Changing Color Fun

Well, happy October everyone!!

Its the time of year where the colors are changing, the temperatures are dropping, and the fish are biting to fatten up for winter. And with the summer pleasure boaters gone, along with those who would rather hunt, there are plenty of fish to go around.

The lakes have been fishing decently lately, though a little high with some of the rain. I fished sayers a few weeks back, and hooked a couple of nice catfish, as well as something that snapped me off near a downed tree. I really want to get out on the lakes soon, as the clearer water and cooler temperatures will make the fish more active. Maybe head out to raystown soon in hopes of some striper or lake trout.

More importantly, however, we made our first trip of the season to Erie for steelhead fishing in the tributary. Steelhead are considered to be sea-run rainbow trout, eventhough they are extremely closely related to Salmon. They get into the 10 to 20 pound range, and it is extremely addicting to watch one inhale your fly, and take off, with your reel singing.

Friday, got up early and had to make the decision of the "west side tribs" (Elk, Walnut) or the "east side tribs" ( the mile creeks). There was a huge rainstorm on Thursday night, and after hearing some reports of Walnut being nearly blown out, I decided on 16 and 20 mile creeks, which are over towards the town of Northeast. The stream had more water in it than I thought, but it was still pretty clear. Started out at the mouth of 16 mile, with an olive wooly bugger. Missed one in a small divet along the rock wall, and then moved up to the falls, where plenty of fish, along with anglers, had congregated. Switched over to a red and orange half and half pattern (a few loops of red yarn on the tail as a sucker spawn, and an orange glo bug up near the head.) Caught one on this, accidently snagged another, and missed several up here. However, an older gentleman caught probably five in the couple hours I was over there. At this point, the fish seemed to be weary of the presence of the anglers, so I worked my way up.

Some steelhead were in a pocket behind a downed tree, and I worked these with various flies. A big problem was that the fish would try and run under and around the downed tree, leading to lost fish for myself and other anglers. It was around noon, so I decided I would grab a bite to eat, and head over to 20 mile.

After scarfing down a hot sausage hoagie and an order of fries at the Freeport restaraunt, I arrived at the crowded parking lot at 20 mile. Found a space of about 20 feet between two anglers, in a nice pool with some fish. The hot ticket here was black wooly buggers, fished weightless. Now, for steelhead, I tie these with a very bushy tail, as this adds to the natural action and motion of the fly. I caught two in this hole (D'oh! I forgot my net, so they were flopping around in the leaves for a bit before I got pictures), and had another one that made a nice run upstream before shaking my fly.

Worked my way down to the mouth, and there were a lot of fish. Unfortunately, there were also a lot of anglers, and the winds had picked up, blowing leaves and weeds into the stream. The fish here didn't seem the least bit interested in my wooly buggers.

I switched over to an experimental fly, which was a chartreuse sucker spawn, that I tied with green weenie chenille, since I didnt have any yarn of this color. Surprisingly, I had two hookups within a matter of minutes on this fly, before the 2nd one snapped me off. While I wanted to fish more, I had made some plans for later that night, and I decided I'd better begin the drive back home. A great trip all in all, though!

An important thing is to get creative with your tying, and don't be afraid to try some new patterns. The steelhead see the same egg sacs, prince nymphs, and whatnot day after day, and they'd gladly go after a new fly. The man at 16 mile was fishing a crystal caddis nymph, which I had never even heard of. Go to google and search something along the lines of "hot steelhead flies Erie" or just tie your usual flies, in newer, strange colors. You never know when you might stumble onto a hot pattern, and be the next "only guy catching anything."

Hot Fall Fishing

Sorry it's been so long, everyone. But we are officially into fall, and the bite is really starting to heat up on almost every species.

First, I was on vacation right after hurricane Irene, and had a decent week of surf fishing. Throwing mullet on a bluefish rig, I was able to land many bluefish (including this nice 16 incher pictured below) as well as a shark, which shocked the hell out of me.

Now, fast forward a few weeks later here, and I'm back to fishing freshwater. Through early to mid September, we had a cold front move through, along with plenty of rain. This, combined with the temperatures dropping, has cooled the water down, making the fish more active.

On the Juniata River, the isonychia have been hatching recently, making for some nice trout catches on the flyrod. While there is not much action on the surface, the fish have been aggresively striking the nymphs. Last friday, fished back in the state forest next to a railroad bridge, and caught this nice sized rainbow trout.

I have also had alot of success on the lakes as well, mainy Sayer's Dam. During the first part of September, I caught some nice smallmouth over the deeper roadbed and artificial structure:

Unfortunately, as the water cools, the fish move back into the shallows, into kind of a spawning-like state. It took me awhile to figure out that this happened right after Tropical Storm Lee, and the resulting front. The adjustment was well worth it.

