It's summertime, and the carpin' ain't easy

Carp. Seems all the rage these days in the fly-fishing world. I won't lie to you; I wasn't too keen on the idea of fly fishing for them a few years ago. In my youth I'd fished for them at Pymatuning Res. on the PA side "where the ducks walk on the backs of the carp" (quite literally). After first rejecting the notion of "carping", I recalled my youthful days fishing for carp with breadballs and womrs, and remembered how incredible they faught. Then, I decided I would try my hand at them with a fly.

I've been after them for about 3 or 4 years now. I'm nowhere near figuring them out, everywhere, all the time. Some waters call for high-stick nymph style fishing with heavy flies. Others require small nymphs with pin-point accuracy in your presentation. Others like big meaty flies, but must sink slowly. Others (often in the same water) want a minnow presented to them. Low water conditions this year make it a bit tough to sneak up on these guys. They are very, very wary. I've had a handful break me off just as I set the hook. What other fish has such shear anger, aggression, and fight? Maybe a shark. I've presented a million flies to the same carp in a park pond only to be given the mighty carp-finger. What gives??

The carp is regarded as a prized fighter in most other countries. Here they have a reputation as trash fish, destroyers of habitat, bottom feeders. Certainly some of this is true. They can, in numbers, ruin a shallow lake by eliminating vegetation which provides food/cover for young fish, as well as ducks, geese, swans, etc. I understand that. They are not native to this continent. As most of you that know me/us, we're incredibly against invasives and non-natives. However, the brown trout is one of my favorite fish to pursue. It is native to parts of Germany, Europe, and the like. Yet, they are prized here. Steelhead in Lake Erie, Ontario, Michigan, etc. Pheasants are another example. Chukars are another. Praying mantis. All of these species fit a particular niche that was not currently being filled (usually). This is an argument for another place, as it could get in depth. There is a notion that all niches are indeed filled, and these species take over that particular niche. We'll leave that up in the air.

I digress. The point of all this rambling is simlple: carp are fun as hell to catch, especially on the fly. Shoot them with your bow if you must but leave a few for me and a woolly bugger, would ya?

Wild, Wonderful Brookies of PA- July 2011

Between the record high rainfall earlier this spring (and early summer), and now the dought-like conditions across much of the U.S., our trout fishing has been quite limited. However, there are a few places on this earth where it seams that rain, or lack thereof, has little impact. These places are usually the small feeder creeks, to other feeder creeks, that eventually go into a larger river/lake/etc. They are cold, spring fed little gems. They're often referred to as "blueliners" and are often 15 degrees cooler than the surrounding areas out of the little hollows they inhabit. We drove a few hours into Pennsylvania to one of these blueliners that we'd been wanting to fish for some time. Being fans of dry-fly fishing, and brook trout, we had more than a good day on the water to say the least.

We hiked in tuesday evening, fishing all the way to a campsite where we set up our tarp shelter. We built a fire, and ate Ramen noodles and beef jerky. We hoped we would not need to share our meal with resident black bears. We did not. Though admittedly, we would not have minded so much. Regardless, we carried a .40 cal at all times.

We gorged ourselves earlier in the day, and the next day, with blueberries and red raspberries that were growing in adbundance. We even ate ripe Serviceberries (Amelancher arborea). Pretty tasty, if not a bit mealy in texture. A highlight of the trip was a very large, very old beaver pond that was nearing 4 to 5 acres. We had hoped there would be brookies in the water. We did not catch any, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. A boy can dream, can't he?

The pictures will explain the rest.

Until next time...

Please forgive our leave of abscence

Well, to be quite honest you didn't miss much. A few stocker brown trout at clear fork, some Pennsylvania beauties, and a few very nice bluegills.
A little on the Pennsylvania trip, it was snowy, cold, and snowy, did I mention cold? We had arrived shortly after a storm dumped up to 24" in some spots, so the travel was tough, as was the fishing. Our first stop on our trout tour was an old favorite, Little Sandy Creek, near Polk Pennsylvania. Little Sandy usually treats us quite well, not the case this time. We only managed to find one fish, but at least it was a pretty little fish, and it was my first handful of spunky trout for 2011.

