Introduce Someone to the Sport

Today was a very nice day. I got to introduce our nephew to the sport of Fly Fishing. We didn't catch any fish, but we had fun and he started learning the roll cast.

I would encourage anyone out there who knows someone who wants to fish, but needs a hand in getting started, to help in any way you can. The experience is very rewarding!

Ice Out

As the ice gets pushed apart and sucked downstream in long flowing sheets of solid water, the freshly-stocked trout scurry and hide in every place of shelter they can find. When you do see one sitting in a nice feeding lane, they are so wary and nervous that they move aside for your flies as well as some natural food stuff floating past them towards some other downstream location.

It was supposed to be mid 50's

For my first outing of 2014, I chose to go to Neshannock Creek in Volant, Pennsylvania. It was supposed to be a bright day, in the mid to upper 50's. It turned out to be an overcast day in the mid 30's to low 40's. Ice blocks were all along the banks, as if some great explosion had taken place and left its debris along the shore in the form of ice chunks, about ten inches thick and in irregular shaped blocks between three or four feet in length and two or three feet in height. These blocks of ice make it less convenient to access the stream waters, but once in, the  temperature was fine and the fish should have been biting.

I'm thinking the fish were very spooked from the stocking activities taking place. Not only were they being ferried from the stocking truck to the creek in large buckets, but many of them were placed in barrels strapped to canoes to be released as they floated downstream to the lower end of the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only (DHALO) section of Neshannock Creek. All of these traumatic activities have to put fish in a spooked state I would think. After a week or two, they should be fine though. By that time, they might also have become adjusted to living in a real stream and learn what constitutes real food. In other words, they might have become adjusted and learn to recognize insect larvae and small fish as food rather than the bland fish pellets they are fed at the fish hatcheries.

This stuff is what gives stocked trout that grainy or mealy taste.

While wading the stream and fishing a few holes, I met a few guys out doing the same and having the same amount of luck I was having. I think one of them mentioned something about needing to catch a fish to consider the day a success and I replied that I had merely set out to get out of the house that day and with that, I considered my mission to have been accomplished.

My small stream setup

This was my first official outing of the year with my new Orvis Clearwater 7.5' 3wt fly rod and Orvis Battenkill II reel. What a beautiful rod and reel. I love how it casts. I also had a few other new items out for their maiden runs, so to speak. One item is my new Brodin Phantom Cutthroat landing net (which I have not yet had the pleasure of needing, much less using) and another item, perhaps my favorite of all my new gear, is my new Simms Guide jacket. It's a Goretex jacket and has many very cool features, such as small inner pockets to hold hand warmers commonly sold in sporting goods stores everywhere, drain holes in all pockets to prevent water buildup inside pockets, a large hood that folds up nicely inside the collar, and an inner and outer sleeve cuff system that will surely keep the wet out and prevent hangups on my line as I'm casting.

My favorite fishing jacket!

Cabin Fever

It's nearing the end of January and the weather is not letting up any time soon from what I can tell. That means it's time to go through my fishing gear, clean and oil my reels and tie some flies (or at least try to). Here is a picture of my fly tying bench from last year:

My father's old watchmaker's bench makes a great fly tying bench.

That's what the bench looked like last year, neat and organized. One year later, and things are starting to pile up on it, so it's time to clean it off and start preparing for upcoming fishing trips.

Organizing fly boxes took them from this...

To this...

I don't claim to know how to tie many flies, or even to know how to tie flies well, but I can state quite truthfully that many of the fish I caught last year were on flies I tied myself, including my first trout ever on a fly as well as my first steelhead on a fly. In my first attempts at tying flies, I ended up with several "trash" flies that now occupy little plastic containers on my bench that were collected while making purchases of professionally tied flies in my local fly shops. They make handy references of how to NOT tie flies, but thankfully, the number of flies I tied that were successful outnumbered the ones that were not. On that note, I have to tell you that it makes no difference how "pretty" a fly is if it doesn't catch fish. It can be as ugly as a troll under a bridge for all I care. If it catches fish, it's a great fly!