I decided to start fishing the Lower Green's Run section of the lake, where there is plenty of shallow structure, from rocks and drop offs, to brush piles, weedbeds, and logs. Last Thursday, I was able to catch a bunch of crappie, as well as several bass in the 10-14 inch range. I even snagged a bog turtle by accident. Monday night, I was fishing near a downed tree, and hooked something that felt nice, but snapped me off due to a loop in my line. Very next cast, I hooked something else that was quite a fighter. Sure enough, after a brief fight, I pulled up this bucketmouth of a largemouth bass, about 4.5 pounds. 

Strangely, I had four different nice hits in the same area, and I know they all couldn't have been the same fish.

Fall is in the air

Well, it's getting back to that time of year, where nearly everyone, from young children to retirees, is "getting back into the routine or swing of things." While fall doesn't officially, "calendar-wise," end until September 21st, kids will be back in school next week, many of the summer attractions will be shutting down on labor day, and it will be back to the hustle and bustle of families getting up for school and work, coming home, throwing together dinner, and rushing off to weeknight practices, meetings, and other commitments. The swimsuits, flip-flops, and baseball games will soon turn to hoodies, jeans, boots, and football. I am sorry to see summer go, but that doesn't mean there can't be brightsides. Fish will soon be scrambling to eat as much as they can, in preparation for the upcoming icing of their water bodies. In other words, some of the best fishing of the year!!

Anyway, sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I recently took a new job. Fishing has picked up a bit, with slightly cooler temperatures. Fished spring creek a few times recently, with my combination green weenie and "zebra" nymph, caught several decent trout, and a bunch of suckers. The Juniata for smallmouth has been fishing well recently, my dad and I seem to catch plenty of them everytime we go,especially wil the whitefly hatch in the evening.

Lake fishing slowed dramatically, but has picked up recently. Fished sayers last night, and caught this two pound fat hog of a largemouth:

Also caught a nice sized perch, which was strange, considering I haven't caught any of them since early April.

Anyway, looking forward to the next few weeks. Alot going on, including my new job, my football teams opening their seasons, and the August 27-September 3 family vacation to Fenwick Island, Delaware. I'm hoping to do some saltwater fishing there.

Tight lines, and God Bless!!

The last few weeks

Is it really August already??? That's what I wondered this morning when my alarm went off, and the Rocky 99.1 radio announcer stated it. A quick check of my calendar confirmed this. It is kinda sad, since last winter was brutally cold and full of snow, and I'm still enjoying this nice weather. In fact, I really don't want anyone to mention snow until at least December, that is, assuming that Camping guy wasn't right (the guy who "guaranteed" the world would end on May 21 of this year, then came out and said that God felt sorry for us, so God would postpone his rage until October 21.)
Anyway, fishing has slowed down the last week, although it's still decent. Fished Sayer's twice last week, one time caught 2 bass for a 4 pound, 2 oz total. Also fished it friday, caught a few nice ones, and initially had plans in the afternoon, but these got canceled, so I headed over to the railroad tracks on the mountain side, and fished those. I caught several fish doing this, but heading back, the wind picked up, and I encountered some rough conditions.

Saturday, floated the Juniata River near Mapleton Depot, with my dad. We caught probably about two dozen smallmouth bass, nothing big but it was still alot of fun.

Woke up early, and fished Sayers today. Worked the roadbed, and caught two nice sized smallmouth. Headed over to the mountain side, and hooked a small smallmouth, and a nice channel catfish. That was kind of strange, since I haven't caught any catfish since June.

Planning to fish it again tomorrow. Will let you all know how it goes. Until then, God Bless and Tight Lines!!

Sayers 7/21/2011, and the Dog Days

Fishing during the summer time is generally not something most people look forward to. In Central PA, we are currently in the midst of a record heat wave, so we are no exception. You can do all kinds of research, and find many articles about summer bass fishing, which often relate lockjaw bass to those of use who stay inside in the air conditioning, watching baseball and chugging Country Time lemonade all summer. However, they leave out one big detail. A human's life consists of worrying about food, clothing, shelter, transportation, money, jobs, and the like. Bass, or any fish, essentially have three main worries: eat, don't get eaten, and reproduce.

With that said, bass don't like the heat any more than humans do. Bass will often travel to the deep "flats" during the heat of the day, and eat very little. They will feed more as the water cools when the sun goes down. And the morning serves as one last opportunity to eat as much as possible, before the heat of the day sets in. Think about that for a second. It is natural instinct to want to wait until the last minute to do something. So, bass will generally eat consistently during the night, and will scarf as much as possible in the morning, in prepartion for the upcoming hot day. As a result, the early morning, from sunrise to about 11 AM, is one of the best times to fish during the summer.

