Guiding Ain't Easy

We don't do guest posts on Troutrageous! all that often, but I received an email from my buddy Spurky yesterday and he wanted to file a fishing report. Spurky & I go back quite a few years, and I'll never tell him no. So please enjoy this tale of a recent "guided" adventure... 

Guiding ain't easy they say.

I have taken T! aka Mike out a few times in my area and have done pretty well, alas last time was 6 LONG YEARS AGO!! Hint Hint!!

I met a great group of guys this early summer while camping up-state by Trout Run, PA. They were a few sites above me along the creek. What caught my eye when fishing was that Kip was using a tenkara set up. We made friends and fished together along the trout stream full of small fish who did not want our wood, steel, or feathers - just live bait.

We got talking and I invited them down to fish in my stomping grounds. As the set date was getting near I was hoping for decent weather as summer forgot to show up, and Seattle style weather was the norm.

I went out 1 week before our trip to scout and did very well, then went out the Wednesday before, but took hooks off to see how active the fish were. I was excited at all the strikes and fish I saw.

The day came and once they were settled in the HONEY HOLE, the gang and I headed out. The water had dropped at least 6" and all the fish would swipe at the lures, but there were few takers. Seems the only person who was catching and bringing to hand was the.... gasp.... fly fisherman of the group! I was happy that we caught a lot of tiny brook trout with great colors, (they were still in the same area as early September) with the smallest being about 1" tall and 4" long.

The next day we hit the Swatara Creek for anything. The water was low and clear but cold. We hit a few in the beginning until we got to the middle of the trip, and Mike found a route through the deep channel where we could wade.

Usually, it's a smallmouth bonanza, but figuring the water as cold as it was, it turned into a large pickerel catching zone. Bob with the fly rod caught the largest, with another biting through my 8" test line. Mike caught a beauty, though regretfully probably won't make it as it swallowed totally a large spinner...

I do not know who I made mad, but little later I lost the felt of my wading shoes, both of my favorite lures, and took a nose dive in a deep hole! Now soaked, my phone went nuts, the screen turned white, the word emergency in red started flashing and it started dialing 911! However, it would not let me talk or shut it down, and we were an hour from the camper. Eventually got the cover off and disconnected the battery and called the 911 center to explain. Luckily, I knew the dispatcher and he understood, though they were trying to trace the spotty signal. The phone eventually survived, but the camera is dead.

We gathered a few more fish before we returned and the party started. A couple of guys, Kip, and Shawn went out to pickerel central and got another one Sunday morning.

To me, I was disappointed in lack of fish, but the company was great along with the stories. It was brought up about future day trips, so we will see what happens...

Photos From The Field

Last Sunday I found myself back in Philadelphia-area for the day... which certainly makes for a good excuse to toss a few photos into a quick post to document the goings on. Plus, my rental car was a sweet little red Kia Soul. I kinda liked it...

Fishing Report and Visiting A New River

Ahhh... it's been nice to be back in Pennsylvania for a few days. Even got to do a little fishing, and I do mean a little, but it was all good. A nice recharge of the batteries, as nothing beats the summer heat like a wet wade through some nice, cold water while chasing trout beneath the shade of a wooded canopy. Well, almost nothing...

Saturday: Valley Creek

On Saturday I snuck out to Valley Creek, my old stomping grounds. I'm not going to lie, I didn't have a very good day on the fishing front. I caught two fish, but they were so small I didn't bother to take photos. I'm talking fingerling size, both caught almost one after the other on a size 16 Copper John about 20 yards upstream from the wooden foot bridge. (If you've been to Valley, you know where I'm talking about). The rod of the day was the (updated and new to me) Tenkara Times TRY 360.

Every time I visit Valley, it's much different than the last. It's crazy how much Mother Nature can change the look of what used to be familiar water in a little less than a year. The water was pretty low too, making some of the usual riffles and deeper runs not quite the same. Guess that can be expected for July.

Uh oh, somebody lost their bobber. With Valley being catch and release, wild brown trout only water you don't often see bait fishing gear or associated remains scattered along the banks, so this was kind of a curious find. I suppose either a kid was playing around in the creek, or perhaps it washed downstream from somewhere else.

Sunday: Not So Secret Water

On Sunday, I drove just a little further West and visited one of my old "not so secret spots." Even when some of the other streams in the area slow down during the Summer, this one usually produced for me. I was sure this time would be no exception until...

And then...

Ummm.... those signs are new, and kind of strange considering they run along State Game lands. They were never there before in all the years I fished this section of the creek, so I kind of wonder if nearby landowners didn't just put them up to deter visitors... It's not like they had any specific information filled in on them. Oh, whatever...