 So, the snow continues to fall and the rivers are freezing over. I guess that means that the trout are napping now and just biding their time until things warm up and our flies start landing in their feeding lanes so we can introduce them to our nets and cameras. Some fish are showoffs and like to jump, while others tend to be shy and throw our hooks and go back to their hiding spots. That's fine though as it gives us incentive to wade out a bit further so we can cast to those spots behind those logs and rocks.

As I said, January is coming to a close and snow is falling harder than it has all winter. My fly boxes are sorted and organized. My fly lines have been cleaned and treated twice. My reels are cleaned and lubricated. My camping gear is all organized and stacked. I'm ready for Spring to arrive so I can get back outside and hunt some fish.

What does all this mean? It means that it's time for Cabin Fever to set in and start rearing its ugly head. The kids are going stir crazy because it is too cold for them outside. Jake, our very big dog is starting to go nuts, chasing dust bunnies around the living room at 90 miles per hour and beg everyone to play tug-of-war with him for hours on end.

Common Dad... Play Tug-of-War with me. Again!

I think we'll all be glad when the sun comes out, warms our bones and melts that snow... wait a second, I guess that means that the grass will start growing again and it'll be time to mow grass and trim hedges. On second thought, I might look into ice fishing, or better yet, indoors fishing with shots:

Planned Adventures for 2014 (part 3 of 3)

The third major trip of the year will, as usual, be a week-long fishing adventure in Erie, Pennsylvania, hunting steelhead.

We'll be making this trek in October, while the weather is still warm enough to camp and right as the fish start coming into the creeks from the lake.

A great place for camping in Erie is Uncle John's Elk Creek Camp. I stayed there this past November and really enjoyed my stay.

They even have a web cam to see live views of Elk Creek.

Planned Adventures for 2014 (part 2 of 3)

My second planned adventure for 2014 is a family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. We haven't had an honest-to-goodness family vacation in, well, ever, so this one is going to be great and well-deserved. Our kids, Maggie and Charlie are really looking forward to it, especially to where we will be staying. We are going to camp at the Jellystone Campground in Cosby, Tennessee, which is about a thirty minute drive from Gatlinburg and abuts the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Although this trip will be more of a family vacation than a fishing trip, I still count it as one of my planned adventures for 2014 as me and our son Charlie will get to do some fishing together and we both are really looking forward to catching some Smoky Mountain trout. Charlie, like his dad, has become a real fishing fanatic, ever since catching his first fish two years ago in a local park.

A very proud young angler!

My gear checklists remain the same, although I will wait until we are down there to inquire and purchase flies that are most likely to attract the local trout. I think Charlie wants to use live bait, but that's his prerogative. There's still time to teach him about fly fishing, he's only five years old, after all.

We've started a list of things to do when were down there:

• Auto-tour of the park, including a visit to Clingman's Dome and the Roaring Fork motor Nature Trail
• Mini-golf
• Ober Gatlinburg -cable car ride and park
• Dollywood Amusement Park
• Pigeon Forge -including some shopping at the many outlet stores
• Dixie Stampede for a dinner show
• Horseback riding
• Relax and enjoy the accomodations (pool, shade, etc.)
• and, of course, fishing

Guess who voted for horseback riding?
Maggie is going to have a blast!

We might not do everything on the list, and will most definitely end up doing some other things that are not on the list, but we like lists and this list was constructed with input from everyone in our little family.

Last, but certainly not least, we hope to meet up with a dear friend of mine that I was stationed with in Germany many years ago. Al Shortt was my first roommate when I first moved off of the Air Base where I was stationed. We had lots of fun times in Germany and he inspired me to learn to speak German. He and his family live in Tennessee now that he's retired from the Air Force, and we're hoping they make the short trip up to Gatlinburg for a day or two so we can catch up.

So, in preparation for this trip, I've also been doing a number of Internet searches for fly fishing in the Smokey Mountains. Youtube provides a wide variety of related search results, and videos like this just get me excited for the possibilities for this trip.

This, like the Pine Creek trip I'll be taking in April, will be a new experience for me and we are all very much looking forward to it.

I'd love to hear from any readers out there who have been there, whether it's fishing-related or not.

Planned Adventures for 2014 (part 1 of 3)

At the beginning of each year, I try to plan out some of my major fishing destinations for the year. This year is no exception, except that I'm in a better position to actually visit these destinations this year and do some quality fishing.