Now for the good stuff. I woke up around 5:30, and headed out to my favorite summer spot at Sayer's Dam, the Hunter's Run roadbed. The water was incredibly smooth and calm, and I headed out, admiring the scenery. Now, I had three reels, one with 4 pound mono line, one with 10 pound mono line, and one with 20 pound braided line. While the braided was the strongest, it was also very visible, and I thought, with the bass already finnicky, that may spook them. So, I chose the mono line, and rigged up.

As I stated before, I absolutely love fishing plastics, as they mimic natural forage, along with natural motion. In addtion, I like to thoroughly saturate then with Gulp scent, sometimes even "marinating" the lure in it overnight. This serves two purposes. First, bass have a nose much like a dog's, that can detect scents from far away. Second, the scent helps offset any foreign scents you may get on the bait, such as gasoline, sunscreen, sweat, etc.

I put a Berkley Powerminnow on one rod, and began casting, The action came quickly, and within the first half hour, I pulled out two decent sized smallmouth. I was happy, but knowing big fish feed in the morning, I wanted more size. I was not to be disappointed.

Now, there is a convention that bigger baits catch bigger fish, and this is a logical idea. So, I switched to a jerk shad, which was about 5 inches in length, and I rigged it weedless. I wanted to work the steep drop off on the side, which goes into about 20 feet of water, and contains some huge fish. I did this, working the bait very slowly. Sure enough, the third cast, I felt resistance on the end of my line. This was going to be a "I thought I was stuck" fish. However, as fishermen, if you are able to continue reeling and pulling up, you are to do so, regardless of what scary creature may be on the other end of your line. I did this, and was in a fight with something that made my pole double over. I realized it was a giant bass, when my line rose to the surface, and the large, green monster jumped out of the water and flipped in the air. The fight lasted awhile, and I wanted to tire him out, yet play him quickly so he wouldn't be too stressed. I finaly pulled it up, and boated him before he could even think about throwing the hook. After measurements, I learned the bass was over four pounds, and nearly 19 inches in length. Even his mouth was the width of a pickle jar. I threw him back, telling him to bite again at tournament time.

I was pumped that I had a strategy that was working, and I hooked several nice fish within the next few hours. Unfortunately I missed alot of them. One put up an amazing fight, before my line looped, and I got snapped off. Another one hit, similar to the last one, except he got away.

The third lure I fished was the Senko worm. I had some decent luck with this, pulling up a nice 15 inch, 1.5 pound smallmouth. While not quite as big as the largemouth, it was still a solid, tournament quality keeper.

Around 11:30, the heat really started to set in, and my efforts were beginning to produce diminishing returns, so I decided to quit for the day. I will definately be hitting this early in the morning soon again.

Until then, God Bless, Tight Lines, oh and beat the heat and drink plenty of fluids!

JP

Completely Changed

I used to live by the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." In other words, if achieving the desired results, don't change your ways. However, after today, I am seriously considering how far that is from the truth.
 I decided to fish the Aitch section of Raystown Lake. Raystown is a very popular lake, rumored to be around 140 feet deep in some areas. I have caught some nice fish out of here, but since I have only been fishing it seriously for a few years, I have much to learn. I packed a Shakespeare Tiger Casting Rod, which had a little more length and backbone than my usual rods. While I generally fish for the black bass species (smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass),  I would not at all be against hooking a 20+ pound striped bass or lake trout, that Raystown is known for. So, I decided to use the Shakespeare to troll the deeper waters.

On a side note, for those of you who are following the news around Central PA, the body of a missing Michigan student was recently found at Raystown. You can read about it here: http://wearecentralpa.com/wtaj-news-fulltext/?nxd_id=289927
That is a very sad story, and probably should have had a moment of silence before starting to fish this morning.

I woke up around 5:30 in the morning, mixed a large jug of iced tea, and made the 50 minute trek to the lake. I rarely had the motivation to get out of bed early unless I absoultely had to, so heading out early in the morning was very new to me. I arrived, and noticed a few other boat trailers parked, and a father-son duo in a bass boat throwing buzzbaits towards some cover near the shoreline.