Not wanting to really deal with the hassle (or potential gunfire pointed in my direction) should they have been legit, I had to resort to fishing a much shorter section nearby that hadn't really been quite as productive in the past, but I knew still held fish.

Fortunately, it did again. I only caught one wild brown, but it was a pretty specimen... even if the photo below doesn't really show it well, particularly the vibrant red spots. See, I was trying to do the good guy "keep 'em wet" thing and keep it at least partially submerged in my net while snapping a quick smartphone photo, but I didn't realize the amount of glare the water was producing. Almost looks like the fish is in a puddle of mercury or something.

Either way, the brownie put on a pretty good show, making a few deep runs before finally coming to hand/net after a surprisingly good fight. Oh, and as far as gear goes, I was fishing the Three Rivers Tenkara Confluence zoom rod (a feature which came in very handy with all of the summer growth vegetation choking out sections of water), 3.5 Tenkara USA level line, and a size 12 Road Kone Kebari.

That was about it on the trout front. I don't think I'll get out fishing on Monday before heading back to Florida on Tuesday. Can't say I'm disappointed. This trip wasn't really even about going fishing (these two outings were just a few stolen bonus hours), rather, it was about visiting family and getting to meet my new nephew River.

The kid's got a pretty cool name, right?

With Apologies To Pete...

Being my last opportunity to fish in Pennsylvania before heading back to Florida, I hit Valley Creek after work on Tuesday hoping find a fish or two.

As I approached the stream, there was a father with two small kids playing in the water I was planning on fishing. No big deal, they were there first, no reason to interrupt their hi-jinks. So I walked about 20 yards on the trail upstream, stood on the bank beside the water, and started to extend my telescoping tenkara rod when I heard...

"Mike..."

And I when I turned around I was immediately greeted by a gentleman (& angler) that I didn't recognize. Scanning through my memory banks trying to place the face, he introduced himself as Pete, a reader of this blog for about five years.

To say I was surprised was an understatement, as I fished Valley regularly for almost 7 years, wrote about the creek almost weekly a few years back, and nobody ever identified themselves (or me) from the blog while I was fishing there. So my chance meeting with Pete might have been the coolest thing like ever.

I have to admit, I was a bit caught off guard, and really didn't know what to say. I don't even remember what I said exactly during our brief conversation. I think I said something open ended like "I'm about to fish this run," as in if you'd like to join me...but I probably came off as lame or self-occupied, and hopefully not too much like a douchebag. Pete said he was heading downstream and thanked me for writing the blog.

So in closing, Pete, if you're reading this, sorry if I appeared a little perplexed on the creek yesterday. I was just really startled and my mind was having trouble synthesizing what was going on. If you have a chance, please pop me an email HERE; I'd love to send you some T! swag. After all, it's not every day you meet one of your awesome long-time readers in person.

Oh, and I hope you did better downstream than I did upstream. I managed a hookup, but brought none to hand. Fish were rising, just couldn't get them to take...

The Best Laid Plans Of Fish And Men Often Go Awry

The stars just weren't aligned yesterday. But it's still all good.

So as I mentioned on Monday, the plan was to work, then go fishing immediately afterward. That's what I did, or at least tried to do.

In my (lack of) preparation, I neglected to uncover that the normal road I take that runs alongside Valley Creek is under construction and shut down. Like completely barricaded and whatnot. So when I drove to the creek after work, I couldn't access the road, and worse, the water.

So that kinda sucked. So close, yet so far away.

Being crafty, I eventually got to where I needed to be, but I had to backtrack the long way through the historical park, trying not to run down joggers and a peloton of cyclists in my haste, and pretty much wasted 30 minutes of daylight speeding past log cabins, monuments, and defunct artillery.

Exhale.

Fishing was only "meh," but when your last trouting was pretty ridiculous, what should one expect? It was fairly dark and overcast making it hard to see by the time I got into the creek, but I did manage a standard-issue 6-inch Valley brownie for my efforts. So at least the skunk steered clear, (it probably couldn't get past the roadside barricade either).

I'd also like to mention that I broke in my new L.L. Bean wading boots and dem jawns are where it be. It's not so much that they grip great, (they do), or are extremely comfortable, (they are), but I finally broke down and got a pair of boots with a BOA closure. Holy smokes, what have I been missing my whole life? On and off in like 10 seconds. I didn't think it was possible to love footwear not named Air or Jordan.

And while I'm head over heels for my new boots, it is nowhere close to describing how much in love I am with Wawa cannoli dip. Willpower is not my strong suit. And yes, it really is as good as it sounds.

Maybe the stars were aligned after all...

Ummm, Is Work Over Yet?

Back in Philly for the next three days for work.
Fortunately tenkara packs light.

