Unexpected company and uncertain plans for the evening prevented me from carrying out my original plan of heading to Twin Lakes to hear the talk that was given there this evening. Still, once I got freed up, I decided to salvage what i could of the day and put in some time in my favorite little bass pond. By the time I left the house, a steady rain had been dumping on the area for several hours and, even now, shows little sign of giving up anytime soon.
So, in my green rainjacket and my fishing hat I made the short drive out to the pond, strung up my 5 weight St. Croix Reign, and began to fish, using the red/yellow/purple marabou streamer I'd been using the last time I had it out. The end of that day saw me hook into a large, fiesty bass that was well-hooked and nearly played out....only to have the hook come loose just before landing the thing. This is a problem I've had since day one with my 5 weight, so, while frustrating, it wasn't terribly surprising. To that end, since I got my 3 weight, I rarely use the 5 around here for anything other than throwing bigger flies and streamers. If and when I get a heavier rod, possibly a 7 weight for steelhead, bass, and pike, I may even consider selling the Reign, and possibly looking into a softer, slower, lighter 5.
In any event, the rod performed well today, hooking into about fifteen bass and bluegill in about an hour, landing every one. In fact, my first two casts in a row both landed respectable bass. The first cast, in particular, was satisfying. The marabou streamer, still dry, was still trying to float on, or in the surface of the rain-dimpled pond. As I slowly stripped the fly back in, hoping it'd eventually submerge, I saw a second wake forming just behind it, and moments later a hungry bass helped me wet the fly, striking in a splashy take then diving deep.
From the time I got there, until darkness, action was regular, both with the marabou streamer and also with a modified double bunny in chartreuse and fluorescent orange, with some black crosscut wound at the nose (Triple Bunny?) that I hope will pass for a perch among some Conemaugh river pike in a few short weeks.
Before I knew it, though, night had fallen all around me, and I headed back for the car, grateful to note that the rain must have dampened the egos of the pair of geese that are raising a clutch of peeps on the north-east shore of the pond; as I walked by, they simply kept their distance anc cluck-honked softly among themselves. A year ago, in that circumstance, they would have wanted to rip me to shreds for being on the same half of the pond as them.
Well, that's it for now, see you later!
I decided to fish Twin Lakes for a little bit today before the rains blew in, and I'm very glad I did.
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!
As some of you (primarily readers that are also active on the FishUSA Forums) may know, I recently put together a new, lighter fly setup, for fishing for panfish, as well as trout in small streams.
Sunday afternoon, I headed out to the Loyalhanna. I pulled into an access area to find 5 cars parked and empty with a sixth car surrounded by a trio of fishermen geting ready to fish. So I turned around and headed farther upstream. Up top, I had the parking area to myself, but a quick check of the water revealed that it was just as crowded as down below.
At that point my adventurous spirit kicked in and I made the drive to the Indian Creek DHALO. I was surprised to see two other cars in the lot, but once I got on the water, I didnt even see another soul until I got back to the parking area.
Indian creek was beautiful. It's crystal clear, with good depth and flow, and Sunday, it was the scene of a fairly steady scene of stonefly traffic
Indian Creek DHALO
In fact, the only thing the creek WAS missing was trout. In a few hours of fishing there, not only did I not catch anything, but I didnt even SEE any fish. So after a pleasant walk back to the car and headed for a local farm pond.
Action here was much better, as the warm weather had turned the bluegills on! I caught 2 or three bass and more gills than I could possibly count. I was catching a few here and there till I discovered a nymph they liked (flatteringly enough, a personal design) and proceeded to catch bluegills steadily for the next several hours. Here's a picture of one particularly large hog:
3 wt,
Avid,
bass,
bluegill,
DHALO,
indian creek,
loyalhanna,
St. Croix,
stonefly,
teton,
tioga
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