My first big trip of the year is going to be to Cedar Run, Pennsylvania to fish Big Pine Creek, Cedar Run as well as Slate Run. Big Pine Creek is the larger of the three streams and contains a mixture of stocked Rainbow and Brown trout, as well as the occasional wild trout. It is a freestone stream and promises to be one of the best trout streams in the state. Cedar Run is designated as a "Trophy Trout" stream, meaning that any fish harvested from the stream must be a minimum of 14", which hopefully translates into larger fish. Slate Run is designated as a fly-fishing only stream and has strict catch and release rules to protect the native Brook Trout residing in the stream. All in all, I'm really looking forward to this trip and will hopefully be catching a variety of stocked, native and wild trout.

Cedar Run, Pennsylvania is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's wilderness and lies at the lower end of what is colloquially known as "Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon".

Pine Creek Gorge

In preparation for this trip, I have consulted many different sources of information to determine what needs to be on my camping and fishing equipment checklists.

Camping Gear

The first item on my list is a tent. For this and all my trips this year, I will be using our Field & Stream Fairbanks Outfitter 6-person 4-season tent. We've yet to set this tent up or test it, however, so once the weather improves and the back yard dries out some, I'll be setting this tent up and learning more about it.

This is not our tent, but a picture of the same model I found online

Next on my list is my Field & Stream XL Cot, Field & Stream sleeping pad and Field & Stream sleeping bag. (notice a developing theme here?)

Finally, rounding out my checklist for my camping equipment checklist is all of my cooking gear, accumulated over several years. If I were asked what I would consider to be my most important item of cooking gear, I would have to say the coffee pot ranks the top spot.

You can't go camping without one of these!

Camping Gear Checklist

• Tent
• Cot
• Sleeping pad
• Sleeping bag
• Tarp(s)
• Rope / nylon cord
• Ax
• Knife(s)
• Camp saw
• Coffee pot
• Cookware (cast iron is my favorite)
• Utensils
• Dish soap
• Water storage container
• Extra tent stakes
• Hammer and wedges (for splitting firewood and driving in stakes)
• Newspapers (for starting fires)
• Charcoal 
• Camp stove
• Food (provisions for 70-90% of trip)
• Flashlight(s)
• Headlamp
• Lantern(s) - I prefer Coleman dual-fuel versions
• Extra lantern mantels
• Matches
• Lighters
• Anti-freeze fluids (Scotch or Bourbon)
• A few quality cigars

Oh, and I must not forget firewood... because purchasing it by the bundle is just wrong.

And folks in PA make fun of my southern accent...
(this is an actual sign advertising firewood for sale in Pennsylvania)

Fishing Gear 

Since this is supposed to be a fly fishing blog, I should also devote a large portion of this post to the fishing gear for this trip.

First off, I must disclose that I'm a HUGE fan of Simms products. Last year, I purchased a pair of Simms Freestone wading boots and a pair of the G3 Guide Stockingfoot waders. This has to be one of the smartest purchases I've ever made in regards to fishing gear. Sure they're a bit pricier than other brands, but in my honest opinion, the waders and boots are well worth every penny!

Studded soles are a must for wading freestone creeks

Of course, no piece of fishing gear is more essential than a fishing rod and reel. For this trip, I will be taking two fishing rods and reels with me. The first rod and reel I'm taking is my trusty Field and Stream 5wt Fly Rod paired with my Lamson Konic II Fly Reel. The rod is one I picked up for $5.00 at a sample sale that turned out to be a very nice rod for general fishing use. There's nothing really special about the rod, other than it seems to be a well balanced rod that has caught me a lot of fish this year. That and the fact that I only spent $5.00 for it.

A super sweet rod for $5.00

For this trip, however, I intend to use this rod and reel setup as my backup combo. My primary rod and reel will be an Orvis Clearwater 7.5' 3wt rod, paired with an Orvis Battenkill II reel. This reel has a click and pawl drag system, but since it will be used to catch smaller fish, it most likely will primarily serve as a device to hold the line and nothing more. Should I hook a fish on this setup that requires using the reel, I can simply old-school it by 'palming' the reel to slow the fish down. This is the classic drag system employed by all the old masters of the sport before the new disc drag systems were introduced to fly reels, and if there's something that old codgers like me enjoy, it's doing things the old-school way.

