We've been eyeing up a stream that runs under a highway overpass for years but haven't had the chance to explore it. We decided to check out some streams in Hickory Run State Park and on the way home, check this one out. Hickory Run is designated as a Catch & Release - Artificial Lures Only stream. Upon arrival, the PFBC sign basically stated that it was fly fishing only but the flies to be used were very limited. I did not bring any flies other than nymphs which according to the sign, were not to be used. I decided not to take the chance and I took a quick picture of the sign for clarification later from the PFBC. In the park are a few smaller streams and we decided to go check them out. We ran into a ranger who confirmed the smaller streams had no tackle restrictions. He was unsure of Hickory Run. We explored Fourth Run. It is a very small stream and was loaded with 3-4" native brookies. The stream was also severely choked from the mountain laurel making it impossible to fish. Unfortunately we lost a lot of time today because one of the anglers that was with us decided to go his own way and got lost.
On the way home, we stopped by Mud Run. The name does not do this stream any justice. It is absolutely beautiful. There is a small tributary to this stream called Hawk Run. The falls on this stream are absolutely breathtaking! After climbing down the falls to where Hawk Run runs into Mud Run, we realized that this is where we should’ve gone in the first place. Your typical riffles, run, pool, tail-out type of water with some good sized falls and pools mixed in. We only had an hour of daylight to check out this stream and hence we did not bring any of our gear down with us. Through the years, I’ve heard good and bad things about this water. At one time, it was a Class A wild trout stream so the state stopped stocking it. Then the trout populations started to decline causing the PBFC to start stocking efforts once again. Depending on who you talk to, the stream is loaded with some very large brown trout… just my cup of tea. Also, according to my records, this section of the stream is fly fishing only. We could not locate any signs designating the water so I sent an email out to the PFBC to clarify. If the water is open to all tackle, you can bet we’ll be there in a few weeks with our centerpin gear trying to persuade some hefty browns out of those deep wintering holes. If not, we’ll see if some heavily weighted meaty flies will do the trick.

The morning started off with steady, but light rain.  The forecast called for it to stop in the early afternoon.
Well, it didn't and it was cold but that did not deter us. There were 3 of us out today at one of our favorite tailwaters.  After a few hours of  7-12" bows (one possibly being wild), brooks, and browns on the pin and fly it was time to explore a small tributary that feeds into the stream. After a 3/4 mile hike up the mountain, we settled on a small pool. Immediately, the fish knew we were there and they were off to cover. They're were small native brookies and small wild browns. We managed to hook a few in the middle of spooking dozens more. Further down the trib and a nice deep hole we each managed one decent sized fish. A 16" brown, 18" brookie, and 20" rainbow all came from the same hole. The 18" brookie was obviously the trophy for the day considering there is a good possibility that it was indeed a native as opposed to the possible wild brown and the obvious stocked rainbow. We ended the day back on the tailwater where a monster 25+ inch trout was spotted. It was obvious that this fish has been around a while. There were many wound marks on it, very much like the dying salmon in Pulaski.

The Lehigh has been on my mind for weeks now. The water levels looked good and the flow didn't look too bad.
We hit our first usual spot, an area that is used heavily by the rafters during the summer. Nobody home.
Moved upriver to another usually productive spot and managed a few rainbows. The water was moving pretty good and it was clear, but still up. It was lunchtime and the fog still lingered. We took a break and headed to a tailwater fishery just a few miles away. First fish... a perch! Must've came through the dam and into the stream.
Fish were rising and there was a small hatch going on. The 3wt with a dry would've been ideal today but the rises were very small. It was likely the fingerlings that were recently released. The afternoon yeilded a good variety of browns, brooks, and bows. Just before dark, I hooled into both a rainbow and brown each no less than 17". Winter is working it's way upon us and we will be exploring small tribs and looking at a possible demonstration or two for those that are interested. Christmas is just around the corner and that means it's time to start thinking about what you or another fisher may want under the tree. A good suggestion is to check out Dead Drift Rod Company. Although they specialize in trout pinners, they've also done great work on SH/TH fly rods, spinning rods, surf rods, and baitcasting rods.

It's been a few weeks and I was curious to see how the Little Skuke was doing. I am constantly imagining that unicorn brown that I know is in there somewhere! I met up with a fellow PAFF member, Adam.  He met up with me before and I started him on the basics of pinning for trout. Since he struggled a little and got the skunk last time, he was a little hesitant to put down the fly rod. After a few hours of no solid hook ups, he quickly switched to the pin and began nailing fish after fish. He was starting to make it look too easy. After a few more hours of snow and fish, it really sunk in as to where the fish were and how they were holding in the water. That in itself would help with his flyfishing as well. I caught  2nice browns 12-14" and we both caught a ton of rainbows ranging from small fingerlings up to 20 or so inches. Around 5pm, we called it quits. I was standing on an overcut that I've stood on many times before. It gave way and I landed in 6ft of freezing cold water. Needless to say I did not bring an extra set of pants. No visit to Cabela's today!

I give thanks to my family for putting up with my addiction to fishing. Although you can't blame me, it's in my blood. This morning, I met up with a fellow PAFF member. He's been a fisherman his entire life and is new to his new passion... fly fishing. Due to the cold weather, I decided to show him  CP'ing for trout instead. This was very new to him and as expected, he needed to get the cast down. After an hour or so of some one on one lessons, we were off to the water. Water levels were a little low and crystal clear. No fish came to hand today. We were only out for a couple hours, but he was like a sponge. He absorbed everything he experienced and I am sure he will be putting some of that to good use someday when he hits the stream on his own with the fly rod.
After we parted ways for the day, I passed a small road that runs along the headwaters of the stream. I knew of two good pools that I was sure held fish and that it would only take a few minutes to obtain some slime on my hands. 15 mins later, I landed a nice little brown. Maybe 6-7" at the most. a few minutes later, I managed to land a small bow... parr marks and all.