I launched, and headed straight for my favorite spot, the point directly across from the launch ramp. I rigged the trolling rod with a Berkley Gulp jerk shad, and threw it into deeper water to troll, whil I casted on another rod with the same bait. Fished this for the first hour, and missed a few, but didn't land any.  I decided to move to a spot known as "the 100 foot wall" which is a cliff that goes down into the water, and quickly drops off. It is lined with submerged vegetation. While fishing this, I managed to catch one smallmouth, about 9 inches, and one decent bluegill. I was happy to finally get into some fish, but I was hoping for more size. I hooked into something nice on the trolling rod, but nearly had a heart attack after I felt the line go limp.

After noticing that some fish were jumping in the weedy areas, I decided to throw some topwaters, and see if I couldn't get a big blow up. I spent the next hour tossing a Zara Spook and a Zoom Horny Toad (hmm I wonder how many sexual harassment lawsuits the guy who thought of that had to deal with) through the weedbeds. Surprisingly, nothing touched these, but I had to admit, I was running out of ideas. I noticed one last cove, which was mostly open water, but turned to weeds in the far back. Nothing was touching my topwaters, so I switched back to the jerk shad, since there were some baitfish dimpling on the surface. When I finally had a cast that didnt end in a ball of weeds, I felt movement on the end of my line, and pulled up a decent sized largemouth, about 12-13 inches. Not quite a keeper, but I was happy to see the fish were getting a little bigger. Also, I heard several loud splashes around me, and when I turned, I saw a small wake in about five feet of water, right next to a downed tree. I threw my lure into it, and sure enough, my line went out quickly, indicating that something had nibbled. It did this a second time, and I felt resistance. Set the hook, and began to reel in, although I had a ton of weeds on my line. However, most of them shook off, and I felt I was pulling something up. After seeing a silver-greenish flash in the water, I knew I had a bass on the line. Several minutes into the fight, the bass tried to make a break for the bottom, but I pulled it back up.
The fish jumped out of the water a few times, I could tell it was a giant, and before he could throw the hook, I had it in the boat..

The fish was nearly 18 inches long, and over three pounds, my largest bass of the summer. I unhooked him, got the measurements, took some photos, thanked him for biting, and sent him on his way. Unfortunately, I wanted to fish more, but I had prior commitments to pressure wash the deck at my parent's house. I loaded the boat, packed the truck, and headed home, stopping for a sub and a smoothie at Sheetz.

So, back to the initial question, what did I learn from all this? Well, I learned that sometimes, when things aren't going your way, instead of changing your strategy, you should instead stop, relax, and use your usual strategy, except better. 90% of the time, I fish plastics, with some scent. When these did not produce the desired results, I went crazy, and constantly changed my approach, with no results to show. Finally, I went back to the plastic jerk shad, and caught the nice bass. It was alot of work, but thats where the fun of bass fishing comes, when you work hard for the bass, and finally land him.

I have a busy next few days set up, which include heading to Jersey this weekend, and possibly doing some surf fishing.  I will let you know how it goes. God Bless, and Tight Lines!!!

JP

Broken Truck, Stop Complaining, and Still Searching for That One

Well the past few days have been good in terms of numbers. In other words caught a lot of fish, even though there was not much size there.

Thursday evening, headed up to Sayers dam again. On a berkley gulp minnow and a senko, caught around 10 bass, unfortunately nothing broke the 13 inch barrier. However, I did catch two 12 inchers on my bluegill crank bait. I know there are some huge ones in there, I just have to find them.

Friday, took the day off, and had planned to head out to the Snyder's Run section of Lake Raystown early in the morning. Due to some issues, primarily stemming from finding the muffler on my truck to be cracked , I did not get out until around noon, right during the "dog" portion of the day. I worked white jigs and jerkshads around some weedbeds and drop offs, and ended up catching probably around 30 small blue gill, and two bass, each about 10 inches long. Not my best, but satisfactory for fishing in the heat of the day. Definately need to get up there in the morning one of these days.

Planning to head somewhere tonight for a little night fishing, looking forward to it.

Now for a few other things I figured I'd discuss. I opened up the shed the other day, and saw my ice fishing gear sitting in there. That got me thinking about something ironic. Up here in PA, our winter basically lasted into mid April this year (I've heard unconfirmed reports of some people ice fishing as late as April 10). Anyway, I've heard alot of people, myself included, now complaining about how hot and muggy it is. Just think back a few months ago, when, after being nagged by your wife, girlfriend, or mother, you were standing in the driveway shoveling in sub-zero weather, wishing for weather like this. We just can't make up our minds, can we??

Oh, and so far this season, I really have yet to catch that one, special fish you really have to work hard for. I've caught many nice ones, but no true bucketmouths, the ones that make all your others look like baitfish. I just get this feeling that it will require a little deviation from my usual techniques, so it is a challenge to find out what exactly these giants want.

