Be On the Look-Out for Tap 357 Canadian Maple Rye Whiskey!
It’s not sold in Pee-Aye, yet… but they have it in other locations. I’m going to try and get my grubby mitts on a bottle of this for the 2012 Bass N’ Bourbon festival (which starts in a mere 50 days!). Just in case you forgot, it’s Friday 7/20 to Sunday 7/22, 2012. If you do plan on coming – just drop me a line at jjsjigs@epix.net and let me know.
My last post on the epic adventure in South Central Pennsylvania was sparse in detail. That was on purpose. I really did NOT want to name where I was fishing. That creek was truly a fragile fishery and does get too much pressure. As you could see it does hold a significant amount of wild and native trout.
However, the Little J is a known fishery. Yes, it does get a lot of pressure as well… but in any major book of Trout Streams in Pennsylvania – (see authors; Wolf, Meck, and Landis) portions of this creek are listed in great detail with specific info, hatches, access, etc. The Godfather and I hit this River near Tyrone, PA. With a limited amount of time I had, we covered about 200-300 yards. All really fishy water. I spooked fish. They are in there… I just couldn’t “crack the code” in an hour!
This is not “peaceful” water. It is not in a secluded area full of “quiet reflection”. This section of the river is governed under C&R regs, but is bordered by a very busy highway on the eastern side and extremely busy railroad traffic on the western side. I saw about 5 trains an hour going past us. That’s more trains in 1 hour, than I see all week going past Towanda!
A train going past us.
The river here is very wide. Not as wide as the North Branch Susquehanna. But wider as a some of our larger creeks in our area such as Pine Creek or the Loyalsock Creek. A few spinners were out from the early morning hatches. We saw a rise or two, but not enough to put on a dry fly. It was a subsurface game. Soft-hackles and wets were the choice flies.
The bug life on this river was immense. We saw the start of a nice Caddis emergence. As you can see… the bug were just coming out and clinging to our wader legs, leaves hanging into the water and the rocks peeking out of the current.
The fishing was a bit slow. I think the fish had their fill of bugs in the early morning. I had to get back on the road to go home. So I quit fishing and packed it in. As JM and I were bullshitting at a riffle, he caught the sole fish of the morning. A small wild brown, but these fish make up for the smaller size but their beautiful colors. This little brown had vivid spots and a nice buttery golden color. This is a river I would like to spend more time on.
The Little J is exactly 3 hours from the DFP bunker. If anyone would like to get on the Little J with me… let me know. I’d like to fish this section of water again!
A big THANK YOU goes out to JM!! For his hospitality, fly selections, and putting up with me. You are “the man” John!! You dirtbaggers should pay tribute to our Godfather! He is truly the ‘Capo di tutti capi’.
Pause. Reflect. Salute.
These are the fallen.
This is the reason for Memorial Day.
Another whirlwind tour of South Central Pennsylvania is in the books. The Dirtbag Flyfishing Posse had it’s Regional Leadership Conference and attended the opening ceremonies of the Ore Hill Olympics. There was only one event. The Dry Fly Marathon. I can’t quite remember if JM threw more than one style of dry fly. But I fished a size #12 parachute sulpher colored fly. All day. I didn’t need to change flies at all…. I’m not going to give a specific detail report about our first 9 hours of fishing. (This creek receives enough pressure as is.) It’s truly my favorite trout creek in Pennsylvania. Bar none! It’s better than the “biggies” you hear about; Spring, Penns, LeTort, Big Fishing Creeks. Really, it is much better. Every hole, run, riffle I waded into – I kicked out fish. In the subsequent pics you will see this lovely wooded creek.
In the deep dark woods!
We came. We saw. We fished dryflies ONLY. We kicked some serious trouty ass. Detailed report to follow.
2012 DFP Senior Leadership Conference and Retreat is on!!
Evening twilight on the Madison River.
This year the conference will be held in Cameron, Montana. Special guests include none other than Dave “DPiscator” Pelachik, who will be holding a special seminar stream side along the Madison River where he will be demonstrating his streamer fishing strategies.
Join him on the third day of the conference for a demonstration of emerger fishing and the use of other subsurface patterns for successful fishing.
SUBSURFACE SUCCESS!
Some of the social highlights of the event will include a visit to the town of West Yellowstone for dinner at Arby’s where we view the Red-Breasted Moldovian Chickadee’s, as well as mocking an information exchange in the local fly shops.
The wrap up event will include an awesome BBQ-dinner in Bozeman, Montana at Famous Dave’s restaurant.
Of course, one can try to beat JM’s personal best of an over 20 incher on a #20 fly.
Only in Montana, bitches!!!
This years event promises to both fun and informative. Watch for further details as they become available.
JM
In Other News: The 2012 Dirtbag Flyfishing Posse’s Ore Hill Olympics and Bourbon Quaffing Contest kicks off at approximately 0930 on 5/25/12. Our first event: The dry fly marathon at XXX’x Creek. All bookies are reporting the lines as Dpiscator negative 487 fish caught and JM +56 caught on one single fly. Fucking oddsmakers… Meh.
That being said, there will not be a blog post for the next 48-72 hours. What’s done in Ore Hill… stays in Ore Hill!
Also, your humble blog correspondent, Dpiscator will be upwardly moving to real print soon! Yes, The Daily Review, Bradford Counties’ Largest Circulated Newspaper will be hosting a weekly fishing report by… yep, you guessed it, ME! All the details have not been worked out as of yet… deadlines, size/scope of content, etc. But.. I was approved by The Daily Review’s Chief Editor, Kelly Adrus - to be the official fishing report writer. Thusly, we Dirtbaggers now have a true audience. Dear Lord, help us all.
Dpiscator
Ahhhhh!!! Forbidden Fruits! So decadent!
The eldest minion with a LM Bass on a black E.H. Bucktail Fly!
…isn’t it always better like a thief “on the fly”?