I am currently in the market for a decent waterproof camera.  I have a bad habit of losing anf breaking them. The last one I bought takes terrible pictures. I lost it, bought another cheap one, and then found the last one I lost.
I'm thinkning about getting a Go Pro so hopefully there will be some cool videos being posted soon. Today, we tried a few sections of the Brodhead. This creek has always drawn me to it. After a few hours of the skunk, we tried the Busk Kill.  A few hours of no action, finally something hit and it was pretty decent. However, it never made it to the hand. Alright... only a few hours of sunlight left and no fish slime on the hands, it was time to catch some fish. On the way home, we stopped by one of my favorite little spring creeks. We only had an hour left until sun down. In that hours, I managed to net 4 small browns and 2 small bows. Well it seems as though the browns were done doing their thing as they were all skinny with very little girth to them at all.

Sorry folks, no pictures today. It's difficult to have the camera ready when you've got a gem in your hands and it's trying to get back in the water so it can breathe. On that note, I forgot to mention on my last post that the storm actually did some good for spawning trout. Sandy cleaned the trees and the streams of unwanted leaves.
It made for some good fishing and also gave the trout leaf free spawing areas. Today, we decided to hit the Li'l Skuke. For those who do not know the river, it's a tributary to the main stem, the Schuylkill River. Located just a little north of Cabela's in Hamburg. There is a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section that is approximately 2 miles long and holds an abundment amount of browns, brooks, and rainbows. This section is overseen by Trout Unlimited and there are reward signs along the stream where TU is willing to pay $50 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone illegally fishing there. Neat concept, but I doubt it works. Knowing that, we'll keep an eye out and write down any plates, etc. We rarely run into many anglers there and most are fly fishing. We've seen a few spin/baitcast guys there and but very few bait-n-wait guys.  Now on to the fish...
The water was a little off color and up a bit due to the rain that had just seized. It was around 9am when we hit the river and action started off slow. We should've gave the fish some time to warm up and went to Cabela's 1st to grab some supplies. But we were there so we started off just checking out the changes that Sandy had made. After changing our offerings numerous times, we determined  that the higher water required a different shot arrangement and a larger float. I started off by reversing the shot order so that the larger shot was at the bottom and the smaller shot was up top. I immediately hooked up and it was a nice brownie. The gentleman that was with me quickly changed up after my 5th or so fish and also began to hook up. It was on! We caught numerous wild browns all 8-14" in length and stocky bows up to 16". 2 of the rainbows were expelling eggs and one milted all over my hand.  It was good to see the river was in good shape and the trout were back to doing their normal fall routine.

Today started out as a recon mission. After Hurricane Sandy, we wanted to check out some local waters to see hour much the wind and rain changed some of our favorite spots. We were also interested to see how the fish made it through the storm. Although we did not receive the 10+ inches of rain that was forecasted, we did get the 80 MPH winds which caused a lot of downed trees and power lines. After a few days with no electricity and no communications, it was nice to get  out for the day. There were alot of trees down, but none that did any damage to the Saucon. In fact, Sandy removed some of the trees that were there from previous storms. It was also nice to see that the storm removed the majority of the leaves from the trees and the the streambed. The water was crystal clear and cold. The browns were more than willing to come out and play. No rainbows today, but the quality of fish more than made up for the lack of variety. Hooked up with some juvies with parr marks and on up to 12-14" adults with some in full prespawn colors.

Started the morning fishing small nymphs under the float on the pin rod. Most fish were 7-12" and it was a mixed bag of browns and bows and one fiesty little rock bass. Good to see a nice healthy variety of trout 6 months even after stocking further upstream.  After hitting the traditional trout waters section upstream, it was time to hit the trophy section downstream. The trout were out in the shallows and seemed to be getting ready for the spawn next month. It was all browns in this stretch and they were a tad bit aggressive. Two pick up trucks pulled up and 4 guys lined up 20 yards downstream from me and began flycasting small dries. There was a BWO hatch going on, but i only brought the pin rod. I started fishing a nice deep hole with fish rising at the tailout. No takers on the nymphs and with no fly rod, I switched over to the ever faithful PW. A few drifts and it was getting to a small point of frustration as the only fish caught since the posse arrived, was a small fallfish. One more drift and the float was down. It was a damn nice fish too. At first I thought it was a big fallfish or even a sucker that may have come up from the Lehigh. But as soon as she hit the air, I knew better. Could this have been the same 23+ incher I caught just a couple weeks ago?  I doubt it. I was miles downstream but this fish fought every bit as hard.  A few more arial jumps and a few minutes later... a nice bow came to hand. The fly guys downstream clapped and shouted "nice fish" numerous times.  Went for one more drift and got a snag. That's the stream telling me that we're done for the day. I estimate the fish to be about 23" which is extremely large for this stream and good to know that it swam away to live another day.

Hit the Saucon this morning for a few hours and managed to fool a nice sampling of trout. The browns were the most active, with many jumping clear out of the water. Some nice bows mixed in as well. One small bow still had parr marks so it shows that they are reproducing, at least in the upper stretches of the stream.
Picked up a new plastic bait from Fish USA made by Northland Tackle. It's a small black stonefly.
It was just what the trout wanted for breakfast this morning.