Staying in King of Prussia (yes, that's the town's name), so should have the opportunity to sneak over to Valley Creek for a few hours today and Tuesday after work before flying back to Florida on Wednesday. If not Valley, perhaps a trip to my "secret" water, although that's a bit of a drive away. We'll see...

Oh, and since when did Wawa start making cannoli dip?
Like whoa, I'm clearly going to gain 10 pounds over these next few days...

Pardon the poor photo, couldn't contain my excitement

Valley Creek In The News...

Found my old stomping grounds in the news twice over the weekend...

Received my Spring 2016 issue of Trout magazine, (Trout Unlimited's member's only magazine) on Saturday. Page 26 features Valley Creek as a "Trout Adventure Near Cities" which it is. It's also not a secret to any Southeastern Pennsylvania trout angler in search of wild trout, so no reason to freak out that the magazine is "hot-spotting" some secret resource.

Philly.com also ran a piece over the weekend about how the Pennsylvania Turnpike expansion project may put those wild trout at risk. The local chapter of Trout Unlimited have concerns that the steps the Turnpike Commission & Tredyffrin Township plan on taking will not mitigate the additional storm water runoff created by the highway additions. The township actually claims that after they are down there will be less runoff. Both sides are presented fairly, which I like.

For those that don't understand why that is a concern, runoff is basically the rainwater that hits an impermeable surface such as asphalt and can't be absorbed. The introduction of runoff into a waterway can increase its temperature and bring with it any contaminants it picks up along the way (oil, antifreeze, etc...), none of which would be good for the resident trout population.

Neither read is particularly long and actually the Philly.com piece adds additional color to the Trout magazine entry, so if you have access to both, they are good to read in tandem.


I've written about Valley Creek 68 prior times (more than any other waterway). To read previous posts about Valley Creek, including many fishing reports of the beautiful wild brown trout population, click HERE. I'd recommend scrolling down until you find posts from 2013, my last year as a Pennsylvania resident.

Happy Opening Day of Trout Season!

Just wanted to wish my friends back up in Southeastern Pennsylvana a happy Opening Day of trout season!

Pennsylvania is weird and has two opening days, one in the Southeast (April 2nd), and one in the rest of the Commonwealth (April 16th). For the most part, you can fish anywhere year round, however, the stocked waters do more or less all get shut down in March to accommodate planting of fish.

As a fan of chasing wild fish with a fly rod, the allure of opening day resides in the somewhat chaotic spectacle; it also marked one of the few days I'd break out the ultralight spinning outfit, as the tight quarters of shoulder to shoulder anglers made casting and tending fly line a bit awkward.

Now living in Florida, I still miss it, although perhaps a little less with each passing year. Looking forward to getting back sometime in the future as it would be nice to get back into the "wax worm vs. corn niblet vs. Powerbait" debate again. (By the way, the correct answer is none of the above; inline spinners).

Have fun, be considerate of your neighbor in the hole, and be patient with tangled lines!

Prior Year's Opening Day Posts: 
2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  |  2013

The Next Time I Visit Valley Creek In October I'll Leave The Rod At Home...

Haven't been back to Pennsylvania all that often since I moved to Florida. It's a shame, I miss it a lot, but for whatever the reason I've only been back maybe three (or four) times in almost three years.

A few weekends ago, back on the 17th of October, we decided to change that...and I even tried to get a little fishing in. Albeit somewhat unsuccessfully.

Look at the size of this HAWG!

It was sort of funny, Mother Nature must have known we were coming from sunny, 85 degree Florida. A cold front pushed through the region coinciding with our arrival, dropping the overnight/early morning temperatures down to the low 30s, the coldest in Philadelphia since April.

I had to use the window defrosters on the car in the morning...I don't even think cars in Florida have window defrosters. That kinda sucked. Ugh, I'm getting soft.

I should have known better, back in 2013 I visited at almost the same time of year and had very similar results. Valley Creek probably could have benefited from some rain too, the water was very low and very clear.

So in lieu of good wild trout pics, here are just some photos of the stream & surroundings.
Despite the cold temps and missing fish it was good to be back, I missed it.
Valley Creek warms my soul.

The covered bridge is evidently still under construction after being hit by a truck

Was bummed these riffles didn't yield any fish, they're usual a "honey hole"

Leaves down and in the water, you can tell it's Fall in the Northeast

A peek upstream - the low, slow water made the run look almost glass-like

The water's usually knee deep here, it was lucky to be ankle deep.

Postscript: October fishing in Valley Creek isn't always bad, I just had some bad luck the last two times. Here's a post from 2010 that shows the other side of the coin.

Wednesday Nibbles - Record Bass, Trophy Trout, Internet Fishing, Spycams, & RD Edition!

Hey it's Wednesday...we've made it half way through the week! No small achievement these days...so let's celebrate with some fresh Wednesday Nibbles. After all, the more time you spend reading this post, the closer you'll be to the weekend upon completion. So let's get at it...


