Yes, I am well aware that it has been a very long time since I've written one of these, but I have been working two temporary positions, and recently moved to the Berwick/ Bloomsburg, PA area for a new job.
Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to do this update in two parts. The first (this) post will pick up where I left off last year, and take you through the Fall and Winter. The second post will discuss what has happened so far this Spring. So, pay attention, and I promise to write more often in the future.
Later last fall, most of my fishing consisted of steelhead trips to Erie, during that late Fall/ early Winter phase where everyone else is either buck hunting, or waiting for ice. The steelhead runs seemed to be more populous, and I spent much of my time tying flies, both the usual (wooly buggers and single eggs) as well as experimental patterns (san juan worms, sucker spawn patterns in strange colors, crystal nymphs).
On one trip, my father and I got up early to fish Elk Creek, one of the West Side Tributaries, right near Uncle John's campground. Strangely, my chartreuse sucker spawn fly was extremely hot, and within a few casts, I hooked and lost a nice steelhead. After noticing he took my fly, I decided to tie on one of the pink/ orange san juan worms, just to see what happened. Sure enough, I hooked this 27" citation brown trout.
After that, saw what would've been a personal best steelhead, and finally hooked him after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him. Unfortunately, he ended up throwing my hook, and I almost had an aneurysm. Later on, fished my favorite hole at 16 Mile Creek, and hooked a good number of steel head. Most importantly, Rocky the Steel head retriever had a blast.
That was the last of the big fishing events for the remainder of the year, with the exception of some random trips to lakes and streams "just for something to do." Most of my time was spent waiting for ice to form on the local lakes, so I could hit the hard water. On Iceshanty.com, my buddies were speculating we would get out on the ice in early December, but this just didn't happen. The month progressed, and desperation mode kicked in, and ice fishing predictions began to change from "when" to "if". It was like a curse, as I would check the ten day forecast, and get excited because consistent freezing temperatures were in the forecast. It got even better, when I would drive out to the lake, and see an inch or two of "skim" ice beginning to form.. Then, out of nowhere, the forecast would change for the worst, and 50 or 60 degree rainy days would ruin everything.
Finally, in the middle of January, when I was about to say "screw it" and get the boat back out, some of the local lakes (Sayers and Glendale didn't even freeze this year, but I suppose the great luck with bass I've been having makes up for it) got enough ice to fish on them. And, it ended up being a shortened, yet productive ice fishing season of about two months, even though Black Moshannon is the only lake I got to fish hard.
Very first day out (I was the only one on the lake, and some criticized me for it, but I was fine) hooked this 8 inch perch on a tip down with a fat head minnow.
( By the way, I got Lasik surgery in December, and no longer need glasses). Anyway, sure enough, posted about it on Iceshanty, and when I came back the next day, it appeared that word got out (not sure if I was responsible for this). Anyway, I established a strategy of setting up a few shiners on tip ups, and some fat heads and meal worms on tip down tandem rigs. The strategy began to produce. I found a new secret spot, which was right off the end of a downed tree in about five to eight feet of water. One day, I was sitting on my bucket in a day dream, when I heard a light "pop" sound. I looked up, and sure enough, the flag on one of my tip ups was standing straight up. I rushed over to it, and saw the spool rapidly spinning. After a brief fight, I pulled out this nice 25" pickerel.
For the remainder of the ice season, I caught a nice mixed bag of pickerel, perch, bass, and bluegill. Weeks later, I was fishing at night and about to pack up when my tip-down went off. I pulled up this fat hawg 11.5" perch.
The ice season ended earlier than usual, due to the unseasonably warm temperatures that began in the middle of March ( I remember wearing shorts and a t-shirt to watch the first round of March Madness). Not only that, but the trout fly hatches began occurring earlier than normal, and I found myself doing well with the blue winged-olives around this time.
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