Twin Lakes is a local county park with two lakes (surprise, surprise!) that are both part of the "Approved Trout Waters" program that the PFBC (Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission) stocks with trout. It's in an easily accessible location, near several residential areas, just a few minutes off of Rte. 30, there's plenty of parking, and 95% of the upper lake and about 85% of the lower lake's shoreline is fishable, either by standing on a brick walking path that circles them, or with a short (literally, less than 10 yards) walk from said path. All of this combined makes Twin Lakes one of the most heavily fished locales in the area. The lakes are more or less dominated by your typical lake fishermen: guys who bring out a pair of medium weight rods with an ounce of lead and two hooks on each. They put some combination of live bait, paste, marshmallows, cheese, etc. on their hooks, throw them as far out into the lake as possible, and sit and wait. Occasionally, they'll talk to the people nearby. For me, that's not fishing, its an exercise in tedium.
Still, one of the things I love about Twin Lakes is that, if you're willing to break the mold a little, the fish are willing to cooperate...usually. I cant tell you how many days I've spent 3-5 hours fishing and was the only person I saw catch anything (because I was the only person NOT fishing bait on the bottom). Sometimes it takes a little bit of experimentation to figure out just what they want, but when you find it, the fishing can be great, especially for a heavily pressured pair of lakes.
Today was no different. On my way, I decided it was entirely too windy for fly fishing. I had my 3 wt setup on hand, but dark storm clouds were coming in fast, and leaves and branches could be seen swirling around on the roadside: conditions that the elegant, but delicate fly rod wasn't designed for. Thus spinning became the order of the day. Since my bass rod was at home, I had the choice of my noodle rod or my ultralight, and the fact that my noodle rod already had the reel attached made it my choice. Noodle rod meant light lures: jigs. Jigs meant crappie. And so I pulled into a lot at the park that would give me the best shore access to the deeper areas of the lower lake.
I parked, assembled my rod, and swapped out my boxes of nymphs and dries for a bos of lures, hooks, and jigheads and a ziplock bag full of smaller bags of little crappie tubes. Starting off with a little pink and white tube, I headed out.
I didnt stop to take pictures, but in less than 2 hours, I caught 3 or 4 bluegill, 3 largemouth, and a half dozen of my intended quarry: crappie. It felt good to be able to put my knowledge of a fish's habits to work and actually have it work after months of unsuccessful attempts at analyzing trout. The little papermouths were cautious but forgiving, and after a missed strike, a few casts through the same water would often incite an encore from these fiesty panfish.
I caught fish from every spot I tried fishing, but soon the storm was upon Twin Lakes and, not wanting to get totally drenched, I made my way back to the car. Next time: I'm bringing the stringer!
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