Perfect combo for small stream fishing!

Using the 5wt rod and reel on the Cedar Run and Slate Run would be overkill with the smaller fish in those streams, and having the shorter rod will provide me with more casting room in the tighter spaces of a small mountain stream. Hopefully, I will get my first experience in catching native Brook Trout with this rod and reel as well as any wild Brown and Rainbow trout in those streams.

As for flies, I have seen many sources online that list the typical 'hot-ticket' flies to use on Pine Creek during the months of April and May. Some of them include the following list:

• Blue Quill
• Quill Gordon
• Dark Olive Stone
• Green-Sac Caddis
• Tan Caddis
• Hendrickson
• Little Yellow Stone
• Little Black Caddis

I'm sure that by the time April rolls around, my fly boxes will include most, if not all of these flies, in a variety of sizes, but I will also acquire a few of the 'local' patterns from local fly shops in the area, that are sure to be more in tune with what is actually useful on the local streams.

Fishing Gear Checklist

• Fishing License
• Waders
• Wading boots
• Fishing rod(s) 3-5wt
• Fishing reel(s) 3-5wt
• Landing net
• Leaders
• Spools of tippet
• Loaded fly boxes (dry, nymphs, streamers)
• Wading staff
• Hip pack with essential tools
• Knife
• Glasses (old codgers always need glasses to see the tiny lines and flies)
• Hat
• Base layer (i.e. long underwear). I have a nice set of Under Armor that works great!
• Socks
• Flask
• Anti-freeze fluids (Scotch or Bourbon)
• Cigar case
• A few quality cigars
• Lighter(s)

For now, this is how my list of gear stands. Between now and April, I'm sure it might change some, and I'm sure to discover things I need to add or replace in my arsenal of camping and fishing equipment, but that's all part of the process.

Feel free to add your thoughts and comments to this post. Let me know of anything you might have learned in your past adventures, or just share your experiences with such trips, especially if you've ever been fishing on Pine Creek or any of the surrounding streams. I especially would love to hear of any hot spots or honey holes on these streams you might know of.

An Erie Experience

Each year, as the summer fishing winds down and fishing tactics shift towards Fall and Winter mode, I try to make a pilgrimage to Erie, Pennsylvania to get my fix of my favorite drug of choice: steelhead fishing.

Anyone who has had one of these beasts on the other end of your light line can attest to the sheer adrenaline rush that always follows the initial tug of your line. For the uninitiated, if you never tried it, I say try it, but please, not on the days I go fishing. The small creeks up there are crowded enough as it is and the fish population seems to be dwindling.

My addiction to steelhead fishing began when I purchased a 9' Fenwick noodle rod, some 4lb test fluorocarbon line and several mini foo jigs for my first trip to Erie. I didn't catch anything, but I saw enough to get me to come back again. 

I purchased a pair of waders and made my second trip up to Erie a few weeks later, and ended up catching three monsters that weighed over 10 lb each.

These went onto my smoker back in Pittsburgh to make for some fine dining over Thanksgiving and Christmas of that year. By the way, smoked steelhead, along with a good white wine and some club crackers, provide for a very nice addition to any holiday party or gathering.

So, after a few years of this type of fishing, I began taking more and more notice of the fine folks along the stream who fished using fly fishing gear. Slowly, but surely, I began to get the itch to try it out and finally, at the ripe old age of 46, I broke down and started learning to fly fish. This past November, I had the distinct pleasure of landing my first ever steelhead on a fly rod. 

Although it was a small one, I was absolutely thrilled to land it successfully. I can now honestly say that there are few pleasures in life as thrilling as having a steelhead attached to the end of your leader, even while standing in freezing water. That trip was honestly one of the coldest trips I've ever had, but I enjoyed it very much in my cozy rented cabin along Elk Creek.

I did, however, have some nice anti-freeze solution handy:

So, for those of you brave enough to try winter steelhead fishing, I highly recommend it, but due to crowds reminiscent of opening days of trout fishing everywhere, I recommend you try it after hunting season starts, which usually draws a lot of the usual suspects away from the streams and sends them to the woods to hunt for deer and other land-based animals.