Although I spend more time deer hunting or rabbit hunting with my beagles, I did fish the Falling Spring by Coldbrook Avenue with my son Luke and managed to catch 2 rainbows on a caddis – go figure.  This nice weather will not last forever though and I will likely have to wait for Spring.

Had some good days on the Yellow Breeches again fishing with my son Luke and Tim Brookens. Tim and I also had a good day on the Little Juniata. Tim likes to remind me that he caught 5 and I only caught 4. We were surpised to be able to catch them on on the surface with little to no hatches going on.

Every Fall, Trout Unlimited has their banquet. This is great affair and I usually reserve a couple tables.  Ron Hill (brother-in-law)  and his wife Lynn come to Chambersburg from New Castle PA to join my wife Cindy and me for the banquet and Ron and I manage to get some fishing in as well. On Saturday, before the banquet, Ron had a great day on the

Luke Coder with a nice Brown on the Yellow Breeches

Breeches (12) using Caddis and a western fly I tie called a Crackleback. Don’t you hate it when an outsider comes to your stomping grounds and catches most of the fish!!!! My son Luke and went back to the Breeches the last day of September and caught 21 wild browns. Later that day, Luke caught an 18 inch Brown on the Falling Spring.

Fished several times on the upper stretches of the Yellow Breeches. Almost every fish is a wild brown and usually in the 9-11 inch size range. Parachute adams, caddis and attractor flies work best in this section. A highlight of the month was on August 25th when I took Eric Schuchart and his stepson Ethan Blum flyfishing for the first time. Ethan is a an avid outdoorsman and is a very respectful teenager and I was privileged to go with him. Ethan was a fast learner and caught his first trout with a flyrod. He made a great cast in a riffle which emptied into a pool and enticed an 11 inch wild brownie to take a caddis. Ethan is “hooked”.

Tim Brookens and I had a good day on Codorus Creek on the last hay of August.

Tim Brookens on the Savage River

July is always a fun time to fish because the Tricos hatch begins. As a matter of reference,  I usually use a #26 or #28 gray midge during a tricos hatch and have decent success. I spent most of the month fishing the Falling Spring near Coldbrook Avenue. My son Luke and I also fished Codorus Creek,  the Yellow Breeches, and the stream which runs through the Old Dam channel in Caledonia for wild brookies.

Tim Brookens and I spent the last weekend in July camping along the Savage River in Maryland. The Savage is a very difficult river to fish….fast water around big rocks….and difficult to get a drag free drift.  We managed to only land one fish…..a beautiful wild Brookie caught on a parachute hares ear.  Luke and I fished the Savage in 2011 and managed to catch a half a dozen fish and we thought we should have done better. Looking back now, we did extremely well. Every fish you catch on the Savage is colorful. The campsite is primitive but it is right beside the river. We will make this venture again next year!

Fishing the headwaters of the Allegheny River

Ron Hill on Slate Run

Grandpap (Ron Hill) and Grandson (Colby Hill) on Pine

Pine Creek Brown

June is my favorite month for fishing because every year for the last 11 years, our family takes a vacation to Gaines, PA and stay at the Rough Cut Lodge. Each day (for 2 weeks the last few years), my brother-in-law (Ron Hill) and I fish the local streams….mostly Pine Creek. In addition to Pine, we fish Kettle, the Allegheny River, Cross Fork, Slate Run, and Cedar Run. This year we had a very productive 2 weeks. Ron and I caught close to 200 fish and each caught fish in the 16-20 inch range. We had very good days on Pine, but also a memorable day on the Allegheny (above Coudersport) where we caught over 30 fish with a great sulphur hatch going on all day, We also had a successful day on Slate Run catching wild browns in the riffles. On Cross Fork, which is a very small feeder stream into Kettle, Ron caught an 18 inch rainbow -hard to believe! A memory that will stay with me forever is taking my granddaughter Leah for the first time. She caught 2 rainbows on Pine Creek on a dry fly. I have a picture in my “mancave”. My son Luke and my nephew Larry Haney also had a good day fishing the Allegheny.

Fished the Conewago several times on the flyfishing section. We caught fish on ants, gray hackle, and Adams. My son Luke and I had a good day on Mountain Creek using caddis and a parachute adams. I also fished the Conococheague creek behind Walton’s meadows using gray hackle flies. I have mentioned gray hackle flies several times. I tie the gray hackle, in a range of sizes from  16 to 24 and it is a very productive fly.  Levi Keefer, who passed away 2 years ago taught me how to tie this fly. Levi was a legendary local flyfisherman and fished with Charlie Fox and Vince Marinaro. I miss Levi.