Will update again soon. Tight lines, and God Bless!!

http://maine.craigslist.org/spo/2487982775.html

That right there is an ad for "stripper poles." It's a good thing I'm not a striped bass fisherman.

Thanks to myfishfinder.com buddies for showing me that one.

Coming Through In the Clutch

Well, yet again, headed out to Sayers to fish the Hunter's Run roadbed this evening. I guess I have settled into a routine of the Keep It Super Simple phenomenon

Anyway, arrived, and there was a very strong wind blowing towards the mountain side. The action started slow, as I stuck with the same duo as the other night, the watermelon Senko worm, and the Powerminnow jig. During the first half hour, managed nothing but a small crappie. Then, finally, I was slowly reeling my jig in along the bottom, felt some resistance, until I noticed my line going straight out. After setting the hook, I was trapped in a fight that lasted several minutes, and ended up with me boating a big, green, 17 inch, two and a half pound smallmouth.

Over the course of the next hour or so, I almost had a heart attack after missing several nice fish, and only managing a few dink largemouth. My streak of bad luck broke, when I hooked into a nice 15 inch largemouth, on the good ole' trust Senko worm. A few casts later, I had another one of the same size inhale the jig.

I feel as though I have found a simple, solve all technique for fishing this section: set up on the side of the road opposite the wind, and gradually drift the entire length.

I also have a hypothesis I would like to test. Some say that the giant (I mean bucketmouth) bass come out at night, although I have yet to catch any of these when the sun goes down. However, I notice that there are many schools of small bluegill rising at night. I am thinking about sticking around at night, and throwing my bluegill colored crankbait, and see if I can't fool a fat ass bass..

Will let you all how it goes. Until then, tight lines and God bless!!

- JP

 

First Post

Well, I finally caved into the blogging world, and decided this would be an excellent way to document my fishing adventures.
Without further ado, fished Sayer's Dam (Bald Eagle State Park) in Howard, PA yesterday evening. It's a lake I've been fishing for over 20 years, dating back to when my dad and I would fish it from shore, and I would be excited to catch a tiny bluegill on my Power Rangers fishing rod. Now, as a competitive angler who loved nothing more than to feel a living bowling ball on the other end of my line, I was eager to get the lines and boat into the water.

 The water was slightly stained, in its usual greenish-bluish-brownish hue. I headed over to the Hunter's Run Cove in order to drift over the roadbed there. This roadbed goes down into a deep drop off, providing bass with the structure they crave, as well as the deep water to relieve some of that stress they develop in the summer time. In fact,  during the "dog days" of Summer, I fish this area about 80% of the time.

It didn't take too long for the action to start. I decided to throw a watermelon colored four inch Senko worm, Texas rigged on a Gamakatsu EWG 1/0 worm hook, in order to get the natural, dying baitfish, motion. My favorite technique is to let this sink to the bottom, then give it a firm jig, and let it fall again. A few casts in, and I felt resistance on the other end of my line. After a brief fight, I pulled up a decent footlong smallmouth. Not bad, but I knew there were larger ones down there. About 10 minutes later, I had one wack it on the drop, this time a largemouth, about the same size. Very next cast, I felt something heavy on the end of my line, that actually was able to pull the tip of my pole into the water. It made a few last ditch attempts to jump and throw the hook. but I boated it before it could get away. It was the largest fish of the day, a 15 inch largemouth. A few minutes later, I missed a nice one that was a heavy fighter.

I was pretty happy with four bass in the first hour, but things slowed down. The sky became slightly cloudy, and the wind picked up, sending large, whitecap waves to shore, and also many boaters into the cove to wait it out. Not only could I not catch any fish, I could barely drift right. So, seeing some sun on the far side of the clouds, I decided to relax a little until things calmed down.

When the wind died a bit, I decided to resume fishing. Things were sluggish at first, probably because the fish were weary of a fisherman in the area. I rigged up my other rod with a Powerminnow on a 1/32 ounce jighead, and decided to troll with it. I caught several crappie doing this, nothing of any size.

The bass picked up a bit as they moved a little shallower when the sun went down. I caught one small largemouth on the Senko, and almost immediately after releasing him, I noticed my trolling rod was bending and shaking, as if to scream "JP you damn moron, wake up and set the hook!!" Sure enough, there was a 15 inch smallmouth on it, that practically inhaled the jig.

I took a drift near the shallow shorelines, and caught one more smallmouth and a sunfish, before calling it a day.

I hope to get out and fish it again for a bit tonight. This summer has provided some of the best fishing of my life, and I would love for it to continue.

Will update again soon. Until then, God bless, and tight lines!!

-JP