After Aaron had lost about 33,000 flies to the creek, we made a mutual decision to move on to bigger and better things. We wandered over to Hemlock Creek, a nice wild trout stream. Just a short walk up from the truck, Aaron landed a very nice brown, but in his excitement he let it flop out of the net before a photo could be taken. He swears it was at least this big.

After a few more fishless hours at Hemlock, we retreated to the cabin, started a nice warm fire, and enjoyed some brew from Mr. Dick Yuengling. The next day was new water for both of us, Hickory Creek, although all we found was the tracks from a very playful river otter, it was still a great spot. Lots of potential for some brookies on another trip. No fishing session would be complete without an intense B.S. session as to why the fish are not biting.

From Hickory Creek we picked a blue line on the map to prospect for trout. We mad a good pick. Pithole creek was pretty good to us. It does not appear to get much fishing pressure, and since there are about 6 people who read this blog, I don't think the report will change that. The water looked great, Aaron caught a nice brown right under the bridge where we parked, a good sign.

A nice long walk upstream revealed a ton of great looking water, for later in the season of course. Should be an excellent place to coax some fish on dries. We did find a few really nice deep pools, and Aaron caught another brown. Jerk.

Some more recon and we found some awesome looking water, where Aaron had a Godzilla brown charge upriver past him. But it was starting to get dark, and we had a substantial walk back to the truck. Back at the car, Aaron's "one more cast" syndrome kicked in and he threw a few casts under the bridge again. Normally this never pays off, but this time it did, with our first nighttime brown trout. All in all it was a great trip, found lots of water to fish again. You could spend a lifetime fly fishing in Pennsylvania and never fish the same spot twice. On the way home we re-fueled the car and our self abused bodies with some brew and sandwiches.

Stay tuned for some new material, steelhead season is upon us. There should be some good posts coming down the line in the near future.

Winter slump...let's do some reflecting.

So tomorrow's about the last day for muzzleloader season here in OH. My brother, Greg, and I will be at it in the morning. Hunting deer and pheasants have kept me busy, and most importantly outdoors, the past month or so. It's been a fairly cold winter and most of the fishable waters are frozen. Mohican is open, but I'm craving steelhead, and some dry fly action. (crap! It's only January!)

It's a good time to tie flies, I suppose, but that has me just wanting to fish, not tie! Heck, I even bought a new wading jacket and got some new wading boots for Christmas this year.

I guess I'll post some pictures I've been looking at, reminiscing and wishing that I was there, in that exact spot all over again, fish in hand.
Here's some 2010 "highlights", in no particular order:

                                                                  Oil Creek rainbow

        Brownie on one of the Sandy Creeks.

                                                                      Sandy rainbow

                                        Fishing Creek brookie. Poor picture for a beautiful fish!

                                                                    Sandy brownie

                                                                     Pat and a 'bow

                                                 Clear Creek, OH rainbow. They do exist.

                          In fact, there's at least two there. Two from the same hole, believe it or not.

                              Surprised to find a river redhorse on my line! Clear Fork, Mohican.

                                                   Pat's first ever steelhead, a nice buck.

                                                                         Vermilion

                                                  Oh yeah! Killer hen steelhead on the V.

                                                               Penn's Creek brownie

                  Underwater shots from my Casio Exilim camera phone. Great phone and greater camera!

                                                                    Sandy brookie.


Ok, enough daydreaming. Back to the winter grind...



Suckers, and Trout

I went fishing this past Sunday (January 2) with my brother, Greg. Greg had forgotten most of his cold weather gear, resulting in him leaving early.

I decided to stay a little longer after he had left and work downstream a little more. We were fishing the Clear Fork branch of the Mohican River.

Nothing to report really but the first 3 fish of the new year. Actually, the two Northern hogsuckers were a first for me on a fly. All fish caught took a creation of mine called the "Stick of Dynomite".

So, the total for the day was one small brown trout, and two Northern hogsuckers. Definitely a good day to be on the water.