Record Fish In The Chipola River

The folks over in the Northwest corner of Florida are catching some really big bass, in particular Shoal Bass in the Chipola River.  Toward the end of September, Stewart Mayeaux caught a 4.85 pound, 20.9 inch shoal bass, a Florida state record, breaking the prior record which was only set back in March...in the same river!

Photo: MyFWC.com

According to the Florida Wildlife Commission, "Shoal bass thrive in the Apalachicola water system, including the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers of Alabama and Georgia, and the Chipola River in Florida. Once thought to be redeye bass, they were determined to be a separate species in 1999."

So I've evidently got to get to the Florida "panhandle" ASAP...have tenkara rod, will travel!


Extreme Couch Fishing

For those not interested in traveling to the Chipola to go fishing...well...I'm not gonna lie, I'm not exactly sure what to say about RoboFisher, so I'll let their video and website do the talking for me...

"Robofisher is a revolutionary device, installed on the banks of a lake, in a corner of the planet, which can be controlled online, from another corner of the planet, from your computer, in order to fish real fish."


So yeah, it's like a interwebz video game...but you're catching real fish all over the world via fishing drone...and ummm....okay...yeah, I got nothing else...


Pennsylvania Trophy Trout

Some cool things going on in Pennsylvania (holla!) around their trout stocking program...

The announcement of "Keystone Select Trout Waters," an initiative by the PA Fish & Boat Commission, promises to excite anglers by stocking 8 different bodies of water with 3,200 "big" fish, ranging from 14 to 20 inches.  The waters will be overseen by Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only (DHALO) regulations, meaning fish can only be kept during certain months of the year, the rest of the time reverting to catch & release.

I know, perhaps not too exciting for my friends out West accustomed to catching big fish like that, but it's baby steps for Pennsylvania, a generally behind-the-times state in which you can't even buy beer in the supermarket.


New Wearable Camera Option

I have a GoPro. I don't really use my GoPro. If I didn't use gift cards to fund the majority of the purchase, I might feel like I wasted my money. I'm just not really into setting up shots, editing video, or any of that stuff, much less wearing a plastic-encased camera awkwardly on my chest or head or wherever.

If you're like me, perhaps the Narrative Clip 2 is for you. Far more passive than a GoPro, the Narrative Clip 2 is basically a very small, wearable camera that takes 8MP photos and 1080p HD video in a hands free fashion, automatically at a time interval of your choosing.

So essentially, you clip it wherever you want it, set it to take a photo say every 30 seconds, minute, 5 minutes, whatever, and go about your business, hiking, driving, fishing, etc...  At the end of the day, you'll have a bunch of spontaneous photos to review of your outing. Upload them to cloud storage, delete what you don't want, and you're good to go.

Honestly, I'd be curious to see what I ended up with. Hopefully not a ton of out of focus photos. The only drawback for an angler; it's not waterproof...so keep it high & dry.


Blog Love

Last but not least, time for some blog love. Because that's just what we do here at Wednesday Nibbles.

I have to say my Blogroll has become a sad state of affairs...so many blogs that I used to enjoy reading have gone dormant over the past year or so, it's slowly but surely gotten smaller and smaller (by about 2 to 3 blogs) each month.

So I figured I'd shout out to 3 of the blogs that have been in my blogroll the longest, heck, even pre-OBN days, and are still kicking out posts at least semi-regularly...because you've gotta throw some love at a good long-term Blogbuddy.

• Northern California Trout - Good ol' Shoreman's been a bit quiet the past week, but he still cranks out posts with regularity. His tales of lakes, Powerbait, and sometimes float tubes (and bears) are always the highlight of my day. Hope he gets some snow this winter to keep the water flowing.

• Windknots & Tangled Lines - Yeah, you all probably know Howard. Knocking out humorous posts, living life, being the man. I still owe you breakfast the next time I'm out in Colorado buddy. Check out his blog for what is typically a daily dose of irreverence.

• The River Damsel - Holy smokes, after a long hiatus, she's back! Glad to see it too, it's tough to keep up with her exploits scattered across Facebook. I don't think I have another friend in blogdom that is more "fishy" (in a good way) than Emily. Keep doin' what you're doin' RD, you're awesome (& an inspiration)!

R-Domination!

Seneca Inc.: Pennsylvania Handcrafted

Just thought I'd share a t-shirt I decided to take the plunge on last night.

It's not my typical style, but based on my Keystone State upbringing, the graphic on the back was far too appropriate to pass...

I've been following Seneca Inc. on Instagram for a little bit now. In addition to this shirt, there is also headwear that borrows from the same Jake Beaver design, as well as some other great gear that might fall right in your wheelhouse.