted into, I hooked up with a little beauty! The first hole is right where I park, and I like to see if I can get anything out of it because its quite a difficult hole to approach. It's frog water, and wading up into casting distance can be a challenge. If you're not careful, you will send wakes the whole way up the hole and ruin the entire stretch. If you can approach it w/out spooking the fish though, the hole has many brookies piled up in it. After getting my first brookie, I hopped out of the stream, walked back the patch about a half mile and here the stream splits into two streams. I first worked my way up the left stream. There were several dead stretches but eventually I got up into a series of plunge pools and large boulders. This is my favorite kind of fishing. I hiked up above the large boulders to where the stream is all but a trickle and worked my way back down. I found the best approach is to climb up on the boulders and hide behind them, then drop my fly down into the plunges and pools, and drag them back towards me. Here, the brookies were just going nuts. Lots of strikes on both the dry fly and the dropper. You know Spring is right around the corner when the brookies start coming up for the dries.
Eventually I made it back down to where the stream splits, and I worked my way up the right stream in much the same fashion. There's a stretch with large boulders and plunges, and I hiked above them and worked my way back down. I had an amazing 10"+ brookie on at one point but lost him as I was getting my camera out! It was good to know that fish like that are still in this stream though, as this stream took some serious hits during the floods of 2010.
I landed a dozen fish and hooked into a dozen more. It was a great few hours for a cold March day. I'm glad to be off and running with my brook trout count for 2013! Oh I almost forgot...these are the first fish caught on my Eagle Claw Featherlight. Glad to break in the rod with such beautiful fish.
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